so 4 days from order the boxes from rockauto arrived today, there's service for you
the starter is correct too which is a bonus and that's bolted in place now. the water pump's the short one so bonus number 2, lol. oh and did i say the gearbox crossmembers fitted now.
neil.
the new engine mounts are bolted to the block ready to make the chassis brackets now. we couldn't find any 7/16" unc bolts so cut that thread on some 7/16" unf seat belt bolts. you'd think that wouldn't give a decent thread but because unc has bigger and more importantly deeper threads it gives a good result. the water pump pulley from the parts engine was way too 'deep' for the short pump so it got altered. we cut the front 3/4" off, flipped it and welded it back to the rear section giving a 'new short pulley. couldn't get the pic to upload, i'll try again later.
neil.
we made the chassis side of the mounts for the engine today. 3/16" plate so nice and sturdy and we even remembered to cut/slot the mount holes for any engine removal later on. we offered up some stock cast exhaust manifolds as we don't think we'll have time to make headers. luckily we have 2 sets and it looks like the 2 centre-ish outlet ones fitted upside down will work just fine. the down pipes needed will be sort of fenderwell-ish so they'll be ok. still can't pics to load, i need someone much younger than me to show me how. problem is the pc did an update recently and pics won't load to the pc now, or if they do they're hidden and i can't find them, lol.
neil.
Bloody modern technology ...or rather lack of it ..wheres that all new singing and dancing forum we were promised
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most of the 'updates' seem to be change for changes sake, probably only made to justify someone's job. bl00dy ridiculous if you ask me.
neil.
i forgot to say.... earlier i suggested to ash' that as my 352 is now going into the cresta which will be sold that we should swap some bits. the weiand inlet and chrome edelbrock rocker covers will go onto his 352 and put his stock 4 barrel inlet and some stock rocker covers onto mine that'll go with the cresta. when we later fit the 440 to the new chassis for his zephyr i'm having his 352 so the 'good' bits will come back to me anyway.
neil.
today's job was to sort/make a combi shift lever from the ford bit on the box and the b&m lever from the th350. we've sussed how it'll be cut n shut and welded to make it work but in doing so another problem arose. the box won't engage park internally. so with the pan dropped and nice clean bright red oil everywhere (doh!) we found the park rod hanging down as the end that engages the park pawl has broken off. so i've ordered a gasket kit from rock auto (17th today and delivery date 20th!) as the tail housing needs to come off to retrieve the bit of rod before it destroys the box/casing later in use. so tomorrow the valve body and tail housing will come off to get the rod out and almost certainly we'll weld the broken bit back on. it only presses on the pawl to engage it with the park gear when stationary so no load on it, it'll be fine.
neil.
we had a good day today, the park rod is welded and refitted which is good. then we moved back to the shifter bracket at the box end after some more trimming and trimming and trimming of the ford shift lever, each time clamping the b&m lever to it and checking the travel matched the shifter itself. finally we had a match and welded the two parts together, that's that done. now once the gaskets arrive we can refit the tail housing (with a new seal of course) and sump pan followed by the 'new' crossmember.... again.
the new wheel bearings and seals arrived for the exploder axle so we can that reassembled and fitted too and measure up for the propshaft. that'll need a slider in it as the c6 box is from a truck so had a fixed yoke output to clamp a uj in place.
neil.
A good day was had
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today's looking good too. just had 3 rockauto boxes and an ebay jiffy bag with exhaust manifold bolts by the feel of it.
neil.
the gearbox is back together and sat on it's crossmember....... again. you could say ''2 steps forward and one step back'', my dad would've said ''just when everything seems to be going well you get the obligatory kick in the bo11ocks!''. either works, lol. we also refitted the oil filter housing (came loose with the engine) as we now have a new gasket. we now have exhaust gaskets and 2 sets of rocker cover and inlet gaskets for the inlet swap. next job though is to fit the rear axle bearings and seals and hang the axle so the pinion angle can be set. that'll allow us to make the propshaft.
neil.
today we cleaned the mating faces of the exhaust manifolds and the heads, removed a snapped bolt from the n/s head and the 2 rusted studs from one of the manifolds. couldn't find any 7/16" unc bolts or studding so drilled and tapped the downpipe (up in this case) holes to m12. then we trimmed the new bolts to length, sorted washers and bolted the manifolds to the heads with new gaskets coated both sides with silicone for a good seal. we took the old water pump off, cleaned the threads in the block and painted the new pump ready to fit. i got terri my daughter to work out how the updated pc will allow me to find and post pics so i'll throw the last few days pics on here.
neil.
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just ordered some forgotten parts, doh! a carter mechanical fuel pump and ngk plug leads and coil, all for under £80 inc' uk duties.
neil.