Thursday, October 31, 2013

A quick update... Progress is stalled

Just a quick update from my phone - my home internet is capped for the next seven days (I hit my 400GB limit again) so this means two things: one - I can't really edit my images before putting them up, I have to upload them from the phone, and two - I will be making more progress due to lack of Internet than I would otherwise be making.
Here I am fitting my 5/16" hose fittings to my Bosch 044. I have a feeling that before I actually use this setup I might change to a filter with larger outlets than 5/16" - maybe -8AN in and out - that way I can have a less restrictive inlet.
5/16" inlet fitted.
Pretty sure it's a genuine pump, the stamping looks authentic and it's definitely heavy enough.
I got the eBay seller who sold me the fuel tank to refund me the cost of 2x -10AN female to -8AN male adapters and ordered those from another eBay vendor - they finally turned up so I have been able to fit the -8AN -> 5/16" hose barb adaptors to both the supply and drain locations on the tank.
Now all I need is to fab up some brackets, wire up the pump, hook up some hoses and chuck in some fuel and we'll be able to test it all out!

I put the bonnet back on the check the alignment of the new radiator support frame before I bolt it into place - looking pretty good - more below:

With a few minor adjustments I should be able to drill it out and weld in some nuts allowing this to bolt in place. Once that is done I can weld a mount for the brake booster support, a couple of headlight brackets and the radiator itself. I can then start to build a bar to sit inside the bumper and to hold the fan assembly in place.

My wife is going out of town this weekend with the kids for a week, I would imagine the combination of their absence and the Internet situation will result in some fairly rapid progress.

Once the fan assembly is in place, and radiator is mounted, I can sort out the bottom hose (I don't think the flexi hose I got will do the trick so it's looking more and more every day like I will have to use two 90 degree silicon bends (one as a 44-38mm reducer) and a joiner with thermostat (purely because these are easy to find!) to sort that out. Then in combination with the fuel system I might actually be able to have the car idling for some time!


Friday, October 25, 2013

Revised Radiator Support Part 4 - Making It Fit

So I decided the other day that the first step to getting anything done on this project (any my other cars here for that matter) would be to write out a list of what needed to be done. It turned out extensive, but while it looks like a lot written down, it's actually less than I thought I had left to do in my head. I'm aiming to start putting lines through as many of these as possible.

Unfortunately it's been raining fairly heavily for the last few days here and my shed is yet again flooded. This means I can't really get any welding done as I'm a bit skeptical about welding while standing in a puddle; I also want to do the tailshaft center bearing mount and the seat rails which requires being on the ground and hence the ground being dry.

I removed the bonnet and eyeballed the Revised Radiator support the other day, and tonight I decided I had better get stuck into it. It's always a daunting process (at least for me) cutting away existing things that fit or work to make way for something you aren't quite sure will fit or work as intended, but it has to be done sooner or later! Procrastination doesn't get you anywhere.

Here I've unbolted the current removable radiator support.

Sitting on top of the remaining side wings. I could completely remove these wings but they have the top mount for the headlight buckets at the moment - once the new support is mounted I'll work out a way to weld these to the new mount and remove what's left of the original section.

Back and side risen sections removed. Precision angle grinding ;)

Trying to be tricky and just clearance for the brace. Best laid plans of mice and men as they say - I ended up having to cut more off anyway so a bit of a wasted exercise.

And here you can see what I meant by "more". 

On the brake booster side of the bay.

It drops closer to "in place" now. 

The only thing I'm not sure on now is how flat it should be sitting. I need to get the bonnet on and eyeball it I think - it's probably meant to be level to the ground - at the moment it's leaning down toward the front per this picture. No doubt there's a bit more cutting to go before I can drill and bolt the support to the car. Once that's done I can start putting in the mounts for the lights (under the support), the light surrounds (at the front - some need slight stand-offs for the screws) and of course the radiator.

Friday, October 11, 2013

Revised Radiator Support Part 3 and Fuel System Fittings

Had an awesome time tonight introducing the new garage to the concept of welding.


Can't be stuffed going out to the back shed to get the flaps wheels to clean up the welds so I'll do that tomorrow and also get to cutting away the original support.


I purchased a used, genuine Bosch 044, and fittings to suit both it and my fuel cell - all of which have since arrived. Unfortunately the fittings for the fuel cell don't fit because despite the eBay seller advertising it as having -8AN fittings, it actually has -10AN. I've requested they supply -10AN female to -8AN male reducers to rectify the issue. If they don't I'll lodge a paypal dispute. It's only $8 per reducer to just buy some but I think it's only fair that they should have to fix their mistake on principal.


I've also ground down and painted up an AU rocker cover for the engine. The yellow doesn't work in this engine bay - I think the cast iron finish will work much better (although time will tell for certain!)


The finish isn't perfect however once I sort out an airbox etc you won't be able to see a lot of the rocker cover.