Nominal Posted March 10, 2015 Author Share Posted March 10, 2015 Been up and collected the car for some fix-ups. All minor details - more split washers/nylocs needed, few more clamps and guards on the air lines and parts. Things like that. Also have some new shocks for the rear. Will hopefully get these things sorted over the next couple of evenings and back for a re-check before the end of the week. Also need to pull plugs and see why it's only running on 6 or 7 cylinders. Pretty happy overall. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted March 12, 2015 Author Share Posted March 12, 2015 All that list ^^ got done, including new set of plugs. Went for re-check today, and the brake test. That test was quickly followed by a wrecker yard crawl looking for a master cylinder with a 7/8 bore. Pulled one from an AE101 that looked workable. Drove home, slapped together an adapter plate from some 12mm steel and re-did the line ends with metric fittings. Back to Levin for a re-re-check by 4:30pm. Stops heaps better now. I think everything is done, except for the paperwork, and anything that LVVTA might question. Anyone want a 1977 Thunderbird master cylinder? This is the new one. Since the lines have been swapped side to side the bends are even more wonky than they were before. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Nominal Posted April 1, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 1, 2015 Cert plate acquired. Beach Hop attended. I do need to make some changes to the rear shocks or something as it is rather bouncy in the rear when driving. I've been advised that '4WD' shocks would be better. Will do some research after the school holidays. 17 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted June 7, 2015 Author Share Posted June 7, 2015 Bit of off-seal action this weekend. This is the normal ride height. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Nominal Posted August 27, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted August 27, 2015 OK, so I wanted to get some front disc brakes sorted and certed at the same time as the bags. After an abortive try with EF Falcon discs (that are integral with the hubs) that didn't work out (hit the upright and I didn't want to mess with swapping the whole Falcon upright in) I picked up a BA Falcon disc and caliper from Gaskin Ford Parts in Seaview (good guys to deal with). Pictured with the Merc (same as Galaxie) upright Tight fit inside the 15" Radir wheels, but looked OK. I got the brackets cut from 10mm plate. The two pieces were needed to pick up the 3rd mounting point on the upright. The smaller piece would have been welded flat to the big piece on the extended bit. I didn't do that in the end because the cert man was happy with the single plate using two of the upright mounts. The top mount is really big as it carried pretty much the full load of the drum brakes. The caliper bolts to the adapter plate, while the plate is drilled and tapped for the upright mount bolts. I machined a couple of small spacers to go between the adapter plate and the upright. The thickness is worked out by mounting the hub and disc on the upright then clamping the caliper (with pads in) using air pressure (I have a brake flexi hose brazed to an air line fitting). I've used this approach a couple of times now and it works out OK. Ideally they would be tacked to the mounting plate to make it easier to assemble, but I didn't want any cert hassles over welding the adapter. Next time I have them off the car I'll tack them on. I had to put longer studs in the hubs, so the old ones were pressed out. A bit of a drama because the factory studs were swedged in place to retain the drums. They came out with a bang! Fitted to the hub and upright and testing inside the wheel. You can see the brake-air adapter thing. I should have been a bit more careful prior to this stage because when I bolted everything up on the car the calipers rubbed on the wheel. A little filing on the caliper corners didn't to the trick so I had to weld up and re-drill the adapter to upright mounting holes in a slightly different place. This is the caliper adapter from the other side. I ground the plate a bit where the main part of the upright joins the stub axle boss. This all cleared the relocated shocks OK. And with caliper. All assembled The cert man said I needed split washers on all the bolts so I had to dismantle everything to put them on. It is a bit of a hassle to get apart as the caliper can't be directly removed without following a specific sequence and pivoting it once the disc is on and then tightening the bolts with a ring spanner, but it shouldn't need doing often. For brake lines I used the matching Falcon ones and made a little mounting tab behind the upright. The lines then reach the factory hard-line on the chassis rail behind the suspension (I moved this a bit to clear the new shock location). As per above I used a Corolla master cylinder (anything with a 7/8 bore would be OK, 13/16 would be a better choice I think). Some new brake lines were run, with a fitting to use a pressure switch for the brake lights (didn't feel like fitting a pedal switch as I was short of time). I did put an adjustable proportioning valve in when I had the bigger M/C but I'm not sure it was really necessary. The brakes work well, and passed certification. I feel more confident driving it on long downhills now, and don't get the vibration from the drums that it used to have. This was all done with wrecker parts (didn't even dismantle the calipers), but new parts are probably fairly cheap. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted September 27, 2015 Author Share Posted September 27, 2015 Low vs High. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted November 7, 2015 Author Share Posted November 7, 2015 Picked up this 4V manifold and carb at the Southwards swap today. Carb has a 1964 factory tag. The car currently has a 2V manifold so I'll probably clean this up and swap it on sometime. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 The car has always required a bit of cranking to start after sitting overnight. It's a drain on the battery and hard on the starter too. The easiest solution seemed to be fitting an electric fuel pump to fill the carb float chamber before starting. Ergo 1 Carter 4070 pump. I ordered this from http://www.nzperformance.co.nz as the price was OK, and it was closer than the USA. Very happy with the service there. Pump comes with 3/8 fittings and mounting hardware (not the mig tips, they are just lying around on this temporary workspace) Mounted it just forward of the gas tank. Pump instructions recommended a filter before the pump. Connecting the 3/8 outlet to the stock fuel line needed a soldered adapter. The pump also leaks a little bit from the threaded outlet connection which is annoying. The instructions are clear on not using any sort of sealer there, and it is done up as tight as possible. I'm only going to run this pump to prime the carb so this connection won't normally be under pressure so it will be OK. Car seems to run fine using with the stock mechanical pump sucking through the Carter one. It isn't permanently wired yet - I ordered a 12v 55 delay relay board from AliExpress and will use that to set it up for a 15 second run when the ignition is switched on (like a typical EFI setup). It is fairly noisy as mounted - the pump is rubber mounted to the supplied plate which I have bolted to a new part of the airbag controller mounts. If I ever end up running the Carter pump full-time I'll get some rubber mounts for the plate too. There's a lot junk in front of the gas tank now. Plenty of clearance at full low though. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 Have been visiting my folks in Nelson, and camping in the Sounds in January. Left in the rain onto the Interislander, hauling the camping gear and kayaks. Our camping setup at Momorangi, on Queen Charlotte Dr between Havelock and Picton At Anakiwa, across the sound from Momorangi. Anyone else been to Outward Bound? I went in the early 90s. Dazzling the tourists at Pelorus on the way back. If you look close you can see bathcollector's wheels on the trailer. Car went mostly OK. I locked my only set of keys in the trunk which was a hassle. A bit of hotwiring got us mobile for a day until the locksmith from Blenheim picked the lock while it was pissing down with rain (thanks AA and Gary Ching Locksmiths). I got some more keys cut after that. Also had some fuel starvation issues which seemed to get worse over the 3 weeks. By the end I was running the electric pump full time otherwise it would lean out and stumble up hills or cruising above 80kmh. Not sure what is going on - perhaps the mechanical pump doesn't like sucking through the Carter pump? I really need to address the fuel leak before using the Carter pump all the time. On fuel leaks, after we filled up at Havelock I notice a lot of gas leaking under the drivers door. There is an old fuel return line that I had cut and 'crimped' under there that is still connected at the tank end. Apparently with a full tank (and maybe the hot weather) there was enough pressure to leak quite a bit. I crimped it up more tightly with some vice grips to stop it leaking, but will fix that better now I'm home. Was quite nice as a camping wagon, but mileage means it's only feasible on trips near home, we will likely go back to the Holden next January. 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted February 14, 2016 Author Share Posted February 14, 2016 Have removed and replaced the fittings on the Carter electric pump and it seems slightly less leaky. Also got stuck in and removed the mechanical pump/filter combo, made a block-off plate for the hole it left, and stuck a new length of rubber hose in to bridge the gap. All harder than it might have been because it sits under the A/C/airbag compressor now. I haven't taken the can off to see if there is a filter in there. Someone had also added another filter between the pump and carb. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted March 20, 2016 Author Share Posted March 20, 2016 Acquired some new 4WD-spec shocks (thanks CDL) and got them fitted - they definitely have more 'grunt' than the Nissan Urvan ones that I put on (new) last year, However, one side is now leaking after a short (but bumpy) test drive. These are specced for LJ70 Landcruiser front, so I thought would be strong enough not to blow a seal? Engine will only run on 7 cylinders right now, which needs investigation. PS is noisy, and the air bag compressor needs to be removed and checked. 9 days to Beach Hop departure..... Noticed this critter scaling the Nibbler. It was dead/crispy though, so maybe the leaking oil did something bad? 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted March 28, 2016 Author Share Posted March 28, 2016 Adjusted the upper shock mounts a bit to allow a bit more shock travel (duh). Was looking under the car with CDL and noticed that one of the front bags was rubbing on the chassis pocket when down. Not necessarily a concern but I wanted to check it further, I found that there were a couple of (factory) weld dingles rubbing on the airbag so had to dismantle some of the suspension so I could grind them smooth. Came apart OK, and no other issues after 1 year/3000 miles on the bags. It's nice not to have to deal with spring compressors and such when splitting things apart. Have also topped up PS, bled brakes, drained and refilled air compressor (twice) so hopefully is all OK of BH16. Geez this thing looks untidy underneath! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted July 17, 2016 Author Share Posted July 17, 2016 Brought a few smaller parts back from the USA recently, mostly carb kits and a better filter plus NPT fittings to re-do the fuel pump setup. Also intake gaskets and some PS rebuild parts. Rough plans are to re-do the fuel pump plumbing to include the filter and an adjustable regulator (although the Mr Gasket one I've got looks a bit crap). Also have an oil pressure cutout switch to add to the wiring to make it a bit safer. At some point the PS system needs work at is leaks even more than engine (and that is saying something!) Got a used heated spacer to work with the 4-barrell manifold, and a Autolite top to get the choke plates parts from. Shaggy Autolite 4100 on the left and shaggy Holley on the right. Picked up a new 620CCA battery today too, so hopefully will be a better starter now on. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted September 26, 2016 Author Share Posted September 26, 2016 Reworked the fuel pump setup a bit, added a proper filter. Needed a mount adapter plate. The other pump is a spare got for $20, after paying a lot more for the shiny one. I bought a few proper NPT (instead of BSP) fittings in the USA, so I could get rid of some ugly plumbing. Also used the Permatex #2 on the the fitting threads to prevent leaks - the pump instructions say not to use sealers, but they leak otherwise! Back under the car. The clip leads were for a pump test run. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted October 25, 2016 Author Share Posted October 25, 2016 Mercury survived a run up to Cambridge and back for the NSRA Nationals. I have mostly fixed the PS leaks with a new feed hose (thanks to Pirtek for a freebie that was much more suitable than the heater hose BNT sold me) Developed a lean backfire on acceleration while on the way to Hamilton to pick up the Oxford parts (probably a protest) which was somewhat cured by advancing the ignition timing a little bit. I need to investigate the tune-up further. Also one of the welded brackets has broken off the bellflower pipes. Towing a trailer load of B-series bits through Taihape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Nominal Posted February 20, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 20, 2017 Has mostly been a garage ornament over the "summer" so far. I did rewire the power signal to the airbag controller so that it doesn't come from the coil (so is now more than 8V when the engine is running) which should help some odd controller issues. I also had another go at cleaning out the chassis rails after finding the remains of a mouse nest in by the airline filter. Cruised down to Peka Peka beach for a swim after work this evening. 23 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 For last few months (maybe even last Beach Hop) the oil pressure on the gauge would sometimes be very low when driving around (original factory electrical gauge, no pressure markings), while other times it was 'normal'. I ignored if for quite a long time, but finally got a bit nervous with the long BH trip coming up again. I don't have a mechanical pressure gauge around, and due to weird US threads (NPT vs BSP) didn't want to deal with buying one here. I did have a spare sump gasket, and some googling indicated that pulling the sump was possible. Last time I looked inside the engine (under the valve covers a few years ago) it wasn't pretty so I though there might be some crud blocking the oil pump pickup. So I disconnected various things and jacked the engine up as far as possible (there is a chassis crossmember right under the oil pan). Once the sump is unbolted there is space to unbolt the oil pump and let it drop into the pan, then pull the whole lot forward and out (once the anti-roll bar is unbolted anyway). It wasn't super-dirty inside The bottom pan was quite dented which probably pushed it up against the pickup though. The 390 'workshop'. Nothing looked too scary here. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted March 5, 2017 Author Share Posted March 5, 2017 Instead of actually fixing anything I bought a new standard pressure oil pump and driveshaft (there is a hex shaft like a pencil that drives the pump from the bottom of the dizzy. If these break things get bad fast) It goes here - I was checking for pan clearance But to get it fitted it needs to be sitting in the pan, then bolted up through this gap, including getting the drive in place. It only took a few tries (including not dropping the bolts/gaskets into the pan) to get it in. I cleaned up the sump and flattened the dent out. Didn't bother painting it because of the copious oil leaks. Some test driving shows a slightly better oil pressure, and no 'drops' noticed so far, so I'm calling that good to go. I decided to stay in denial about the bearing condition so I left the caps in place. Also ignored the timing chain and front seal as I didn't want it in too many pieces right before BH. I also wired a couple of Nissan relays in for the headlights. This was mainly to take the load of the original light switch as I wouldn't like to source a replacement for that. Also fixed the instrument panel lights so they work more reliably. The BH is really the only time I drive this at night. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Nominal Posted April 30, 2017 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 30, 2017 Had a good time at the Beach Hop, took a relaxing approach and only did one of the major runs (to Whitianga). Car went well, except for a little driver error where I took a slight short cut across the lawn of the place next door to the one we were renting (huge grass frontage with no fences in this area) after dropping a couple of people off on Saturday afternoon. Suspension was on low driving position, fine for road use but not so fine when there are low-level tree stumps hidden in the grass. I collect two of them, one right in the sump, and the other along the drivers side sill (which I didn't even notice for a few weeks). Made a hell of bang! Anyway, there we no leaks or knocks and the oil pressure was good so we drove home with no problems over the next couple of days. Car needs a WOF so I wanted to take a look underneath and also fix the sump so I moved it onto the lift yesterday. I couldn't see any other damage though so moved on to lifting the engine up again to remove the sump. I was a bit smarter this time and didn't drain the radiator and remove the hoses. Instead I unbolted the mounts so the radiator could lift up with the engine. Much less messy, and cheaper too as I just but $50 of antifreeze in it a few weeks ago. The sump gasket stayed stuck to the engine block so that was good. Also the oil pump driveshaft stayed in place so it was much easier overall. Oopsies So I beat that mostly flat again (still a small kink in the corner but I didn't want to cause a split/leak) The pickup is pressed into the flange and I think it had twisted up a bit. I tweaked it back down and put a couple of tacks on it so it won't fall off. To protect the sump - I don't want to take it off again anytime soon) I've made a skid plate from some 6mm steel plate that was lying around. I don't think it will bend much. It bolts on so I can change the oil. There didn't seem a good way to make space for the oil drain, but I can always do that in the future. Normally this area is well above the ground even with the suspension right down (can just drive like that if the road is smooth) but anything that is sticking up would be a problem. Now it should slide right over, although I'm slightly bothered that the steering linkage is just behind that round crossmember. I might weld an angle-iron 'breaker' across the plate to protect that. Just need to fill it with oil and charge the battery and it should be WOF-able. 13 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nominal Posted January 21, 2018 Author Share Posted January 21, 2018 Nearly another year up. Nothing much has been happening. Went out to a couple of car shows in Kapiti today, then to the beach later. Needs new rear shocks, I'm going to order some Rancho 9000 adjustable offroad models - preferably prior to Beach Hop. 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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