68 valiant signet 2 door

[mygasser]

i just bought a manual steering box from dustymopar on here so i probably won't need to ding the stainless headers now.
neil.

[mygasser]

while looking through one of my cupboards in the garage trying to find something else i came across some auto meter sport comp gauges i'd forgotten about. a 5" speedo with cable, a 5" shiftlight tach, a temp gauge and an oil pressure gauge. i hadn't intended to alter the dash but now..........
neil.

[Dave999]

i just bought a manual steering box from dustymopar on here so i probably won't need to ding the stainless headers now.
neil.

worth considering a swap to 16:1 or 20:1 ratio if its a 24:1 box. 24:1 fine for drag racing but driving round twisty roads needs a better ratio in an A body

the hardest part is stumping up the cash for the ballnut n screw....there is little to worry about inside the box.. a mornings filthy work

if you buy a ballnut and screw don't be tempted by cheap truck ones their thread goes the opposite way for cab over operation,
left would be right etc. fine in a clowns car not so good for the street

oh yeah the grease to fill the box is also about £45....if you buy it in retail packs

the box is based on a reversed (as in the hot rod sense, splined input from opposite end of box) saginaw 525 "like" design, just different enough not to be a saginaw box i.e a 1970s ford balllnut might...MIGHT..... work if you can cater for spline and length mismatch

Dave

[mygasser]

some good info as always dave, thanks.
the steering box as with the k member is only temporary and both will be replaced when i fit the straight tube axle eventually. re the grease for the steering box i always use landrover front swivel grease, it's to replace the gear they have originally and is sort of halfway between grease and gear oil. i've not had a steering box leak using it and it's much cheaper than the £45 you mentioned.
like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LAND-ROVER-D ... SwySVaBJOA
neil.

[mygasser]

i took the tank sender unit out of the car today to measure empty and full ohms readings. autometer do the matching fuel gauge in 3 different ohms readings.
you know it'll happen don't you?
neil.

[autofetish]

I though there was a Land Rover sender that fits ...

[mygasser]

I though there was a Land Rover sender that fits ...

it's got a new sender in it. i just needed to know the ohms readings empty and full to get the right gauge (of the 3 different ones available).
neil.

[mygasser]

ok, so i checked on the summit website and the fuel gauge i need (of the 3 types available) was showing as 'last one' so what was i supposed to do? i mean really. so the fuel gauge, temp' sender and oil pressure gauge pipe and fittings are now on their way
autometer sport comp Bananarama! is then
neil.

[mygasser]

New
i nearly forgot, the recored big block radiator i bought when i briefly fitted a 383 in the car will need the bottom hose fitting swapping to the other end of the tank. i'm over a mate's place tomorrow (to do some more work on an anglia there) and whadda ya know he's a plumber in a former life so he's going to move the fitting and solder/plate over the redundant hole for me
neil.

[Pete]

Well, that's handy, and a lot better than excessive extended hoses.

[mygasser]

Well, that's handy, and a lot better than excessive extended hoses.

yep, and you know just the rad' i'm talking about too pete.

[Dave999]

landrover grease...stored away in my head... much cheaper than mobil red stuff..
Nice

dave

[mygasser]

New
today it was 2 steps forward and 1 step back. to get sensible access to change the steering box i needed to undo the engine mounts (again) and drop the headers which were just hung in place luckily. so with the power box removed and some heat and a puller applied to remove the pitman arm i bolted up the manual box. next issue the column's too short. i was quite happy cutting and extending the column but i though i'd check on the 'for A bodies only' forum i'm on first to see if the collapsible bit would slide out the 3" ish required. the general concensus was 1, a manual column 2, a mancini coupler (longer i assume) or 3, extend the power column. then i remembered my manual box had come with a coupler attached, so i measured it and at 3" it would give me what i wanted once i'd welded the 2 couplers i had together. all done now and next i'll be refitting the headers (again) and bolting the engine mounts down (again). as i said 2 steps forward...............
neil.

[mygasser]

today has been quite productive for a change. this morning i rehung the headers, refitted the engine mounts and bolted the centre link back in place. now i was back to where i was before deciding to swap to manual steering
this afternoon i fitted the flywheel and clutch, sorted through my box of bolts and bolted the bellhousing onto the block. next was gearbox bolts, i didn't have any. so after another dig in the bolt stash i came up with 4 small block chevy head bolts which were too long but the right size. so out with the tap and die set and ran the thread almost all of the way down then cut them to length. same again for the starter bolts and i made up a stepped sleeve for the top one to centralise the starter bolt hole over the bolt. i think i remember there being a special stud/bolt to do that job but i don't have it so.....
the starter is now in place and i called it a day.
next job, fit the gearbox, shifter etc etc.
neil.
edit, i forgot i made a quick n dirty clutch alignment tool too. i turned the end or a length of tube in my lathe to fit the spigot bush and wrapped a section of it with electrical tape to fit the clutch plate. much easier than eye balling the alignment.

[mygasser]

this afternoon i sorted the shifter, rods and levers to set up the hurst shifter i bought a while back. i had a mix of stock and aftermarket levers, rods that were all too long (B body maybe) and the hurst shifter. ''best get this done before it's in the car'' i thought to myself and i'm glad i did as it took me about 4 hours of cutting the rods, clamping the overlapped pieces together, checking the movement etc etc. finally with the overlapped rods tacked and working i removed them one by one and cut them to be butt welded for good. i now have a smooth shift in all gears even with my short makeshift alternator bracket shift handle, lol.