M_C Posted May 9, 2012 Author Share Posted May 9, 2012 The tentacles of OldSchool reach far and wide as I found some local Escorts and promptly invited for garage + beer + car intro. I hope the neighbors enjoyed the bike carb’ed valve bounce test on the worked 1600 as much as I did… Great to see 3 more Escorts lined up in the drive but beer and BS distraction means no photo so here is one of Felicity in the new garage. Yes confession time, I have named her Felicity in honor of the first owner in Christchurch Felicity Logan from the original ownership papers. Suggestions of Slime, Kermit, Snot and others were quickly dismissed. Consideration was given to Charlize Theron, but I can just hear the brownie points going up on smoke with the line “Honey, I just going to the garage to play with Charlize…” and there’s no point burning brownie points unnecessarily. The favorite of the many very tasty cars for Hampton in the weekend. Running an ex NASCAR Mopar V8 of stupendous noise and horsepower! Hampton car park eye candy. Wonder if I can get both into my garage? Nice headers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted May 28, 2012 Author Share Posted May 28, 2012 Got a few little details done. Mostly while avoiding doing the mission critical water leak on the inlet manifold. Fixed the fuel filler. Old wussy hose clamps and the bottom left. New man sized hose clamps bottom centre needed to close up the big hydraulic hose. Just because nothing is easy the filler is 44mm and the tank inlet 40mm. Straightened the inlet and found a cap that fits better even if it’s a bit ugly. Rather a bit ugly than petrol painting the side of the car. Cheap wing mirror $21 at Repco. Didn’t look that great on the shelf, but for some reason looks much better on the car. Painted the dash. Mainly because it was bare metal and a little surface rust was appearing. While the paint was out I did the underside of the bonnet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 Whilst partaking of garage beer time a mate had helpfully (Gleefully) pointed out a water leak on the inlet manifold. Bugger. Spot the green mark down under the dizzy. It was quite damp even when the engine was sitting cold so needed attention before the Hampton caning. After stalling for time I got into it somewhat concerned that my enthusiastic use of sealant may not be such a good idea when it come to pulling the engine apart again... A little brute force resulted in a surprisingly easy disassembly. 3 month new inlet manifold bolts already rusty hinted at some nastiness building inside. The inlet manifold gasket was an old one that came with the car that I used instead of the nice new one in the gasket set I bought. Seems like it has been acting like a wick for the coolant and weeping it everywhere! Very Strange! Pretty happy to have found this now before more interesting things were brewed inside the engine on a hot lap. Now happily going back together with new gaskets. Not far off a good drive now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted June 14, 2012 Author Share Posted June 14, 2012 Pre-gasket saga I took the car for a test drive on some private industrial land resulting in a huge grin as hydrocarbons were turned into noise and some motion. Very happy to find the Haynes bible 144hp and 192 torques of the standard big lazy 3L V6 essex were enjoying release with the warm cam and extractors and their first run in a Long time. She was happy to wheel spin first and second gears from a standing start, although this may also be due to the weight of the essex over the front axles… This lead me to wonder how low the diff ratio was as she ran out of legs quite quickly. From my vast experience on one track day I know the back straight of Hampton can be quite boring with a low ratio diff and four speed box resulting in hitting the rev limit at the end of the sweeper before the straight. I was told it’s a hilux diff but have no idea of type or year. Spinning the wheel and counting I calculated a ratio of 4.55. Releasing my inner geek this calculates to a top speed of 150km at 6,500rpm. Hmmm, need more. Question time: How many rpm would a stock essex engine withstand before I am looking for trouble? 6,500? The only modifications are a warm cam and extractors. Heads still have press in studs for the rockers and points ignition. Are hilux diff heads all interchangeable, or are there versions I need to look for? Are standard hilux LSD diff’s a reasonable option for casual track days and time trial races or more suited to mud plugging? There is a 4.1 LSD on TM $550. 10 bolt 8”?? And open 4.1 on TM for $250. Thoughts and comments appreciated. Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted June 25, 2012 Author Share Posted June 25, 2012 Spent Sat in the garage, supposedly looking after the kids. But they were playing well so I got to make some brackets up. Not a very exciting shot, but now the big sausage petrol tank is mostly secured and not going to try and join me in the cabin. More unexciting bracketery to stop fuel pressure regulator flogging around. All back together and running well. Even got the timing right on first guess. Cheers Billy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted June 25, 2012 Author Share Posted June 25, 2012 I'm a bit worried about how close my tie rod end is to the disk brake rotor. Mine is approx 2-3mm from the rubber boot to the rotor! I am wondering if heat from track days will do bad things to the rubber boot then spilling grease onto the rotor with sub-optm€ial results for braking and rotor... A few options; Ignore it hoping heat will not equal grease on brakes? Or get another 1.5mm of gap by machining down spacer between hub and rotor below. And reduce thickness of brake mounting bracket. Plate between zinc bolts below. Don't want to go too thin as I imaging the brake calliper will be under considerable torque during heavy braking. And maybe also pack out steering arm off the strut as its just bolted on. So how much gap would you be comfortable with? Comments? Cheers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted July 6, 2012 Author Share Posted July 6, 2012 Hopefully a new radiator cap from Enford (RHS) replace the Ripco (LHS) one will stop the water huffing out/allow expansion water to suck back in. Looks like a better seal under the cap and different style. Couldn’t find any G series diff’s from PickaPart Mangere so had to satisfy myself with shiny new mirror to replaced manky cracked one. Throttle return spring mark 3 done and a few fussy details like heat sheild for brake master as its a bit close to the headers. Now to warm the engine up to temp as final check before the track day. Bit worried the water is sneaking out somewhere bad… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted July 14, 2012 Author Share Posted July 14, 2012 Excellent, the new radiator cap works well and the mystery of the disappearing water has been solved. She pushes a surprising amount of water out into the overflow bottle, but with the new cap then sucks it all back in. Dumped the warm oil and all looks good. Track Day Here We Come! Leave pass approved from handbag, car run to temperature and all tested, Hampton day booked form the good guys at http://www.playdayontrack.co.nz/ , trailer and van loaded with a good weather forecast. Bugger!!!!! On starting Felicity to back off the trailer at Hampton a dry metallic clashing noise was heard from the drive train. Much head scratching, jacking and chin wagging ensued. Peering under and much wiggling found nothing amiss. Noise was only occasional when in neutral and clutch up. Clutch in was fine. Short test drive found the noise also rearing its ugly head after 15’ so a big NOGO for the highly anticipated track test. Load her back on the trailer and home we go. Main suspicion centres on something loose in the gearbox. Maybe the bad 3rd gear syncro has given up? When trying to unload at home it was considerably worse and now un-drivable. Maybe time for a full car trailer rather than to borrowed dolly trailer that drags the rear wheels spinning the gearbox. Ironic that the gearbox and diff are the only things I have not rebuilt on the car. Plan was to change them soon, but that has just gone to the top of the list. Time to learn how to pull a gearbox, where did I leave my faithful Haynes manual? How hard can it be…? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted July 16, 2012 Author Share Posted July 16, 2012 Photographic proof of Hampton presence. Escort badge has fallen off the right end of the boot. Gutted. Back on stands for another strip down. I’m pretty sure a gearbox should have more oil than this in it… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted July 31, 2012 Author Share Posted July 31, 2012 Big thanks to Billy for persuading the gearbox to come out. And it took a bit of persuading... May have found where the AWOL gearbox oil went... Of the 6 bell housing bolts only the bottom two were present. WTF? This has had suboptimal results for the gearbox with front bearing is gone by the feel and oil in bell housing rather than gearbox... Nice wear on pressure plate. Add that to the shopping list. Checking the bare bum of the engine. Pilot bearing is toast, but rear crank seal seems OK. Note custom mismatched header wrap. Only visable from this angle. Most Exciting! Rebuilt 5sp steel case Celica gearbox with all the bits and correct bell housing! Needs a little tidy up after sitting in a mates garage for a while and work out a cable clutch. Excellent! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted August 8, 2012 Author Share Posted August 8, 2012 45min making a tool for a 2 tap job may be excessive... Made up a slide hammer to coax the half shafts out of the diff, only to find two little taps and out they came. Much better than the other way round I guess. And the silly low 4.556 diff is out ready to swap for my Lovely rebuilt tightened 3.9 LSD. Hmmmmmmmmmmm How much play should there be in the half shafts pulling them in and out??? Before unbolting them I could feel a small amount of play. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted August 14, 2012 Author Share Posted August 14, 2012 And I thought the open diff head was heavy until I picked the LSD up! Can't wait to drive this! Tightened break away, rebuilt and better 3.9 ratio. Checking over the diff with paranoia I noticed one half shaft bearing was a little worse for wear. Thanks to Tony for the heat and beat technique to get the shrink collar off. My bashing was never going to move a 20T shrink fit... Now I just need to get it back together. Got to love the maintenance shop at work... Any idea where to get the bush that sits under the gearstick on a celica gearbox like this? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted August 27, 2012 Author Share Posted August 27, 2012 Results from a minor shopping spree. Nice oil for diff and gearbox and shiny bolts to put things back together again. Big thanks to the good buggers at Exeedy for having the right the clutch pressure plate. Bare bum of the engine now more suitably clothed with flywheel, shiny bolts and new pilot bearing. Getting antsy to drive her now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted August 28, 2012 Author Share Posted August 28, 2012 Big thanks to k-trips and the guys for spotting my flywheel bolts. Grade 5?? Hell no!!!Pretty sure that a grade 10 and 12 comes in UNF cap head screw. I would be using 8 ONLY if you can't get 10 or 12 but would still feel sketchy being as you will fang this around the track in anger... Flywheel bolt progression. LHS existing 3/8 UNF grade 5 black, first try replacement zinc grade 5, RHS real deal 3/8 UNF grade 8 (Approx metric 10.9) black. Should handle the jandal. I finally found the bush to fit under the gearstick ball. Was a bit expensive, but then it came with a lovely new TRS short shifter... Bit of mission creep but oh yes! Erectile function test for the sourced superluscious shifted up short shifter. To a while of head scratching to find reverse, but super slick 1st -5th. And bonus serendipity the thread on top is the same M12 super fine pitch as my brake adapter plates so I get another use of the oddball tap to make a nice gear knob. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted August 30, 2012 Author Share Posted August 30, 2012 Big thanks to Billy for help and the gearbox is in! Took a fair bit of jiggle jiggle and bolts in out of the way places... Decided better to replace the full complement of 6 bell housing bolts rather than the last guys effort of just the bottom two and nothing in the top 4 bolt holes. To do list before driving is getting shorter! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted September 2, 2012 Author Share Posted September 2, 2012 And again more thanks to Bill the kid for riding to the rescue again! His cunning plan was to try the standard gearbox mount rather than fabricate one to suit the fabricated mount that came with the gearbox. A simple alloy packer to get the right height and bobby dazzler we are in. New standard mount on left with made up packer. The cross member and mount that came with the gearbox at the top. Mount bolted to original cross member But its never quite that easy is it... Needed a bit more clearance at the front for the gearbox case so out came the persuader. But 2mm cold rolled and formed steel was not too keen to move even with whaling on it. Out is came again and a scallop cut out. Should not have taken too much strength from the cross member and now has beautiful clearance. All bolted up, Yay! Was sooooo tempted to fire her up without the exhaust… Short shifter greased bolted and fondled. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 When to Puke for the commodore car club circuit sprints. A mate has been winding me up to enter them. Turns out it is badly advertised as they take all comers and could do with more entries. There was a subie, volvo and even a couple of fords running! Need to sort cage first, but great event. Like a better track day and you get lap times! Had a Fantastic ride in mates race car. 1.06 round Puke is Pretty Darn Fast! Was a bit woozy getting out of the car and very keen to get mine driving! Some little bits for the car. Repco clutch cable for $50 was a deal after thinking I would need a custom job. Std Mk1 Escort on looks like it going to do nicely. Now just several hours fiddling to get it to fit and not lie across the headers... Not quite mission critical job was painting the gear stick boot surround. Make the boot look ugly now... Hoping my toy money and leave pass let me get out for Playday on the 23rd at Hampton. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted September 17, 2012 Author Share Posted September 17, 2012 Got some good time in the man cave over the weekend. Was like cross training up down up down around the car. But maybe the tired ache was the rowdy party on Sat night. Filled gearbox with oil through a cunning and strategically placed hose. Was going really well until oil came out the wrong hole. Note to self. Driveshaft seals the rear of the gearbox... Not much oil was lost and now garage smells even better. Bought some heat shielding. Was nearly as much as the clutch cable it is protecting, but very good stuff. Apparently. Yet to run the engine hard to find out. Peddle box rebuild time. Made two into one as the bushes on the cable peddle box were a little past their use by date... That would be the pile of dust at the bottom of the pic. And the go fast peddle was way out to one side on the new box?? Almost there. Spot the multitude of holes in the firewall. Another thing on the list. Mighty big stone magnet hole in the side of the bellhousing. Probably have to do something about that. Heatwrap city. Got some more shielding to go in and need to make a bracket to stop the clutch cable resting on the headers. Under the car, again, and noticed I had forgotten this plate. Quick trim to get around clutch cable and nice new bolts. This also reminded me to bolt the starter motor back on. Probably would not work too well otherwise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted September 21, 2012 Author Share Posted September 21, 2012 Super keen to drive new set up, lining up the sports car club gymkhana in Ellerslie this weekend. Bugger, driveshaft won't be completed to next week. Never mind, anticipation is building and handbag will appreciate seeing me this weekend... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_C Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 Heat Shield City. I think I may have a heat sheilding addiction... Filling in time before drive shaft is done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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