Engine Installation Time

Cracking weekend, installed the engine & gearbox and really feel like some progress was made. I realise I should have taken some photos of the process but the heat of the moment took over and I forget so you'll just have to see the final result. I've installed engine & gearbox into cars before and this is a fairly straightforward installation, low level and onto an open chassis. But I've not handled an engine this size / weight / value before. I wanted to avoid damaging any of the ancillaries, or scratching the polished chrome,  or crushing any of the brake pipes. I removed all the plugs, brackets etc that stuck out from the engine to avoid any snagging. I reckon the total weight was around 300Kgs, easily in the range of my crane (but not the old bits of rope I used to use) so I bought some pukka lifting slings. I used a 1T sling wrapped around the engine mounts to take most of the weight and a ratchet strap around the gearbox back to the crane - an idea that I took from "Tommy Boy" - this allows easy control of the angle of attack which is quite steep to get the gear lever into the transmission tunnel. I raised the engine clear of the chassis and rolled the chassis underneath, lowering it and letting a trolley jack take the gearbox mount once it was level enough. It helps to slacken of the nuts on the engine mount bobbins to allow a bit of movement. the whole job was trouble free and soon had it down on the mounts and secured with no damage done. I've also fitted the gearbox mount, drilling & tapping the chassis with 4 x M10 bolts, I'm still not sure about which way up the gearbox bracket goes, neither seems ideal, so I'll check with the factory.

Engine Installed

There's a long list of jobs that I'm itching to get on with, cooling system, power steering pump fuel pump and final connection of the clutch pipe before I can set about fitting the body but time is against me this week and I found I'm short of a few minor bits & pieces so the next phase will have to wait for a couple of weeks.

Engine & Gearbox Arrive

Big week this week, the engine & gearbox have finally arrived. I'm really pleased with the work that Jez at CPP has done, I think it looks great. I didn't get a lot of time this weekend, not least because it was Stoneleigh, but I have unwrapped it all and managed to get the engine up on to my trolley. 

Engine!

Hydraulic Clutch Bearing

What did confuse me was the clutch release bearing, I almost contacted the supplier to tell 'em they hadn't included the clutch release arm. Going through the documents I found that they had built the gearbox with a RAM hydraulic clutch release bearing. I've not come across this before and I couldn't see one used in any other installation. A quick look on The Net turned up an installation & set up video from the manufacturer, it was fairly simple to set up. There are two ports on the bearing, with adapters supplied for standard 3/8 fittings. The upper port is for the bleed screw, I felt this would be near impossible to reach once the bell housing was on and engine installed (and I was worried about dropping fluid inside the bell housing when bleeding the system), so I made up a small extension to take the bleed screw outside the bell housing. The advantage this gives me is that I don't have to buy a slave cylinder. If time permits next weekend I'll get the engine / gearbox installed. 

Heater Part I

It's been a few weeks since I've been able to do anything; with Easter and work etc. I have been able to bleed and test the brake system, this went well with only one leak where I forgot to tighten the last connector into the master cylinder. I'm really pleased that all the unions seem to have held up, I was not looking forward to having to re-make any. With the immanent arrival of the engine, I've turned my attention to one of the last jobs I need to complete on the body before it can be fitted; the heater.

7.2 KW Heater

I ran out of time & patience trying to source one of the Polo heaters, they seem to be like gold dust. So I bought the unit opposite from CBS. I'm pleased with the overall design and size, it seems fit well, although I am slightly worried about clearance between the bell housing and the motor unit (I have a fallback plan if that's a problem). The challenge is that I need to ensure, for IVA purposes, that the hot air is not drawn from the engine bay, this has meant making up a housing that will allow me to connect some ducting that I can route to the foot-wells and draw the air from there. It's taken a bit of crafting but I'm pleased with the overall result and should be reliable once I've sealed the joints below etc. Here's the 'part' finished job.

Brake Master Cylinder

Limited progress in the last couple of weeks, but I have completed the brake pipes and installed the brake servo & master cylinder, temporarily, in order to test the brake pipe fittings, that also includes putting the pedal box in. Installing the master cylinder was more trouble than I expected, I thought I'd put the servo in first and then bolt on the master, but there's not enough wiggle room to get the master over the studs. So I ended up installing the servo and master as one unit. My master cylinder brake pipe unions are on the far side, some others I've seen have been on the bottom, I believe this is the difference between the ABS unit and the non-ABS. I put some in line connectors below the master cylinder and will secure to the bulkhead to allow me to disconnect the whole assembly if I need to in future and, of course, to get the body off again. The other job I tackled was to paint the base fiberglass on the inside of the engine bay with POR15 to give it a better finish - essential if you have the stainless steel paneling in the engine bay. 

Brake Master Cylinder

Rolling Chassis

Fuel Tank Installed

Couple of weeks since the last update... I've now finished the brake pipes and had intended to do the fuel and clutch pipes this weekend but the courier let me down so I was twiddling my thumbs a little. I've fitted the fuel tank, I spoke to Jon at the factory about this as other people seem to have had different approaches. Jon advised that they simply drill and tap the chassis and bolt the tank on, he showed me their demo which uses that solution and they've not had any issues - so I went along with their advice. I also fixed the fuel pump onto the chassis rail.

While I was talking to Jon I took some advice on the installation of the handbrake mechanism that links the two cables from the hubs to the single cable from the handbrake. I've adjusted this in order to get a better pull on the cables and to allow the single cable more flexibility. Originally I had the lever arm parallel with the rear bulkhead, but I've altered this as you can see below. I also spent some time adjusting the individual cables to the hubs as I found that it was exerting more force on the O/S wheel. When I was reading TommyBoy's blog I saw that he had inadvertently trapped his handbrake cable under the body, so I tied mine off under the wheel arch and out of the way.

Handbrake Mechanism

Rolling Chassis

 Barring the fuel and clutch pipes I now have a completed rolling chassis ready for the engine and gearbox, (not due for a few weeks). I rolled it out into the sunshine, the first time it's been off the stands since it arrived in Jan. Gave me the chance to sweep out the garage and wipe up the bits of diff oil and copper grease. Since I had nothing else that I could get on with I made the snap decision to trial fit the body and prepare the way to fit the pedal box etc. so I could test the brake lines. Managed to do this surprisingly easily with just 3 of us, except that the body did not want to sit on the chassis properly. I mentioned earlier about TommyBoy trapping the handbrake cable - I thought I'll not get caught out like that. So I double checked all the cables pipes and for any left over tools etc. but managed to miss the glaringly obvious strips of underlay that I'd put in the floor of the chassis to protect it! With these removed the body fits perfectly and is "snugly" in the garage. It is tight but I can get get all round the car and have a reasonable amount of space at the front.

Trial Body Fit

And this is now the sight that greets me when I open the door from the house into the garage .... worth getting out of bed for!

Brakes Pipes..Started

So another week has passed and some more progress made. I have finished the front suspension having fitted the coil over shocks & springs, the steering rack and connected to the front hubs. The chassis is now ready for wheels. Grateful thanks to Dave for letting me have a set of build wheels. This is an important step, not just because it's a milestone achieved but it allows me to get the chassis in and out of the garage which means when the engine and gearbox arrive I can get them inside.

Completed Front Suspension

On Sunday I turned my attention to the brake pipes. It's a while since I've done this, so I spent some time with spare bits of copper pipe practicing making flares, when I was happy with the quality I started for real. The first step is to fit a 3-way coupling to the front O/S chassis rail I drilled and tapped the chassis, this being the first hole I've had to drill the chassis it seems somehow sacrilegious - but anyway. The two calipers are connected into the brake system via the 3-way, the third will go off to the master cylinder. Similar story at the back of the car, most of the way I have used the push in clips as I think they look neater but around the diff I had to use P-Clips as the steel is too thick and the push ins don't seat properly.

Rear Brake Pipes & Handbrake Cable Mechanism

The other job I completed, was to connect the two handbrake cables from rear hubs to the mechanism that links them to the single cable that will eventually connect to the handbrake. You can see the assembly in the picture on the right, just above the diff.

Front Brake Pipes Connecting the Calipers

Whilst I'm happy with the way the brake pipes have been fitted at the front, I've been thinking about how it will look with the pipes for the clutch that will have to route round the front of the engine bay. I think I might have to make some changes and will probably end up doing that bit again. I think it was "Tommy Boy" that said "there are very few jobs that you can do once and be completely satisfied with".

I need to give some thought to the fuel pump. I'd hoped to use a mechanical pump in preference to an electric one, it would take up less space on the chassis rail and be one less item on the loom to worry about, along with some other fringe benefits. I know there's a perfectly good mechanical pump available for the SBC but my engine builder warned it may not fit with the Gen II chassis, this has since been confirmed by Jon at the Factory. I'll need to give that some further thought, the big V8 needs a decent fuel delivery. I'll try and get a pump, filter and pipe ordered this week so I can start to fit the tank and the rest of the fuel pipes.

Front Suspension

Warmer weather this weekend and was able to keep the garage door open for most of the day. I completed the last few parts of the rear suspension including the brakes and moved onto the front.The front all went together without a hitch although I did have to spend some time getting the camber angles right, this involves shuffling washers between the front and rear of the lower wishbone.

O/S Front Wishbones & Upright

Here's the offside all set up. Have a guess how many times I've banged my shins on the stub axle every time I walk round the car!

Next job was to install the new bearings into the hubs, grease 'em up and fit them to the stub axle. You can see completed job below. The workshop manual talks about setting up the hubs with various end-float settings. But the AK supplied instructions are much easier in that it offers a sequence of steps involving various torque settings.

Front Hub with New Bearings Installed

With the hubs complete, I can fit the discs. I thought this would be a 2 minute job but removing the protective coating was much harder than I thought, until I realised that I needed to let the solvent start work for a minute or so before trying to rub it off. Below right you can see the disc fitted and left, with the caliper fitted and the bolts wire-locked. I couldn't fit the front springs as I need to order the correct bolts but I'll do this during the week.

N/S Front Disc

Front Disc with Caliper Fitted