Million Dollar Skunksworks Kirkham

[David Kirkham]

Here is the master tube bender, tool maker, and all around cool dude...Sandwich. Don't ever tell him he can't do something! Here he is testing out our really nasty 2D 2 inch bend tooling. The radius is really, really tight. It is the only radius that will work for our head tubes.

[David Kirkham]

Ok, just for giggles...or weeping...I figured I'd post this one. We had a customer, who actually posts on this site send his car back to us because whoever put it together really did an unacceptable job. This is one (of unfortunately MANY) thing we found utterly appalling.

The customer wanted the seat to go a little further back so he took his car to a shop to take out the seat tracks and bolt his seat directly to the floor. Well, I guess he didn't have a bolt long enough...so he welded a little piece of bolt on to the end of the existing bolt to lengthen it!

I don't even have to mention the flimsy steel strap he used to bolt the seat down with. Now you know why he sent it all the way back to us. The engine install was equally horrific.

I guess all I am saying is BEWARE!

[David Kirkham]

A little earlier, someone asked about Kirkham testing. We do testing all the time--usually to destruction

Here was one of my dumber ideas. We were going to make the threads on the hub out of aluminum to save weight on the hub. (It is a LONG story, for another thread)

Anyway, no one thought it would hold and so we set up a test. I lathed an aluminum hub and screwed a wing-nut on it. We then tried to break it off in the press. Notice the I beams are bending

[David Kirkham]

Here you can see the gauge reads 24 tons! Threads always amaze me with the amount of weight they can hold. Remember, the hub is hollow.

Anyway, I "Deep-Sixed" the idea after Thomas asked me how I was going to keep people from dinging the threads when they took the wheels off and on!

Ahhh, another "brilliant" idea on the ash heap of BAD ideas.

[David Kirkham]

Anyway,

Enough of the stupidity...mine and other's. Back to the coolest Chariot of Fire we have ever made!

David