The Manhattan Project

[AndrewSlater]

Apologies for not updating the thread for a while but I have been concentrating on a number of parallel jobs and not really quite finishing any.
The list of jobs I have started but can't quite finish seems to be getting longer by the day.

My main goal was to populate the tunnel and the rear engine compartment, but this has lead onto other jobs.

I've finished populating the tunnel and have refurbished both the handbrake and gearchange assemblies.
Getting everything into the tunnel and into the right places took quite a few iterations and plenty of frustration but got there in the end.



As for the engine compartment, the engine seal is in, the oil tank is in, wiring loom in place, the fuel filter and accumulator and most of the lines are terminated. It seemed to take forever to get all the right fittings and rubber seals.



I have yet to populate the rear brakes and fix the handbrake cables, connect the fuel pump to the tunnel feed and fit the rear relay board. Other than that the engine compartment is pretty much done ( apart from the engine )



I have also been fabricating my own brake lines from scratch which is taking longer than I had planned. I've managed to make the majority of them just the rear caliper ones to go if I can get a small enough bend radius. I've yet to fit my master cylinder so the front ones may need a small tweak at that point. The master cylinder brake switch I ordered is the wrong one, so another job I can't finish at the moment.

I've also fitted the front calipers but again the Pagid fitting kit I ordered doesn't seem to have quite the right clips, so another job to put on hold whilst I reorder.


Once I get the right parts for the front brakes and master cylinder I'll finish these jobs and then move back to the rear brakes, and then the rear relay board.

So in summary quite a lot of work done but few milestones met , but there is progress !

[AndrewSlater]

As I wait for more parts to arrive to replace the list of wrong parts I seem to have bought recently, I decided to make the most of the fine weather and get my interior out of the loft to give it a clean and assessment.



Now most of the interior is in good shape, and I spent a good few hours trying to clean the vinyl.

I'm slightly unsure of the name of the colour, so anyone know?
It could be tan or it could possibly be cork! - remember it is a '74 car.

After several hours of cleaning I am in two minds whether the vinyl is still dirty, or whether the vinyl has a variegated marbled effect.
I've read that cork has a marbled effect so maybe that is what I have.

I've tried a number of different cleaners and the vinyl still has a slight mockled effect that makes it looks a little dirty.
So either 40+ year old dirt or vinyl effect

The plan was to keep the interior in this colour as it contrasts quite well with the signal orange.
However part of me thinks go black interior- decisions, decisions...

If anyone thinks they know the colour then please let me know.

In other news I decided to finish off my rear relay board and fitted it to the car.


I just need to work out the wiring to the fuses as I seem to have two red wires that I have yet to determine which goes to the top or bottom fuse.
I also fitted a Huco solid state regulator so hopefully all the wiring is correct.

[jjeffries]

Andrew, fantastic work you're doing. My SC has leather so I can't do a comparison, but I think the vinyl seats I've seen DO have that marbled look you decribe. The photos of the engine bay and tunnel look concours. Youll love it when you drive it, so keep on truckin'. John in CT

[Sam]

It is mottled, Southbound can supply it if you need new:

http://www.southboundtrimmers.com/image ... 0vinyl.jpg

It's called 594 apparently.

I put the red version in my 74 Carrera a few years ago.

There was much debate at the time whether to put horizontal stitching in the headrests. Interesting that yours doesn't have that.

[AndrewSlater]

Thanks for the input guys, good to know the mottled effect is real and not just my imagination.

Thanks for the code number Sam, I've done some more digging and I think it was imaginatively called beige / brown leatherette in the sales literature of the time. '594' sounds catchier.

I'm pretty sure it is all original so definitely no horizontal stitching on the headrests on mine.

So the plan is to use it as is and see how it goes with the orange.

Oh well better get on with finalising the brakes ,fuel lines and rear ARB next.

Does anyone know whether the ARB can be fitted at this stage ( or do I need the engine in for the rear suspension to settle correctly )?

[The Other Stu]

I'd just like to point out I've only joined this forum because of this incredible project. I absolutely love orange cars (no idea why, but in 2013, I ordered an orange car - which I no longer have - and have decided it's my colour of choice)

I have an MR2 Roadster which I'm seriously considering getting sprayed a very similar colour to this.

If I do, I'll be contrasting it with Black, so I get your dilemma. Certainly, I think the tan/cork/brown might clash.
What were the original '74 interior offerings?

[Gary71]

Does anyone know whether the ARB can be fitted at this stage ( or do I need the engine in for the rear suspension to settle correctly )?

Hi, ARB has to go on last as it runs under the gearbox mount. No harm in a dry build though to make sure you have all the bits!

[911hillclimber]

Gary is right, but the roll bar does not need ant time to settle etc, it should pivot in its body bushes quite freely by gentle hand pressure.
As to the seat colour, on a recent car program I saw bright yellow seat leather dyed to jet black, and they looked superb, and quite cheap too.

[AndrewSlater]

I'd just like to point out I've only joined this forum because of this incredible project.

Thanks Stu, orange with a black interior is a good combination but I think I might stick with the Brown/Beige for now.

As to the seat colour, on a recent car program I saw bright yellow seat leather dyed to jet black, and they looked superb, and quite cheap too.

Yes I saw that episode of Wheeler Dealers and the BMW Z1 which did have me thinking.
For the moment I will go with the original interior, it wouldn't be too difficult to strip it all out again and change the colour in future.

No harm in a dry build though to make sure you have all the bits!

I finally figured the ARB would be better to go in after the engine but started to fit it together to check it all fitted.
However I have yet to have any success pressing the URO drop link bushes into the links.
I have tried softening them in boiling water before trying to press them in my vice - but so far written four off.
The URO ones seem far to hard to be pressed, they either tear or deform to a point where they don't return.
Is there a better type available?

Anyone know a good technique for this - I only have a vice and not a bench press.

In other news the 18mm bushes I have bought appear to be the wrong type also as they won't fit in the clamp or drop link. I think they are for post '78 cars ( it seems that a lot of the parts I have bought from EuroCarParts over the last three years or so don't actually fit my car. Grrr! )

So another job was to start to populate the rear brakes, so have started with the drum brakes.



Annoyingly I had fit the rear hub bearing covers 90 degrees out which stumped me for quite a while.
Also the rear discs I had bought also seem to be out of true. The hub runs nice and true but when fitted the disc runs out of true by 5mm or so. It looks like they are out of true, so have ordered some new ones. More Grrr!
So until I have some good discs I can't fit the calipers.

In the meantime can anyone point me to a good procedure for setting up the handbrake?

[911hillclimber]

Ref rear bar nylon bushing.
I too destroyed a pair fitting them in the past, I've fitted 2 sets over the years. I cut a good taper on the leading edge of the plastic with a deadly sharp blade, some grease and a very slow squeeze in the vice and they eased themselves into place, a real pain as the wall does collapse easily. IIRC I also filed the leading edge of the steel link to help but then there is a risk of rusting, but my car it not like yours!
I did this with them at rood temperature to keep them stiff.
They can be fun pressing them onto the banana arm ball joint too....

I use a large J clamp to ease them on slowly.

[jb]

I am pretty sure that for the arb bushes I just heated them in boiling water and squashed them in a vice

[AndrewSlater]

My new rotors arrived ( I went for Pagid ones this time ) and all looks good, definitely a good fit and no sign of a run out on these.

My rear brake fitting kit also arrived from Germany, so finished fitting the rear brakes and rotors and managed to adjust the handbrake.



I have been making my own copper nickel brake lines throughout, but ran into trouble on the rear caliper brake lines. The combination of the flaring kit I have needing a minimum straight length of pipe to work on and my bending tool having a large minimum radius prevented me from making these lines.
I did try to overcome the routing using three dimensions but gave up and bought pre-made steel lines in the end.
Here are the bought lines with my attempt shown below.



The next job was to fill up with brake fluid and bleed the brakes.
After quite a bit of faffing the rear circuits seems to have bled fine, but the fronts don't appear to have much stopping pressure. I will leave the fronts for a while and then give them another look at.
It's almost as if the front circuit on the master cylinder isn't working as well as the rears.
One to investigate another day I think.

So the next job on the list was gearbox preparation, and fitting the clutch arm.
The first attempt had me fitting it 180 degrees out ( ), but the second attempt was better.
The workshop manual gives rather precise measurements which are quite difficult to measure, but once you realise the only resolution you have is one spline or the next it is quite easy to setup as you are not looking for millimetre precision.

In other news I bought more ARB bushes and finally got the final one fitted ( 2 out of 8 isn't a great success rate ) - but at least I got there in the end.

[Robind]

Just read this from start to finish for the second time and love TH attention to detail and the colour look forward to the next instalments

[AndrewSlater]

Just read this from start to finish for the second time and love TH attention to detail and the colour look forward to the next instalments

Thanks for the kind words - I think the attention to detail is more the fact I seem to end up doing every job three times - so by the last time I'm starting to get the hang of it.


So in my mind the next jobs were all simple:
Fit the driveshafts.
Drop the engine off the engine stand and prepare it on my bike lift.
Mate the gearbox to the engine and fit the starter
Get the car up to a good height so I could slide the tall CIS engine in
Oh... and just fit the engine.

So I started at early at 7:30 to see what could be done. Those beetle guys are always boasting how quickly they can fit an air-cooled engine, so I was expecting it all to be done and dusted by Elevenses.

I missed my Elevenses that morning, as I was more preoccupied with how difficult it had been to fit the two driveshafts and why the hell did I still have a sealed packet of driveshaft gaskets. Doh more time wasted. Maybe it would all be done by Lunch.

Lunchtime came and passed, and although the driveshafts were refitted with gaskets, I wouldn't be making it into the high score table of air-cooled engine fitters.

So the next job was to drop the engine off its stand that it has been resting on the for last (cough) 18 months or so.

I employed my bike lift underneath using a wooden frame I had previously made from off-cuts of my log workshop to protect the engine and stabilise it.
I also employed my engine crane to arrest a fall in case the engine were to slip off the lift.
My final belt and braces safety fall back technique was to employ my son to help as I guessed if the engine fell on him it would protect me.


The plan seemed to work well and eventually the engine was off the stand, inch by inch.

In order to get the back of the car the 33" or so in the air, I bought some taller and heavier duty axle stands from Machinemart. For £40 it was worth the piece of mind as the stands are very sturdy and all seemed rocked solid at 24" or so at the torsion bars.

A quick check that the engine should just about fit under and then next job was to fit the gearbox.

[911hillclimber]

I have done this engine thing so many times, but it always amuses me when I read someone else doing the wretched job!
Those drive shafts are THE most frustrating part of the tedious job.

It gets harder with the gearbox in place, and the drive shafts loom big and large on the to-do list!
Mind you, I would be scared stiff of damaging the paint!