Valiant

Back due to popular demand! I've been slowly spending time and money. New radiator purchased. Car ones just aren't the right shape and the little Honda ones are just too little. I measured up a friends Massey Ferguson TE20, it was spot on. I brought a new replacement one from the radiator shop. It will need it's inlet and outlets changed but that won't be a problem. Next up is a way to drive the hydraulic pump. I have a pump with a pulley, the pulley is a giant ugly thing as seen here. So I turned it down into a hub and redrilled a RB20 waterpump pulley to fit it. I don't know what the original pulley was mare out of, it was as hard as hell and took hours to turn down! To drive the pump it needs a pulley on the crank too, another RB20 gave up it's water pump pulley as did a Mazda b5. I turned up a hub to hold it all in the right place and a friend cut a key way in it for me. It's gone a bit rusty from sitting, nothing some scotchbright won't fix. Last of all. I had planned to drive this directly off the engine as the tractor has it's own gearbox. But. The more I have learned about them the more people I have come across saying they are too high geared standard with a motor that revs to 1800 ish rpm maximum. The common solution seems to be adapting a Ford Model T gearbox to them. I think that Datsun will rev to easily twice that of the original, I'm going to need an auxiliary gearbox. Luckily I have the Vanette box that came with the motor. It looks like it will be just about back to the start which is a bummer but hopefuly the result will be worth it.

I'd be tempted to sort out the vacuum hoses, take the cat out, put some fresh plugs in, tow start it, and see what happens.

Hmmm. Can you put a bend in the steering arms so they step up? Or make a spacer to sit under the arm to space the lower ball joint down? perhaps I could make suggestions on line that you have already thought of.

How much do you have to raise the tierod end Matt?

Sounds like it's working as it should. Make up an adapter to so you can get an idea the brake away torque with a torque wrench and go from there.

That does seem like a good price, I did bearings on a W50 recently and they cost a lot more than that from the local bearing suppliers. Even at trade. You'll be able to get a replacement gear through Toyota.

105speed is too much for me!

The regulations are getting tight huh. Keep up the good work, you're nearly there.

Hi Alex. The ram came from Trade me it's a specific log splitter ram. 3 to 4 inch bore is the ideal size for slpitters according to the guys at the hydraulic shop. It has a large spear so it retracts quicker. It's Chinese, the first one had scratched chrome and this one had poor welding that leaked. Chinese parts life I guess. The pump is a two stage one that I got from the hydraulic shop. It does high flow under low load and high pressure when it is loaded up.I can't remember what size it is. It works well, the equivalent is on TM for about half price. It has chomped through everything we have thrown at it so far.

Good save!

What becomes of the Starions?

Don't worry about it until it becomes a problem. You may not have to worry about it.

If it's anything like an Escort there are shims that space the rack pad adjuster. Take the cover off and take a shim out, and recheck. There is a Nylon bush at the end of the passenger's side, I have got one off Ford in the past and Autolign *All this is based on a very old memory*

Yeah that's right. If someone went to the effort of doing a front end swap a set of new engine mounts a sump adjustment surely wouldn't be out of the question?

Who knows, mate Dave at the pub had one in 1999 etc probably. My calipers are mounted at 3 o'clock.

You should buy my one! I don't have time or money for it for the next decade or so. //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/49075-for-sale-anglia-project-christchurch-3000/ I'll get back to an Anglia project one day.

How do you mean jam? I have a set on my 9" they work well enough. I think people just get a bit out of shape about setting them up. once that's done you're away.

Yes they are funny about cutting them a bit. They do massive fugly rust repairs without a thought but believe if you touch the fire wall the car will implode. All the talk about Escort front swaps being dumb seemed based on people doing half assed jobs of it Anyway I'm sure your Mk2 struts will work great. It looks like you have done top job.

Hi Matt. That's an interesting write up about the Mk2 Cortina front struts. The guys in the UK make out like it is F all to swap it over. It would appear not. If you did it again would you go Mk2 Cortina again or would you use an Escort front end? If you change your mind about the Zephyr tie rod ends HBI Engineering in ChCh can make custom length tie rod balls. I'm pretty sure they are OK with certs, I have had cars certed with steering components they have rebuilt.

Awesome Matt! Keep up the good work it sounds like you are nearly there. Have you thought to get a couple of extra sets of steering arms made?

Crikey, now things are getting technical! I find the horizontal ones hard to use, As the rings split half of it falls away and you have to re handle it over and over. If you're splitting large blocks they fall off the splitter or you're fighting to balance them. I always think of cutting a cake, I never turn a cake on it's side when I cut a piece. I am a part owner of this with a friend, we find that working as a team we can split much more working together with a vertical splitter. One person stacks rings/blocks and the other splits and throws the blocks into the pile. *This is just my opinion*

Pining? Or. Blue Gum?

yes Yes YES you are %100 right I do need a small going Bulldozer! Things have been happening behind the scenes, and all things going well I'll have one soon. Once I have a 265 that isn't a dick.

Cheers. I saw a really clever lift the other day that used a pulley and a wire cable that hooked onto the axe to raise the lift. It was a cheep solution and I did think quite seriously about making one. But yeah it's down to man power at the moment and using your head when cutting rings.

This is finished! I took it to the firewood pile this afternoon and gave it a good work out. It works great! Fast and powerful, it chomps through the knotted pieces of wood with ease. The tables are a good size and height Dave and I had no problems stacking blocks on it we split probably fiveish? cubic meters of old pine and gum, on about two thirds of a tank of petrol, in about two hours. The engine doesn't even need to be on full RPM. It doesn't have WOF and Reg yet but that's not a problem we'll sort that out next season. Project finished. WIN!