70 S, RHD, Signal Orange, UK->Australia->UK

[inaglasshouse]

Thanks all.

A bit more progress. Barry came over yesterday to help (thanks Barry!). His motivational speech before we began suggested that we should think like Romans - go slowly and use leverage. He didn't clarify which of us was the Roman and which was the slave.

Anyway the engine is now in the car, full of oil and turning over on the starter.

[Gary71]

And doesn’t it look awesome?

[Darren65]

A wonderful moment ..... fingers crossed the throttle bodies aren't too far behind.

[IanM]

In case anyone remembers this thread (I barely remember the car) - nothing is happening because the engine build has taken over a year vs the quoted timescale of 6 weeks, and there is no end in sight.

Dear engine builder (who is a member of this forum): if you are reading this and give a stuff - I have had enough of the ludicrous timescale and meaningless assurances now. Please send me the build photos you promised months ago, plus some pictures of current state as repeatedly requested. I need to see where we are so I can decide what next (finish it myself, get someone else to do it, etc). I really don't fancy wasting a day coming to the workshop, just because you can't be bothered to send a few phone snaps.

It's been very annoying. With regret I have concluded that asking nicely, paying my bills on time, and trying to help out with related matters when asked doesn't work. I suspect the most irritating customer actually gets some work done on their car, so I intend to be that customer now.

Not enjoying this project any more - I just want the sodding thing finished.

I'm surprised the engine has come back looking this good. The detailing has been done right. Amazing. Hope it will run well. Who was the engine builder?

[yoda]

Nearly there Richard, ready for a shakedown soon!

[inaglasshouse]

Ian
I've not had issues with the quality or price with this particular engine builder. Just timescales. I knew it would need chasing (like always with this stuff) but hadn’t expected it could possibly drag on so long.
I’m not going to name them. They are by no means the worst I’ve experienced.
Cheers, Richard.

[inaglasshouse]

Ian
I've not had issues with the quality or price with this particular engine builder. Just the really ludicrous timescales. I knew it would need chasing (like always with this stuff) but hadn’t expected it could possibly drag on so long.
I’m not going to name them. They are by no means the worst I’ve experienced.
Cheers, Richard.

To clarify - I should have said no issues "so far" with the quality. As you point out the detailing is decent. Chromating has come out well, and I got my original bits back nicely refurbed as agreed.
But still no throttle bodies, so I haven't run it yet, which (as a suitably cynical friend pointed out by PM) means it's a bit premature to be praising the quality. Will report back when it's running.

[IanM]

[inaglasshouse]

..

[Dougieboy1]

Richard, was looking at your safety colours site and the section on throttle cable. Agree with your assessment that the porsche design seems overly complex for such a simple operation and liked your cable solution. Given the cable seems sleeved, how do you get the hand throttle to work? Reason i ask is for starting, i have learned from the manual you need to apply some hand throttle to start it - iI guess light pressure on the accelerator would have the same effect?

[inaglasshouse]

Hi Andrew,

You are correct, the Teleflex cable scheme means no hand throttle. Also correct - since the hand throttle just moves the throttle cable a bit, the same effect can be achieved with your foot on the pedal.
My '69 MFI car has no hand throttle (because it's a racetrack fugitive, not because it uses the Teleflex cable). I find, given that my car doesn't go out much in winter, it's rare that it needs more than a few seconds running with the throttle depressed before it will idle quite happily.
When the weather's really cold I prove my serious wheelsmithing credentials by heel-and-toeing at the bottom of our drive to keep it running...

Hold your horses on the cable scheme though - I've still no idea whether it actually works. I'm beginning to have my doubts, because anchoring the cable sheath at the engine end is surprisingly tricky (not much cable is required to protrude through the engine tin, so the sheath needs to end in mid air outside the tin to allow enough travel...).

I'll report back when I've tried it out.

Cheers, Richard.

[inaglasshouse]

Good news: throttle bodies are going on this week.
Bad news: Not the throttle bodies that belong to the orange car. I have temporarily nicked the set from my '69 2.0S...

Rendering a perfectly good car inoperable is clearly not ideal, but it's a very easy job to swap them over (and back in due course). Everything else is ready for an engine run, and I feel I need to know where I stand with the engine sooner rather than later.
Only one way to find out...

[stretch]

Good luck Richard, sure it will be fine.

[Alan @ CanfordClassics]

Hi Richard to save you the hassle shall I see if I have a set you can borrow. If you use your 69 (S) set you also need the stacks as they are 69 specific.

HTH

Alan

[inaglasshouse]

Hi Richard to save you the hassle shall I see if I have a set you can borrow. If you use your 69 (S) set you also need the stacks as they are 69 specific.

HTH

Alan

Hi Alan

That’s very kind, many thanks, but all is going well and I’m happy to stick with plan A.

Thanks for the tip about the stacks. I didn’t know that, but due to laziness rather than knowledge I took the entire unit (TBs, stacks, linkages, filter) across from the ‘69, which seems to be going ok.

Best regards, Richard.