sr2

Time to make up some fuel lines.

Ordered some 5/16” copper line..

 

 

 

Marked up some 10mm ally square to make some saddles.

 

 

 

Cut some slots in the mill.

 

 

 

Drilled some mounting holes.

 

 

 

A bit of work with the band saw and linisher.

 

 

 

And a few beers to decide which type of screw to use.

 

 

 

Bought some new compression olives to use with buffed up old brass fittings.

 

 

 

Back to bending up welding wire patterns….

 

 

And copying it on the same bender….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Working my way back from the gas tank…

 

 

 

Looks like someone left an old spanner in there…..

 

 

 

Using some of the original 75 year old spring metal clips where I can

 

 

 

 

 

Finally arriving at the fuel pump.

 

 

 

Almost there, I always put the fuel filter on the suction side.

 

 

 

So I took a couple of weeks off for some R&R.

 Jumped the ditch to help my brother run a Grady White 326 from Mooloolaba to Bundarberg for 5 days of rum and fishing with some Aussie mates.

30 Km off the coast, no land in sight, 35 Knots with 700 hp hanging off the back of the boat.

https://youtu.be/M81qba9EON0

Returned home to run the race car in the Targa Bambina, jeez life can be tough!

 

 

 

Back home and back to reality.

Time for some radiator plumbing.

I found an interesting old brass pipe fitting…

 

 

 

Cleaned it up a bit….

 

 

 

Did some pipe notching in the mill….

 

 

 

Some Ezyflo for the brass and this will be the radiator filler point.

 

 

 

Threw on a bit of paint….

 

 

 

Looks OK to me…

 

 

 

Hunted through Supercheap’s collection of radiator hosed for bends I could use…

 

 

 

 

 

I bought an adaptor with a fitting that takes an electric fan sender and used it to make up a bottom hose with two 90 deg. bends.

 

 

 

 

Final challenge was what to use for a header tank?

I had this old tin tank that had been painted with many layers of paint over many years. I forgot to take a before picture but after a can of CRC paint stripper, ½ a bottle of Barossa Valley Pinot Noir, and an evening of elbow grease this really cool brass tank emerged.

Talk about bloody stoked!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to figure out how to make a nose cone brace…… help - I’m running out of room!

Started with some 12mm EWS tube.

 

 

 

Welding wire templates…..

 

 

 

Out with the world’s oldest pipe bender…..

 

 

 

It still works….

 

 

 

Heated the ends up with the oxy and hit it with a very old hammer on a very old vise.

For some perverse reason I love doing this shit!

 

 

 

 

 

Decided the top brace was too high…

 

 

I’m just cutting freehand and notching with a rat-tail file.

 

 

Interesting challenge needing some interesting bends to make things fit.

 

 

 

 

Dropped the nose cone off to tack it all together.

 

 

 

 

The original support Vs the new apparition...

 

 

 

Some ‘insipid green’ paint……

 

 

 

Does the job and looks neat and tidy…..

 

 

 

 

 

I’d like to think I’ve picked up a few ideas over the years trying to keep race cars cool but some would argue the jury’s still out; i.e. if you learn from your mistakes I must be either a slow learner or a frigging genius!

Golden rule I was taught is to match the CFM rating with the size/hp output of your engine. As a rule of thumb for the V8 crowd 2,000 cfm will cool a 400 hp street car. Considering Rigamortice’s little old X2 186 puts out a whopping great, earth shattering 145 bhp (downhill with a tail wind and the boot lid open!) I settled on a 14”, 1650 cfm from Silverdale Radiators. It pays to use one with square blade ends as the curved blades although quieter are less efficient. Sadly I’ll have to run the less desirable pusher (fan in front of radiator) configuration as there is not enough room between the motor and the radiator for a puller set up.

Fan arrived a few days later.

 

 

It’s important for fans to be mounted properly, avoid those shortcut systems where you attach them to the radiator with plastic zip ties - from all too painful experience I can vouch for the fact that they eat aluminium radiator cores for breakfast!

 

 

 

I cut out a few tabs …..

 

 

 

Tacked them to the headlight brace for a top mount…

 

 

 

 

It’s a tight fit but it will work……

 

 

 

 

Bottom mounts were pretty straight forward…

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to make some clearance for a bottom mount bracket.

 

 

 

 

 

The obligatory Trial fit with a bit of 6 x 2……..

 

 

 

Knocked up a lower mount….

 

 

 

And glued it to the front cross member….

 

 

 

A couple of grommets for the bottom mounting pins and some foam to stop the bottom rubbing….

 

 

 

It finally fits………

 

 

 

Got a local shop to Tig a top mount on……

 

 

 

And drilled it out to take a grommet.

 

 

The new custom radiator finally arrived.

Enough cooling for future engine mods. (Still collecting bits for the 208CI injected 186 motor).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Big plug for “Real Deal Radiators” in Kelston Auck for a great job at a sharp price.

 

 

 

 

 

The horizontal headlight bar was causing the top of the radiator to lean back.

 

 

 

Time to make a new headlight bar that’s smaller and further forward to get more clearance.

First I’ll need a jig…….

 

I cut up and drilled some scrap angle….

 

 

 

And tacked together a jig….

 

 

 

 

 

Cut up and drilled some plate, still getting used to the novelty of having a mill, great for drilling slotted holes.

 

 

 

 

 

Bolted the plates into the jig…..

 

 

 

Tacked in a piece of scrap re-bar so I could trial check for fit inside the nose cone…

 

 

 

The fit looked good so back into the jig to replace the re-bar with a piece of square section EWS.

Before………..

 

 

 

And after……

 

 

 

And the grill still fits……phew!

 

Bugger………suddenly remembered over the weekend I’d been tweaking the gearbox mount up a little for better driveshaft clearance…….which had raised the height of the exhaust collector…. which meant my new front pipe wouldn’t fit………i.e. "fiddent dit".......duh!

Out with the angle grinder, a bit of bending and welding……

 

 

 

And it fits like a glove.

 

 

 

 

 

Front & rear hangers on the muffler……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Adjustable rear hanger……

 

 

 

Another job ticked off the list.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

At the risk of preaching to the converted, (there are people on this site who’s fabrication/construction skills make my meager ham-fisted attempts at stitching metal together fade into insignificance); here’s my approach to cutting up pre-bent bends.

First I trace the bend onto a piece of cardboard - yes it’s CAD all over again!

 

 

 

I then find the center of the bend with the trusty dividers (or a compass).

I can then draw my desired angle (from a protractor, an adjustable square or cardboard template).

 

 

 

Then it’s easy to mark the cut with a stiff piece of cardboard cut to neatly fit over the tube.

 

 

 

Yes it’s a simple and rudimentary method but it works.

 

 

 

 

 

I knew getting over the diff and past the gas tank was going to be a pain in the proverbial and I wasn’t wrong. The gas tank was close to the chassis rail for even the original 1 ¼ inch pea shooter exhaust - with 2 ½” things started to get interesting.

Managed to sneak past the spring hanger on the inside

 

 

 

It’s close but I’m confident the bump stops will hit before the rear end hits the exhaust

 

 

 

Made it over the top……

 

 

 

And then a squeeze past the newly fitted gas tank

 

 

 

Had to fit the rear bumper to make sure I had clearance - if that’s not a sexy arse end I don’t know what is?

 (On re-reading this I think I may need to get a life!).

 

 

 

Time for a rear tail pipe mount. Because it’s so close to the chassis rail and gas tank I decided on a double hanger.

 

Dusted off the old gas set - hasn’t seen much use of late.

 

 

 

Just couldn’t resist using a piece of re-bar, i.e. this is a real jokers car with a real jokers Aussie engine - To quote Monty Python “rule one, no poofters”.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L220PFMkunI  

 

Heated it up in an old vise and hit it with an even older hammer….

 

 

 

And made this…..

 

 

 

Stitched it all up….

 

 

 

 

And hit it with some HT paint.

 

 

Couldn’t believe how much time and effort had gone into making two bent bits of pipe.

 

 

Gas tank arrived back from the good old boys at Kwikstrip.

 

 

 

The usual great job, all paint and rust gone.

 

 

 

I was going to use a lining compound but it looks good inside.

Thought I’d leave my favorite gas tank ding. Despite numerous attempts and intense interrogation techniques Rigamortice has so far refused to divulge the story behind it.

 

 

 

Only sheared off one bolt removing the sender….

 

 

 

Applied some gentle heat but when I saw solder starting to melt I backed off quick. - Yes in those days they soldered gas tanks together.

 

 

 

Shock, horror and panic! On drilling out the errant bolt I discovered my old friend Rigamortice, the last bastion of all things Imperial was harboring an embarrassing skeleton in her closet. Oh the pain and humiliation when I discovered a metric thread. With any remaining vestige of authenticity and moral fortitude thrown out to the dogs Rigamortice hung her head in shame as I lowered my standards and defiled the rebuild with a metric tap.

 

 

 

“Oh the humanity”.

 

 

Numerous Wild Turkeys and extensive counseling later, I slunk into the now desecrated sr2 man cave and pulled out the favored CRC rust converter...

 

 

 

Love that little ding…..

 

 

 

Applied the obligatory coat of insipid green….

 

 

 

And it was time to attack the sender.

 

 

 

A small amount of heat…..

 

 

And it fell to bits with a little tap.

 

 

 

You have to love this old shit. What we have here is simply a 75 year old rheostat (or potentiometer - for those who love big words or suffer from bouts of verbosity) that needed no more than a  quick dip in the cleaning bath and a spray with CRC contact cleaner to be restored to its former glory.

Try that with a bloody Corolla’s gas gauge sender in 75 years’ time!

 

Gas tank Empty…..

 

 

Gas tank full….

 

 

 

Cut out a cork gasket….

 

 

 

Gave the crusty old cork float one more chance with a water test and considering the specific gravity (or relative density) of water is higher than that of petrol it passed with flying colors. One 75 year old piece of history just got a reprieve.

 

 

 

 I assembled it all and dropped it into the old girls boot. (Complete with the original PK screws to hold the tank in place. in place!).

 

 

 

The lack of room between the tank and the chassis rail will be a challenge for the exhaust……..

 

 

 

 

A Bunch of cool exhaust stuff arrived from STA parts at a great price.

 

 

 

After considerable deliberation and Wild Turkey Rigamortice I had made the decision to settle on a 2 ¼ inch exhaust. The old Holden 6’s don’t get much past 6 grand in street trim and going bigger risks sacrificing mid-range for that little extra top end.

Plan is for the old girl to become my daily driver once again (I have a passion for totally impractical solutions for problems that never existed in the first place) and I need a drivable engine in a state of tune I can live with. Although wait until I build the stroked 208!

Ordered some straight tube and found a muffler on Trademe…

 

 

 

And it’s back into using CAD (cardboard aided design).

 

 

 

 

 

Have to say some of these cheap Chinese “mandrel bends” are a little out of round.

But the price is right.

 

 

 

 

Beer is always important when working late in the “universally renowned” sr2 man-cave.

 

 

 

Happy with the front pipe - time to weld it up.

 

 

 

And check one more time it all fits.

 

While groveling around underneath the old girl trying to figure out how to get a bloody 2 ¼ inch exhaust to fit where a 1 1/8” had no issues I fell seriously out of love with my handbrake quadrant and decided it could be improved on..

 

 

Remaining true to the tradition of this build I removed a “finished” component to butcher it up and change it.

 

 

 

First a little CAD (cardboard aided design) work.

 

 

 

Hacked up some scrap steel…….

 

 

 

Turned up some scrap steel……

 

 

 

Welded up some scrap steel……

 

 

 

And ended up with this lot………

 

 

 

 

That needed some paint………

 

 

It’s a little hard to see under the car but the result is a lot more tidy and satisfies Rigamortice’s obsessive-compulsive personality disorder!

 

 

Dug out an old set of HR? headers I had laying around, they looked like a good fit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cut the old exhaust pipe…..

 

 

 

Started fabricating a collector to go from the two into one join into a 2 ¼ inch exhaust.

Found some scrap that fitted the “Sticky Flanges” flange……

 

 

 

Pictures are often better than words………

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sits alongside the gearbox in the right place………

 

 

 

Decided sand blasting and ceramic coating was to bigger expense as I plan to build a custom set when I build the stroked motor.

Spent some time sanding and rust killing……..

 

 

 

All painted with high temp VHT and ready to fit…..

 

 

 

Happy with the result.