633 replies to this topic

[76lxhatch]

Turned up a couple of brass adapters to allow me to pressure test the stainless heater lines.

 

The method of joining the tubing turned out to be worth the effort, no leaks first time (yes, I was surprised too)!

 

But then I decided I couldn't live with the way the hoses crossed at the front and it snowballed from there... started with making a fitting that gives me a tight 90 degree elbow.

The idea was to get away with tapping the water pump in place with some grease to catch the swarf. Would have worked if I hadn't tried it with a half-buggered tap that caused the inlet on the pump to split!

 

So that meant the water pump had to come off after all. With easier access to the crank angle sensor I gave the bracket for that a minor skim to get the gap just right.

 

I was about to machine down one of the bosses on the new water pump to fit the idler pulley mounts, then decided maybe I should re-make nicer versions of the brackets. Made some measurements and 3D printed some basic oversize patterns.

 

Poured some aluminium. It would be overly generous to call these castings but there was just enough material to machine down...

 

... after far too many hours, into these. They have the spacers built in so you don't need four sets of hands to install them, weigh less, and fit without modifying the water pump.

 

Also made some new odd-shaped bolts. One leg of each bracket is both an original bolt hole and the mount for the pulley. The previous iterations were double-end studs that needed double-nuts to install, these have the outer hex and an inner 3/8" thread for the pulley retaining bolts.

 

In place without the pulleys.

 

And with the pulleys, also made some custom made stepped washers that locate inside the bearings.

[Bigfella237]

Absolutely awesome work... AS USUAL!

 

Those idler pulley brackets are just above and beyond!

[Heath]

Bloody hell. Haha. That is awesome!

[claysummers]

Nicely done. You must have been having a bad moment when you split the pump barb.

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[SmacT]

That. Is. Awesome.

[76lxhatch]

Thanks guys

 

You must have been having a bad moment when you split the pump barb.

I'm tempted to repair it somehow, the pump isn't that old. Only thing is it's difficult to clean the gasket surfaces between the main body and steel plate.

[Bigfella237]

Just out of interest (and my apologies if it's already been asked, but), what milling machine are you using?

 

Is it computer controlled, or something that costs a bizillion bucks, or something Joe Public might aspire to owning?

Edited by Bigfella237, 13 November 2023 - 02:01 PM.

[76lxhatch]

Haha, definitely nothing fancy in that department. Honestly I wouldn't recommend it as it has all the rigidity of a wet noodle, the table slides are terrible, and the quill spline is so loose that it knocks badly under any significant load. But it was cheap (when I bought it anyway) and falls into the category of "something is better than nothing". One day I hope to upgrade.

https://www.thetools...ount-mill-drill

 

I replaced the original column which was basically little more than exhaust tubing, turns out that an old diff tube just needed a little turning down. It's drilled for a spring loaded taper pin, along with some additional through bolts at the head this helps stop it from rotating under load.

 

Also made a crude fine Z feed with a screw and hobbed gear. The thumb screw allows connecting and disconnecting to use the normal down feed for drilling. Saw something similar on the web and copied it.

 

Anything I can possibly mount in the lathe is done that way, gives a far better result. I bought this just under 12 months ago and cleaned it up, still has some play but a big step up from the mini lathe (I had a Hafco AL50) and does most of what I want. Having a proper gearbox that allows changing speeds quickly along with decent powered feeds is a game changer.

[76lxhatch]

Put all the pulleys and belt back on, discovered there was a few thousandths clearance between the water pump pulley and idler bracket.

 

Probably best to have a little breathing room, machined a small step into the bracket. Also improved the body of the adjuster turnbuckle so it's slimmer and has more area to get a wrench on it.

 

Thought I'd be clever and change to a high flow thermostat. It has a bigger body and doesn't fit inside the housing.

 

We can fix that. You can also see here that the two pieces are permanently joined together with epoxy where the (largely useless) o-ring originally went.

 

Got a cheap blasting cabinet with glass media, works surprisingly well. The manifold fits in there OK, but I didn't really consider being able to fit my hands as well. Reasonable result in the end though.

 

With a fresh coat of wrinkle black to hide all the sins.

[FLY_LX]

Amazing work again.

your casting is stepping up a level.

great stuff.  

[AbsynthHatch]

Painting the engine bay? It looks a little bare.

[76lxhatch]

Painting the engine bay? It looks a little bare.

 

It needs painting but no, don't think that will be happening just yet.

 

The blower housing is off because it needs some repair and I'm planning on changing the resistor, more on that soon-ish.

[76lxhatch]

A few more things bolted down, you can see the slightly improved routing of the heater line at the front now.

 

Keep getting side-tracked, this time the rocker covers. The original paint was starting to look a bit sad, but still took quite a bit of blasting to get off.

 

Welded up some of the original and extra holes they're seen over the years.

[AbsynthHatch]

They are one of the best looking rocker cover when painted up etc that were made for the old red head 308.

[AbsynthHatch]

What manifold are you using?

Are you happy with its performance on the street & at low RPM?

[76lxhatch]

What manifold are you using?

Are you happy with its performance on the street & at low RPM?

It's a ported Stripmaster, modified for the injection setup. It has a lot of meat in the casting which gives plenty of room for modifications, and in my opinion it's at least as good as the Performer I had on it when it was carbied.

[76lxhatch]

Covers now painted in wrinkle black.

 

Used a razor blade to get the bulk of the paint off the top surface while still soft, then sanded once fully cured. Seems to have come up pretty well.

[claysummers]

They look good. I actually did the opposite and stripped mine to bare alloy. Planning to polish it, one day.............

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[76lxhatch]

The wrinkle black hides a lot, some of these parts are beyond polishing even if I was that way inclined. I originally bought the manifold second hand/un-used because someone had started along that path and gave up.

[SmacT]

They look great. I seem to remember people used vaseline to paint Hotwire wheels a similar way - a smear of vaso on the sections to remain paint-fee, spray the whole lot satin black, then wipe off the vaso when semi cured. Not sure if I just dreamed that, though...

 

 

Covers now painted in wrinkle black.

 

Used a razor blade to get the bulk of the paint off the top surface while still soft, then sanded once fully cured. Seems to have come up pretty well.

[AbsynthHatch]

The Stripmaster manifold gets a good wrap for the early headed 308.

Looks good in black.

[myss427]

The Stripmaster manifold gets a good wrap for the early headed 308.

Looks good in black.

 

Peter Michaels developed the manifold in the 80's when he was chasing A/street drag racing, well known head porter in Adelaide. Had his car with a 308 in the 10's.

[SHEEL]

your water pipes / hoses are super neat. What a clean package!

[76lxhatch]

Cleaned up the blower housing and replaced the fibreglass with epoxy in the area previously modified for clearance, should last better now.

 

Removed the resistor wire from the blower motor and added a plug inside the housing.

 

Made some more holes in the firewall. The little cage is a blower resistor pack I bought online, screws in from the inside of the car. I have more resistors than needed but that gives me some choices for the low speed. The wiring is a pigtail with plug either end that can move back and forth through the firewall to make installation easy.

 

Going to run an oxygen sensor on each bank, so needed to add a bung on the driver side collector. For some reason I had it in my head that I might be able to drill and weld it in place - ha! So that started a several-hour exercise in frustration trying to get the header out. It used to come out from below but perhaps I haven't removed it with the engine in place since modifying the primaries, because it sure wouldn't yesterday. Some fun times lying under the car trimming excess bell housing edges with a die grinder finally got it out. Then there was something in the metal contaminating the weld, but finally made it work - a lot of effort for such a small thing but done now.

 

Made a bracket for the plugs on the firewall above the bell housing. The two little boxes bolted in behind the map sensor are the controllers, these connect to the ECU by CAN bus.

 

All of which means I can start putting things back together. Cam sensor, injectors, fuel rails, regulator, heater tap, vacuum hoses, rocker covers.

 

Couple more hose clamps and I can move back to the wiring. Engine loom is all but done, then just needs testing and wrapping. But there's not much left in the rest of the car...

[76lxhatch]

Nothing too exciting today, have started back on the wiring.

 

Added earth wires to the front indicator housings, these will get new connectors when they arrive.

 

Dropped the mounting locations to where they should be, only about 3/4" but it helps make them a bit more visible under the bumper as well as fitting the spoiler better. Rivet nuts for mounting instead of the old speed nuts. Once I find the right gear it will get a lick of approximately the right colour paint.

 

Starting to think about interior wiring now too. 3D printed a fuse box that suits the remaining relay holders, will need some minor steel bracketry to mount but will fit in the original spot above driver's feet.