With the body repaired enough to allow it to sit on the chassis
without extra support, I turned my attention to all the mechanical parts
that have to be in the correct place, and all in correct alignment with
each other to work properly.
In this pic, you can see where the clutch pedal has been heated
and bent to clear the anti judder bar. '39 shifter fits just fine. Steering
column, minus shroud in this pic, clears the lower edge of the firewall,
but will need a new top support, as the car is right hand drive, but the
tank, and hence the column support is left hand drive.
Here's a detail shot of the pedals showing not only the bending,
but the shortening they received to clear the lower edge of the cowl. Just
ignore that rust, it might go away.
Here's the steering in position. bottom lip of cowl trimmed slightly
to clear the column shroud. Steering arm redrilled (with a taper...tricky)
to allow drag link to fit from below. Had to cut off the end of the drag
link and rotate it 180 deg to fit from below. At some point, when building
a hot rod you have to trust your welding. Yeah, you can write that on my
gravestone.
Here the outer column has been put in position, and I made up this
minimalistic upper support. Its made from 8mm rod and is stronger than
the photo would suggest.
What a difference a day makes.... well, a day at the blasters anyway.
Body removed, chassis re-assembled with extra bracing, K-member repaired,
(I told you that rust would go away) and pedals in place complete with
links to clutch lever and brake master cylinder. Clutch release parts were
salvaged from the 32 box that was in the chassis when I got it.
Better shot of the maser cylinder in place, the mount is welded
to the X-brace and bolted to the k-member.
The actuating lever on the brake pedal used to stick up, not down.
It was cut off, repositioned below the pivot and welded in place with an
extra strengthening rib for luck. I told you you have to trust your welding.
Brake push rod snakes through the gap between the k-member and
the strengthening x-brace. If I were doing the job over I would lower the
x-brace at this location to allow the master cylinder to sit flat.
Whats that they say? measure twice, cut once? well I didn't even
measure this bit once. The tag for the rear radius rods on the torque tube
is too close to the x-brace. I cut it off and welded it on further back.
Up to this point, I still did not have any proper engine mounts.So,
using my trusty chain hoist, the motor was lowered into the freshly painted
chassis. The motor was in good running order when pulled from Phil Sparks's
32, I just replaced the sump gaskets and crank seals. Water pumps were
reconditioned and fitted.
Engine mounts were made using the age old traditional method of
producing a template from stiff cardboard and themn copying it in steel.
In this case, 3 and 4mm steel plate was used.
Here's the finished job, with extra strength added by the vertical
side plates. Hole for mount is 1.25" (Mike).
I bought this Jag radiator for a fiver off a guy at the drags.
I cut an extra lower hole, and soldered in a second lower water neck, salvaged
from a spare (scrap) Valiant radiator. You can also see the freeze plug
soldered in to the old upper hose inlet, the shiny area waiting to be cut
out for the new top left inlet, and the old filler cut off to make the
top right water inlet.
Here's the rad trial fitted. The top right inlet was replaced with
a new one incorporating the filler. The top tank was completely removed
to allow all the tubes to be rodded through, then soldered back on. Rightly
or wrongly, I am going to let the top of the rad be positioned solely by
the top tubes. The lower right hose was stretched rather badly, so I came
up with this...
...this little swan neck to align the hoses better. Obviously not
the optimum, I hope it doesn't restrict the flow too much.
Here's the tubes painted up, the rad mounted in position, with
lower mounts fabbed up, and using hold down springs as original. I made
up a hoop to support the rad shell, to which the support rods will eventually
attach. The fuel lines were bent up, and fitted using new olives and nuts,
and a compression tee fitting. Also evident in this shot are the scrapyard
VW alternator and the Transit (?) electric fan. The alternator might get
replaced by a 12V dynamo, but I think the fan will stay. We'll see.
Here's the Master cylinder in place and the newly fitted brake
pipes. The blue things are the residual pressure valves. These are the
wrong ones. I got the 2lb (disc brake) ones by mistake. I dismantled them,
and packed the spring, (and stretched it a bit). I think they will be ok.
Here's the brake pipes leading to the back axle. 3 way unit bolted
to framerail does 2 jobs. firstly it steps down from 1/4" pipe going in,
to two 3/13" pipe fittings coming out. One goes to the fear hose, the other
port is plugged with a pressure switch to activate the brake lights. pipe
clamps were added after this photo was taken.
These two shots show the rear shock installation. Upper mounts
were made from angle iron and 5/8" bar, the bar turned down to fit the
shock bush. The lower mounts, which double as radius rod mounts, attach
to the 32 axle at the old radius arm attachment points. There is a design
flaw in the shock mounts. You cant fit or remove the shocks without removing
the upper mount from the chassis.
Shox were cheap (£5 the pair) because the guy selling them
didn't know what they fitted. 32 backing plate converted to hydraulic operation
with transit van wheel cylinders and 100E adjusters. Handbrake cable only
just clears the shackle assembly, had to be severely clearanced with a
grinder. All hot rods are prototypes, some things dont go too well, and
would get done differently if starting again.
Just to round off the story, here's the front shocker. It's from
a Ford pop, on a home made bracket, which raises the shock for better alignment,
and to clear the brake hoses. Tube shock is lying on the floor, discarded
in favour of the lever arm unit. Stock 32 links now join the shock arm
to the axle. End of rad shell support hoop just visible in this shot. Shock
bracket picks up on hole already in place for the engine mount.
Thats it for now, will add more as it happens.
Mart.
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