Jaffa's Return

[Banishit]

nice job, what type are the treaded inserts ?

[oldskooljoe]

looks stunning,brilliant work

cheersjoe

[dasadrew]

nice job, what type are the treaded inserts ?

I just luuuvvv the way the Oirish pronounce threaded, Brian


They are Ensat self-tapping inserts. Cheap as chips and give support even outside the metal thickness unlike a helicoil which just goes boing if it's not in metal. You turn them in by using a bolt in the insert itself and a wrench or spanner.

[M11RF]

I just luuuvvv the way the Oirish pronounce threaded, Brian

hehehehehe.... looking good Dasa

[dasadrew]

I guess everyone has days like this sometimes….

Went to fit the bellhousing the other day. As it is without gearbox, this should be a quick job, so I just jacked the car up minimally (+ axle stands of course!) to squeeze underneath. Every time as I was just aligning the last bolts, the clutch lever fell off its pillar and dropped into the bellhousing.

After 3 attempts, I finally decided to remove it again, replace the rubber sleeve on the pillar to give it more grip, and tie the loose bit of the lever to the housing. Worked out fine. Putting the LAST bolt in (to one of the sump tapped holes) it just turned and turned and I remembered when I had dismantled it about 4 years ago that the thread had stripped in the sump. Ended up on my back working overhead to put in a Helicoil. Bloody tap then got fused with the aluminium and more or less destroyed the freshly cut thread for the helicoil as I withdrew the tap.

Had to drill further down into the sump and set the helicoil in a bit deeper. All in all a bit of a botch, but I was able to tighten the bolt up and it is holding.

Turned my attention to the 69 litre tank. Religiously drilled the earth cable hole in the sender unit only to find that, when installed, it is absolutely perfectly hidden behind the wheel arch. Tank went in quite well - cheers to all help provided on the hole locations for the straps! After levering, pushing, pulling and stretching, I finally managed to get the straps connected (can you imagine Ford selling such a DIY kit nowadays?).

Poked the vent tube through the hole in the tank well and complimented myself on having salvaged a good condition original sleeved grommet for the hole. It was now getting dark and late and I pulled on the grommet to drag it into place. At this time the sleeve tore off of the ring part of the grommet. Bugger.

Have now realised that I can't get the rear light fitted AFTER the tank is in, so the lot has got to come out again. Will now need to paint the black around the rear light recess, fit the rear light, refit the tank, and then mask around the rear light housing for the final painting. I know I'm a bit unconventional in fitting the bits first, then painting the car. It's just the way it plan panned out.

Good news is that progress is really looking good now. After 12 years or so, I am continuously amazed at how quick things are now going together. Have to attack the paint preparation soon (inside of boot, bonnet, doors etc.). Am still dithering whether to paint it myself just to be able to say i did it my way!

Got my Kent Cams vernier pulley last night too, so I can finish off the cylinder head maybe this evening.

[ian parker]

Drew, love the way you describe it all, in essense, all very easy.... with a big however, the difficulty is in the simplicity, if that makes sense, anyway, back to the build, brilliant, it does make me smile, i must admit, thinking my tank is in, with the lights etc etc, i,m a little surprised you fell for the rear light one...... top work by the way

[Banishit]

sounds like you had a fun day mate, must admit bit unconventional painting after all that, but if you have it all sussed why not, the masking off will have to be absolutely perfect, dont want overspray on your shineyyyy bits

[dasadrew]

sounds like you had a fun day mate, must admit bit unconventional painting after all that, but if you have it all sussed why not, the masking off will have to be absolutely perfect, dont want overspray on your shineyyyy bits

In actual fact, the post assembly paint job shouldn't be too dramatic. I've painted already from the inside out, and the coverage includes door jambs, slam panels, scuttle etc. The only remaining bit is a pure exterior surface overall. It's going to have a BVR, so the roof and A & C pillars won't be being done. All in all, the actual painted surface is very small, with the biggest single surface being the bonnet.

[dasadrew]

Managed to make progress tonight on a few bits and bobs that WON'T have to be unbolted again to fit lights .

The vernier pulley is mouth-watering. I compared a couple of standard cast pulleys and the variation on the Woodruff key slot positions is enormous! In actual fact, the irony of the Kent pulley is that it is seemingly so accurate, that it didn't need to be moved (well, I did budge it a smidgens). The standard cast pulley (best of three) was about 4° out which is half a tooth!

Complete fracas with the local Ford dealer to try and find a thermostat. After a week, they couldn't even work out the part number or nowt. There is a motor factors just opposite. Walked in and 2 minutes later I had a Quinton Hazell one with fitting kit, gaskets etc. Just got to cut out a new sealing ring now for the thermocouple switch for t'electric fan.

Note the cam lube in the strategically placed "lest we forget" position.

BTW, I was surprised when turning the engine to check cam that the covers on the inlet manifold were sometimes under quite a bit of pressure from within. Had never really realised that the Otto cycle did that

[hally]

looking good!

[RS2000&MEXICO]

good work m8....it's coming on fast now

[Mr Hoarder]

BTW, I was surprised when turning the engine to check cam that the covers on the inlet manifold were sometimes under quite a bit of pressure from within. Had never really realised that the Otto cycle did that

Cam "over lap", more pronounced with a non standard cam.

Inlets just opening before TDC

[dasadrew]

Cam "over lap", more pronounced with a non standard cam.

Inlets just opening before TDC

Cheers Rob! I was starting to sh1t myself.

The skidmarks started when the "cam inlet valve 1 fully open" mark didn't align to the 106° ATDC prescribed. Then I realised it is on the second crank cycle (sort of more like 466° ATDC in the traditional ignition timing sense of TDC.)

Talk about "back to basics"

[dasadrew]

Definitely swings and roundabouts this week chaps!

Ages ago I bought a chromed blingy cam cover? Made sure I got the narrow type. Stored it for about 10 years and tonight was going to be the brilliant unveiling. A shinneeyy reward for all those hours in the engine bay. OK. So you know what's coming. Dug the box out from under the stairs, unpacked the bag and, of course, it's the wide type



After that, I needed sex desperately, so I finished off another blingey restoration job which was ticking over in parallel. I really find cam covers with the plugs in the middle sexy . Especially the blue Cosworth ones - maybe one day......





BTW, anyone need a wide type chrome cam cover?
Also, where can I get a nice restored, chromed or plated steel one? Don't really like the alloy ones.

[Mr Hoarder]

I know it's not original, but if it were mine I'd fit the wider type cover in preference to the narrow one.

The wide gasket (if a proper Ford one is used) has metal pins embedded in it to to prevent the cam cover from distorting when you tighten the fixing bolts.

A modification that Ford introduced to stop the damn things leaking !!