Humber SS's 4V Century V8 powered Dyna Camper

[HumberSS]

Yes page 4

I think I'm gonna start battery box next and sort fuel pump mounting etc as I'm over the Jerry rigged starting setup being in my way, it has served its purpose.

[HumberSS]

Got stuck into the battery box, originally I had though to move the truck battery to separate it from the house batteries but it really doesn't make sense and I've given myself a few options and plenty of space as well as obviously being able to handle a fair bit of mass. It's made out of 4mm sheet and 40x40 tube. I decided to spread the load over a decent surface area on the chassis rail to brace it nicely. About 15mm clearance to the headers, I'll prob put a little heat shield in behind as well. 

I'll start sorting a bit of an engine loom after this and get it all tidy, figure out where to mount the fuel pump etc.

[HumberSS]

Picked up the tools again, been a bit. First job was to finish shifter mount including a fancy little milled block for holding the shifter cable and a few other little mounts. The shifter cable and associated links works very well, I'm stoked. 

Then cracked into mounting coil in final location and mounting HEI unit. 

[HumberSS]

Then mounted fuel pump in final spot. Also did a few minor tweaks to my fan belt tensioner as it wasn't running central on the back tensioner bearing. I started finalizing all the engine loom cabling and drew up some brackets to 3D print that would hold the fuel hoses and earth cable.

I intended to have pics of those too but during Thursday nights little blat on the tools I somehow ended up with some metal in my eye. I decided to ignore that on Friday, on Saturday I hoped it was going to go away but after not being able to get to sleep sat night I got out of bed at midnight and drove the 30km to a&e. I got out at 4:30am after my second experience of having a piece of metal wizzed off my eyeball with a tiny die grinder. Would not recommend. Today was not a day of doing things as planned, but the intern doctor was cute so I'm looking at the bright side.  

I'm working from front of mechanical to back now tidying up all the little shitty jobs. Once the engine loom, starter cables etc are done need to get into kickdown cable to carb, then some fancy machining on the torque converter then finally handbrake mech and I'll essentially be complete on the chassis engineering work. Seeing some end points has been good for motivation..

 

[HumberSS]

Micro update. Mounted these clamps holding fuel lines and earth cable. I'm probably going to reprint one as I'm not happy with it. I used petg and tbh I've always relied on the factory prusa slicer settings but I have never been happy with the outcome so might have a fuck around with it. I do love these little brass heatserts. 

 

[HumberSS]

Finally got on to this job. 

The torque converter that matches the gearbag  had a smaller diameter spigot that was also too tall so that needed rectifying in order for it to plug into the back of the v8. I couldn't just make a sleeve and slip over the existing spigot as it would have been fuckery so I did this instead.

First I had to find a chuck that held the TC securely, the one I had that had a base plate didn't cut it so after some rummaging in the shelves I found this random base of some other bit of gear which I turns out was damn near perfect, even had 3 evenly space slots close enough to the pcd of the bolts on the chuck. So I clocked that up and made some holes and bolted the whole sandwich together thus. 

I then set the TC up and clocked that then milled the old spigot off. 

 

[HumberSS]

I kept the mill all locked up in posi and made the spigot. Well I actually made 2 failed spigots because I was being a tard before making one that was bang on size. I reamed the hole in it 12mm used a ground ejector pin offcut as a guide which I threw up in the collet of the mill then slid the spigot over and pushed down on the torque converter. Tacked her in place with the mig while on the mill, then sent it.

I'm happy.

[HumberSS]

 @dmulallysent me a trans cooler. He assures me he's ok with me profiling a few bits for his Chev in exchange but I haven't developed these callouses on my hands only for them to go to waste - there is a credit awaiting my friend.

The great enabler that he is, he also reinforced my thinking on the mounting posi after a bit of self doubt crept in. The options were pretty limited if I wanted to keep it simple.  I was a little bit worried it wouldn't get enough airflow, but this is loosely where he had it on his Chev and it did the job. I might throw a few heat shields around to try funnel a bit or air up here too. A later job. 

Thing with this posi is the bolt spacing on the chassis end of the mounts was already perfectly pitched for the coolers mounting brackets, so it was meant to be. Short hoses straight down to the trans are a bonus. 

[HumberSS]

I've started mocking up the park brake. The caliper I have is off a cx5. Anyway, firstly I was entertaining positioning it off centre, then I realized I could just reclock the bracket so the cable pull is in the right direction and simply mount dead centre above the pinion. Cunty bit about it being dead centre is I'd like to spin another 30mm or so off the disk, and the diff head is the limiting factor as to how much I can shift the caliper inward towards the pinion. But it will work.

However yesterday whilst browsing marketplace is saw some electric calipers off a late model Ford for $100 ea (I only need one) This would much simplify things as it's electrical wires vs having to get a big long cable made or hobble something mechanically together. I suspect the electric calipers can exert a whole lot more force on the pad/disk too

Anyone got any experience with the electric calipers and any reason it might be a bad idea??

[HumberSS]

In the interests of feeling like I am making progress, despite evidence to the contrary, I had the carb on the Dyna rebuilt and converted to manual choke. New gaskets, needle and seat, pump piston, choke bellows and blasted. Was not a frugal exercise but I've never been unhappy with this guy's work. 

[HumberSS]

So this thing has been sitting on marketplace for ages. But 5 hours from me in Hawkes bay. I'd poured over the pictures but wasn't convinced it was worth rolling the dice on. @dmulallyhappened to be passing that neck of the woods and detoured for a closer inspection on my behalf. His many photographs still left me with more questions than answers. The cab thing has been grinding my balls because mine is very rusty. And I'd already spent money having it blasted and primed near the start of this project and elected to ignore that problem until I had to. That issue has been moving up the list and I'd been flirting with one in Ozzy but that was turning into a ball ache and many pesos too. 

So fuck it, I rolled the dice on this and wasted a weekend going to pick it up from just south of hastings, and then dropped most of it in Martinborough for Damo, because good friends take friends junk. Has a holden red in it too, which obviously sweetened the deal..

Damo has a hoist and the right level of mongrel for the job. I think 3 hours and a few beers and sharns and we had it free. 

For a cab that has been sitting in central hawkes bay on a hill covered in lichen for 20 years, let's just say I think this roll of the dice may have worked out. It's looking better than my cab in almost every way. Except the roof. A tree hit that.

It's also a slightly earlier model so has a front end that is arguably prettier than mine was. So yeah, unless I uncover any major gremlins, this is likely to be the cab I repair and put on it..

Estima towed it like a champ too.

[HumberSS]