Floyd Brothers 70 Challenger

[Stu]

I certainly couldn’t fathom it. Not really sure how to check. Racking my brains to think if I’ve heard that ticking before, or if I’m just being paranoid since making changes. I’m pretty sure I have commented on it before, but it comes and goes. Then again, I don’t think my brain is braining very well these days, can’t remember what I had for breakfast at the moment…

[Blue]

Look at the gasket, there will be witness marks if it’s touching there.

[Blue]

Ticking noises are often headers blowing a bit, the bolts do come loose.

[Stu]

Ticking noises are often headers blowing a bit, the bolts do come loose.

That’s possible, given I found a loose one at the manifold end, I’ll check the collector end as well later.

Unfortunately, as I’ve just swapped rocker boxes due to the leaks, I thoroughly cleaned everything down before packing the old stuff away… I don’t recall seeing anything untoward, but I’ll unpack them and check when I get a minute.

[Stu]

Nope. Nothing that I can see.

[Stu]

First free couple of days for ages, so set about dropping the box.

Top tip, don’t try the final drop on your own, managed to lose grip on it and it fell side ways off the jack, rolling belly up to make itself as tall as possible and trapping itself between the headers…

No amount of wrestling will get it till any way other than further on its back, car isn’t high enough to drag it out that way and the big Jack is currently supporting the back of the motor.

So, it’s business as usual, then.

[Stu]

Spot the difference…

[Stu]

Anyway, that’s out now, so on to some small stuff.

Since changing to a Daytona Sensors ignition system, my tach hasn’t worked properly. I like the tach, so instead of replacing it with a modern one, I decided to get the guts of it converted to electronic and retain the look. I ended up sending it to Down To Earth Custom & Classic Auto Electrics in Finchingfield. They sponsor NSS and quoted a fair price in comparison to others I’d talked to, but much quicker turnaround.

It’s come back and looks just the same as it did, albeit cleaner and tidier! Really pleased with the look of it. He’s added a “test sweep” on startup, which I really like too.

The only fly in the ointment is my electrical duncey-ness… When I disconnected the tach, I labelled the in car wires up with the colours that connected to them from the tach. Only trouble is, it’s come back with different coloured wires…

Hey has sent a guide with it, so I’d better try and remember how to use my multimeter to get it plumbed back in…

I know how to figure out the live and ground, the others may take a bit more figuring out for an electrical eejit like myself.

[mygasser]

doh!

[Stu]

Getting ready for the next phase.

I know at least 2 people who’ll be glad to see the back of that shifter.

[rocket70]

Moving along nicely. Which shifter are you going for?

[Stu]

Picked up a second hand Cheetah Turbo Action. Going manual valve body over the winter, hence pulling the trans. It’s down at Blue Automotive for fettling whilst I do the rest.

In the meantime, seats are up at a local upholsterer, who is tasked with keeping them as stock lookjng as possible, whilst bolstering the sides a bit and inserting harness guides in the headrests.

[Stu]

Tach in and working, so on to another job I've wanted to do for a while.

I picked up a vintage flake shifter knob a while ago. (Or more to the point, got drunk and woke up to find I'd won it on eBay... Although, it's right up my street, so happy days! )

I really wanted to mount it atop the new shifter, however very quickly came to realise that the fitting was nowhere close. Coupled with that, the shifter T-bar that I wanted to replace has a spring return, for the reverse lockout.

The ball has a round setting drilled into it and a grub screw to hold it in place, but the shaft it needs to connect to is hexagonal. It needs to be fixed firmly to this, so that it doesn't move when the trigger is lifted to shift into reverse, so I realised I couldn't just open out the insert to fit loosely over the shaft and use the screw to hold it, it would be too unsafe.

[Stu]

Been thinking about it for a while and my first instinct was to cut a 7/16 socket up and somehow sink it into the ball, but that was a non starter.

Thought about 3D printing a fitting, but expensive and not convinced on integrity.

Then I realised that the solution was (quite literally) in my hands. The T Bar fits perfectly, of course, despite being screwed in from the top.

Removed the plastic T-Bar again and got busy with the Dremel today. (Relax, they're $12 if it went wrong.) As the ball wouldn't allow the fitting to sink into the part that lifts for the reverse lockout, I marked up with tape where the lowest I can have the ball mounted is. Then I removed the ears and set about rounding the whole thing off, to make an insert that would fit the hexagonal shaft perfectly. This proved tricky, as after I got it to basic shape, I had to sand and file it into a cylinder by hand with sandpaper. In the end I held it with an allen key while I twisted it in varying grades of sandpaper and it turned out pretty good.

[Stu]

Next, I measured up the new cylinder fitting and set about drilling the ball to suit.

Resin is pretty soft, but brittle at the same time if you shock it, so I used a blacksmith bit in a hand drill, set it on reverse and spun it up fast, to effectively melt its way down. It worked pretty well, although it was a bit of a challenge keeping a round ball held fast...

Once I'd got it drilled out, I had left it slightly shallow, so that the new fitting would protrude enough to allow it to sink into the trigger mechanism, so it will shift into reverse. I checked this, then refitted the fitting on its own, screwed it down and marked up where the external bit would be.

Quick mask up and a blast of primer, it will mean that the visible bit will still be black, to match the rest of the shifter but I will be painting the grey bit a light orange, so that it isn't so visible when mounted inside the ball.

In the meantime, test fitted, screwed into place using the old grub screw and it's solid, so I am happy!

In the pics, you can see the white markings from the drilling, inside the ball. This won't be nearly as visible when I've had some more time on it. I've been polishing it up with a soft pad on the Dremel and will be using some polishing compound in the next few days, to remove the white marks and get it as see through as possible. Once that’s done, it shouldn't be visible unless you are really inspecting it up close. In which case, you will be far to close to my knob and questions will be asked anyway.

It'll be alright once that's done and the outside has had a final polish!