Project: ArgoCeptor!

[SARgo1]

Built the muffler today. Used the core from the VF750F Hindle exhaust and wrapped it in diamond plate. It originally had an aluminum "can" over it, but it had been seriously crash damaged in the past and just generally ugly looking. So I cut it off and made the diamond plate "can" over the Hindle interior and end cap bits. Looks pretty good, goes with the rest of the diamond plate already on the rig.

Tried it "low" mounted:




But somehow, it just didn't look right. So I tried it angled up instead:




Yup, that looks better! Sort of feels like it's a bit better protected as well. Makes it a little more difficult to curve the intermediate pipe to meet it, but nothing I can't handle.

[SARgo1]

Is that an air cooled or water cooled

Not sure if you mean the argo engine of the outboard.

The Kohler (argo) is air cooled. The outboard is water cooled. Intention is for lakes or deeper rivers. No using it in mud or anything else that would destroy the impeller.

[garretttpe]

Very nice, I love the creativity that guys on here have.....

[superfox]

Is that an air cooled or water cooled

[SARgo1]

Still working on the retracting outboard mount.

Stowed position for land travel:



The "legs" will get two "sleeves" that they will slide into and a couple pins to lock them in place. The prop will get a "weed guard" and that will clip into a bracket on the rear rail of the carrier rack. The opening where the outboard slides down will get a simple diamond plate piece that will just drop into the hole for more carrying capacity. I will, of course, always have the option to just remove the outboard altogether and leave it at home.

Outboard lowered for water travel:



Fits nicely. There's enough clearance that the outboard can spin a full 360. That means if I want to reverse, I can just spin the outboard around to travel backwards if needed.

Lower leg and prop position:



Places the cavitation plate level with the bottom of the hull, like is should be for good cooling water flow. The prop is below the hull to give it clear water to work in.

Coming along nicely. The only thing I had to give up was a "hard mounted" outboard mount. I'll have to lift it up out of the running position by hand power alone. That's not an issue though as the little 2 HP 2 stroke is very light and easily manhandled with one arm.

[SARgo1]

Working out the retractable outboard mount:







The engine "cradle" slides stright up and down, with the space you can see in the aluminum channel piece to be filled with HDPE plastic to make it slide nicely on the rails. 

Not sure if that's the final form, as I would like the outboard Skeg to be a little higher (or closer in to the body) when in land transport mode.

But ya gotta start somewhere when designing something new....

[SARgo1]

Deed is done:





V4 out, opposed twin kohler back in.

I had to weld up the engine tray to mount the kohler back in there, but that was an easy iob. I kept the pieces I cut out to mount the v4 so it was just clean up the metal and mig it back in place.

I also took the opportunity to tart up the engine and transmission with some cleaning and fresh paint.

Now I can focus on finishing up the other projects on the Argoceptor and maybe have a little fun with it this summer.

[SARgo1]

buy another rig to ride in 

Several problems with that:

1. No more space available
2. No more money available
3. Wife with definitely exercise her “veto power”

 

[WFO]

buy another rig to ride in 

[SARgo1]

Well, I'm considering pulling the V4 engine back out and putting the Kohler 18hp magnum back in.

Let me explain; it's not that I can't or don't want to do the V4 swap any longer, it's more about not being able to get it done this year.

The thing is, I've got lots of projects on the go right now. The result is nothing moves very fast in the progression to finished. The Argo itself has a lot of modifications on the go. Right now, I'd prefer it doesn't become one of those projects that hangs around for a couple years and takes up space because I can't use it.

So I'm thinking of putting the Kohler back in so I can at least have a little fun with the rig this summer. It will still be loud, it will still be slow and it will still be hot. But I will be able to go bash around the trails a bit and enjoy it for what it is. There's still lots of things to finish and swapping the Kohler back in will allow me to focus on the other things already in progress.

Plus, I can build the suspension pieces while I am still bombing around in the Argo. The suspension is a lot of work welding parts up in a jig, so that can be done off the machine and (hopefully) bolted on in a weekend when it's finished.

Once everything else is done, I can get back to the V4 and concentrate on just the engine swap as the rest of the Argo will be done.

It's currently just a thought, but it's one that seems to make sense at the moment. I'd like to get a little payback from it this summer instead of it just taking up space in the garage and working on it....

[SARgo1]

More plastic welding/shaping and built the radiator upper mount:





Nice. I like it!

Next up is to build the lower rad mount and then I think I'll go back and finish building the hood.

[SARgo1]

Decided I didn’t like the thought of how it is going to look with the fiberglass hood coming down to cover the openings on the sides of the new grill. So I took some of the scrap hdpe plastic, cut to fit, heated it to form (oven at 275 for 10 minutes) and bonded to the hull with some plastic welding.

Went from this:



To this:





Ah, much better! A little more shaping, some clean up work and it will almost look factory. The hood can now be shaped to come forward nice and flat. Well, there will still be a little contouring for aesthetics, but it will look much more integrated now.

[SARgo1]

It's great watching you modify your Argo in ways most would not. 

Thanks, although I’m not totally sure if that is a good or bad thing! Lol!

What I’m shooting for is something closer to a “side by side”, but 8x8 and amphibious. Or at least amphibious capabilities.

The suspension is going to be the biggest difference and what will make it more practical as a “side by side”  alternative.

[ascaw]

It's great watching you modify your Argo in ways most would not. 

[SARgo1]

Built the "brush guard" today:





That's a good start. Please ignore the sloppy welds. I was having trouble with the spool gun jamming and it burned through in places. I had to try and fill the holes with weld so it look pretty ugly in some places. I'll sand it smooth later on when I'm doing the finishing work. Spool gun contact tip was a 0.35 and the wire is 0.35, so when it got some heat in it it dragged too much. I had to open the tip up to a 0.45 to get it flowing well again. 

Still to build: winch mount and supports, a "deflector" to keep water from splashing up an into the grill when entering the water. The deflector is nothing complicated, just a plate across the front that is angled forward so when the water/splash comes up when entering rivers, ponds, etc, it's prevented from just rushing in through the grill opening. Once floating, the water is below the body line and the grill is well up and out of the water.