big block to go in ashley's zephyr

[mygasser]

we made the chassis side of the mounts for the engine today. 3/16" plate so nice and sturdy and we even remembered to cut/slot the mount holes for any engine removal later on. we offered up some stock cast exhaust manifolds as we don't think we'll have time to make headers. luckily we have 2 sets and it looks like the 2 centre-ish outlet ones fitted upside down will work just fine. the down pipes needed will be sort of fenderwell-ish so they'll be ok. still can't pics to load, i need someone much younger than me to show me how. problem is the pc did an update recently and pics won't load to the pc now, or if they do they're hidden and i can't find them, lol.
neil.

[mygasser]

i forgot to say.... earlier i suggested to ash' that as my 352 is now going into the cresta which will be sold that we should swap some bits. the weiand inlet and chrome edelbrock rocker covers will go onto his 352 and put his stock 4 barrel inlet and some stock rocker covers onto mine that'll go with the cresta. when we later fit the 440 to the new chassis for his zephyr i'm having his 352 so the 'good' bits will come back to me anyway.
neil.

[mygasser]

today's job was to sort/make a combi shift lever from the ford bit on the box and the b&m lever from the th350. we've sussed how it'll be cut n shut and welded to make it work but in doing so another problem arose. the box won't engage park internally. so with the pan dropped and nice clean bright red oil everywhere (doh!) we found the park rod hanging down as the end that engages the park pawl has broken off. so i've ordered a gasket kit from rock auto (17th today and delivery date 20th!) as the tail housing needs to come off to retrieve the bit of rod before it destroys the box/casing later in use. so tomorrow the valve body and tail housing will come off to get the rod out and almost certainly we'll weld the broken bit back on. it only presses on the pawl to engage it with the park gear when stationary so no load on it, it'll be fine.
neil.

[mygasser]

we had a good day today, the park rod is welded and refitted which is good. then we moved back to the shifter bracket at the box end after some more trimming and trimming and trimming of the ford shift lever, each time clamping the b&m lever to it and checking the travel matched the shifter itself. finally we had a match and welded the two parts together, that's that done. now once the gaskets arrive we can refit the tail housing (with a new seal of course) and sump pan followed by the 'new' crossmember.... again.
the new wheel bearings and seals arrived for the exploder axle so we can that reassembled and fitted too and measure up for the propshaft. that'll need a slider in it as the c6 box is from a truck so had a fixed yoke output to clamp a uj in place.
neil.

[mygasser]

today's looking good too. just had 3 rockauto boxes and an ebay jiffy bag with exhaust manifold bolts by the feel of it.
neil.

[ScottyDave]

I do like delivery's of car parts

[mygasser]

I do like delivery's of car parts

me too, especially when they getting here faster from america than parts do here in the uk!
so.....
the gearbox is back together and sat on it's crossmember....... again. you could say ''2 steps forward and one step back'', my dad would've said ''just when everything seems to be going well you get the obligatory kick in the bo11ocks!''. either works, lol. we also refitted the oil filter housing (came loose with the engine) as we now have a new gasket. we now have exhaust gaskets and 2 sets of rocker cover and inlet gaskets for the inlet swap. next job though is to fit the rear axle bearings and seals and hang the axle so the pinion angle can be set. that'll allow us to make the propshaft.
neil.

[mygasser]

today we cleaned the mating faces of the exhaust manifolds and the heads, removed a snapped bolt from the n/s head and the 2 rusted studs from one of the manifolds. couldn't find any 7/16" unc bolts or studding so drilled and tapped the downpipe (up in this case) holes to m12. then we trimmed the new bolts to length, sorted washers and bolted the manifolds to the heads with new gaskets coated both sides with silicone for a good seal. we took the old water pump off, cleaned the threads in the block and painted the new pump ready to fit. i got terri my daughter to work out how the updated pc will allow me to find and post pics so i'll throw the last few days pics on here.
neil.

[mygasser]

just ordered some forgotten parts, doh! a carter mechanical fuel pump and ngk plug leads and coil, all for under £80 inc' uk duties.
neil.

[mygasser]

today we made spring perches for the exploder axle. we knew the axle needed to sit slightly rearwards from stock with bigger wheels on a mk3 so we drilled 3 holes 3/4" apart in each perch for the spring centre bolt to go in. we lifted the axle upon my trans' jack with the perches in place choosing the centre hole 3/4" back from stock as a starting point. then ash' knocked the wheel studs out of the old long halfshaft and fitted them to the new 2nd short shaft. we fitted both shafts, c clips and pin in the diff' and resealed the (once was) chrome cover back in place. after measuring side to side to locate the axle between the arches i dug out my digital inclinometer (angle finder) to set the pinion angle to match the engine/box, which are now both at 3 degrees. lastly we welded the spring perches in place, sat the wheels back on it and stood back to admire our work, lol. the one other thing done today was to straighten the gearbox dipstick tube, bend the bracket to suit and weld it to the tube. a new o ring with a smear or silicone (belt and braces) and that's done. we have to dig out all the bits of propshaft from over the road so we can make a new one up next.
neil.

[mygasser]

the parts ordered from rockauto friday evening arrived this morning!!! they are so fast delivering parts it's unreal.
anyway, we're chipping away at the jobs to do..... the new fuel pump's fitted, the rear axle's u'bolt plates (from an exploder) are trimmed and fitted so the axle's secure, rear discs and calipers are on and the n/s/f brake hardline (that both of us 'buzzed' with the grinder while cutting the old engine mounts off ) is replaced. nothing really picture worthy.
neil.

[mygasser]

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[mygasser]

doh.

[mygasser]

the new rear tyres are fitted to the 10x15 rear slot mags and the front tyres now have leak free beads for a pump free future. we worked out where the chrome gm type alternator will go and how the brackets will be made. the new braided stainless rear brake flexi is fitted meaning once the 3 way arrives and is fitted along with tabs for the caliper flexis and hard line p clips we can bleed the brakes. while waiting for bits we can swap the inlet manifold and rocker covers (the bling) and prime the oil pressure before plopping in the new distributor. we have the ngk coil and plug leads to go on too. wiring will be soon, we have an american ford type solenoid ready to fit and we'll have to work out what wires do what as it was over 2 years ago we took it apart and of course labelled all the wires..... not. ash' said they're breaking one of the works transits so he'll nab the propshaft for it's sliding section and we still have to sort a front bit with uj to fit the truck c6 rear flange, although we did sort a pair of the 'flat' u bolts the right size.
neil.
ps we have 2 weeks left this coming saturday

[mygasser]

i ordered 2 sets of ngk spark plugs today, one for ash's and one for mine. we then had another prop' finding expedition with this one much more fruitful. among my bits and bobs i had a prop' marked 'pop prop' and the ends were marked 'rover' and jaguar with both having a bolt on flat flange. the rover end had a sliding joint and when that end's uj was measured against a uj that did fit the c6 yoke it was clear a 'conversion' joint (2 different sizes) would be needed. back to the computer after some measuring with my digital verynear gauge and i ordered a 1310/1330 joint which will be here next week. the tube at the other end of the slider is roughly 1/4" smaller than the inside of the exploder prop' so a couple of 'rings' will be turned up to make up the difference as i've done many times before. the other job done today was dig out a lump of 8mm steel sheet and cut out the 4 rear coilover to axle brackets.
neil.