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

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