Andy's GD427 Build.

Speed pulse ring.

2010-09-11T09:22:00.006+01:00

As I mentioned during the proshaft install I thought I may have to remove the prop to fit the speed pulse ring which I had designed.

The theory was that a toothed ring would be fitted to the propshaft and an inductive sensor used to drive the speedometer. To this end I designed a suitable ring.

I then sourced an engineering firm and had it made.

Creative Water Jet were chosen and after many discussions with Richard Miles at Creative Water Jet about the design and how best to do it the parts were made and delivered.

I even got as far as starting to paint them. However a quick chat to Andy B and the plans have changed!

Andy was concerned that the prop would move around under load (something Richard also voiced but I in my wisdom decided to gloss over!) and that the the prop tube may not be totally round.

Andys preferred option is to stick magnets to the diff input flange and mount the sensor there, so thats what Im going to do.

So if any can think of a use of a very attractive aztec style sun let me know!!

Finishing off the shift mech.

2010-08-01T22:38:00.012+01:00

As previously shown the shift mech just would not work as Getrag intended with its new location in a GD chassis. A few mods were needed.

1. Separate the gear shift.

2. Cut off the silly lump at the top.

Here's all the relevant bits before modification.

3. Get your engineering firm to weld on a flag for the gear lever, albeit the wrong way round. Slight mix up with the drawings and the flag is 90° out.

No pic of it on its own Im afraid, too keen to get on!

4. Clean and repaint mech carrier.

One with the shift lever in place.

5. Get engineers to extend extend shift rod by 93mm

6. Refit with the spacers, new rubber bushes and shiney new washers!

Now that sounds easy, but there was a small problem. In routing the fuel line in this area I managed to get on of teh clips right in the way. The shift mech spacer fouled on the clip and caused a hard touch, something I wanted to avoid to ensure if teh box moved I wouldnt get any problems.

The white paint marks where put on the clip to leave an impression of the spacer, with this done I then took the spacer back to PJO for a clearance area to be milled out.

Job done, no more hard touch.

Both spacers in, the threaded rod thread locked in place and the shift rod re-attached.

I left it overnight for the thread lock to harden and then finished the install.

I have to say Im a bit chuffed with the way its turned out.

Return Fuel line

2010-07-28T22:10:00.000+01:00

I have for sometime been thinking that I may fit fuel injection in the future. So to make this as easy as possible I have decided to run a return fuel line in now, whilst I can easily get to hte chassis. Instead of another hard line Ive used Aeroquip push on hose as its more flexible and easier to route, it does however have a much bigger OD.

You can see from the previous post that it was roughly routed in when the prop went in, now its time to fix it.

To mount the hose I used clips, longer bolts and some section of 8mm tube. Job done.

Oh and Ive fitted the hard line adapter as well, so much easier with the right one! (engine bay end was a Veraflare not designed for metric pipe)

Propshaft

2010-07-28T22:05:00.000+01:00

Somewhat unexpectedly a box was delivered last week containing my propshaft. I thought this was going to be one of the bits to be collected on my planned trip up to GD, more on that later.

So with it here it would be rude not to fit it! Now Ive heard all sorts of stories about it being a nightmare job due to the space restrictions and chassis tubes, in all honesty I didnt find it too bad. Now that may be because Im not using a tremec box. Just removed the brake union and jiggled it around till it went in!

Ive not tightened it up yet as it may have to come out again for the fitting of the speedo pulse ring, more on that later!

Coil Bracket

2010-07-24T21:57:00.000+01:00

Yet another little job to be knocked off the list. I didnt want to mount the coil to the body of the car and the supplied bracket did not readily fit any of the mounting locations available on the engine. Now I have seen these things secured by just one bolt, but I didnt like that so I took a template from the front of the left hand cylinder head and designed a bracket.

Cleaned and sprayed with clear engine enamel it looks good, the coil is now securely held in place.

Oil Pressure switch

2010-07-23T21:49:00.000+01:00

Whilst sorting out the oil plumbing I had originally intended to mount the oil pressure switch, for the idiot light, in one of the oil lines. It then occurred to me that I could save a few quid and mount it into the block, where it would normally be mounted!

So I returned the expensive fancy adapter for a refund and exchanged it for a much cheaper threaded fitting.

One small problem though, I could not tighten it in with the fuel pump in place, so guess what, I had to take the pump out. Luckily I had a spare gasket and was able to refit the pump the same day!

Thats another job sorted and a few quid saved.

Shift Mech extension.

2010-05-31T08:13:00.007+01:00

Moving swiftly on to the next bit of metal work needed.

The shift mech. was removed to install the power train, a small problem was then encountered when attempting to fit it back in....it would not fit! The first of the tunnel cross members was bang on right where the shift leaver was supposed to be.

So as this could be a minor inconvenience, i.e no gears, I figured I had better sort it out.

After measuring things up I figured I needed to shift the mech. back around 90mm to clear the cross brace and give the bracket suitable strength to do the job. In the end I came up with a H shaped spacer that clears the cross member, flexed the old AutoCAD brain cells and made a wooden mock up.

After a few minutes juggling my mock up was in and I'm quite pleased. Ive only made on side as the other is identical.

You can see in the above picture how the gearshift would have fouled the chassis cross member, the attractive bit of 1960's banister rail has moved the mech back to a position where it will work.

Slightly wishing I had painted the gear box now, though its only aesthetics for these pictures!

I think the shift position is roughly around the position that the Tremec is so I'm quite please with that.

The drawing goes to PJO today and hopefully I may have the finished articles this week!

Next is to get the shift rod lengthened by the final figure of 93mm that the mech. has been displaced., then cut down the gear shift itself and modify to allow fitting of a new lever.

Once that's done its time to buy some stuff from GD!

Clutch Bracket arrives!

2010-05-28T19:03:00.008+01:00

1 week after the gearbox mount was collected I was able to go back and get the clutch bracket. Everything looked good again.

After forgetting to allow for the weld fillet in my design I had to grind a fair bit of material away on both the bracket and the slave retaining clamp. Of more serious concern was the fact that the slave didn't fit! So A little light hacksaw and Dremel work was required to modify the lower edge of the bracket.

With that done I trial fitted and it all lined up nicely.

A quick clean with the powered wire brush (bloomin hurts when it hits your finger!) sander and degreaser saw it ready and painted.

Final trial fitting is now done, all I need to do now is sort out a suitable return spring to make sure the release bearing keeps off of the diaphragm fingers during normal driving.

The only thing that I cant verify is the slave angle, to do that I need the body and master cylinder so I can operate the clutch. If the fork drags the pushrod through a steep angle I will need to pack either the front or back of the slave cylinder out from he bracket to compensate. Hopefully it will be OK as it is though.

Well chuffed, another job crossed off the list.

Bracket arrives!

2010-05-20T19:36:00.004+01:00

Hoorah! The brackets have arrived...

They look exactly like what I wanted and even better, they fit!

So I cleaned them up (not so well it turns out) sprayed them in VHT engine enamel red and baked them in the oven (not so popular at home now!).

With some nice new stainless hardware they are bolted in and the gearbox is supported!

Clutch bracket ready tomorrow apparently, so watch this space....

Brackets drawing closer....

2010-05-09T19:17:00.002+01:00

Confirmed last week that the gearbox brackets should be ready on Friday, once thats done the clutch bracket goes for manufacture (if the mount brackets are good) and I can sort out the gearshift extension.

Had a good chat with Andy at GD on Friday to sort out a few options and I think I have decided now to fit the anti roll bar now instead of waiting unti lthe car is finished! Just need to work out if it will fit over the water pump pully.

Progress...?

2010-04-30T17:30:00.000+01:00

Well the engineering firm has found my drawings and promised to start next week..... Watch this space!

2010-04-26T21:15:00.002+01:00

Hmmm, one month on and no sign of my metal work yet. May need to find another engineering firm....

Gear box mount spacer

2010-03-26T19:38:00.000Z

One thing I neglected to do was level the gearbox! So with jack under the box (not in the box....ah well Ill get my coat!)

I realised I need a 22 mm spacer between the mount and the gear box. This will also solve the issue of clearnace between the mount and the gearbox itself.

Again some AutoCAD work and the drawing was ready, its with PJO as well!

Gear box mount.

2010-03-26T19:11:00.001Z

A few bits of wood are all very nice but I cant see them being a permanent solution!

One of the issues I have is that the mount location on the Getrag is around 50mm forward in car line to the foremost mounting hole welded to the chassis.

So a bespoke plate is going to be needed to make up the gap and fix to the bottom of the Energy Suspension mount.

Luckily the mount exactly matches the getrag bolt spacing so thats a bit of luck!

With the mount in place I fixed a card template to the chassis and started the mock up process. In the end I took various measurements from the chassis holes and used the chassis cross member behind the mounting wings as a datum.

Knowing the mount holes centres I then entered the whole thing into AutoCAD, played around a bit, printed it out 1:1 and made V1 MDF template.

With this fitted I noted that I could not get a socket on to the mount bolts, this is required as there is a bit of jiggling about require to get all the bolt holes lined up before all the bolts can be located and tightened due to the slots in the mount.

So I modified the template to give access.

With the mount all fitted and OK I returned to the computer and made the final changes, spent ages working out how to apply dimensions, made a drawing block template and voila finished drawing.

I also added the 8mm threaded hole for the exhaust mount and a strengthening rib under the plate as the gearbox mounts outside of the chassis bolt locations.

I should at this point offer major thanks to Simon for his help with drawing standards and advice. - Cheers mate!

The bracket is now out with PJO Engineering in Swindon for Manufacture.

Clutch fork mods.

2010-02-23T19:05:00.000Z

Now the engine was in I could start to look at some of the little jobs that need doing. the first of which was to check that the clutch fork would clear the chassis.

I has already removed the 2 points from the end of the fork to give greater clearance, but looking at it in situ I decided that the return spring hole had to go as well.

So out with the trusty dremel and about half an hour later the fork was modified, this is as far as I can go without the slave to move the clutch and check clearance.

Next step on the clutch is finalise the slave bracket design and get it built!

Engine update....

2010-02-21T20:13:00.006Z

IT FITS!!!!!!

Well stone me, it went it in without too many protestations. We had a little bit of mucking about with the engine mounts but eventually she was in. To top it off the gearbox appears to fit OK as well!

Well chuffed!

2010-02-21T13:16:00.002Z

Well todays the day - hopefully!

There no more time to mess about with tape measures and bits of wood, its time to see if the engine and gearbox will fit in the chassis.

As I appear to be the only person as yet known who has fitted a Getrag gearbox in a GD I may be about to find out why everyone else pays the extra and buys a Tremec! My main aeas of concern are.

1) Gearbox rear mount location relationship to the GD mount tabs.
2) Clutch fork interference with chassis rails and body.
3) Clutch slave bracket interference with chassis rails.

To be honest item 1 could probably be worked around but 2 and 3 may well be deal breakers. So by 18:00 today I will either my very happy with some nice pics to show or very sad with a Getrag gearbox up for sale!!

Watch this space....

Clutch slave.

2010-02-14T20:11:00.004Z

With things dried out in the garage (£93 worth of electricity later!!) I need to press on and get the clutch slave cylinder bracket sorted. This needs to be done before the engine goes into the chassis as space will be tight and its much easier to work around the engine on the floor stand.

I need to get the engine into the chassis to make way for my next side project, Ive a Ford Pop engine to rebuild for my father in law so I need the space currently occupied by my engine. I did offer him the 302 but he felt it a little over powered fro the Pop!

Of course this being my build nothing goes simply or follows the accepted norm. Whereas most would buy the Tremec gearbox option and have the joy of using the Repower slave cylinder and bracket that just bolts on, I of course chose the little used Getrag/Ford in a GD combination. A such a slave cylinder and bracket are not available off the shelf in a kit, but hey its all good fun and I'm saving money, well that's what I keep telling myself!

The clutch fork on the standard Ford setup operated the opposite way to a Tremec in that the cylinder needs to be engine side and push to the rear of the car, of course engine side is where the bell housing is and space is a little tight.

I will go back and populate with pics in the future of the various designs I wen through but here's V2 that has now been sidelined in favour of V3 which is under development.

As you can see it is mocked up in MDF and once finalised I will transfer to AutoCAD and get them cut from mild steel in 6mm thickness (thanks Simon for that advice).

having looked at the design I am now trying to work out if I can out the vertical mounting plate on the other side close to the bellhousing thus reducing the width of the assembly by about 8-10mm.

Back to the drawing board.

Bit of a set back.

2010-01-13T22:16:00.002Z

Well, Christmas over. Time to move on into 2010.

What a great start to the year, 3 popped 15mm compression joints and my garage is flooded to a depth of 1", amazing how well the garage door seals!

So Ill be drying things out for a while yet I think. Boo!

Bit of a set back.

2010-01-13T22:16:00.000Z

Merry Christmas..

2009-12-24T16:36:00.001Z

Well another year draws to an end and despite everything thats been going, and against my previous expectations, I have managed to make some progress this year.

Granted its nowhere near where Id hoped to be if you had asked me in the middle of 2008, but all things considered Im happy to have made progress and to be honest even happier that I still have the Cobra.

So I wish everyone whos been reading my antics a very Happy Christmas and a prosperous new year for 2010.

You never know maybe there will be a few updates soon!

Bye for now.

Moly applied.

2009-10-03T17:32:00.002+01:00

With a little time available I pressed on and applied the Molybdenum Disulphide spray.

Everything was cleaned thoroughly to remove traces of oil / grease etc and makes off the make sure areas which didn't want to be sprayed were not.

In the bellhousing I sprayed the input shaft outer tube, input shaft and pilot bearing shaft. Also I gave the top of the fork pivot a coat to help things there.

Other parts coated were the reverse side of the release bearing, rotating section of the release bearing where it touches the diaphragm springs and the inner bore of the release bearing.

The clutch fork in the pivot area and the tips were it bears on the release bearing.

Hopefully this will keep things moving well for sometime.

All that remains to be done now is to wait for the coating to cure, 3 + hours, and burnish lightly with a lint free cloth to improve the surface finish.

One final job I did tonight was to fill the diff with oil, been meaning to do this for a while so now its done. I jacked the rear up and spun the wheels round to get the oil moving in the diff, its been sat for quite a while now.

Clutch build up

2009-09-23T21:20:00.001+01:00

With the bell housing dialled in and the gearbox assembled I moved onto finally assembling the clutch to the engine.

First off I modified the block plate lower starter mounting hole to account for the alignment adjustment made by the offset dowels, Oh and painted the block plate red to match the engine! You can just see here how the heat of running the engine has changed the paint colour, they are both painted from the same can!

Next I pressed the flywheel dowel pins into place (glad I got that press!) and cleaned the flywheel, paying particular attention to the clutch surface. Oh and also the flywheel bolts and holes in the crank to ensure a good seal.

After a bit of wrestling with the flywheel I got it onto its register on the crank with all the bolt holes lined up. It appears it only fits on in two locations as although the holes look evenly spaced, they are not! Given the weight of the flywheel it wasnt fun battling with it to get it lined up and on!

Now its important to use thread sealer on the flywheel bolts as the crank drillings are open to the sump, as I found out on the dyno oil will work its way past the threads. So Loctite 577 was used as I know it fuel safe so I figured it would also be oil safe!

With the flywheel on the clutch plate was installed on its locating tool and inserted into the pilot bearing.

Finally the clutch cover was cleaned again to remove a traces of grease/oil and snapped over its dowel pins on the flywheel. The bolts thread locked with loctite and installed finger tight at first then 2-3 turns at a time wound in to bring the cover tight to the clutch plate.

Final thing tonight was to mount the bell housing to the engine with he clutch fork in place. I just wanted to see how the release bearing was going to sit against the clutch cover.

Luckily it all looks OK, also with the rubber boot on the clutch fork is naturally drawing the release bearing away from the cover so I that's stopped me worrying that the boot would cause the bearing to ride the cover.

So thats it, all I need now is the moly spray to treat the input shaft and I think the gearbox assembly can be mounted to the engine!

Gearbox adapter plate

2009-09-19T21:00:00.001+01:00

Now that the gearbox was home and the bell housing alignment sorted I could get on and mount the adpter kit to the bellhousing. Now this is where I should have a picture of the kit parts laid out on the floor, but in my haste to get on and install it, I forgot - sorry!

Kit of parts as supplied by AK sportscars. - Thanks for your help with this.

Roller pilot bearing set in a machined extension.

Machined adapter plate.

Nylon centralising disc

Sleeve welded into my own release bearing (had to send it to AK before the kit was supplied)

1 - fit pilot bearing into the crank

2 - fit disc into bell housing, the odd yellow stuff round the disc is actually double sided tape! The disc was slightly too small for the hole so on AK's advice I wrapped it round once only with tape. (note I also drilled and tapped mine in two places so I could remove it, something Ive decided not to do at this stage)

The nylon disc fits tightly to the gearbox output shaft, this then also fits tightly inside the bellhousing opening and centres the gearbox to the bell housing.

Before mounting the bellhousing I applied a layer of RTV silicone to the gearbox face to stick the disc in place.

3 - bolt it all together!

The machined adapter plate bolts to the gearbox and then to the bell housing and thats it!

I could then assembly the release bearing and clutch fork to the fork pivot.

Ive decided to add some form of lubrication to the input shaft where the release bearing will slide, this needs to be dry and the concensus of opinion is to use molybdenum disulphide air dry filmspray.

After a bit of net searching I settled on Rocol 10025, not cheap but I know Mocol products are good and it was the only one listed as not being just for the break in period.

So on to the clutch - really I will this time!!

Gearbox fixed

2009-09-11T18:52:00.000+01:00

CTS found the cause of the problem. Apparently a hub spring had "jumped". Not totally sure what that means, but following another 6 hour round trip to Markyate the box is back and now working!

The shift is now much smoother and all gears select fine.

While the box was away I located new reverse and 1st/2nd gear lock out switches. Turns out that although Jaguar have different part numbers for each switch they are actually the same. So after SNG Barrett found that Jaguar had no stock of the lock out switch I just ordered up another reverse switch!

Job done.

Finishing off the bell housing.

2009-08-21T18:00:00.001+01:00

With the offset dowels to hand it was time to finish off the bell housing. Having figured out where the offset was by rolling the dowels on a flat surface (picture of someones 0.021" dowel)

I could then install them into the block. Luckily the original Ford dowels just tapped out with no fuss.

1st attempt didnt go well and I figured out that Id put the dowels in 180deg out!!

2nd attempt looked better with the measurements getting closer to spec.

3rd got closer still.

Finally on the 4th attempt we hit the jackpot and all the measurements fell into spec with a total missaligment of 0.0025"

It might appear like this was a quick and easy process but it wasnt! Each time an adjustment was made the bell had to be torqued up to spec and remeasured. If you take into account the couple of times I knocked the DTI out of position and had to set it all up again and remeasure to confirm correct setting it took about 5 hours in total to get to here. Still, its worth it!

So thats it bell housing correctly aligned to the crank centreline and flywheel face.

Clutch assembly next!

Bellhousing alignment.

2009-08-14T19:02:00.001+01:00

The next major part of the drivetrain to sort out is the alignment of the bellhousing.

As the engine is putting out a bit more power than when it left Ford 37 years ago and Im using a selection of bits not really intended to be put together, it is necessary to make sure the gearbox input shaft is in line with the pilot bearing.

The way to do this is to align the bellhousing to the back of the engine and to the crank centreline.

Step 1

Check that the bellhousing rear face is parrallel to the flywheel. To do this on the Ford you need to mount the block plate first, then the flywheel finally the bellhousing.

With sufficient flywheel bolts removed the DTI was mounted and aligned on the rear face of the bellhousing.

The engine was rotated and the misalignment read from the dial gauge, the miss alignment was less than 0.0015" and therefore I judged acceptable.

Step 2

The next step is to check the alignment of the bellhousing to the crank centreline. To do this the DTI is again mounted to the flywheel but this time the tip is located on the inner register of the flywheel bore.

This time I was looking for a a total miss alignment of no more than 0.005"

With ths standard Ford dowels it was obvious that the alignment was not good enough.

With the missalignment measured I need a set of 0.07" offset dowels to shift the whole housing to the right and up a bit.

A quick call to Real Steel and its just a case of waiting for the post.

Gearbox off for rebuild.

2009-08-03T23:42:00.003+01:00

Took the gearbox over to CTS today (gearboxman) so hopefully should get that back next week all ready to fit. My next decision is wether to paint it silver or just a clear coat of POR15. Once its back and I can see what its like after its uber clean I can make my mind up.

Ordered all the clutch bits from Real Steel today and will get the adapter kit from AK once the release bearing has arrived. I need to send the bearing to AK for adaptation.

No I need to figure out how you dial in a bell housing.....

So some small progress made.

Updated video

2009-07-08T23:56:00.005+01:00

What I have managed to do in the last few months is update my engine build video. The last one upset Bjorks record label and got pulled for containing about 15 seconds of one of her tracks. Lets see if this one survives a bit longer!!

Oh, you need to turn your speakers on, and up a little bit ;)

Tedious....

2009-05-28T14:50:00.001+01:00

The lack of progress is really starting to get to me. That's life I suppose, just might be nice to have a year where something bad doesn't happen. Maybe next year.....

Bellhousing....

2009-03-19T17:54:00.006Z

Well although the closed sign remains up I'm still working on things.

Deciding how to connect the gearbox to the engine was something I had figured out before I purchased the gearbox. BAE's new kit was going to do the job and all would be fine. When I spoke to BAE the first Ford kit was due in March with others to follow, forward wind to March and as yet no Ford kit. They still intend to make the kit but as insurance I started to work out the other way of doing it before committing to the gearbox rebuild.

The other way is the AK adpater plate to go between the Ford bellhousing and Getrag box. You need an original Ford bellhousing with the 4 bolt toploader pattern and associated clutch fork. Small problem, I don't have one and no one sells them in the UK!

Luckily the CRC came to my rescue (again) and through another member I was put in touch with Dave who just happened to have a bellhousing he did not need. A quick call was made and the deal done for a blockplate, bellhousing, clutch fork and clutch fork rubber boot.

The clutch fork and boot are new. (and L bracket to the left)

Im probably going to buy a Mcleod T bracket which is already slotted to take the fork spring, its stronger and saves weakening the L bracket by slotting it.

The block plate is in bare steel, but new and the bell housing looks new!
The bellhousing part number C5DA-6394-A signifies it is for a 289 from 1965 -1967. Source: David Klee Toploader Transmissions inc.

So thats the major stumbling block sorted. Now I need:

AK Adpater kit
Mopar clutch plate (Real Steel)
Mcleod clutch cover (Real Steel)
Mcleod Release bearing (Real Steel)
Hydraulic pull cylinder (TBC)
Mounting bracket (TBC)

I think thats about it, well chuffed thats sorted!

Safety thoughts...

2009-03-14T08:39:00.006Z

I've always had a mind to occupant safety whilst building this car, in particular fire safety. Sitting just in front of a fuel tank, surround by fibreglass that likes to burn and strapped in by a decent harness I feel that something that can give any extra time to get out is vital. If it manages to stop the car destroying itself then even better!

So I started looking around at various extinguisher systems that ranged from a small hand held mounted in the passenger compartment to a full blown plumbed in system with multiple nozzles and electric triggering.

Well me being me I think the full blown system has to be the way to go!

There are various systems on the market and after looking around I think that the lifeline systems look to be the way I will go. www.lifeline-fire.co.uk

They offer two options in my book.

1. Zero 2000 foam based system.

2. Zero 360 gas based system.

(Click links to see the systems)

Both systems offer boot mounted cylinder with the 360 either stored pressure or remote charge piston option.

Price in my book is irrelevant, yes some may say well what are the chances of you being involved in a fire and why bother with that expense. All I say is that's not something I want to have to justify in future, either to my passengers family or at the pearly gates.

Next big question is which system to go for, the foam or gas? I've seen representation from knowledgeable quarters who say foam, as it has good capability at putting the fire out and keeping it out as it coats the area.

But I've also been advised by Lifeline that the gas system is definitely the best option as it has greater capability at knocking the fire down and putting it out.

I'm told the foam system needs to "see" the fire as the foam is directional so the nozzles need careful positioning, whereas the gas is not directional and floods the area ensuring good coverage.

So further investigation is required I think to make sure the gas system can cope with the open nature of the cob engine bay and how good is it at keeping the fire out.

Whichever system I go for it will be electrically operated and I want to have two dash mounted trigger switches, one easily reachable from each seat position. I'm thinking the flip top covered switch style.

Maybe also a key arm switch to select which switch is live, one for driver only, 2 for passenger and driver. I know the system comes with an off switch but I want to be able to add in a double check to make sure the system does not get accidentally triggered.

I may even add in some additional logic to make sure that the system cannot be armed if either of the two fire switches are in circuit and in the fire position, again more thought needed.

One final though was running the hard line up the chassis now before the body goes on, the gas system uses 8mm coated pipe and the foam 6mm. Either way its not something Id like to try and feed through the body at a later date, looking at Simons build pics (one attached below - hope he wont mind!) I think there will be enough room to feed the tube to a point above the roll bar mount and then couple in the final line from the boot once the body is on.

If you imagine the above picture from the other side without the fuel hose in place then I think the pipe should run through there OK, clipped in place over the mount and on to an inline joint level with the rear shock mount. A small protective cover can then be fashioned to keep the joint safe from road debris.

I think that's about it on this for now, more investigation is required into system suitability.

Gearbox cleaning

2009-02-21T21:39:00.004Z

Pretty much the final thing to do before the gearbox goes off to be reconditioned was to clean it up.

Having borrowed a pressure washer (thanks Malc) I set to with my trusted Marine Clean in the air powered sprayer.

The before pic...

With a fair bit of work the grime was removed and the box came up well.

I then refitted the shift mechanism as I have decided to leave the painting of the bracket until after the box has been rebuilt.

So that's as far as we go for the moment.

Hope to get the box off to gearboxman (see www.gearboxman.co.uk)within the next month.

Update: of course what I didnt realise is that the gearbox will be totally stripped and cleaned inside and out as part of the rebuild! Ah well al least it gave me something to do!

What I do need to do is confirm that POR15 metalready will not effect the sealant used to stick the cases back together. I need to do this as I want to use POR15 to paint the box when it comes back from being rebuilt. So I need to conduct a trial on the box as its stands and on some automotive sealant to see if it is effected by the sealant.

Shift Mechanism removal.

2009-02-11T20:38:00.006Z

One thing I can do to the box before its rebuilt is rebuild the shift mechanism. Its removal will also help with cleaning the box once the snow has melted outside!

So this is the offending piece.

First step was remove the bolt holding the lever to the actual selector rod.

At this point I made sure to take a picture to remind me where the special washer and insert went!

Next it was a case of undo all the bolts holding the bracket in place and remove the shift mechanism in one go. In the picture below I have replaced the bolts which double up in holding the gearbox together!

With the mechanism removed I figured out how to remove the spring retainer clip, tricky as it had no little lugs to use the normal c clip removal tool.

But it came out in the end, allowing removal of the shift lever assy.

With the assy removed the lower plastic cup could be inspected and later removed, I had hoped to replace these but as cant find part numbers for them I guess Ill just clean these up and reuse.

So thats all the bits laid out.

Assy housing CS lever, lower cup, spring coil, spring retainer, spring ring and Assy change speed lever with upper cup attached. (to quote correct Jag terms (apart from the cups!)

Next step will be to get the Nitro mors out again on the housing and paint it up, red VHT again!

Finally I looked closer at the lever to determine where I can cut it to mount an adapter block to allow me to mimic the Tremec mounting options and give me flexibility once the box is in the car.

I'm not going to be able to tell where the shifter will appear in the driving position until the box is in and the body is on, therefore with a more universal style fitting I can do what I need later on without having to remove the body to adjust the lever. So I've decided to get it modified now, possible even before the box goes fro rebuild. I may need to copy Simons copper pipe lever if that's the case!

Slip yoke.

2009-02-11T20:16:00.003Z

With the main gearbox rebuild still to be finalised I had some garage time available to me, so one of the jobs that I needed to do was to separate the slip yoke from the prop shaft.

The slip yoke is attached to the prop by a standard hardy spicer universal joint.

This is removed in the same manner as the rear driveshaft joints except this time round I have a press to make things easier, end result 5 minutes work and the slip yoke was free.

Next was to make it look a bit better, so a quick soak in my favourite "Marine Clean" to degrease followed by a healthy coating of nitro mors to remove the paint. A bit of work with some fine paper to remove the surface rust and the part is now ready to take a fresh coat of paint.

I'm not sure but I think its going to be VHT red engine enamel 1) to match the engine and 2) I've still got some left so I don't have to buy anything!!

Reverse update..

2009-01-18T14:48:00.004Z

Well it turns out the reverse gear selects with no problem at all, if you look in the right gate position!! I was trying to select it in right and back behind 5th when in fact its left and forward next to first!! Hey ho, you live an learn.

I did however find something which may be more concerning, upon removal of the magnetic drain plug there were a couple of teeth tips or bits of synchro clung on. I'm not sure what exactly they are, if they are left from a previous failure or what implications this could have.

So I have taken the decision to get the box rebuilt, I think its worth the extra cash. I'm hoping they wont find anything terribly amiss inside leading to an expensive bill!

I just need to sort out the logistics of getting the box over to the re builders (once I've sorted out just who is getting the job) and whether to paint all the bits first or wait until it comes back.

Moving forwards....and backwards....

2009-01-18T06:58:00.008Z

Literally! I took a step closer to getting this thing moving last week.

Following a discussion on the CRC I became aware that there were more options open to me with regards to a gearbox. I had always thought that the only way to go was with a new Tremec TKO 600 box, I always dismissed using a 2nd hand box as too fiddly to get working and too risky for reliability. However I have been enlightened as to the benefits of fitting a used Getrag box.

The first concern was ease of fitting. Well BAE are developing a bespoke bell housing for the 302 to mate with the Getrag box so thats that issue sorted.

My next issue was reliability. Well I am now informed that many people are driving around with more powerful engines than mine and are quite happy with a Getrag fitted. Most with only the front and rear seals having been replaced before fitting so that looks like not being an issue.

With this in mind I set out to find a suitable Getrag box from either a BMW or JAG, the JAG being the preferred box due to the gear ratios.

I had been advised via the CRC website that the ratios are as follows:

More on ratios later.

I was contacted by Pete in Bristol (fellow CRC member) who offered a box for sale and after an interesting morning discussing all things, and checking the gearbox apperaed OK, I drove aware with said box acquired.

All forward gears select OK but it currently wont lock into reverse, now some of that might be down to it having no oil in it and also that I don't fully know where reverse should be!

Before doing anything to the box I decided to re-visit ratios to make sure I was happy. I managed to find a copy of the Jag service manual for the 3.6 XJS from which I was informed the gearbox had originally been taken

I found that the ratios were slightly different to those I had been advised previously, ratios and speeds in red are for the Getrag 270 box which I believe this to be, unfortunately Getrag helpfully do not appear to mark this on the box anywhere!

(double click on image to see readable version!)

So plotting the various box options together I can see very little difference and hopefully little difference to driveability.

The box is in need of some work so my first job was to remove the bell housing. Four nuts undone and off it came.

Next up I will remove the metal work for stripping and painting, clean the box fully and then consider if I need to paint the gearbox casing.

First job though is to get some oil in it to soak things a bit. Then I need to replace the front and rear seals but Ill only do that once its soaked and I've managed to get reverse operational otherwise its a pro rebuild at £250 plus!

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T19:41:00.003Z

Well that's 2008 out of the way.

I'd be lying if I said that things had gone according to plan and I'd achieved what I wanted to on this build. By this stage I had hoped to have the engine/gearbox set up and mounted and most of the remaining chassis components in. But as usual life dealt another duff hand of cards and we've had to make the best of what we had with no progress on the car since June.

Hopefully, although I am far from confident, 2009 may be a bit better and I can take the closed sign down. In reality I think its staying up for a while longer yet.

Hope you had a good New Year, we had a laugh and my experiment in firework displays went off really well, if I can get a video done Ill post it up.

Thanks for watching..

More gauges

2008-11-27T19:16:00.001Z

Ah, some news.

have just spoken to Rick at Cubic performance, he says that the bezels screw on and off so are easy to remove and change. Looks like I may have found my answer. They also come without the Kirkham logo!

Still planning!

2008-11-27T18:53:00.007Z

Well you know I said that I could change my mind on things rather a lot, well I think I might have done it again!

Back to dash layout and gauges.

After Simon very kindly sent me a Turin shroud dash, I was able to transfer the layout onto a bit of MDF.

I then set about making some rather fetching gauges, indicator lights and switches using Autometer pictures and powerpoint drawing tool! End result a life size dash and hardware that I can fiddle around with as I like.

Now Autometer sell two sizes of speedo and tach, one at 127mm and one at 85ish. Anyway one is smaller than normal UK sourced gauges and one bigger.

Heres the small ones.

And the large ones.

Upshot, don't think I like either! And I need to paint the floor again!!

So the hunt continues for full sweep electrical gauges that I like with decent through the dial lighting.

Enter Kirkham http://www.thomaskirkham.com/gauges.html

Now these I like, classic design, full electric transducers and good through dial lighting, oh and °C temperature measurements. Just need to find out if its possible to change the bezel to something a little more IVA (note the change there from SVA) friendly.

Back to Electrics...

2008-10-04T11:26:00.006+01:00

Some time ago I posted up regarding the Isquared 1+1 system designed to make wiring easier by replacing masses of cabling. Well at the time I mentioned that the system was due to be upgraded to the ISIS system. Finally the first units have been shipped out and the ISIS website www.isispower.com is up and running.

Here is a pic of the 2 Powercell system from the user manual followed by a close up of the first units delivered to a Factory Five Cobra builder in the US. The close up system also has the optional RF link module (remote) and LCD diag display fitted.

This really is the next step up, all that is required is to run a CAN cable and main power cable from front to back of the car. All functions are controlled via CAN messages and as such the system can be programmed to respond how you want.

All trigger switching is at low voltage, 5v, signal level to ground. So each dash switch will have ground connected to one side and its output into the Mastercell. Given that GD switch full system current through the ignition switch this is something I am much happier with. Im sure the Vauxhall ignition switch can cope but not having high current floating around my dash is something I like much more.

More details to follow after Ive been to the post office. Nothing to do with this, just need to get there before they close!

Right, parcel posted.

Each input can relate to one or more outputs and conversely many inputs can control one output. So for instance if the fog light must only come on when the side lights are on you just set a relationship such that both input must be on for the output to be active.

This is set up using characteristic's called relationships and personalities;
Relationship describes how the input put relates to the output for example One to One for one input to one output or on to many for 2 inputs required to trigger one output.

Personalities describe how the output functions. Track for instance follows the input state whilst toggle changes state for each change of input state (momentary input switch gives latching output)

Slowly I've gone through and mapped out all the circuits I can think of and decided how to connect them up, how they should function and assigned personalities and relationships. Boy do I know how to have fun!

I figure on 3 Powercells to sort the GD, I know its going to be more expensive than buying the GD looms but on the upside its more fun, a bit more modern and hopefully easier. Also I figured the GD is a modern interpretation of a classic brought up to date, why leave the wiring in the 1960's?

This will give some other advantages as well;

1) The ability to turn on any circuit I want from the remote key fob. (lights for example to help find the car in a row of others)
2) Timed functions such as rad fans that can remain powered for a period after ignition off.
3) Ignition and starter circuit will be disabled until the key fob is pressed or similar security feature enabled.

Another thing as well, if I decide that I dont ike the programming, it can be change in situ so a switch function can be re assigned without taking anything apart.

Im liking this the more I look at it, at least Ive figured it out now before buying any looms.

Tranmission selection.

2008-09-27T16:44:00.009+01:00

Don't get too excited, there's still limited possibility of actually being able to get things moving again, however I thought I would document the choice of transmission.

Like most I've opted for the Tremec TKO box.

With this I have a choice of torque capabilities and 5th gear ratio.

To help decide which one to go for I put each option into excel and a little motormath program I found on the internet.

With the wheel and tyres sizes from GD and the 3.07 diff I have I was able to figure out the following results.

So I settled on the TKO 600 with the 0.82 5th, a chat with Andy at GD confirmed my choice as a good one. I should be able to cruise nicely but be in a good position on the torque curve should I wish to get things moving without constantly having to mash the gears.

I will be sourcing the complete kit, minus flywheel and bolts, from Repower, spoke to them and found out that the only draw back is that prices on Tremec missions is increasing due to raw material price rises. Looks like I've got to budget a bit more now, never mind.

One thing I have decided is I must have a smooth aluminium shift knob, my Type R has one and it feels really nice in the palm of you hand, strange but true!

2008-08-06T09:03:00.000+01:00

For the foreseeable future.

Slow going..

2008-07-22T22:20:00.003+01:00

Apologies for lack of updates, this is directly proportional to the progress made in the garage.

Since my last post I have now sealed the sump on hopefully for the last time and set the engine down in its cradle. Not a great deal of point adding a picture of that!

So next step is to prep it for storage as its going to be a quite a while before I can stretch to a gearbox and bell housing. (thats another story which I may tell one day).

To lay it up Ive purchased many litres of oil (35!) and a bottle of Engine Guard vapour inhibitor. The plan is to fill the engine pretty much up with oil and then add the Engine Guard to protect the bits not submersed in oil.

So that's going to be it for a while I'm afraid, at least Im not having to sell it, yet.

Leak Repair 2.

2008-06-01T17:27:00.004+01:00

OK, so on to leak repair No.2, the rear main seal.

With oil confirmed as leaking out of the rear main seal there was nothing for it other than taking it apart again. The sump came off with a little more resistances this time telling me that Id made a good seal last time.

The main cap was removed and seal inspected, nothing immediately showed up and the crank looked in good nick. I did notice some black crud on the crank, but wasn't sure what it was at that stage.

Reviewing the photo I took showed that the flag on the seal was stressed and had started to break up, I also perceived I saw something on the actual sealing lip.

Removing the block side seal gave further clues, the flag was missing.

Using a feeler gauge I cleared out whatever was between the crank and block, basically bits of melted seal flag. Some of the bits had been engine side so had obviously travelled over the seal lip.

The crank was cleaned and a new seal fitted, this time with the flags removed! Seal clocked to separate block/cap join and seal join and a small dab of silicone on the block before the cap went down.

Job done, now to scrap off all the old sealant ready for sump install No. 3!!

2nd Dyno Day.

2008-05-31T19:08:00.004+01:00

Tim very kindly offered to put the motor back on the dyno to run out the water from the engine. So this time father in law accompanied me on the trip to Market Drayton.

All went well this time, fired up straight away again and started to steam as it ran, but this time no more water entered the oil and it gradually cleaned out. Each check of the stick showed less water and clean oil, great news.

Also picked up a few more horses and torques on the way making 336bhp and 330 ft/lbs. Wahey!

However as always the good bad balance was restored when an oil leak started at the rear main seal area.

With the engine off it looked initially like the flywheel bolts might be to blame but after getting the motor home and filling it with oil to store it the leak was clearly evident. So this is why the next post will be called Leak repair 2. See I told I knew why the first one was called 1!!

Any how I did get some video of the engine on a run with me in the dyno cell, its in this short video I put together to show the family what I've been up to.

Enjoy..

Leak Repair 1.

2008-05-31T18:41:00.007+01:00

It says Leak Repair 1 because I'm writing this retrospectively and know what's coming next!

Well I put the engine stand back up and set about finding out where the water leak came from, first off it was evident that the final run really mixed things up.

Obvious candidate was the intake to head seals so off came the top end. All looked OK with no obvious path for water to have made it to my oil. Looking on www.Ford uscle.com I found others talking of oil leaks caused by poor head gaskets, and in particular the Mr Gasket's that I had used. The oil leak in question matched the slight leak which had developed on both heads during the dyno runs. So I travelled further down and removed the first head. What I found was not pretty, the entire deck surface was wet and there was obvious signs of combustion gasses leaking over the cylinder seals.

It looks like the water had found its way under the gaskets and into the oil drain back holes, a slow leak at first which just got worse.

So I purchased some nice new Fel Pro gaskets which just looked better, clear sealing material on both sides in all the right places.

With those in place I set about cleaning the heads and intake of old silicone, what a job! Any way eventually it was all clean and I could re-assemble.

As well as the water leak my sump was leaking oil as well so that came off and what do you know, Mr Gasket had let me down again. This time the Ultraseal one piece gaskets just didn't do the job.

So again new Fel Pro gaskets were used (thanks Tim) with plenty of sealant.

So it was all fixed and ready to be tested again.

Andy goes to the dyno....

2008-04-28T21:34:00.008+01:00

Well the day finally came to go to the dyno.

With the engine strapped firmly to my home made stand I hoisted it into the trailer and fitted my carefully engineered bits of pallet to jam it in place. A couple more ratchet straps to hold it down and with a bit of luck it wont go bouncing off down the road!

I loaded all the other bits like starter, flywheel, ignition system and ari cleaner into the boot, strapped dad in the front seat and off we went.

After a fairly uneventfull 57 mph 2 hour trip up to Market Drayton we arrived and were met by Tim Adams.

During this build I have visited 4 key places, Henwick garage to buy the engine, John Gordons to buy the running gear, GD to buy the kit and now Tim to dyno the engine. The one thing that's common to all of them was the feeling you get when you walk in, they all felt right as if you could tell that they all knew what they were talking about before they said a word.

Anyway after a bit of a chat about business and what Tim does we unloaded the engine and headed for the dyno, and there it was like some macabre instrument of engine torture!

Tim set to work and after about an hours fiddling we were ready to go.

As you can see in the video I was astounded when it fired up on the third turn of the crank, Tim took it straight to 2,500 rpm and it sat there for 30 minutes breaking the cam in.

So we had water in the oil, not so good.

Mayonnaise with your lunch anyone?

We cleaned the worst of it out at this stage thinking t could be condensation and pressed on to jet the carb, heres what one looks like without a lid!

With it jetted correctly Tim was happy with the figures he was seeing. We decided not to play with the timing anymore so I could run on regular unleaded.

Still 331 BHP and 324 torque isnt going to slouch along!

Thanks goes to Tim for a great day out and all his help in trying to figure out what went wrong, taking the leak aside I am really happy with the way it fired up so easily and it idles nicely at 920 rpm. Tim says this is mostly due to Bassets Down's balancing work as its so smooth.

Now all I have to do is fix that leak!

Handbrake fixed.

2008-04-25T17:00:00.000+01:00

After receiving a replacement cable from GD I modified and fitted this one with much greater success. So I now have working handbrake which will be useful when moving the chassis outside as the driveway slopes away from the garage!

Electrickery.

2008-04-21T19:50:00.005+01:00

In the past I have seriously considered looking at the whole harness and wiring issue a little differently to what most people opt for.

The standard, and some might say tried and tested way, is to use relays to switch high current loads thus avoiding the need for high current capacity switches on the dashboard. In addition you will also find standard loom design requiring heavy capacity wires running from the relays to the front and rear of the vehicle to power the loads.

In the mass pro sector we use CAN bus, this system uses a messaging system from system ECU's to communicate with the central power distribution point so you no longer need a switch on the dash board that is capable of handling high currents. For example the heater control tells the heater fan to turn on using a message instead of actually switching the motor current in and out itself.

Anyway finally this type of technology has made it into the kit car world and the first unit which caught my eye was the Isquared 1+1 system on offer from www.isqe.com it does not appear to be what I would call a CAN system as it uses a single control module to a remote power distribution or smart fuse box. No relays here all switching via MOSFET's.

These images have been copied from another build site I found on the net:

http://home.comcast.net/~289fia_cobra/index.htm

After emailing Chris at ISquared I am now informed of a newer system called ISIS manufactured by Littlefuse which works more along the true CAN idea of a master controller connected to multiple sub power modules.

Each power module can control up to 10 loads. With this system the harness going from the front to the back of the car could consist of just +12V, Ground, the CAN lines (usually 2 wires in a twisted pair format) and any sender lines you may have. This instead of the normal tree trunk harness.

So for a Cobra you would most likely need 1 master module in the front and one power module at the back. No relays again.

So that's got me thinking again. Obviously I need to understand prices of both systems but I am warming to the idea, certainly with the 1+1 system fault finding will be so much easier as you can tell if the switch is working by checking the function LED on the power module.

Again watch this space, I may well change my mind totally and stick with the old ways or maybe not.....

Handbrake.

2008-04-21T19:18:00.005+01:00

Having rebuilt the handbrake mechanism the final part of that particular jigsaw was getting the cable to fit. So first up a slot was requires in the handbrake itself, this was allows the cable to pass through.

Next up the shoulders of the cable ring end need to removed to allow the ring to pass through the handbrake lever.

A job easily accomplished with a Dremel, I was surprised at just how good my wife's cordless Dremel is, Ill be borrowing that a bit more I think!

With those mods made the cable could be assembled to the handbrake lever, and the other end assembled into the handbrake levers at the diff.

Oh, it was going so well. Whatever I tried I could not get sufficient tension on the cable, with the adjuster nut wound right out there is just enough to apply the brakes. You can still roll the chassis forward though so that's not much use!

This sequence helps explain it. With the nut wound right in and up against the handbrake frame you can see how far the top hat section sticks out the end of the lever. With the top hat pushed home you can see how far the adjuster nut needs to be wound out.

After a call to Simon (cheers mate!) we concluded that there must be something wrong, either the cable inner is too long or the cable outer is too short or a mix of both!

I called Andy at GD and the cable was dispatched on Saturday to them for analysis and replacement.

Watch this space.....

Fuel line fixed.

2008-03-30T16:44:00.003+01:00

Last little job for the day was fixing the fuel line at the rear.

Done.

Nothing I can really do now until the engine is run up and the gearbox purchased. Funds building very slowly so maybe a few months before anything else gets ordered.

Dyno booked for 26th April.

Handbrake

2008-03-30T16:33:00.008+01:00

Really running out of things to do now so I thought Id have ago at the handbrake.

Didn't cost me much from a local breakers, now where near the £140 new price anyway. Draw back was that it needed a bit of a clean up. It still had the factory part sticker on it!

With the grip removed I completely stripped the unit down and cleaned all parts ready for re-assembly, it came up quite well.

I had thought I would need to replace the pawl release spring (in the handle) as it was very stiff before but luckily after cleaning and lubricating with silicone spray it works well.

The whole thing was reassembled using copper grease, whether this is right or wrong I don't know but I figured it could only help.

That looks a bit better.

I'm not sure what to do about the grip, I like the clean look of the plain chrome however as it was not intended to be seen its got a couple of notches cut in it. My plastic grip is a bit worn so I could just buy a new one or come up with something a bit different, plenty of time to think about that anyway.

Handbrake springs

2008-03-29T20:00:00.002Z

With the brake lines in my list of things to do was getting shorter, so next up was fitting the two handbrake return springs.

Shamelessly copying Simon's method I fixed two rivnuts to the chassis, cavity waved the holes and installed the springs.

Another job finished.

Do you know the blogger interface really does not like Internet Explorer!

Rear Brake pipes conpleted.

2008-03-29T17:00:00.007Z

With my new roll of pipe, flaring tool and a rough idea of what I wanted to do I set about tackling that little pipe link from the T splitter to the rear calliper.

1st step was to get repeatable results from the flaring tool, I worked out that about 1mm protruding above the tool gave a good result whereas the instructions advised 0.5mm.

After a few practice runs I settled on using a double flare instead of a single flare. To me it looked more like the GD supplied pipes with their universal flares and it looked to be more robust than the single flare.

With the pipe cut to length and both fittings attached I was able to start bending, well it took three attempts to get a pipe that fitted. Each time I made up a new pipe and had another go.

The end result clears the cable and lever well and only time will tell if its routing will cause and problems with bits to be fitted in the future.

What I did notice when doing this is that handbrake levers are lower than those I have seen in other build pictures, this is what caused me the most trouble during this pipe work as I couldn't get a tight enough bend out of the calliper.

Anyway I found that things were not as they seemed, after completing this pipe work I realised that the levers could move up hence increasing the clearance I have achieved in the picture above.

All being well that's that job done.

Transmission choice.

2008-03-28T16:18:00.004Z

Whilst discussing my brake pipe woes with GD I also raised the which gearbox question. With the wheel and tyre sizes fixed at 18" rims with 275 40's on the back I was able to figure out the transmission ratio that would best suit. Looking at 30mph per 1000 rpm in top I got the following using the TKO600 with the 0.82 5th ratio.

And 5000rpm

The TKO 500 and 600 with 0.68 & 0.64 5th's respectively gave too short a 1st and a massive theoretical top speed in 5th.

Ill run this by Andy at GD before committing though especially as the TKO 600 is more expensive than the 500.

Quiet Month

2008-03-24T16:16:00.004Z

Been a bit of a quiet month in the garage with no real progress.

I set about fitting the two rear calliper feeds from the union, the less said about that the better. Suffice to say I now have a coil of kunifer pipe and a new end fitting on order, at least this way I can now faff about with it as much as I like until I'm really happy with it. This also gives me the opportunity to remake one of the front pipes that I was not happy with.

Left side fitted. Needs to be done again I think as its too close to the cable.

Right side, kinked it whilst bending! Is knackered.

Had a quick chat to someone at GD, didn't get his name that's not too good! Anyway was advised to use a 1" mandrel to make the initial bend out of the calliper, that should stop the pipe collapsing.

New roll of pipe and new fitting arrived so ready to give it a go this weekend.

Throttle Bracket & Return Springs.

2008-02-10T18:53:00.000Z

After looking around for a solution for the throttle return springs I eventually wound up at Jegs. So one internet order later I an the happy owner of a Jegs throttle bracket with return springs.
Ordered it on Tuesday, arrived on Thursday. Cost $78 delivery buts that's quick! (Jegs only ship by FedEx which is not the cheapest)

Step 1.
Remove existing studs and replace with 2" ones. Ive only changed the two on the side of the bracket.

Step 2.
Fit bracket and tighten nuts.

Step 3.
Fit return spring attachment to carb linkage.

Job done until I get the throttle cable and sort the end out.

Mind Change on Gauges.

2008-02-04T19:30:00.002Z

Well I knew it wouldnt last, me sticking with an idea, not a regular occurrence round here!

It all started when I was stuck in traffic the other day and a Golf pulled up with bright blue illumination from the stereo and dash. I looked over and thought thats a bit "chav", then I realised that was what I was going to do to my GD. Further to that I have recently become aware that I struggle to read text with bright blue illumination so choosing gauges with bright blue text is not such a hot idea.

I still wanted to use autometer as I like their style and reputation for reliability, I also realised I liked gauges with through dial illumination in white, just like my 2008MY CRV. So after hunting through the range I identified Sport Comp II.

And illuminated.

Same gauge line up as before:

Full Sweep.

Half Sweep.

So lets see how long I stick with these!!

Start of another Year.

2008-01-19T14:09:00.000Z

Happy New Year!

Well all being well 2008 should be a bit better than 07. We had my parents surprise 40th Wedding aniversary party last weekend and that went really well. Hope it continues.

Not much progress so far in 08 although I have hopefully sourced the required bolt for the ACG bracket from http://www.mmsacc-stainless.com/ in the States. I needed a 5/16-18 cap head (allen key) bolt at 4 1/2", could I buy one in the UK, could I heck! The bolt is ordered, it's just a case of wait for it to arrive!

I've also ordered the remaining bits to hopefully seal up the oil gallery before taking the engine to the dyno, all being well Febuary should see her fired up for the first time.

Sparky time.

2007-12-22T08:00:00.000Z

With fuel sorted and the carb to mix in the air the final bit needed for the bang is the ignition wires (this isn't a diesel!).

Having already laid them in to find the right wire for each pot I set about fitting the ends.

The sequence is this:

1. Cut to length.

2. Use strip tool supplied to strip insulation away.

Clever tool this, you just twist it until 9mm of wire pokes out the end, then grip the wire to stop it going through to toll and twist a couple more turns. Pull and off come the insulation.

3. Fold over core and crimp on terminal. (Fold down terminal ears with long nose pliers)

4. Apply silicone lube and slip on boot.

5. Fit to distributor cap.

6. Repeat for all remaining leads.

7. Apply air cleaner with Ford wing nut and stand back to admire tidy wire layout on nearly finished engine.

This however is where it went a bit wrong.

Whilst fixing the wires I followed good old Tom's book, what I didn't check was what I was doing!
I followed the instructions for the HEI ignition module used by Ford, this does not connect the wires in the firing order as the dizzy rotor turns, therefore my firing order is now wrong!

Thinking about it logically I would have realised that something was not right but I was too eager to get it finished, in future I need to think a bit more first!

Luckily for me Ive only had to move four wires around but it has mucked up my tidy layout, still cant be helped. (picture to follow).

Engine Fuel system.

2007-12-22T07:00:00.000Z

With a final push the engine is now nearly completed.

First off the fitted drive belt looks nice, I prefer the appearance of the poly-V belt over the standard V belt setup. Just looks more chunky!

Next I fitted the fuel pump, here you can see the block off in the bottom holes as I checked they fitted in all four of the outlet holes.

With the blocks offs moved to the side ports, JIC adapters fitted to the inlet & outlet, sealant on both gasket faces and assembly lube on the arm, I installed the pump to the block with a little persuasion.

Now I can connect the fuel lines without interfering with the oil filter take off or water hose.

Next I turned to the fuel lines to complete this side of the job.

After thinking about it I decided to install a filter in the engine bay as well as the boot, this gives double protection and means that the engine is protected when it goes to the dyno. A suitable Summit filter was obtained, with removable element, in a nice red colour of course!

The Aeroquip hose is a "simple" push fit, I say "simple" as its Bl$$dy hard!

1. Measure and cut hose.
2. Choose correct fitting. (fell down here as I fitted two 90° bends first out!!)
3. Lube inside of hose with oil.
4. Push fitting into hose until it bottoms out on the flange.
5. Try to pull hose off (no chance!)

Anyway the link to the in line filter was done with much swearing (the scar has only just faded on my palm!)

Same exercise was carried out once the filter was fitted from the filter to the fuel pump. Following images I have seen from other engine builds I routed my fuel pump under the water neck to keep things tidy. Time will tell if this is a problem but I don't think the water neck is going to exceed the 150°C rating of the hose.

Whilst fiddling with the fuel lines I remembered the choke on the carb. I don't plan to use the choke but have decided not to remove its parts. So as compromise I will hold it open with a spring. To do this I need somewhere to hook said spring.

I located a suitable drilling on the carb, taped it and added a bolt. Done.

With a spring from the brass colour lever you can just see on the left of this picture to the bolt my choke should remain open.

That's it for today.

Drive belt woes...

2007-11-27T20:30:00.000Z

Well as promised the new drive belt arrived on Monday, was fitted Monday night and removed again straight away. Its too long! Looks like I measured up wrong, so I tried again and this time came out with a figure 1" shorter than previous.

Checking the Medway catalogue identified the next belt down so I ordered one. It arrived and fits nicely.

End of problem. Now I have a spare belt 1" too long for my application. Never mind, just remember measure twice buy once!

Bypass hose & Ignition wires.

2007-11-17T12:20:00.000Z

Following Simon's advice and good experience with www.performancesiliconehoses.com (PSH) I ordered a 90° 16mm bend for the thermostat bypass hose. This I thought would look better than the usual black rubber effort. Expecting the stated 3-4 week delivery I was surprised that it pitched up after 1 week. Looks good.

After a bit of cutting about it fits nicely and is finished off with stainless band clamps. I'm still wondering if I can get some red ones, I know Revotech used to sell them but I cant see them on their website so a phone call is needed.

Next up I fitted the distributor in so that I can measure out for the ignition wires. The dizzy will stay loose until the engine has been timed up on Tim Adams dyno.

The wires were they sorted by length and fitted into the cable holders on the engine.

With every new bit added its really starting to look good.

My latest order from Summit arrived within 1 week of shipping, great stuff and with no import or VAT to pay! (Cue bill through the post!!) So I could fit the fuel pump base. The next bit is going to be interesting as I have to operate the level to full stroke whilst doing up the 10 perimeter bolts to 25 ft/lb's with a hex key! Calibrated wrist required here I think.

Continuing on the fuel side I also fitted the rigid line to JIC adapter, after cutting down the 3/8"" hard fuel line the adapter would not fit over so very careful adjustment to the pipe OD was carried out using a fine paper.

After about an hour and a minor amount of RSI I was able to fit the compression fitting and ferrule, apply loctite 577 fuel safe thread sealer and fir the -6 JIC to -6 JIC steel adapter.

What Ive just realised is I now need to buy a steel JIC push fit fitting to avoid Galvanic corrosion issues by using aluminium and steel fittings at the same joint.

One final thing done today was to measure up for the drive belt. I needed a 44 1/2" belt to be spot on, so after looking around I was enlightened by Happy Jim of the CRC to www.medwaypt.co.uk from whom Ive ordered a 1146K/06. This is a 1146mm (45.10") 3.56mm pitch 6 rib belt, all being well it should arrive on Monday.

That's it for today.

Plumbing bits.

2007-11-08T19:20:00.000Z

A few nice bits from Think Auto arrived recently:

Oil system including take off plate and remote filter mount. Fittings and sensor adapters (need more of those!).

Fuel system including fittings and pipe also to be used for PCV.

First problem encountered as I purchased the hose finishes for -6 pipe not realising that this -6 pipe has a larger OD, therefore I need the finishers for the -8 pipe! Another order beckons!
Next problem found when trying to make the fuel pump fit. Due to the length of the fittings I either foul the oil filter take off or the water outlet.

So a quick hunt on the Edelbrock site identified a bottom feed adapter plate which is now on its way from the US along with the required fittings.

Topping out!

2007-10-12T20:36:00.000+01:00

After a visit to my local bolt suppliers, Wessex Fastners in Swindon, I was able to bolt a few more parts on.

First up the valve covers.

Thats looking better.

Next add 1 x carb.

But dont foget to seal up a few holes.

Finally finish off with a nice new air cleaner assembly.

Its all got to come off again to check various things but I couldnt resist mocking it up.

The next thing on the list is plumbing after I ordered most of the bits I needed from Think Automotive today (very helpful) and I also need a new ACG fan and belt to complete the front.

A bit more on the engine.

2007-10-08T19:54:00.000+01:00

Not much done tonight as Im running out of things I can do before I get some more bits and more importantly bolts.

Ive now fitted the painted dipstick support tube. Looks alright I think.

And in a similar vein the ACG bracket and spacers.

This also gives some indication as to why the dipstick tube needed to be modified.

This posting interface is really having trouble!

Thats its for tonight, need bolts for the top ACG bracket support, the tension bar support and the valve covers to move on now.

More engine work.

2007-10-07T17:18:00.000+01:00

Back from Japan now and finally getting this blog up to date.

With the chassis rolling I could move it out of the way and get the engine back up on the stand to finish it off.

First up was to sort out the dipstick tube and get that fitted. I trial fitted the ACG and found that the dipstick was trying to pass right through the center of the ACG, no good.

This is because the ACG is supposed to go low on the Ford 302, but due to the steering link bar location it has to go high.

So a fair bit of gentle bending was needed to get the dipstick tube to route another way. But its done and I managed to make a suitable spacer up from one of the ACG bracket spacer off cuts.

All that remains to do is paint it red to match the block and hide the marks on it where it slipped in the vice.

Ive also prepared the ACG bracket spacers for painting and will post up some pictures once they are on the engine.

Next up I figured it was time to set the valve train up so following Tom Monroes book I set the crank up at TDC with No.1 on the ignition stroke. (both valves closed piston at TDC).

In this position a number of the valves could be adjusted, this indexing method saves having to do each valve individually.

Then once the correct valves have been done you rotate the crank 180° and do some more valves and finally another 270° and adjust the final valves.

Here's No.5 inlet is being adjusted (I think it's the inlet!). Basically you tighten the nut down until the push rod just stops turning, then tighten 3/4 of a turn more and lock down the allen grub screw. The 3/4 of a turn puts the correct pre-load on the lifter.

With all valves adjusted the valve train looks like this.

Next job is to fit the ACG bracket and ACG, I cant fit the ACG March pulley as I need a new March fan. The Powermaster fan and pulley are of visibly poorer quality when compared to the March items, I had the March pulley as part of the kit so it felt bad leaving it off. Once I have the fan I can figure the belt length and order that. So more money needs to be spent!

Front Setup.

2007-10-07T16:21:00.000+01:00

With the rear sorted I turned my attention to the front. First up the front camber.

I had followed GD's video and used a 1/4" spacer at the top wishbone mount. When measured this proved to give slight +ve camber.

So I removed the 1/4" spacer and changed for 2x2mm spacers giving 4mm. This gave me a slightly better result and I had negative camber.

Correct camber is 0 - 1° negative, so Im going to leave at this for now.

With camber sorted I figured caster should be next so again I used a tip from Simon's build and also used his caster template.

Here I figure I have about 4.5° caster, GD manual say about 4° so I will see how I go with 4.5°.

Happily the other side was the same.

With camber and caster sorted I moved on to set the front toe. Step one center the rack by following GD's rotation and count method. No problem there.

Then clamp a 1m length of angle to each disc.

Measure the distance at front of the angle and then at the rear, rear minus front equals toe in.

After a bit of rotation of the tie rods I managed to get the toe within the required range of 0 - 1.5mm overal. My actual measurement is 0.812mm.

I noticed whilst doing this that the toe was changing oddly as I rotated the tie rods, after a bit of head scratching and a call to Simon we settled on the rack moving. So to stop this I inserted the steering rod to the rack UJ and clamped it down. Problem solved.

So thats the toe correct but which way are my wheels pointing. So to find out I clamped the laser level to the front disc and aimed it at the angle which was clamped over the rear axle with the chassis centerline marks aligned.

I could then mark off the front wheel alignment on each side and measure the distance between the two laser marks. The center of these two laser marks was plotted on the bar and the distance from this new centerline to the chassis center line was measured giving the aligment "error".

I then decided the best way for me to bring the alignment true was to divide the error by 2 and one one side add this distance to my plotted point and on the other side deduct it from the plotted point. Hnce giving me two Target points for the laser marks.

On the picture below S is the firts plotted point and T2 is my target for the alignment to be correct. (T is the first attempt were I went a bit wrong!!)

So all I did was wind the two tie rods until my laser lined up on the T2 points.

I rechecked the front toe and it was spot on so, all wheels pointing the correct way with front and rear toe in correct.

The final thing to set was the bump steer. Again GD's method was followed and a 1m bar placed on the floor under the one on the disc.

Here we are at "ride height" the floor bar corrected to be level with the disc bar.

Going through the full range I noticed a slight bump steer effect in full bump.

Measuring the actual range that this effect started to take place shows it to be over the last 1/2 to 1" of travel. I attempted to resolve the bump steer by moving the rack but I could not eliminate it as my rack was already at its maximum adjustment position. If this becomes a problem on the road Ill reset the steering with the rack in the mid position to give some adjustment.

So Im happy thats all sorted. I fitted the final two wheels and rolled it out into the sun for the first time!(Blogspot posting system is really screwed today, each picture I insert adds about 5 carriage returns to each line of the post!)

Rear wheels on the wagon.

2007-10-07T06:47:00.000+01:00

With the axle finally sorted I could bolt on the shocks, no major problems here apart from not being able to use the new washers I purchased as they fouled the shock adjusters!

So I used a couple of suitable washers instead.

For the top it is clear that washers are required to space the shock in the mount.

So suitable washers purchased and fitted.

For the rear most mount I have left the bolt lose as this will be replaced with a longer bolt when the roll bars are obtained, I must say it would be significantly more helpful if GD supplied the roll bar bracket with the chassis. After all Ive had the mounts fitted to the chassis so why not supply the brackets to fit now?

Simply repeat on the other side, fit the road wheel and lower to the floor for the first time. Wahey!

Another job done!

Formats a bit naff on this post as blogger appear to be having issues, I cant sort it out.

Axle finally in place.

2007-10-01T03:08:00.000+01:00

Again a long time since the last update and again this one will be a work in progress as all my pictures are about 6000 miles away. Its 3 a.m and Ive nothing better to do as I cant sleep on my first night in Japan, I'm here on business for 4 days.

One thing that's struck me already is how well organised everything is, its clean, tidy and the trains run bang on time.

Back to what this site is really about.

Well we left off with the axle built up finally and ready to fit the chassis back on, happy to say that fitting the chassis 2nd time round was much easier once I knew the order to fit it in. I also found that by setting the front of the chassis at the right height enabled the diff carrier bolts to line up much better than last time. With all bolts in I set up the measurement from scratch again and found that the N/S now toed out!

Most annoying! So I measured again to make sure ans sure enough something must have changed when putting it bacl together. So there was only one thing for it, I'd have to adjust the shims with the axle in place.

With the chassis jacked up I was able to withdraw the lower pivot shaft to the rear of the car and following Simons advice I used an old bolt wrapped in masking tape to stop any washers shifting out of place.

With pivot shaft removed I could easily cu the lock wire away.

Undo the bolts and adjust the shimming, I removed teh N/S front shim and did the bolts back up. Put it all back together and remeasured to toe. Horrah! it was within the required vales and gave me a final setting of N/S toe in 0.26mm, O/S toe in 0.54mm giving total toe 0.79mm with a thrust of 0.7mm to the N/S.

So I jacked it up and removed the pivot shaft again so I could lock wire the pivot bracket bolts.

And put it all back to gether properly. Crossed fingers and remeasured, no change!

Job done!

Final axle assembly.

2007-08-27T07:20:00.000+01:00

With the shimming sorted the axle can now be finally assembled. The axle was stripped down again and the diff put back up on the bench, I started by lock wiring the pivot bracket bolts. I'm fairly happy with my first attempt at lock wiring.

Next on the disc shims and disc's.

Followed by the caliper's.

Cross Pipes and hand brake calipers next.

Hand brake pads set as per Haynes manual instructions.

Finally the main pads go in and thats that, diff assembly completed.

I'm rather pleased with that!

The diff was then put back on its 8" blocks on the floor as it would get too heavy for teh work bench from here on in.

The axle was built back up again starting with the lower arms and this time putting the bearing together with grease. Ive documented the last bearing going together as it was a lot easier taking pictures with the arms held in place on the diff!

Step 1
Bearing tube is in

Step 2
Inner thrust washer goes on with grease.

Step3
Seal fits over the inner thrust washer.

Step4
Seal retainer goes over the seal

Step 5
Outer thrust washer fits over the lot.

Thats it, do that 8 times and after a bit of juggling the pivot shafts can be tapped through not forgetting the spacer tube!

Then on go the GD brackets, hub (with shim's) and drive shaft assemblies.

Just to remember what it looked like when purchased on the 3rd November 2003!

And now the finished article.

I'm a bit chuffed with that!

Bit of an update

2007-08-26T20:33:00.000+01:00

Well its been a while since Ive updated this blog, I have been doing things but have neglected to keep this updated. So here goes at an update.

As I left it the rear axle was temporarily assembled ready to check the toe and thrust so I decided that measuring the toe in on the floor wasnt really worth it, Id have to measure it again on chassis anyway.

First off before fitting the axle I marked the center of the chassis at the front and the back and then stretched a string line between the two points.

I then positioned the chassis over the axle and attempted to bolt it up, here I found out why GD recommend fitting the rear axle first before the front, it makes the chassis a whole lot lighter!!

With a lot of battling the axle was bolted in and I could start to measure up.

Here again I saw no reason the reinvent the wheel, so I followed Simons measurement method as described on his blog. Theres no need for me to go into it here, if you want to know how its done see the link to Simons build in the Links section and look under running gear.

Anyway the initial results were not too bad I had toe out. So I jacked up the chassis and fitted shims in situ, now here I saw the benefit of not fully assembling the axle, I could undo the pivot bracket bolts and add shims without removing the inner pivot shafts.

Working on the O/S first I adjust the front shimming from 12 thou to 7 thou and remeasured, the O/S now toed in by 0.22mm So onto the N/S and again adjusted the front to 7 thou, remeasured and obtained 0.30mm toe in.

Simply all I had to do now was drop the axle out and fully assemble it for final fittment. Simple he says!!

Rear end assembly.

2007-07-22T18:48:00.000+01:00

With a full day in the garage at my disposal I decided to carry on with the rear end trial assembly. My aim is to build it all up as it will be, set camber, toe and thrust and then remove the axle from the chassis. Then I can strip it back down again to finally assemble it with correct torques and lock wire.

Having mounted the diff. 8" off the floor I proceeded to mount the first lower arm, this fairly easy with care being required to stop the inner bearing tube popping out of the small thrust washer.

The other side proved more of an issue however. The bearing tube refused to go into the bearing, both side of the wishbone were the same with either of the two remaining tubes.

This is not what I need! So after a bit of head scratching I realised whatever happened those bearings had to come out so I carefully removed the bearings again.

With the bearings out the tubes fitted easily so the problem must be the bearing journal crushing the bearing down, on closer inspection the problem became apparent.

I have failed to clean all of the POR15 from the casting, hence this small amount was reducing the ID by enough to crush the bearing and prevent the tube from fitting. Out came the paint stripper again and after a fair bit of work on both side I was happy the paint was gone. Of course this involved removing the grease nipples and cleaning it all again.

With the bearing tubes now nicely fitted I applied the inner thrust washer before offering up to the pivot bracket. Ill get more pictures of the bearing setup at final assembly time.

So both lower wishbones now on and 2 3" fence post sections placed under the end as per GD's instructions. You can see in the picture that Ive fitted the GD carrier brackets and torqued up the pivot shaft nuts with plenty of washers to protect the nylon section of the nyloc.

In this picture you can just see the hub and drive shaft assembly, these I pre-assembled for both sides.

Here's everything ready to go.

Two things not to forget, the wheel bearing shim which came with the hub and the seal track.

With loctite on the splines the drive shaft dropped easily into the hub, apply new washer and nut and torque to 100 lbft. Used Simon's trick of a bit of wood to stop the hub from turning.

Job done,just repeat for the other side!

Next step was to fit the hubs to the wishbones, Ive already tried this once but that was without the drive shaft fitted, now the assemblies a bit heavier!

Anyway both hubs fitted OK at first without camber shims.

Measured the camber and it was a bit out, unfortunately I have no picture but I had over 1 degree negative camber. So I applied 5 shims in the end to arrive at this setting.

Not too shabby!

Procedure repeated for the other side where two shims were required to achieve as near zero camber as I could get.

So that's it for the day, I must admit that shifting these bits around has taken its toll on my somewhat unfit frame and I find myself embarrassingly tired! How pleased am I that I installed the chain winch!

Next job is to check what toe Ive got on the setup as it stands.

Sort of progress.

2007-07-13T18:49:00.001+01:00

Well having dropped the diff onto the floor it has become obvious that there is insufficient room to actually get on and build it up. So a solution had to be found.

I have enough room to move the chassis to the front of the garage and work on the diff under the chain winch however with the front end built up there was no way I could shift the chassis. Until the logical approach dawned on me (it does some times!)

After cleaning off a couple of the donor wheels which are stored under a tarp in the garden I fitted them to the front and lo a wheel barrow!

I was then able to lift and drag the chassis back by 1 meter to give me the extra space I needed. The next logical thought has dawned and I may turn the chassis round so that I don't have to shift the completed axle to the other end of the garage. This will also allow me to shine lasers
onto the garage door to set up the thrust etc.

There will be a bit more of a break now as I'm out of garage time for a bit. Oh and the new thrust washers turned up, much better!

Rear End fun and games.

2007-07-08T17:42:00.000+01:00

Ive deciding that I will replace all of the rear thrust washers and seal retainers for new ones as mine are pitted and worn. I'm confident that a couple of them would not have sealed up properly due to the excessive pitting and may even have worn the seal away.

So that's held up progress a little though Ive ordered the new ones (£104!!).

Following GD's build advice Ive set the diff up 9" off of the bench to get the drop on the lower axle correct, with that done I trial fitted the lower arm with the bearing tubes in place.

Then I fitted one drive shaft after cleaning the bolt holes of paint.

At this point I noticed that the diff had gone off of the level and it turned out my "bench" was bending under the load so I swiftly took it all apart again and have now set the diff up on the floor ready to go again.

Next step is to install the drive shaft to the hub and select appropriate shims for the outer wishbone forks.

Now its starting to look a lot better!

One thing which I may need to attend to is the diff pivot brackets. Ive noticed that I have not yet cleaned the paint away from the surfaces where the thrust washers thrust against! Therefore Im thinking the pivot brackets are coming off again (looking after the shims this time!) to clean them up. Hey ho!

Discs all set.

2007-07-01T19:23:00.000+01:00

Spent a bit of time today finishing off the disc shimming. Ive wound up with 20 thou on the right disc (viewed from rear of car) and 25 thou on the left disc. This brings both gaps well within 10 thou of each other on each side. As you can see from the picture below the disc is bang in the middle of the caliper.

So thats it both discs set and the calipers fit OK, I will take them off for the next few operations to reduce weight and improve access.

So next step is to lift the diff up such that it is supported high enough to get the required drop on the lower arms to match road attitude. May need to beef up my work bench as the work mate has a 160 Kg limit!

Problem resolved.

2007-06-22T17:07:00.000+01:00

New bolts arrived today and Im glad to say they fit perfectly! So thats its I can now carry on and shim up the discs which judging by my initial look are going to need a few shims to center them up.

Again many thanks to Ed for sorting this one out.

Calipers cause confusion....

2007-06-21T18:48:00.000+01:00

Finally made it up to the garage last night with good intentions of fitting the calipers and shimming the rear brake discs.

However as always things conspired against me and I didn't get half of what I wanted done. I did manage to temp fit the rear discs with no shims.

However when trying to fit the caliper bolts through the problem occurred.

This is as far as the bolt goes in, in fact I gave it a little tap with my hammer and that jammed it in solid! Luckily I was able to get it out with the press but if I didn't have that it could have gotten nasty!

I managed to fish out on of my old bolts and when compared you can see a difference.

By measurement the new bolt is 11.16mm in diameter vs 10.8 for the old bolt. The hole in the caliper is around 11mm.

The old bolt fits OK in 3 of the 4 holes in the caliper but still does not quite fit in one.

A few emails to Ed at Wards and a quick conversation today and I am informed that Jaguar used 2 suppliers for their calipers for a while, this one used a slightly smaller bolt hole. Jag, in their wisdom, only have one part number for the two different bolts required. Ed is going to send me some new bolts to try.

Ill let you know how it goes!

Now for something a bit diff..erent!!

2007-06-03T12:03:00.000+01:00

One of those frustrating days on Tuesday where me and the old man spent all day in the garage and didn't really have anything to show for it. Basically fitting the diff to the chassis did not yield the results I anticipated. I fitted the diff but the brackets would not line up nicely.

So after a quick call to Andy at GD who said I was doing it all wrong, and a subsequent chat with Simon (fellow GD builder) I decided to abandon initial diff fitting and build the rear axle up off of car.

Once built up the assembly is fitted and the chassis may need to be helped to fit with a sturdy bar!

With the diff now placed at a more workable height on my temporary bench I was able to trial fit the jag pivot brackets to the diff without shims. This showed me that the rear GD diff bracket fitted perfectly but the front one did not.

I tried 5 thou shims one each side which improved the front fit but it would still not go on. Eventually 10 thou on each side enabled the front bracket to fit but now the rear bracket wont go on.

10 thou worth of shim's

A bit more shim fiddling and Ive wound up with 12 thou on each side at the front and 7 thou on each side at the rear, most importantly both brackets fit and the shafts turn relatively freely.

The thinking being that the GD brackets have been drilled to suit the original jag shims, so that should have set my carrier brackets somewhere close. Next thing to do is to fit the discs and calipers setting their shims as I go. I can then fit the lower arms, hubs and drive shafts and sort hub camber. Once all this is done Ill probably drop the calipers off whilst I set up the rear toe in and thrust on car. Once all is set Ill remove the assembly, refit the calipers, lock wire the carrier bracket bolts and caliper bolts ready for final installation.

Hub sorted.

2007-06-03T11:45:00.000+01:00

Major thanks to Ed at Wards. Despite Citylinks best efforts at delaying delivery and not ringing my door bell I now have a replacement hub which does not wobble about! Ed was great about it, especially given that it was 2005 that I originally took delivery.

Hub problem, major pain!

2007-05-23T22:08:00.000+01:00

Whilst checking out the shims required to install the rear hubs to the wishbones, I noticed that one of the hubs has excessive free play.

The hub was free to move in and out by around 5mm and also could be rocked from side to side. The other hub was fine with no free play at all in any direction! Damn!

A quick email to Ed at Ward Engineering confirmed that I should return the hub for it to be checked, so thatwas that, off it went today and hopefully I should get it back in time for next weeks assembly game!

Still I cant fault Ed, its well over a year since I had these parts. Im not sure if hes charging me though, thats yet to be worked out!

Not much happening.

2007-05-21T20:34:00.000+01:00

Not much to report at the moment, no time spent in the garage for a while now. Hoping to get up there next week during my weeks holiday.
Here's the plan.
1) Fit Diff to chassis by top four mounting bolts.
2) Fit diff carrier brackets to chassis.
3) Fit diff pivot brackets loosely to diff.
4) Fit lower pivot bolts through brackets into pivot brackets.
5) Fit shims and bolt up pivot brackets.
6) Remove diff and setup on floor at required height to set geometry.
7) Install brake discs and calipers adjusting shimming to centre disc on caliper.
8) Fit hub to lower arm, adjusting the shims Ive forgotten to buy!
9) Install drive shaft to hub and ensure fully home.
10) Install drive shaft to diff output flange using camber shims to set camber.
11) Adjust toe in at this stage.
12) Fit assembly to chassis (easier than it sounds as I cant lift the diff on its own!)
13) Check toe in again.
14) Check thrust.
15) Adjust as required. (I think this is going to be the killer!)

So that's it, the plan for next Tuesday, Ive a few things to order in before then so Id best get on with it!

New carb.

2007-05-13T20:41:00.000+01:00

Here's a few pics of the new carb, its rather large!

Just for interest really!

Some Progress.

2007-05-13T20:24:00.000+01:00

Started preparing the rear axle parts for assembly today. First up the diff carrier brackets needed the pivot shaft holes cleaning out as some paint had run in.

Round file and some wire wool sorted that out.

So now the pivot shafts can go through OK.

Using new bolts Ive temporally mounted the brackets to the diff after cleaning the paint from the mating faces.

After this I turned my attention to the lower arms and again cleaned out all the shaft holes, installed new grease nipples and bearing's.

So that's both arms ready for installation.

Its getting to the point where I can put off no longer the assembly of the rear axle, still not convinced I know what I doing though!

New Gauge & dash direction.

2007-05-13T11:39:00.000+01:00

As always I change my mind on a frequent basis so keeping up is not easy! Ive moved away from the classic look back to a more modern feel. I'm back looking at Autometer gauges and I like the look of the Cobalt range.

And illuminated.

I hear the purists shuddering but care not I!

For the Speedo, Tacho, Fuel gauge and oil pressure gauge I will use the full sweep units. The fuel gauge is programmable so it can be set to match any quirks of the sender caused by the tank design.

And for the water temp, oil temp and voltmeter the half sweep units will do. This is worth doing as the half sweep are nearly 50% the cost of the full sweep but they are the same size.

The blue illumination will match the push button switches Ive chosen, again a much more modern take.

The warning lights will be those as supplied by ETB.

With a couple of standard Lucas flick switches for the lights and fan controls that completes the dash items.

Gauge dissapointment

2007-05-11T06:35:00.000+01:00

Ah well, not everything goes to plan but my latest dissapointment will no doubt be approved by the Cobra purists.

The all singing, all dancing, Autometer Nexus gauges I had hoped to use are not suitable for use in an open top car. (see the "check these Gauges out link")

A quick email to Autometer confirmed the following.

"The Nexus instruments will not be easily seen in a convertible. The gauges have a tinted lens on them for a clean look when they are powered down. However, the tinted lens also makes it difficult to see in bright sunlight. We have had people use the Nexus series in a convertible, but they were in a shaded area."

The dash of a Cobra is hardly a shaded area so that's them out of the running, too much cost to take the risk I'm afraid.

Now thinking to go a bit more authentic and use either Greengauges or Smiths Electric Cobra range. Either way this will at least be considerably cheaper than the Autometer units. Ho hum.

Stoneleigh 2007

2007-05-09T07:42:00.000+01:00

Took a trip up to Stoneleigh last Sunday, I hadnt intended to go but my dad fancied it so that was good enough excuse for me!

Took in all the usual suspects, paid GD a brief visit to collect some nuts I needed and hunted down suppliers of silicone hose. If GD cant supply the Ford set in red I wil use an alternative supplier. Ive added potentials to the suppliers list.

The CRC area was again well attended with one of the biggest turn outs of the day.

You dont get a good impression form this pictures but there are a lot of Cobra's there!

I think the most unusual thing I saw was this dash.

Nice job, thats the actual car painted onto the dash (somewhow!)

All in all a good day out and I only spent £4.50 on some P clips!

Parts update.

2007-05-04T17:44:00.000+01:00

Finally arrived!!
Is wrong to get excited about some parts from the USA? Anyway they all arrived in good condition, the starter is smaller than I expected and the carb is bigger! The ignition module looks to be a good unit and most annoyingly comes with a link cable to go between the ignition and dizzy so I dont need the MSD one Ive got. Still the MSD one looks to be a better grade cable and its got sleeving whereas the Summit one does not. Ill stick some pictures on here later.

Still waiting.

2007-05-01T20:32:00.000+01:00

Well at least my box from Summit has made it to through customs and is now sat at Bristol international hub awaiting a letter to arrive on my door mat asking for more money. Then once Ive paid that they will deliver it, no one will be in so it will go back to Bristol, I will spend hours on the phone trying to talk to a human before getting it redirected to my local post office (hopefully) for 50p or worst case to my parents for £5.50!!

Beginning to think the extra $30 for UPS might have been worth it!!

Wheres my stuff then?

2007-04-26T18:36:00.000+01:00

Well after tracking my parcel through the US it left Chicago on the 23rd, flew to the UK and disappeared into the black hole known as Parcel Force. Maybe its stuck in customs but as yet Ive no way of tracking it. Hope it fairs better than the last one which resided in a puddle for a few weeks before they delivered it in bits with my fuel pump all rusty!

Taking advantage of the dollar rate!

2007-04-21T08:20:00.000+01:00

With the pound worth over $2 I couldn't ignore the opportunity to capitalise. So after a bit of working out what would actually be cheaper imported I phoned Summit and ordered the following.
Edlebrock 1405 600 cfm manual choke carb.
Ford Racing Parts Hi Torque mini starterSummit Ignition box.

Oh and the cable to plug the Ignition box into my MSD 8479 dizzy. (its just a cable so no pic I'm afraid!)

I was going for the MSD 6AL but was offered the Summit item instead. On paper they look very similar except the Summit unit is digital and has a rotary switch to set the rev limit and dip switches to set the engine configuration. Whereas the MSD unit uses plug in modules to set the rpm limit (at extra cost) and a on time cut link to set the engine configuration.

All in all it work out around £50 cheaper than the MSD and looks to be a better unit, Time will tell!

So adding up what Ive spent, Ive worked out that the equivalent parts from UK sources would be another £200. Now I'm happy!

Summit are really easy to order from and really helpful, with their lines open 24hrs a day it makes life easy.

Diff collected today.

2007-03-24T18:18:00.000Z

Breaking from the engine build updates for a minute...
Today I collected my rebuilt diff from Russ Derbyshire. Thoroughly nice bloke with RAM fitted with an RV8 that sounds awesome. Russ has done a great job on my diff, heres the before pic..

And the after pic..

Now all I need to do is work out the shimming of the pivot bracket's to get the right geometry, this could be fun!

Getting to grips with this.

2007-03-19T20:46:00.000Z

Nothing much to add other than Ive put in the links to Picasa2 and uploaded some engine pictures. Ill do more as time permits.
Sorted out the historic posts now, so they will appear in months fairly close to where they should be.

Where did all begin?

2007-03-18T04:52:00.000Z

The Beginning.
Many years ago as a child I was forever reading kit car magazines and thinking one day Ill build something. I always wanted a Countach replica.

Forward wind about 18 years and I finally have the time and money to actually do something about that childhood dream. I start thinking about building a kit and begin looking around, I stumbled over the Cobra replica club website, www.cobraclub.com, and that got me interested in Cobras. Its just something about them that has got be hooked and some would say obsessed!

After lots of looking at the various marques I settle on the GD427, to be honest as soon as I saw the chassis design I thought, that the one, someones thought about that, and thats where Ill leave the story for tonight.

More the come!

Up and running.

2007-03-17T21:44:00.000Z

Well this is the second blog setup to track the build of my GD427, the first is on the CobraClub website. Im giving this a go to see which works best for me.

Ive a fair bit to update so bear with me as theres a lot to cover!

Front Axle assembly.

2007-02-25T06:37:00.000Z

Now it was time to seriously start bolt bits on and begin to make this look like it might be a car one day.
Up the front the Jag lower arm was readied for installation, I trial fitted the lower pivot shaft and found that, as was stated in the GD build notes, my new shaft was slightly over on OD due to the plating. With the shaft clamped in my press it was the work of a few minutes to reduce the OD with a bit of abrasive pad.

The chassis tube and pivot shaft was well greased, the lower wishbone was offered up to the chassis and persuaded to fit with the thrust washers between the chassis and bushes in the lower arm.

With the shaft knocked through (not all the way or you wont get the nut on!) I could fit the washer and nut and tap through to complete. The nut was tightened and the split pin inserted and bent to lock the nut in place. It does not matter with the powerflex bushes where the lower arm is when the nut is tightened but if you are using direct replacement Jag bushes the lower arm must be horizontal to prevent the bushes from tearing.

With the lower arm in place The upper arm came next. A small issue was found here, as assembled the pivot bracket would not fit to the chassis. The inner thrust washer was fouling on the mounting plate. So I disassembled both sides and swapped the pivot shafts over and eventually I managed to get a combination that would fit without having to take a file to the chassis!

With a pair of new bolts (not supplied in the GD bolt kit!) and additional washers front and back I bolted up the top pivot shaft, note the main pivot shaft nyloc's are left loose at this stage.

I'm not sure I have enough thread protrusion on the rear of these bolts for Mr SVA, only time will tell.

Next I fitted the shock unit, you can leave this out if you are going to set your geometry now but as I have a bit of time before I come to that task I decided to fit the shock such that the front assy. was self supporting.

Simple really, just use two bolts, two nuts and 4 washers.

To finish off this side the final bit to fit was the upright assembly. This is a heavy part to lift into place and fiddle around locating ball joints!

From the back..

And a closer shot of the front..

One point of note, it is not possible to get a socket and torque wrench on to the bottom ball joint nut once the top ball joint is located. Well not with my torque wrench anyway!

The same sequence was repeated on the other side except I tightened the lower ball joint nut before I located the upper joint into the upright. Took a bit of balancing of the hub on my jack, oh and a support strap in case it slipped off the jack, but the job was done.

Next up the steering rack.....

Rigid fuel line.

2007-02-21T06:30:00.000Z

Flushed with success of the brake lines I moved swiftly on to tackle the rigid fuel line.

This, like the brake pipes, comes coiled up from GD so first off I had to carefully straighten the pipe. All apart from the pre formed 90° bend at the front!

The pipe is then mounted to the top rail of the chassis on the opposite side to the rear brake line.

At the back Ive yet to fix the pipe finally in place as Ive run out of P clips but it exits about here (I think!)

(Please excuse the pile of rubbish in the background!)

So thats that, the fuel line is in.

Rear Brake pipe.

2007-02-20T07:05:00.000Z

Happy that the front pipes were in I moved on to the back pipes. At this point I was glad I had the chassis up on stands as high as I could get it as there was a lot of laying on your back working underneath the chassis.

First off I fixed the rear T splitter to the location supplied by GD.

Then from here I started to form the bends and work backwards. If you asked me now I may say that this was not such a good move as trying to manipulate such a long piece of pipe was not easy.
Well in the end after a fair bit of effort the pipe was fixed to the chassis and up to the mounting block at the front. I cant say Im happy about the distorted nature of this bend and its yet to be understood if it will foul on any part of the drivetrain.

So thats it apart from the small link pipes back to the rear calipers from the T splitter. I will cover those once the rear axle is in place.

The Chassis Build Begins.

2007-02-15T20:15:00.000Z

After a bit of a 4 month break from doing anything in the garage I thought I ought to press on.

First off I removed the radiator bar and tunnel top sheet to give better access to the chassis, also with the radiator bar removed it gave me a bit more room at the front of the garage.

Rust protecting the inside of the chassis.
The next job was to coat the insides of the chassis tubes with waxoil or similar, I chose Dinitrol ML cavity wax in 500ml aerosol cans instead of using a compressed air driven applicator. I ordered two but only actually needed one to complete the task as you dont want to fill the tubes up, just coat them.

The main advantage of this was that the applicator nozzle was exactly the right size to fit in through the chassis mount holes. All the chassis mounts were removed one at a time and the chassis tubes coated in sections.

Brake Pipes.
At this point I made my first of I’m sure many breaks with the normal build procedure. I decided to do my brake and fuel lines next because my running gear was not yet complete.
Adrian Beaumont, AKA Grease Monkey, very kindly drove up to Swindon to lend me his rivnut gun so that I could fit the brake lines in.

I started with the front T splitter and then started the pipe bending exercise with the front drivers side short link. This did not go too well, as I had the GD pipe kit all the pipes were to the right length and pre terminated, this meant I could not make any mistakes! Soon after getting it wrong I started to get the hang of pipe bending and the link was in.

Next I moved on to do the link across to the other front flexi pipe. This went better.

Next came the link from the T union to the mounting block.

And that’s it, the front brake lines are in.