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.