help

Sometimes the best help doesn't mean the fastest way.  My son helped me load the engine on the stand today.  He is crazy obsessed with the garage and what goes on out there.  I hope he stays interested.

I am still trying to decide carburettor, megasquirt, or TBI.  I will probably post one of my massive pros and cons threads soon as my research matures.  Any thoughts are welcome!  Sadly, my son has no opinion on this... yet.

This is glue. Stong stuff

Here is the tunnel after priming.  Note you can see the rivnut poking through that holds the clutch hose

 

 

Here is the insulation back in. Since the tunnel is wider I wanted a little more space for the gas pedal.  I removed the insulation and used the titular spray glue to stick the carpet to the tunnel

Here is the gas pedal fully depressed still showing clearance.

clutch line finish

I made another go at the clutch line today.  First straightened and cut more line:

This time I started at the other end, which gave more room for me to hold the line up to the car at various steps after making bends.  I also learned that you can always bend it more, but can't unbend.  Also, many places it is better to make a section a little too short instead of too long.  If it too short you can move out to a straight section after the bend and bend in closer to the wall you want to follow.  If it is too long you are stuck.

I flared this end after making the first bend so I could attach it early and often during fit up:

 That Eastwood tool makes great flares:

Here is the finished line:

 To attach it to the car I decided to use some rivnuts and adel clamps.  Knowing I would need to do this sort of thing, I had asked my mother for a rivnut tool for my birthday.  She didn't even ask what it was, just went on Aircraft Spruce and got it for me (best MIL ever).

 Tool works great

 Here is the line installed:

 Close up of the slave end.  You can see that I primered the tunnel.

Close up of the MC end:

This turned out well.  I am psyched with the fit.  Doesn't touch or rub anywhere  Always good to completely cross something off the list (pending bleeding and trying it out).

clutch line part 1

I cleaned up my engine subframe and put primer on all the bare steel.  I thought it was sort of a mottled white color turns out it is gray and the white was just overspray fromw when the car was repainted.

 As they say on "Roadkill", if you love something, gunk it.

Halfway cleaned

I also painted all the bare metal inside and under the car.  I will be able to put the carpet back in for good now!

I heard the trick with hard lines is to lay them out with a piece of welding wire first:

 I used the Eastwood bender to make the turns in the actual line.

 I used the Eastwood flare tool to flare the line.  Unbelievably quick and easy.

Things turned out pretty good.  I will remake this line to get it perfect.  I hope to show the finished flares in the next post...

School's out for summer

It's time to get moving again.

I have been printing some parts I can use.  There is a build a header kit that is sort of like lego bricks that let you make the primaries weave around everything and end up the same length.  The piecesar the same as common mandrel bends.  The kit is really expensive, like $400.  It is made from ABS... so I decided to print a set for cheap.  It took me a few tries to make ones that snap together easily, pull apart with effort, and turn with some resistance.  I had to tweak the design about 4 times and got to this:

The arrows are at every 10° and let me see quickly how these are clocked.

I also snagged a stereo microscope of craigslist.  Been looking for one of these for a while:

So while the engine is out, I am cleaning up the engine frame so that it can go in for good.  Tonight I closed up all the gaps with weld, and added a doubler to make sure the bolt doesn't tear through

 Here is what is left f the spring perch.  Dead weight now

I cut through the welds:

I am sort of clumsy after being off a while.  The other day when I tried to get going again I drilled my first hole in the wrong place, second hole way too big, then exploded a cutting disk trying to cut a new piece to drill.

new printer

Had just enough time after school tonight to assemble my new printer.  I can't wait to give it a try.  I have a few thing lined up that I want to make...

Steering column move

I felt like when I had my steering column all hooked up it was still a little tight.  It will never be easier than now to fix it, so I expanded its hole, and made a plate to shift it over a couple inches.  I tacked the plate on and checked things out.

 

 

This did flatten out the steering angles a little more.  It seems like the angle is around 30° now for the lower steering column joint inside the car which is near the max allowable (assumed 35°).  Things feel a bit smoother, but it is hard to tell with all the other steering components loose.