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Once back home, the airbox was taken to bits to see what was inside and whether it would be any use to feed air to the carbs. The box was a bit strange with three of the outlets evenly spaced but the fourth was twice the distance away as the others. Inside, there was a large pipe which was the main inlet, and then four plastic rampipes to feed the four outlets. It might be of some use, but as I don't plan on rigging up any type of air box for the carbs until after SVA just in case they decide to find anything wrong with it, it can wait until the rest of the car is working.
3/4/2001
Routed the wire from the speedo to the sensor, and did a bit more
rubbing down of the bonnet.
4/4/2001
Confirmation email from Jim to say that my door does seem too small so
he will get another one made for me.
Scraping and smoothing down the lumps on the sides of the bonnet, and a couple that were on the top. Most of them just seem to be extra dribbles of gelcoat that have been splattered on it, but other lumps seem to be part of the moulds and the joins in it.
5/4/2001
Connected a supply feed for the speedo sensor to the pump supply
line.
7/4/2001
I decided that it was time to have a go at reading the engine number,
something I should have done before putting the engine into the car,
but didn't think about until it was too late...
The (badly applied) thick engine paint was first scraped off using a screwdriver, but being careful not to damage the metal This got rid of most of the paint, but not quite enough to see the numbers clearly. Trying to get a large wire brush in was a bit awkward, so I managed to feed the flexible drill extension in with a wire brush attachment, which managed to get rid of all of the paint fairly quickly, and polished the metal up as well. This allowed me to read the numbers as best as possible, but it seems like either the rust on the block has altered some of the numbers, or they weren't stamped in very well in the first place, as I can read about 3 1/2 of the 7 numbers, as a couple of them are hard to tell if they are a 2 or 3, and 8 and 9 are very similar as well. I'll have another go at it later on to see if I can make them stand out a bit more, but if not I'll just have to make a list of all of the possible combinations (along with all other numbers etc. that are on the engine) to send to the Ford Technical department so that they can give me a proof of engine age which I'll need for the SVA emissions test. Hopefully only one of the combination of numbers will match up with what they have, but I'll just have to wait and see.
Jacked the front of the car up and put it onto axle stands. I then took the front wheels off to give me decent access to the front of the bodywork, and then made a paper template for an ally plate to be used as a shroud for the radiator to stop the air going past it instead of through it. Surprisingly, both sides were fairly similar in shape so I only needed one template for the pair of them. A suitably sized piece of scrap ally was dug out from under the bench, and then it was cut very roughly to the shape of the template, leaving plenty of extra round the edges just in case. Lots of fitting, marking, removing, trimming and refitting cycles later, and I had something that should do the job fairly well. Made a start on the second one, which progressed a bit quicker after using the first one as a new template for it.
9/4/2001
Finished off making the lhs radiator shroud.
While the front of the car was in the air, I wound up the lower shock spring platforms as much as they would go by hand, as I still haven't got any C-spanners yet.
13/4/2001
With the front of the car still on axle stands, I got my dad and
brother to have a look at the engine number and see if they got the
same number that I did. A couple of the digits that I wasn't sure of
looked a bit clearer today, so we ended up with something that was
fairly certain to the right one.
We then dropped the front back onto its wheels (which after winding the front springs up now gives enough clearance to fit the trolley jack straight under the front wing, making lifting the front end up a lot easier), and fitted the left side petrol tank. This involved taking the wheel off, holding the tank in place, holding and clamping the bracket in place, and then getting it all in the right place. As the right side tank is smaller than the left one, it was easy to fit that one as the only thing to avoid was the rear wheel. But, the left tank is a bit longer, so clearance between the wheel, the rear corner of the bodywork and the back of the rear lights had to be traded off against each other. As the clearance to the wheel is fairly important, we ended up with it as far back as it would go, but with just enough clearance to the bodywork and the lights. The extensions for the bracket were definitely needed though, so the only way that Jim could fit his if the bracket was the same size would be to have the tank leaning in at the bottom a long way.
The right side tank was checked again as the holes had been drilled for it before the bodywork had been fitted. The clearance to the lights is just a little bit less than it should be, but it should be alright.
While the rear end was in the air, I wound up those springs as well.
The last thing that was done was to look at the brake fluid switch. I hadn't been able to get the one in the master cylinder to work, so thought it was broken. I had recently got a couple of spares to try instead, and wasn't able to get them to switch either. So, one of them was taken apart to figure out how they work, and it turns out that I just wasn't pushing down far enough on the rubber top to get the switch to operate, though it hadn't been making contact when it was just tipped upside down or lifted out of the reservoir anyway.
14/4/2001
After fitting the tanks, the obvious next thing to do was fit the
filler caps. This was the opposite way round in that the lhs could be
fitted just about anywhere, but the rhs has to be away from the
exhaust, but on a bit of bodywork that is flat, and the large curve
where it drops down the side sort of gets in the way a bit. Lots of
measuring later we had two relatively symmetrical holes marked out (as
the body is anything but symmetrical it made it quite difficult to get
them lined up the same on each side). The centres were drilled out,
and a tank cutter was used to make a hole roughly the same size as the
filler neck. A slot was then cut in for the breather pipe, and the
neck was fitted after some filing of the hole to make it fit. This
showed that the rhs hole ended up just a bit too close to the exhaust,
so it had to be moved out to the side of the body as much as possible
without the edge of the hole sticking out from under the neck, and
still keeping the neck lying flat on the body. By enlarging the hole
to the side, the neck was moved across as much as possible, and the
same was done on the other side to balance them out.
I had always planned to wrap the top rear section of the exhaust, due to the small clearances between the bodywork, chassis and petrol tank, but the filler neck will probably need wrapping as well to make sure that it doesn't get too hot. It might be worth making sure that there is a decent supply of cold air to that part of the exhaust as well, though that won't be much use when the car is stopped and I'm filling it up (which will probably be fairly often).
As there is nothing supplied with the filler necks to attach them to the body, some backing plates were made from some 6mm plastic backed alloy plate. Basically a square with the corners chopped off, a hole in the middle, and a slot for the breather pipe.
15/4/2001
I finished off the initial rubbing down of the bonnet using the
Farecla compound on the area that had been done with wire wool and wet
and dry. I then tried a bit of car polish on it to see what it would
do - some standard Autoglym stuff, and some black Turtle Wax that is
supposed to remove scratches and restore colour. The Autoglym made a
slight difference, as it was a bit darker and definitely smoother, but
there were still some scratches left under it. The Turtle Wax worked a
lot better, as it seemed to fill in a lot of the scratches and made it
much darker. I don't know how long it will last, but it seems like
that will be the best stuff to use to start with.
16/4/2001
Still in a grp cutting mood, we made a start on fitting the
tunnel. I'm not sure how similar the chassis rails around the tunnel
compare to a Six, but the tunnel top doesn't fit very well at
all. Down the sides and at the back its alright, but at the front
where the tunnel angles up there is a large gap under the grp, and the
grp angles more to the left than the chassis does. Most of that will
be hidden under the dash, but its stil going to need some patches put
over the gaps to keep it as watertight as possible.
The first thing was to make it a good fit at the back and down the sides, by trimming them until they sat flush with the tunnel and the rear panel. The next problem was that at the rear of the drivers side the tunnel has a sharp angle in it, where the grp just has a very slight curve, which means that they don't match up at all. This was solved by cutting a slot in the grp just in front of the angle in the chassis, allowing the main part of the side to be pulled in flush. The shorter rear section can then also be pulled in, but as there is only one tab on that part of the chassis (the tall angled one), a short thin bit of steel strip was used that can be attached between the large tab and the short one just in front of the angle, which the grp can then in turn be attached to.
Next, the location of the gearlever remote was measured, and then a hole was drilled in the grp to check that it was in the right place. It was, but after putting the tunnel top on it showed that the metal tab on the front of the remote was just a bit too tall and would catch on the tunnel. So, the top section of it was removed (which isn't used anyway - the link to the lever in the gearbox is placed on the bottom of the remote so that it is basically level), which wakes sure that it won't catch the tunnel anywhere.
After working out the maximum movement of the remove from the centre position, this rectangle was marked on the grp and the hole was cut out by drilling a series of holes round the edge, and then using a junior hacksaw blade to chop it out. It was then gradually filed out until the remote didn't hit the tunnel any more. Amazingly, it almost lined up exactly with one of the rectangular marks on the top of the tunnel...
Once that was done, a start was made on the hole for the handbrake. I don't know if the cutout in the tunnel is high, or if my handbrake is low, but with the handbrake in place the tunnel top can be sat over it and only just touch the top of the lever. I have got the handbrake fitted so that the front rests under the 3/4" chassis rail, and the rear sits on top of the welded tab on the chassis rail, as this seems to be the best position for it in terms of support when its pulled on. I do remember seeing someone's handbrake where they have spaced up the rear mounting point and put the front on top of the chassis rail, but I didn't really want to do that so the tunnel top is going to have some major modifications made to it. As the moulded recess in the grp is far too high, I'm going to cut the whole thing out and make an alloy recess instead, which will allow the handbrake to be placed securely on the chassis rails, and will also make the tunnel a bit easier to carpet (less compound curves or particularly awkward shapes).
21/4/2001
The handbrake recess was chopped out of the tunnel using a hacksaw,
drill and junior hacksaw blade. It wasn't the easiest of jobs due to
it being so awkward, but most of it was accessible with the bigger
saw.
22/4/2001
The slot to allow the handbrake to be lifted up was cut out, which
ended up in a totally different place to the mark on the tunnel. It is
parallel with the side of the tunnel (which is to be expected really),
where the marked cutout moves towards the centre the further back it
goes.
The alloy recess for the tunnel was made. This comprises a large flat plate with two 45 degree bends in which sits flat on the chassis rail and then curves up under the handbrake to the tunnel, and then bends horizontally underneath it, and will be riveted in place. Two alloy end caps were then made, the front one covering up the whole hole, and the rear one just providing a bit of structural support around the space needed for the handbrake lever. Once I've decided how the handbrake gaiter is going to go in, the alloy bits will be attached to the tunnel top, and then the whole lot can be attached to the chassis.
23/4/2001
Connected and taped up the speedo sensor connection to the dash
loom. Also started working out the arrangement for heater fan controls
and handbrake/brake fluid warning lights, and figuring out the
connections on a couple of rotary switches I got from a Volvo for the
lights (side and dipped) and heater fan.
24/4/2001
Got an email from Jim saying that the replacement door is ready. As
I'm planning on going to the open day on 13th May I'll just pick it up
then rather than have it posted to me, as there is no rush for it and
I can't do anything with it until I have the hinges anyway.
As there is none provided in the loom (for some unknown reason), the wires needed for the brake fluid level switch were fitted, which is just in parallel with the handbrake switch so that it will use the handbrake warning light and allows it to be tested each time the handbrake is used. The other wires that had been added to the dash part of the loom were taped up as I think that is just about it for mods to the dash section.
25/4/2001
Put in extra wiring to allow for 3 speed heater fan (the loom only has
wiring for two speed), and made a start on adding wiring for a dash
mounted fog warning light.
26/4/2001
Finished off the dash fog warning light. Drilled holes in the tunnel
brackets for the metal support to attach the grp to. Fitted two vacuum
smoothing module things from Sierras to the vacuum pipe from the inlet
manifold to the dizzy. As it only takes off one cylinder it should
help to give a smoother vacuum supply. Made a start on making some
alloy p-clips for the rear loom sections.
27/4/2001
Phoned Sue to tell her that I'd just pick up the new door at the open
day. Apparently the hinges are ready as well, which I didn't know
about. I asked for the windscreen rubber yet again, as they don't seem
to have been able to (remember to) get one yet.
28/4/2001
Dropped the bits for the throttle cable bracket off at the place where
I got the alternator bracket extended. Should be ready in a couple of
weeks, and hopefully won't be too fiddly for them to do.
Continued making some more alloy p-clips and fitted most of the rear loom section. The lhs isn't too bad, which just had to avoid the boot box, but the rhs also has to avoid the exhaust, so it was carefully routed to be as far away as possible. I'm going to have to wrap most of the exhaust in that area anyway, so hopefully its not going to be too much of a problem.
I couldn't get in to drill all the holes with the car on the ground, so I put the back end up on axle stands and took the petrol tanks and brackets out. This allowed me to attach the loom all the way up to the lights.
While the back of the car was off the ground, I thought I'd have a go of trying to read the tag on the axle to find out what ratio diff it has in it. It was very rusty to start with, and had been painted over when the axle had been done, but I managed to get the drill and the wire brush bit to it, and got enough of it clean to be able to read the ratio. 3.78, assuming the tag is right, which is one of the higher ratio ones so acceleration should be fairly good, with a slightly slower top speed than the lowest ratio axle.
I also had access to the bracket the handbrake cable passes through, so I could drill a new hole for this. A 4mm hole for the cable, with a countersunk 10mm hole to support the end of the cable (now that I have it in the right way round anyway). It was then all put back together using a new cable clamp I got a couple of months back to replace the improved Tiger ones. The problem with them is that they destroy the cable where its clamped, which isn't much use if they ever need to come out again. The new ones to try are tiny U brackets with two nuts to tighten, which should hopefully get a decent grip without ruining the cable, and will be easier to tighten than the Tiger ones as well.
29/4/2001
Put the last couple of p-clips on the right hand rear section of
loom.
Fitted a couple of wooden plugs that my dad made to go into the 3x1.5 inch rail that runs across the top at the rear, as the plastic plugs in the kit are all square. I coated them both with plenty of Waxoyl, hammered them in, and then put more Waxoyl on the outside. Should hopefully keep any water out.
I then noticed that I hadn't tightened the silencer rubber mount nuts up yet, so did that. Unfortunately, I did one of them up a bit too much which twisted the rubber off the metal end plate, so I'm going to have to get a replacement for that.
30/4/2001
Made a start on the speedo sensor bracket. Worked out where to put the
holes in the diff casing webbing, made a cardboard template of the
bracket, and then cut a bit of metal sheet to use for the bracket.
Total hours this month -
47.5
Total build hours -
579.0
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