Post by grumpynorthener on Dec 11, 2023 8:14:19 GMT
Don't know about the American based auto stores but every time I'm over in Canada 'Canadian Tire' is a must - it makes 'Halfrauds' look like a Fisher Price toy for 2 year olds - I always come back with a load of handy tools & kit
Don't know about the American based auto stores but every time I'm over in Canada 'Canadian Tire' is a must - it makes 'Halfrauds' look like a Fisher Price toy for 2 year olds - I always come back with a load of handy tools & kit
I'll give that a shot if/when I get to Canada.
Harbor Freight was good for tools - about the size of a regular British DIY shop - but purely for tools, with a strong focus to the automotive workshop, rather than racks of paintbrushes.
But Speedway Motors was my fave, as I was working about 15mins from there. Absolutely massive. They've got this in their foyer
Alas there are a few bits to browse, but it is more like Argos - make a list and they get it from out the back.
Don't know about the American based auto stores but every time I'm over in Canada 'Canadian Tire' is a must - it makes 'Halfrauds' look like a Fisher Price toy for 2 year olds - I always come back with a load of handy tools & kit
I'll give that a shot if/when I get to Canada.
Harbor Freight was good for tools - about the size of a regular British DIY shop - but purely for tools, with a strong focus to the automotive workshop, rather than racks of paintbrushes.
But Speedway Motors was my fave, as I was working about 15mins from there. Absolutely massive. They've got this in their foyer
Alas there are a few bits to browse, but it is more like Argos - make a list and they get it from out the back.
But they have 3 different catalogues to peruse.
I had to go back for more stuff
Very jealous of the American/Canadian auto parts store places
One job I wanted to finalise on the dash, was the pulls for the choke and hand throttle. Originally they just ran through rubber grommets on my car. But I wasn't happy with that for the new dash. The pull switches come with a chromed nut, I wanted to try and mimic that. So I got some stainless bolts, and threw them in the lathe, to make them match and drill a suitable hole in the middle. I'm the worlds worst machinist, and my cheap Chinese Mini Lathe is pororly setup, and not really suitable for stainless. But with a bit of patience - I had one done.
Drilled the larger holes in the prototype dash, and fitted them.
Yep happy with that. Time for one last home print of the dash, before commissioning a professional print.
Had a bit of project creep today - happens to us all I'm sure.
I started off by stripping out the remains of the wiring loom - that went to plan, and was as grim as expected.
Then I went looking for suitable fixings to attach the new fusebox etc. to. The bulkhead on the inside has a GRP panel. When I removed this I found this.
A combination of old school sound insulation and what appeared to be chipboard panels.
Hmmm - can't believe that is fire safe, that won't be going back in.
With that out of the way, I could take a good look at the bulkhead. No rust to speak of, but plenty of holes.
The fit between the pedals and steering column is pretty rough, because the padals have been replaced to add hydraulic brakes. I'll park that for another day, as I've got some plans in that area.
I did cut a rectangular hole for the wiring multiplug. I want to take the cab off in the future, and don't want to be cutting wires, so a couple of these multiplugs will take care of that.
From the engine bay side, I've circled loads of holes that need to be welded up, for a cleaner appearance. There is the project creep !! Quite a few of them were hidden behind stickers FFS.
One of the holes - marked with a B is a bullet hole !!
I've found a position for the fuel pressure regulator, to the right of the steering coloumn - which I'm happy with.
Hopefully the multiplug to the left of the steering column will be fairly well hidden.
Post by grumpynorthener on Dec 18, 2023 7:51:47 GMT
Reminds me of every Jupiter I restore - every bulkhead is riddled with redundant holes drilled by previous owners / users / bodgers of the vehicle - well done on the project creep - It's not just me then
Nice wiring! have you got a new harness or are you making one from scratch?
I'll be making one from scratch. It isn't a complicated car, but I want to use modern fuse boxes, and relays, because automotive wiring has moved on a lot in the last 90 years. 99% of it will be hidden from view hopefully. I will kick myself if there are any modern blue/red crimps visible !!
I also want to future proof the wiring, with anything I may need in the future.
To that end I'm adding capability for
Electric cooling fan
Auto gearbox neutral switch
Heater blower
Electric power steering
None of which I'm fitting yet, but later down the line, it might make it easier to drive/live with.
Which brings us perfectly up to date. Yesterday I was messing with the power steering.
I've bought a column from a Vauxhall Agila - similar to a Corsa one, but smaller and recommended by Retropower. I temporarily wired it up on the bench, to understand how it works. Just as well I did as it needs 50A cables to power it !! But for the proof of concept, running quite happily off a Milwaukee 12V power tool battery.
The £30 kit to control it is pretty neat, they give you the white multiplug on the right, and the spade terminals, ready to accept the fat wires of your choice. On top of the column ECU is the little control box, with an adjuster.
The motor is very quiet, but spinning the wheel with no-load, the system takes around 1amp. If I grab the UJ to apply some resistance, I can get that up to 5amps. So I'm sure it is doing its thing.
I plan to splice that column onto the original column, to retain period correct steering wheel and steering lock etc. I've stripped off all the Vauxhall stuff, to make it easier to store for a year or two. I'll just wire the multiplug into the loom I'm currently gathering parts for.
Post by grumpynorthener on Dec 19, 2023 9:18:40 GMT
Very interesting with regards to the power steering addition - Something I would consider fitting to my fast race look road Javelin project that I have in mind - any chance I could bribe you with a tin of Quality Street / Celebrations etc to advance the fitment and fully document it for me
Very interesting with regards to the power steering addition - Something I would consider fitting to my fast race look road Javelin project that I have in mind - any chance I could bribe you with a tin of Quality Street / Celebrations etc to advance the fitment and fully document it for me
If not there's a guy on the TR Register forum who's done a similar job. I can dig out the link if that helps.
Very interesting with regards to the power steering addition - Something I would consider fitting to my fast race look road Javelin project that I have in mind - any chance I could bribe you with a tin of Quality Street / Celebrations etc to advance the fitment and fully document it for me
Ha Ha
It is a fairly well trodden path. As others have said - a few guides out there.
The column cost me £100 - there are cheaper ones, but this had the motor/connectors still in good nick.
I'm going to run a separate feed from the battery, through a 50A breaker - just in case.
If you can use the column "whole" by using a Vauxhall splined steering wheel boss, then physical fitment is easy. Mine has a splined UJ on the end - metric I assume, but a Frankenstein approach will link it up to most things I reckon.
Getting the steering lock off - however isn't easy - I've got broken bits of plastic all over the garage.
Very interesting with regards to the power steering addition - Something I would consider fitting to my fast race look road Javelin project that I have in mind - any chance I could bribe you with a tin of Quality Street / Celebrations etc to advance the fitment and fully document it for me
There are a lot of choices out there, the Corsa C has the motor in a slightly different place, I have a new Corsa C one which is for driving school cars so its a heavy duty motor so if you need any dimensions let me know
I've been trying to catch up on the project creep over the Christmas holidays.
The offside of the bullhead didn't need too much work. I did get a nice simple bracket for the coil, and welded in a couple of captive nuts for mounting.
The offside needed more work as there were way more holes. But the metalwork went largely to plan. I added a bracket for the fuel pressure regulator, seemed the quickest and easiest solution, to weld this into place. Not like it is ever going to need to come off.
I'm not aiming for perfection here, as to do a proper job on painting the bulkhead, the engine needs to come out, and that is project creep taken too far. But a quick skim of filler doesn't take too many resources.
Blocked back, and with some quick'n'dirty masking ready for some aerosol primer/satin black.
The inside of the bulkhead is a little messier currently, but it is almost ready for paint/soundproofing.
Originally there were a nut/bolt going through the bulhead to hold on the interior trim. I've changed these to captive studs, for a cleaner look. On the top right, I'm going to add a panel for the electrical components. So this has beefier fittings, to hold the panel, but also to act as earth.
At that price, the quality isn't there of course, the magnet needed sticking back in with better superglue. The components are copper plated steel at best, which was a shame....but for a tenner.
Then I modified it with a longer M6 bolt, so it would hold my studs/bolts firmly in place.
Easy to adjust to hold the bolt square and firmly to the bulkhead for welding.
I also used a thick piece of copper, with a little divot in it to act as a backing plate for filling up the holes from the other side.
For a tenner, and 10 minutes of messing around, saved hours I reckon, especially as I was working solo.
Highly recommended if you have a similar job ahead