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

Rear Suspension Part II

A brief update this week as I've not had as much time as I'd hoped. I've completed the rear suspension, all the camber angles are set and everything is torqued up and made a start on the brakes. There were no major snags to contend with, some of the bolts are too long for my liking so I'll replace them with shorter ones before I put the body on. I hope to complete the rear brakes one evening this week and make a start on the front end at the weekend.

 

Rear Suspension Part I

The first thing I have to say is how much I'm looking forward to the spring. It's been bloody cold in the garage and there's no natural light available in the evenings. Roll on March. Anyway, this week I've started on the rear suspension. I've fitted the wishbones, all came together OK. I found that, when torqued up, the wishbone was pinching up against the front diff carrier bracket but not all against the rear one (I could spin the washer). I varied the spacer washers front and rear and achieved a balance that I was happy with. With the drive shafts re-assembled with new U/Js I fitted them along with the rear hubs & handbrake cables. The next step is to set the camber angle, this is adjusted with spacers that sit between the diff output and the drive shaft. Now I know the gap I have to fill I can order these up and hopefully finish the back end next weekend.

Rear Suspension

On the left you can see where the camber angle is measured (having first raised the hub to the correct height). I'm using a handy little free App on my tablet to measure the angle (I did calibrate it first).On the right you can see the gap between the diff output and the drive shaft that needs to be filled with spacers to set the angle.

Delivery!

At last the day has arrived, after months of waiting and preparing I can finally get my hands on the kit and start work. Just the small matter of collecting it from Peterborough. The day was cold but bright & mercifully dry. The folks at the factory were their usual friendly and helpful selves and after a quick look at the new Gen III kit. Jon took me through my kit list and the guys loaded up the van.

Collection!

And here it is! Unloading wasn't so easy, it was half six before my helpers could get here, by that time it was dark and very cold the job of unloading was much harder. The challenge is not so much the weight but having to lift the body up and over the chassis before it can be unloaded. Massive thanks to Leon, Tom, Rob and of course Denise for sorting the food.

Chassis ready

I spent Saturday afternoon getting everything squared away and checked over. The body is now all tucked up out of the way on a wooden deck (the boot box has to be supported from underneath) and the chassis is up on stands and leveled up. BTW before separating the body & chassis I made sure to mark up the position of the exposed chassis rails in the engine bay as suggested in the manual.

Sunday started later than I'd planned, not least due to the Burns night celebration the night before. After a bit more sorting and tidying, Rob and I set about getting the diff installed. It's not the first thing in the manual but the diff and hubs are taking up a lot of space so I figured I could clear the decks a bit.  

Diff installed

The diff is a heavy lump but with two of us and jack we got it lined up. This turned out to be more of fight than I though it would be, the bracket on the chassis that takes the two bolts at the top rear of the diff was fouling it and stopping the bolts from going through. I had grind a few mm off the bracket, but now it's all sorted and torqued up, feels good to actually get the first job done

Shoe Shopping and other bits...

Before my lovely wife thinks I've taken a sudden and unlikely interest in buying items of clothing, I am of course talking about brake shoes.The brakes from my donor xj40 are the earlier 'Girling' type. The various Jaguar parts suppliers show the part number to be JLM800, I went to my usual supplier only to be told they were obsolete and there was no alternative. A quick search online found a supplier selling JLM800 but when they arrived they were clearly wrong and a bit of research showed the ones sent were for the later ATE type brakes. I did eventually trace a set of JLM800 from a supplier near me and went to check they were the correct ones which they were.

Later - ATE Brake Shoe

Earlier - Girling Brake Shoe

Top Tip - Keep all the old donor parts, even the bits you know you'll have to replace, such as the shoes. You never know when you might need a reference.

Brake Shoes Fitted

I've fitted the shoes to the hubs, partly to double check that I do have all the right bits and partly because I wanted to do something while waiting for the kit. The task is fairly straightforward if a bit fiddly. I need to adjust these up to fit the brake disc before the job is complete.

Looking from the top at the adjuster

Pressing the Cup onto the U/J

The other job I managed to start was the assembly of the new U/Js in readiness for the replacement drive shafts from AK. I found that using a hydraulic press made the job much easier although you do have take care not to push the cup too deep onto the spider. Keep turning the spider as you press the cup into place as this ensures that the rollers are all in position. 

First half of the job done

I did pack the bearings with grease before I started in order to keep the rollers in place. I'll probably top this off with a grease gun once I finish the other half.

Some more bits..

As well as the jaguar bits there are some other key components. The steering column comes from an E34 BMW and needs to be complete including steering wheel right down to the lower column, ignition lock etc. I really struggled to trace one of these anywhere. Eventually one turned up at a scrapyard in Northern Ireland so I paid my money and all arrived a few days later.

E34 Steering Column

Handbrake

 The kit requires a Jaguar XJS handbrake assembly. This also proved difficult to source, but on a recommendation from a friend I chose stainless steel alternative. The picture doesn't do it justice, I'm really pleased with the finished piece.