More Brackets and Plumbing

Continued with the trial assembly of the oil stat bracket and the associated plumbing - starting to take shape now:

The top line of plumbing is the feed from the engine and passes through:

• A 1/8 npt take off port for a secondary oil pressure cut out switch which will cut out the electric fuel pump in the case of a mishap.
• An oil temperature take off adaptor

Next is the oil thermostat which will divert oil to the oil cooler when the temperature rises, then coming back along the bottom row which is the feed back to the engine we have:

• A non-return flap valve to prevent the Accusump discharging back through the oil pump into the sump.
• A tee connection to the Accusump itself.

I need to change the hose ends on the lines to/from the oil cooler to the 45 degree ones shown to make the pipe routing more natural.

I've also clamped the Accusump bracket into position prior to permanently fixing it:

Engine bay is starting to fill up now!

Fancy Bracket Number One

Spent a short while fitting the bracket for the oil stat and associated plumbing. Slow progress but I only have one of them so it is measure 5 times and drill once. It still has its protective backing on and it probably still isn't that clear what is going on here ..... watch this space.

Here we go.....!

Right, first things first. New bolts arrived for clutch slave - so it was bolted in and the hydraulic pipe fitted. At last.... the b****y clutch is finished!!
This now meant that I could crack on with the exhaust.... which I did. First job was the link pipes between headers and balance box - bit fiddly and a bit of bashing with a hide mallet but all went together OK:
Then it was the link pipes between the balance box and the rear silencers, including the rear hanging bracket - looks a little off centre in the photo but the clamps are not tightened yet as the rear silencers need to fit over the pipes first - I'm not fitting these yet as they will take up precious garage space:
So there we go - bulk of the exhaust completed - there does appear to be a reasonable amount of clearance at this stage (OK body still needs to go on but the suspension has not been pre-loaded yet).
Think I'll start on my fancy brackets and engine bay plumbing next.

Back on Track!!

Received a parcel today from Repower - a replacement clutch slave bracket and also the two parts that make up the bracket. Guess what?...... new bracket same as old bracket!! However, I realised that I could fit a ratchet strap round one of the engine posts and the fork arm and operate the clutch that way. After a bit of experimenting I found that if I spaced the slave 6mm off the bracket then it was just about as perfect an alignment as you could get - through the entire range of movement.

Now it just so happens that the bracket is made from 6mm steel...... so....... I chopped up one of the parts and painted it!!
Does the job very nicely indeed!
This should have dawned on me earlier - but then again it should have been right straight out of the box! Not quite the permanent job - I need two longer fixing bolts yet - but that's easy to solve.

One interesting point is that having operated the clutch manually with a ratchet strap it was obvious that the pressure plate was not seized and stuck to the flywheel as I was able to push the car forward with it in gear.

Now all I need is the three deliveries I'm waiting for to arrive and I'm off and running!

Done Something!!

Not much! - but I have done something!

Fitted the blanking plug to the nearside head, as the temperature sender will be going in the manifold, and also fitted the NPT to JIC adaptors for the heater pipes:

I have also got the handbrake working - there is a little bit of re-engineering required to get the cable clevis to fit properly. Tested it and it does seem to be pretty effective with no adjustment being required to the handbrake mechanism itself.

Hopefully next week there will be a bit more progress?

....... even slower progress

This is now perhaps the slowest period of the build to date! However, there are now plenty of bits on order that should be arriving some time next week:

• Accusump and Oil Stat Brackets
• Fuel Pump
• Fuel Filter and Pump Pre-Filter
• Fuel Pressure Gauge for Fuel Regulator
• Carb inlet fitting
• Braided Hose for fuel supply and assorted fittings
• Braided Hoses and assorted fittings to complete Accusump connection
• Clutch Slave Bracket (Getting Beyond a Joke now - but promised for next week!!)

So the plan would be:

• Replace Clutch Slave Bracket - fit slave hose.
• Finish the exhaust system.
• Fit Oil Stat, Accusump and associated plumbing.
• Install fuel supply to carb in engine bay.

This means we are now getting closer to engine start up! to get to this point I will need to do the following:

• Rig up a temporary fuel pump and filter arrangement.
• Rig up a temporary electrical system and dashboard - this means I'll need to order my gauges and senders - although I'll only be using the Rev Counter, Oil Pressure & Water Temperature initially.

The aim is to get the engine running, and the cam broken, before mid November - as this is when the body has been ordered for!!

Slow progress.........

Things are a bit slow in the garage at the minute but there is plenty happening behind the scenes:

• I've placed an order with Control Waterjet Cutting to get the two brackets made from mirror polished stainless steel - those should be here next week.
• I've sorted out the plumbing for the Accusump etc - just need the brackets!
• I've placed my body order with GD for 3rd week in November.
• I've half figured out the fuel supply in the engine bay - needs a bit more thought yet. I've ordered a Holley fuel pressure regulator to try things out as this will be key to getting everything to fit.
• Fitted a radiator cap.
• Scraped some more paint off the radiator!!

I'm still waiting for the replacement clutch slave bracket that should have been here this week. This is stopping me from completing the exhaust as access to the bottom of the slave bracket will be easier without the exhaust fitted.

Things won't progress significantly until I get either the replacement slave bracket or the accusump plumbing brackets - or both!

Brackets and Bits

Seem to have spent most of the weekend trying to figure out how and where to install the Accusump and its associated plumbing. One thing I certain of is that I am glad I got the 2 quart model and not the three quart one - there's no way that would fit!
Anyway, eventually I found a promising set up and after a lot of measuring and cardboard templates I managed to produce some CAD drawings of the two brackets I'll need:

Hmmmmm..... not obvious is it! I've got a couple of enquiries out with some water cutting companies for getting them made from 2mm mirror or polished stainless steel. It should all become clearer when they are fitted!

Did some other odd jobs:

• "Adjusted" the plug wire guides so that they actually fitted in the engine bay with an allowance for engine movement.
• Mocked up the rear exhaust link pipes and drilled the diff rear bracket for the exhaust bracket.
• Made up a gear shift extension so I can measure up for the hole in the tunnel top sheet.
• Fitted an additional fuel pipe fixing in-lieu of the one I had to remove because it fouled the gearbox!

This week I should be getting a replacement clutch slave bracket so hopefully that side of things should be sorted soon.