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

289, FIA & Daytona topics
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Cotton Mouth
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by Cotton Mouth »

Many thanks, Roger and Ronald. Might I ask you two and anyone else with a view, I have looked at a picture of Roger's blue cobra (he said trying hard not to sound like a closet cobra stalker) and the grommet you use in the engine bulkhead is quite small, certainly the central aperture is small. On one end of the speedo cable there is the very large yellow drive cog and locating tab and on the other there is the ferrule that screws to the back of the speedo. What is the magic you use to get large objects through small rubber diaphragms?

Many thanks (oh, and when you say "same as original is ..........." you had better assume you preaching to the ignorant where I am concerned)
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Roger King
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by Roger King »

Sorry, can't remember the grommet size - haven't seen the car for several years now. It's all pretty standard stuff though. I cut on oversize hole in the fibreglass and the size hole I actually want in the aluminium padding. The instrument end is easy to poke through, although I'm sure you know that the coloured plastic gear comes of the end of the cable at the gearbox end as it's held in with a clip. Grommet is, I dunno, maybe 1"? Bit more?
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Cotton Mouth
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by Cotton Mouth »

The coloured plastic gear comes off the end............... Nope, new one on me and that would explain a lot and right now there is a chorus of Homer Simpson type Dohs being heard across the shires - as ever thank you for helping.

Where have I got to, well Stewie was very worried that the prop shaft was going to let go and whip parts of my anatomy to the consistency of, well whatever. So I decided to fit a prop shaft hoop and the exhausts had to come off. "Hows that" I hear you say, well the nice men that fabricated the SS flanged exhaust found two very convenient holes underneath the midpoint of the car and used this to bolt on the exhaust hangers. These holes are also the mounting holes for the prop shaft hoop. I will post pictures off the solution when I have finished cutting, welding and powder coating, but it is safe to say there are now more bits everywhere than there have been for months.

The bottom hose is being fabricated in aluminium but my pattern made up of various parts was very slightly out and that is now being rectified and the other parts for the engine are not back from the platers. Worst of all the fabricated hot water supply to the radiator in the cabin - which I described above - is now being replaced as when I bent the tube to form the radii, it altered the OD and the compression rings will not grip as the tube is thirty thou too small. Progress is frustratingly slow. I may take up basket weaving.
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Cotton Mouth
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by Cotton Mouth »

Well, firstly, my thanks to the last little bastions of the free market at Photobucket with the deep desire that they burn in whatever digital hell is reserved for the pond scum. secondly. I will replace the photos but it will take time.

Meanwhile, I have done some work and moved a stage closer. The first task was to bring the clutch hydraulic line from the nearside to the offside. I could have taken this around the front of the engine but preferred to route this across the rear of the bell housing as the route avoided proximity to the exhausts. To get the line over the bell housing I used the bell housing washers under the bolt heads as a template for a clip to be made out of 1mm mild steel that was laser cut by a local engineering company for a box of biscuits. This was then partially bent into final shape and a number of them sent for plating.

ImageIMG_0668 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

I then replaced the washer under the bell housing bolts and bent the clip around the line.

ImageIMG_0669 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

ImageIMG_0673 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

At the same time I had the various other parts with various finishes re-plated to match. Unfortunately, due to the various finishes the finishes available to me were limited if I wanted the same finish across a variety of parts. This is the throttle assembly finally in place.
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Cotton Mouth
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by Cotton Mouth »

The next problem was that I had had a stainless steel exhaust made up by a local firm who had already made one for a 289. The resourceful gentlemen had looked under the car, seen two bolt holes in just the right place and bolted the exhaust hanger to the chassis. When I came to fit the prop shaft hoop - Stewie being convinced that the only mission the prop in my jalopy has is to reduce my nether regions to the consistency of whipped cream, but as it was Stewie who is a proper engineer and has never steered me wrong, I thought I had better go along with his suggestion - there was no holes left. There then followed several evenings of fun and games where I cut two slots into the lower half of the prop shaft hoop and bent up 9mm steel (odd size I know but the powder coating adds 0.5mm per side giving an OD of 10mm as per the original to fit the rubbers) into hooks. This is easier said than done as trying to predict where the Heath Robinson bending jig I have made would actually place the bends isn't easy. I then took the parts into the local engineering shop as given the thickness of the steel I preferred a welder with some real grunt behind it. Then powder coating and then fitting the prop shaft hoop.

ImageIMG_0666 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

ImageIMG_0667 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

ImageIMG_0703 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr
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Cotton Mouth
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by Cotton Mouth »

Finally for tonight, I tried to fit the lower hose - you may recall I was unaware of the availability of left sided water pumps but the things of which I am unaware would fill volumes. However, the weight of the empty hose with the silicone pipes and clips was concerning as to what would happen when full of water and you hit a bump. Hence, I decided to have the lower pipe made in aluminium using the silicone pipe as a mock up. For those of you who have not come across Chris Hazel at ProAlloy he is a gent, endlessly patient and an artificer of huge skill. He made up the lower pipe and then altered it slightly to make it an absolutely perfect fit. All of the errors were mine and the credit is his. The pipe is attached o the engine and radiator by silicone tubing and held in-between to a couple of bosses on the rear of the radiator (for stability only) with the weight of the pipe being taken by a home made steel bracket constructed out of a hose clip and some sheet steel, welded and then powder coated. When fitted it is all very solid.

ImageIMG_0704 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

ImageIMG_0706 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

On a different topic, I thought whilst I had the front grill out I would fit shroud for the radiator. After speaking to Chris again he advised that fitting a shroud around the outside of the radiator was fine but as the air entered the nose it would start to eddy rather than adopt a laminar flow. Consequently, he suggested two blades which are bolted to the front of the radiator on substantial tabs I specified when I had it made to which are attached a top plate and lower section. Sorry for the terrible photo showing the parts but you can see the pressed ribbing to keep the panels stiff. The hole in the nearside blade is to allow the wiring for the fan to pass through. When fitted I will send some more photographs.

ImageIMG_0708 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

Good luck to you all. CM
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StewbieC
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by StewbieC »

Looking good James. Need to smear some blue Hylomar between those silicone hoses and lovely pipes as they will leak. Usually when you have parked up 100 miles from anywhere having tightened the hose clips to a billion British standard grunts torque, 50 times already. You'll come back from a nice stroll to find a big blue puddle that the coolant fairies have caused, just as its about to go dark.
Otherwise, have you got those brake callipers fitted, only bought them a year ago ;).
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Hawk 289, 66 Mustang Fastback with a 289 maximum smiles per mile..
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StewbieC
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by StewbieC »

Btw. Well done on fitting the springs on the throttle linkage to take up the engine revving movement!
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Hawk 289, 66 Mustang Fastback with a 289 maximum smiles per mile..
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Cotton Mouth
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by Cotton Mouth »

Thank you the blue Hylomar tip. See what i mean, proper engineer. Roger must either be on holiday or in respite care as otherwise he would have been recommending the imperial tube. Now, I will just pop into the garbage with my usual vocal limbering up exercises as i undo all 18 clips. As to the brake callipers, there was an interruption in normal service caused by - well the usual - and then they didn't fit. You see Stewie and i picked up a pair of billet aluminium callipers at the NEC from BGC as part of an order for MGBs. Lovely pieces of kit, light, beautifully engineered and with 30% off as some American had welched on a deal for a large order. Stewie and i explained carefully about the vented disc etc and the callipers duly turned up. Wouldn't go over the disc. The fellow from BGC was up near here and on the promise of me cooking steak on the Barbie he came over and looked them over and decided they had sent the wrong ones and i needed a different set kit. These were not on offer but were supplied at the original discount. They really are lovely and will feature soon as they are fitted but the brake lines are not quite complete. If you are looking for a pair of callipers these will put a smile on your face. If anyone is looking for a set of Princess callipers reconditioned by Big Red and with correct flexible hoses please message me.

CM
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Cotton Mouth
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Re: Well I said I would.............

Post by Cotton Mouth »

Dear All,

I hope the world is treating you fairly and you are getting some time in the garage. I tried to fit the the pressed steel boxes under the de-mister vents but found the horizontal arrangement of the original made fitting the hoses to the heater itself somewhat clunky. To make the arrangement easier to fit, I sliced off the end of the box where the heater hose attaches at an angle of 45 degrees - by which I mean I eyeballed it, thought it looked right and then grabbed the angle grinder before good judgement and a protractor got the better of me - and sliced. The amputated part was then rotated on the axis the tube by 180 degrees and re welded into place. This now makes a 90 degree bend and brings the hose down just in the right place to attach to the heater box. The part was then primed in grey and then sprayed in satin hammerite.

ImageIMG_0713 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

The fixings for this item to the underside of the scuttle were the next problem as the holes in the de-mister vents line up with the aperture of the slot where the air comes out. The box was crossed drilled and short pieces of brass dowel were inserted into the holes. The dowels had previously been cross drilled and tapped for M4 bolts. These can just been seen in the aperture. the demister vent bolts are now used to attach this box to the underside of the scuttle. The curvature of the scuttle is such that the de-mister vent has a gap in the mid section where the air can escape. I had bought some strips of self-adhesive closed cell foam to seal the gap between the transmission tunnel and the floor of the cockpit and off cuts were sliced up and laid to take up the gap.

ImageIMG_0715 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

ImageIMG_0714 by Cotton Mouth, on Flickr

Due to the way in which the hosting of the pictures now occurs - Mentally sticking pins in the privates of the voodooo doll that is Photobucket - I will have to start a new entry to deal with other bits and pieces.

Regards to you all.

CM
Last edited by Cotton Mouth on Sun Sep 24, 2017 4:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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