Well I said I would.............

[Cotton Mouth]

I was asked by KB where my build was up to and said I would post some items about certain bits of my build as I have enjoyed the Towers boys and Stewie's posts. I should say at the outset I am neither an engineer (Stewie) nor do i have any great knowledge of cars (Roger). However, I am Zen in the art of hiding half a cobra in the garage without having told the wife. Yes I did finally have to own up - there are limits and a V8 on a pallet is well beyond mine.

The first post relates to my rear axle - or really to Roger's rear axle as I plagiarised, I mean researched, his idea. The diff is a limited slip which has been rebuilt and the plates lightened to take account of the cars lighter weight.

P1020729 by James Adeley, on Flickr
P1020731 by James Adeley, on Flickr
P1020730 by James Adeley, on Flickr

The half shafts and wishbones are shortened and the carriers are XJ 40 which means the discs are outboard. Pads are standard Jaguar. My callipers are fitted as Jaguar intended fitting forward whilst Rogers are correct cobra and face backward. I don't think anything turns on this. The hoses run form the T piece out to the top of the carriers. Here, due to the angle at which the brake unions insert into the calliper, I had to switch to hard pipe in order to ensure that I kept the pipes clear of the half shafts. The small brackets are fabricated, powder coated and locate into the ABS sensor opening.



A particular difficulty was in respect of the hand brake. Gerry's handbrake (MGB) is only designed to pull one cable whereas the XJ40 callipers require two cable activation. Consequently, I made up a piece that looks like a dumb bell. The piece come apart in the middle so that one end has a male and the other a female part and they are located with a grub screw. Finally all was powder coated. The cables were measured up and shortened. If ever you fit this there is a small plastic insert that inserts up from the underside into the carrier to locate the cable so that it does not rattle about. I spent several cups of tea looking at the part and having no idea where it went until I phoned a friend. The outer splined hubs were machined by an engineering firm - sorry the name escapes me. The hub retaining nuts have now been nickel plated.



The shocks are Gerry's standard set up. The camber on Jaguar rear ends are set by inserting thin copper shims between the half shaft and the diff. I have yet to do this and if anyone can tell me if you have to have the car laden or it can be done before the body goes back on I would be grateful.

[Roger King]

Very nice - great pics!
All suspension measurements/adjustments should be done under full load. For the rears, I set mine about 1° negative.
As you can see, I used a rather more conventional brake line arrangement - but yours looks fine, I like the p/c bracket on top of the carrier.

xj40 rear 005small.jpg (222.8 KiB) Viewed 13017 times

And if anyone is tempted to go down this route, I have some spare splined hub adapters (which are unique to this design and were specially made, as James said).

[Cotton Mouth]

The next instalment is a quickie. If you are wondering why toady I am able to write an entry it is because my son is home as his teachers need a term time training day in addition to their thirteen weeks of holiday and before they go on strike on Wednesday - I of course have no views on this subject. I wanted a gear lever that would fit a T5 world series box fitted with a Hurst billet shifter. I thought the cost of the ready made items high ( I live in Yorkshire) and didn't particularly like the feel of the lifting lockout when it was not connected to anything. I bought the knob with the correct pattern for the T5 box from Finish line inc. I bought some brass rod and turned up the central shaft with a 1/2inch 20tpi thread to accept the knob.

P1040369 by James Adeley, on Flickr
P1040374 by James Adeley, on Flickr


I then cut a crossway using the milling attachment and then milled the cross piece before silver soldering it into position. The piece was completed by the base which allows the gear stick to sit above the central line of the car. The whole thing was then polished and will be sent for chroming.

Whilst I was in the mood, the brass bar also provided stock for a button to sit through the throttle arm of the Demon (a version of Holley) carb. The pice is in two parts that when bolted up either side of the throttle arm allows just enough play for the assembly to rotate.

P1030647 by James Adeley, on Flickr

This also is going to be chromed.

Finally for this instalment, would anyone happen to have a pair of headers I could borrow (location yorkshire). I am about to take the car to have its stainless system fitted and the fabricators need to start the engine. As it hasn't been started since the dyno run and I have wired it since then I wanted to try starting it before it went. Any help appreciated.

[Cotton Mouth]

Having had several MGBs whose hoses split or the clips let go I decided to adapt (nick) Stewie's idea of using a right angle compression fitting to receive the return heater piping which screws into the inlet manifold. I also thought that I would use a compression fitting for the out going heater water on the water pump. I bought a right angle 5/8" compression x 1/2 (NPT I think) stainless fitting for the inlet manifold, which did not need adaption, and a 5/8" straight brass compression fitting. I then turned the water pump hose barb down and made a female equivalent in the compression fitting before silver soldering the two together. Sorry forgot to photograph this bit but you can see the insert located on the water pump in the pictures.



I decided that copper was the only sufficiently malleable material for the pipes once it was annealed to red heat. European plumbing is on 16mm pipe which is about 0.010" over 5/8" but three time the price in the UK. Having watched various promo and Youtube videos on how professional pipe benders with big hydraulic machines do the job I built the following (don't laugh) out of an old oak floor board.






The discs for the wheels were cut using a hole saw and then turned on a lathe to give a 16mm semicircular cross section cut out. The arm gives sufficient leverage to haul the pipe round. For bends less than 45 degrees I used a 15mm pipe spring: over 45 degrees it becomes difficult to get out - I am sure the plumbers merchant wondered why I bought several. For bends of 90 degrees or two bends in the same pipe I used sand (this has to be very well compacted in the tube or it collapses).This produced the following pipes. The third pipe with the right angle end is to carry the wiring to the coil, distributor and ballast resistor. The "swages" are compression olives.



I then made up some "I" beam brackets to sit between the tubes. These were cut from sections of 22mm pipe for the correct ID radius and silver soldered. Brackets were also made up to support the pipe work using inlet manifold bolts to secure them in place.




The pipes were then wired into place after tinning all the mating surfaces and soft soldered (which the solder melts about 200 degrees C less than silver solder) into place. This is the finished article with the wiring in place. The wiring has heat shrink but will also have an outer aluminised ceramic cloth coating to insulate it form the heat. I don't think that with only two small brackets to conduct the heat and located above the inlet manifold with heat resistant covering that heat will be a problem.




The arrangement was then installed. I know its not "original" but when its chromed it should look OK. Anyway, chacun a son goat.

[Cotton Mouth]

Well this far north it s too cold to go into the garage tonight. I know its not original but i have always liked the aston filler cap. I acquired an original Enots - I think 2 3/4" its the middle size anyway - and as the chrome was a bit dodgy sent it to have the edges radiused to pass the IVA and then re-chromed. The next problem was how to stop the fuel sloshing all over the body. Billet aluminium came to the rescue and i turned up an insert that also has a recess for the reducer - not sure whether to use it or not.

This is the finished article.







Whilst I was in the fabricating mood i thought a battery box might be worth while. I cut the ubiquitous cardboard template for the battery and then cut out the shape in 3mm plate. 2mm is the absolute limit that the kitchen table will cope with so this went off to the local sheet metal works who folded it up and then welded it for a donation to their tea fund. The retaining bar is angle with a couple of pieces of bar filed to shape. Finally it was all powder coated.





If you are wondering why their are two sets of mounting holes in the rear of the carrier my new motto is to check where the ridge on the battery is before drilling; Damn Damn Damn.

[Old Boy Racer]

Looks like you are doing a terrific job. Wooden pipe bending jig is brilliant. Final assembly on kitchen worktops - a man after my own heart, but only when the boss is out.
Cheers
Robin

[StewbieC]

James I'm loving the progress but as Robin says, you are a braver man than me! Cobra bits in the utility room! Not long until the body will be on now!!

If it's any consolation, the painters can rectify many a miss drilled hole!

I finally finished my fencing at the weekend, all gates rehung and proper latches working. Hoping to get some time in the garage over Christmas.

Hope you have a good one and looking forward to seeing some additions to this thread over the festive period.

[Cotton Mouth]

It was Christmas Eve in the workhouse, the paupers they were merry
up stepped one churchwarden, his face as bold as brass
we don't want your Christmas puddings
stick them...... and at this point my 74 year year old mother became lost for a rhyme. Amen Brothers

Just a short instalment today as I am waiting for a batch of fabricated items to go off for aluminium welding. I wanted a period looking dash with V bezel instruments and rotary switches. Being six foot meant that I thought using an original dash shape (which is two inches deeper than Gerry's) was not a possibility. I therefore used Gerry's GRP offering. I first filled in recesses for the gauges to provide a flush dash. The picture below does not show the gauges in their final positions.



The switches starting form the left top row are panel, heater (both rheostats or variable potentiometers to be formal) starter button, fuel pump switch; Lower level from the left is lights, wipers (which has a push button wash incorporated in to the switch0 and ignition which is only on/off. All the switches were form Ebay. The clock in the lowest row has its original workings refurbished and keeps perfect time but the wiring is elongated to allow it to be shaken to get it going - if I flatten the battery restarting might be iffy. The amps gauge in the top row has had its innards removed and replaced with a voltmeter which reads zero when the voltage is normal. My reasons for replacing the ammeter with a voltmeter was firstly a voltmeter provides a more useful indication of the state of charge and secondly an ammeter takes the full amperage through large diameter cables and any electrical mishaps are likely to be serious.

It then dawned on me that the IVA inspector may not be too impressed with this arrangement and it would definitely not pass a test. I therefore made up and bent an aluminium plate to sit behind the dash to step all of the rotary switches back of the dash.



I then made up a wooden plate for the front of the dash which has had holes routed and edges rounded to allow the v bezels to sit back beneath the surface of the dash. The knobs are kitchen wooden drawer knobs which are turned down so that their protrusion in front of the dash is within limits. Finally, a filler was made for the glove box aperture and a recess cut for the speedo which is then not obstructed by the spokes of the steering wheel.



On the far side you can see a tach. Before you get too excited it is identical to a Rotunda tach (which start at about $600 but badged Faria and cost $63 including postage from Ebay.com. Its all reversible should anyone wish to alter it in the future. Beyond that is a cut down version of Rogers high/low beam switch. I will deal with the wiring later as it's not quite finished yet but this is what it looks like at the moment.



In the meantime, could anyone let me know how they mounted the dash. I assume that it is bolted to the one inch box section cross member that sits above one's knees. I have noticed that there is also a screw in the top section part of the dash and what does this screw into?
Fades out to the tune of One Piece at a Time (J Cash) which just has to be the kit car builders song. For those of you not familiar with Mr Cash here is the link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWHniL8MyMM

Merry Christmas to you all.

[StewbieC]

Hi James, Belated Happy Christmas.
I fixed the dash using a couple of screws from underneath into the 1" scuttle frame and also I glued some aluminium angled brackets to the fibreglass scuttle (at the top of the dash) using the Inntec adhesive that I think you also have. A nice screw slotted self tapper with cups fitted (from Woolies) through the dash into the brackets will look just like the original dash fixings.
Great progress, all the best for the new year!

[Cotton Mouth]

Many thanks. I am still trying to start the engine before the car goes to have its exhaust built and fitted. I have a set of mustang headers. Before I cut the wooden mock up jig which supports the dash does anyone know if the headers are interchangeable? I thought that if I bolted them on the wrong side they will run back at about waist height. Roger, you must have an opinion - or anyone?