After a less than successful day at Stoneleigh its back on with the rebuild. The fuel tank which was held in with nylon board straps now has some alloy straps. Before fitting these the rear wiring was tidied up, all crimp connections were re-done with a decent crimping tool. A new reversing light was wired in and the loom taped up and secured out of harms way.
This car should be used in all weathers, well that is the plan, so a neater heater has been fitted to the scuttle to replace the rusty mini one. A battery cut off switch is now fitted between the heater and the wiper motor and leads for the starter motor fitted. These were bargain £1 items from Stoneleigh.
Fitted the exhaust manifold which was not too much problem as it is the version supplied
where the mounting flange has been cut between each pipe. Enlarged the tub opening for the
four pipes but still had to make an alloy surround to cover the bodge job from the
previous builder.
Talking of bodge jobs, the tub wasn't even cut for the exhaust mounting bobbin and has
been crushed and cracked. The Zetec manifold must be shorter than the CVH one because my
intention was to use the silencer than came from my CVH car on this one but its positioned
about 10cm forward from the rear mounting point.
Now I thought that the oil in the transmission tunnel was from the engine - there was a lot sprayed around the engine bay. The engine bay oil was tracked down to a leaking brake pipe. Checking the diff flange showed a fair bit of play so that's where the oil came from. This oil had been leaking into the passenger side of the cockpit (obviously the panel isn't well sealed) so most people would fix the leak. Not the previous owner though - more silicon sealant was used to cure the ingress of oil.
As the axle was rusty I decided to remove the whole thing and tidy it up. The play in the input flange was down to the pinion bolt not being tight. I'm awaiting an oil seal and then will have a go at setting the preload on the pinion.
Been no updates for a couple of days now. I stripped the axle and repainted it while waiting for the pinion oil seal to arrive. Fitted oil seal and then noticed a damaged diff bearing so ordered 2 Timken bearings. These arrived next day so Saturday morning was spent rebuilding the diff. Not having any reference point on the pinion preload I set it by feel so fingers crossed. Checked the meshing of the gears using orange pigment and have a lovely centered contact patch and 5 thou of backlash. Axle now fitted and almost bolted in place.
This is an artists impression of the completed car.
Fuel pump is now fitted but may be moved if its too noisy. Fuel hose now routed to avoid the suspension bits and its all looking neater at the back. The handbrake has been refitted and doesn't touch the fuel and brake lines nor the wiring loom. There is a vague possibility that this car may be safer after my efforts. The next task is the carbs and all the related bits.
A milestone has been reached!! All those bl**dy yellow cable ties have gone and been replaced with either p clips or black cable ties. The chassis looks a whole lot neater as a result.
Over half way through the month and progress seems slow. The inlet manifold and carbs are now fitted. Throttle linkage sorted but this was a pain. The inlet manifold stud spacing wasn't quite right for the carbs and the carb mounting holes had to be opened a fraction with a file. Also the carbs are much closer together than is normal and the linkage wouldn't clear either car. The solution was to remove the screw boss on the rear carb and tweak the linkage. The Filter King pressure reg/filter arrived a couple of days ag. £6.50 from ebay and £6 for delivery by courier. A bit of a bargain for once and it was like new.
The plan was to make a new dash but one of the existing ones was a Westfield pressed alluminium one so this was used. A quick clean up and a bit of GRP work to fill in the extra holes and I had the base ready. The vinyl was stuck straight onto the alloy without any foam padding. The car has been through SVA so no concerns on that score. Still haven't fitted all the dials as I'm having concerns with the Racetech speedo. It requires a 8 toothed sensor wheel of going on a propshaft location based on my 13/185/60 wheels. Being a live axle the prop does move up and down so I'm unsure how to fit the transducer at the moment.
Have been looking at the seats and their location in relation to the seatbelt top ancho points. Being a skinny bugger I have found that some Westfield setups with 4 point harnesses and Westfield sports seats cause the shoulder straps to slide off my shoulder. This car looked the same but I then realised that because the seat was offset to the outside it wasn't centrally between the upper harness anchor points. Looks like the rear seat mountings need to be relocated.
Decided to give the brakes a quick flush out. I've never seen grey fluid come out of a brake system before. Flushed it through but will be keeping an eye on it.