Got some garage time today....:)

[Bryan Boyle]

BOOSTERS SPOKEN FOR!

Did a bunch of stuff today..weather was springish…and calendar was empty.

1. Removed brake boosters from the engine room.  Strangely, no fluid leaked out.  Gave me the opportunity to put a nice heavy coat of truck bed liner paint on the sidewall to match (for lhd) the offside.  Photo of the removed boosters down below.  Free for cost of shipping, if anyone wants them on this side of the pond. 

2. Can of truck paint was open, so…started with freshening up the forward nose area.  Need to vacuum out the dust that I brushed down into the lower area and keep going.  You can see the difference.  Amazing what a coat of paint will do, eh?

Note to self: get a fan going when using that paint.  The fumes are strong, and don’t need a college flashback…lol.

3.  Don’t remember whether I posted a photo of the S2 steering wheel installed, just to see how it looks.  It's in good condition...and IIRC, was current for the early TCs.  Have the original (as I've posted before)...decisions, decisions...  If so, sorry for the dupe.

4. Obviously got the beast up on jackstands so i can get underneath to mount the new starter; need to get to lower bolt, and it’s hard from up top. 

5. Didn’t shoot a photo of using tapered wheel nuts on the diagonal studs to stud-center the wheels when mounting; when you get the two proper nuts on in the other studs and torqued, remove the tapered nuts and replace with the proper fitting.  So, just screwed the tapered nuts on and took a shot.

6. Replaced the oil cap gasket; the one on there broke apart when I tried to take it out.  Guess it was time, right?  Still no mayonaise on the cap inside.

In the queue for this week:

1. Replace starter.

2. Remove valve cover and old gasket.  Find the true TDC based on cyl 4 lobes and use a mirror to find sprocket timing marks.  Paint a line on the flywheel to give me a TDC  reference for the timing gun.  Check head torque.  Check chain adjustment, new gasket, new selocs, new nylocs for cover.

3. Freshen wiring to coil to remove bodged existing wiring and install new low resistance pertronix coil.

4. With TDC established, install new dizzy and wires.  Connect up the Ignitor module to new coil, and time this sucker.  New dizzy is mechanical advance curved to the TC engine.  Should (I hope) work better than the tired Lucas dizzy that's been in the car since it left Hethel.

If I have time:

5. Mix up the washing soda and water solution.  Fill one of the gas tanks to brim with solution (capping off the outlet).  Ground tank.  Suspend positive lead with length of iron bar in solution.  Turn on 12V supply at 2 amps.  Wait a day.  Supposed to work well.  Alternative is 5 gal of white vinegar, topped off with water and soak.

Have new fuel level sender and some various brit 3/16 pipe fittings warming up at the usual suspect…and Greenstuff pads for front.  Speedbleeders for brakes, Gunson pressure bleeder, and air/oil seperator to plumb into the head and return the air to the carb air box (will hide in front of right tail light).  Have all the rebuild stuff to build a new set of calipers (including the cross-half quad seal) with stainless pistons; yes, the spare calipers I have were split (and I have the break away torque for the bolts written down in my 693R journal online...), so, may paint them up with caliper paint and build a fresh set and install those in place of the existing ones.  Also have a fresh set of disks that I had bought still in wax paper stored in a dry location, so may throw those on while I have the fronts apart.

Oh, and a coolant overflow/reserve tank.

If I keep "freshening up" stuff...it will be a little patina-ish on the outside...but under the covers will be presentable, right?

Enough for now, I think.

[BDA]

Congratulations on your progress and making your list. Have you gotten your Pertronix Ignitor (dizzy module) yet? If not, you have a choice to make: the Ignitor I can burn up if you leave your ignition on too long (I have no definition for “too long”) but it can be statically timed; the Ignitor II is protected from burning up but it can’t be statically timed. There is an Ignitor III but for whatever reason I didn’t consider it but I’m pretty sure it can’t be statically timed.

I started with an Ignitor I and later got an Ignitor II thinking I would like the protection from burning up so I got an Ignitor II. I was able to get my motor running with it pretty quickly but then my timing light died and I happily went back to my Ignitor I. I may get a spare Ignitor I in case the one I have dies. I’d even be able to replace it and if necessary, I can time it on the side of the road.

[Bryan Boyle]

Congratulations on your progress and making your list. Have you gotten your Pertronix Ignitor (dizzy module) yet? If not, you have a choice to make: the Ignitor I can burn up if you leave your ignition on too long (I have no definition for “too long”) but it can be statically timed; the Ignitor II is protected from burning up but it can’t be statically timed. There is an Ignitor III but for whatever reason I didn’t consider it but I’m pretty sure it can’t be statically timed.

I started with an Ignitor I and later got an Ignitor II thinking I would like the protection from burning up so I got an Ignitor II. I was able to get my motor running with it pretty quickly but then my timing light died and I happily went back to my Ignitor I. I may get a spare Ignitor I in case the one I have dies. I’d even be able to replace it and if necessary, I can time it on the side of the road.

I believe it's the Ignitor II that's in the dizzy; it's the whole assembly put together by them.  I know it takes the .6 ohm coil, which I have on hand too.  Busy with the brakes right now; I want to get pedal; It looks like the MC is ok (it's holding fluid....); I was going to get creative, but decided instead to just build patch lines to plumb the front to the front return and rear to rear return, removed the PDWV (I know that's going to start a religious war....but for now...I'll save it, and perhaps mount it up front when I fully replumb the system) and try bleeding it out (I have the Gunson pressure bleeder that you hook up to a tire set to 20 lbs) after I put in speed bleeders.  It's just me, so, it is either use my mitivac to suck it out or use the pressure system to push it.  One thing for certain, the fluid will probably be mostly flushed through the system by the time I get it all together and bled out.  (if the MC is too hard...I have a .75 dual circuit MC on hand to reduce the bore...but am going to put greenstuff pads and a new set of disks on the front when I finish with the rear end of the car.)

The new flaring tool seems to work a treat.  I'm doing inverted in the patches and will invert flare the lines in the car to match the double female couplings.  If I really wanted to get creative, I'd pull out my 37 degree tool from the airport and do AN fittings everywhere...but that's a bit over the top for a street car (though, sometime down the road, I may go for the armored flex lines to the wheels.  I figured that I'd just do the patching now; if I have to put a proportioning valve in for the rears, then I've already put the fittings on to splice it in.)

Can you tell I'm having fun?   I can see the end of the initial resurrection on the horizon...and perhaps actually get the car sorted enough for inspection...famous last words, eh?

[Bryan Boyle]

And a little more work...

First photo: bonnet nose interior painted with truckbed liner...it's still wet, hence the sheen, but should transition to more satin-ish in time. 

Second photo: brake line jumpers to bypass the boosters and PWDV (for now...until I replumb).  Hint: use the same type of fittings across all the bits: if your junction is brass, use brass pipe fittings, if steel...use steel.  Don't mix and match, especially putting harder male threaded fittings into softer female junctions.  There's a lesson there for other things, I think...lol. 

On to replacing the starter with the new high-torque unit I picked up from RD.  I built a short jumper for the solenoid so that I could hook up a remote starter push button whilst working in the engine room to crank her over.  Kind of hard to try and start from the cockpit while needing to attend to the engine directly. 

Next?  I think attacking the valve cover gasket, get the TDC and paint marks on the flywheel set, and installing the new Petronix dizzy, coil, fresh wiring, and new plug wires (sparkers were replaced a couple months ago) and see if that improves matters.

Ordered, from Moss, the Gunson Ezbleed kit; it's only me working in the garage (no helper, but have my phone always in my pocket Just In Case), so, thinking this will help with the bleed process in lieu of having someone to pump and release the pedal on prompting.  So, will pend the final brake system attack...until it comes in.

Ordered, from AutoMat in Hicksville NY a set of loop pile (which is what's in the car already)  driver and passenger side carpets for the footwell and underneath the seats.  I've put down dynamat on the floor (which will attenuate the drumming of the fiberglass...yeah, a bit more weight, but that's ok) so, that should work out just fine when it comes in...
 

[TurboFource]

The original TC brake system is crazy....I greatly simplified mine!

[Bryan Boyle]

The original TC brake system is crazy....I greatly simplified mine!

That's in my medium-range queue. 

[Bryan Boyle]

Got the starter in today.  Whomever installed it the last time must have used an air ratchet to tighten it down...had to pull out the 24" breaker bar and 9/16ths impact impact socket to break the bottom bolt loose.  It's all good now; RD had clocked the starter on the mounting flange and it all went together just fine.  Just to protect the leads, used a light coat of penetrox (which I use when building antenna installs on towers to prevent corrosion; it says it's good for CU/AL, AL, and SN connections, so, thinking it's just fine for what we use it for...)

Needed to freshen up all the power connections; pulled a lead off to carry the 12V up along the bundle so I have a place to provide power for my remote start switch (the white/red lead for the starter solenoid was modified with a Y lead for the other lead off the remote button).  Cleaned up the wiring at the coil side, and behold, the tach started working properly rather than bouncing around.  Amazing what fresh crimp connections on tinned leads will do for connection goodness.  Yes, I know about embrittlement of solder on copper, etc.  Takes years though...so, like using galvenized versus stainless piping for the radiator transfer pipes...it will be an issue long after I'm sitting on the porch in my bathrobe yelling at kids to get off my lawn...lol.

Next up...VCG, timing, new dizzy, new coil, timing.  What say the tribe about which sealant to use on the cork gasket?  Wilkins says a thin coat of RTV on the D plugs (all three are leaking nicely, so going to replace them too...).  Aviation form-a-gasket (which I have...and we use to seal case halves on Lycoming and Continental aircraft engines...and a silk thread laid in it, believe or not...) or some other goop?

Next next up: have new spitfire .70 MC coming and Ezbleed pressure bleeder.  Thinking at this point, going to disconnect all the bundys going to the wheel cylinders, rebuild the calipers with stainless pistons I have on hand and new seal kits and greenstuff pads on the way, hook up drain lines to all the cylinders, open them all up and flush the old fluid out after replacing the MC, then put all back together.  Replace the original rubber hoses with new armored hose, and redo the pipes on the top of the rear trailing arms.  They look like they've been manhandled along the way, and I still have 22' of nickle/copper pipe to use...

[Bryan Boyle]

More toys appeared from the big brown truck yesterday afternoon.  New .70 master cylinder, and the Eezbleed kit.

Think the fuel level sender and greenstuff pads and other things will be here shortly.  Running out of things to install. 

Update....

Front crank seal leaking (not weeping...leaking).  See my comment in Garage...