DaveCymrus' Countach thread :D

[AcC8braman]

Nice one Dave.

Looking very nice Dave, good choice

On mine, I have the channeling too, Dave at DC hadn't seen it before on one so looks like the prev owner put them in.

What do you have surrounding your Windscreen?

Cheers

Steve

[davecymru]

Top edge and sides has trim but the bottom edge doesn't, possibly as the wipers aren't quite set right and edge onto it atm.
That is a job I've got on the list for when its on the road.

I can get a pic if it'll be of use?

[AcC8braman]

Is it trim, looks like rubber to me?

[davecymru]

TBH i'm not sure! i'll have a better look when i get to tightening up the wipers over the next few weeks.


Well..... after a few late and very cold nights i now have the new rads plumbed in and new fans fitted!

Obviously as they're not custom designed i had to be creative in fitting them and while the plumbing routing is not 'ideal' it does work, is secure and doesn't foul anything!

Passengers side:



Drivers side:



I did one test last night and another during lunch today and it seems to all be watertight and the fans kick in and did their job in keeping the temperature at normal levels! WHOO HOO!

Now over the next few weeks i'll start doing some lengthy idling tests just to be confident while i also sort out the engine tuning

[L5000s]

nice job your doing Dave, those rads look like they are well built.

[AcC8braman]

Keep the engine nice and cool

[davecymru]

For the first time since I've owned the car I've had it out of the garage this weekend, which meant big smiles all around!

This was my first taste of driving it and i do have to say that i was VERY, VERY nervous reversing it out of the garage and even more nervous taking it back in!!
It also confirmed that I'm going to remove the seat runners and bolt the seats directly to the floor (as i did in the Spyder) in order to get an extra inch of headroom.



With all of the many pop-up bits n bobs shut, i could see the new rads in place properly for the first time, and it still amazes me that they do fit when the air-boxes are back on.
I could also see how the lowered rear-end has turned out and i can see I've got to lower the front some more yet even though it looked good in the garage. Which is funnily something i also encountered on my Spyder build and must be due to viewing angles in a confined space? Or the fumes in the garage



And finally one from the back demonstrating once again how little rearwards visibility i have until i can get the camera replaced




So now a bit more leak spotting to sort out on the plumbing as i go around all of the old jubilee clips and then i'll put the air boxes back on again and start snagging ready for an MOT!

[L5000s]

Even though it's not my car, seeing your motor out of the garage has put a smile on my face, you must have been beaming :-)

[garyh]

It must be very exciting to drive.

[mikmiglia]

Dave nice work mate , looking sweet

[davecymru]

What a productive weekend!

First job was to figure out how i can quickly get to the new radiators without having to use tools, as based on experience i know that if something does go wrong it'll be in the wrong place at the wrong time and i'll need immediate access!

I could see that the air boxes had removable grills that i can just pull out if needed, so rather than bolting the boxes back in place i fitted captive bolts to the back so that they just slot into place. I then fitted riv-nuts to the shell where the front mounts and then I fabricated some hand-removable nuts to hold it all together!

So starting with this:



Then go mad with the welder and some black paint to get this (times 4):



And they work a treat!



Quite how i managed to build my Sammio without riv-nuts ill never know!

[davecymru]

2nd job was to sort out the gear selector so that i could get it into reverse without having to replace all of the linkages.

So I modified the existing steel selector plate to get all of the pathways working and i quite like the angled dog-leg to reverse. I'm sure I've seen it on other old cars, now i know why!



Obviously the final one won't just have a big triangular hole for reverse and rather than try and weld a bit back into this, i happened to find a plate of 8mm aluminium in the odds-n-sods pile, so i thought "why not make a new one, how hard can it be!" VERY, as it turns out!

So starting with this:



trace the outline onto it, roughly cut it out and drill holes at all of the extremities to get this:



Then attack it with an angle grinder, dremel and a frankly absurd amount of filing to get it this far:



It's not finished yet, but i'm shattered now and the blister that all of the filing caused has just burst, so that's it for today!

[seanick]

Lazy sod!

[L5000s]

Originally Posted by davecymru

2nd job was to sort out the gear selector so that i could get it into reverse without having to replace all of the linkages.

So I modified the existing steel selector plate to get all of the pathways working and i quite like the angled dog-leg to reverse. I'm sure I've seen it on other old cars, now i know why!



Obviously the final one won't just have a big triangular hole for reverse and rather than try and weld a bit back into this, i happened to find a plate of 8mm aluminium in the odds-n-sods pile, so i thought "why not make a new one, how hard can it be!" VERY, as it turns out!

So starting with this:



trace the outline onto it, roughly cut it out and drill holes at all of the extremities to get this:



Then attack it with an angle grinder, dremel and a frankly absurd amount of filing to get it this far:



It's not finished yet, but i'm shattered now and the blister that all of the filing caused has just burst, so that's it for today!

thats why they have invented machine shops for Dave, but well done for the effort

[L5000s]

quick question Dave, the rad covers are now removeable ,are they like that on the original countach ?

[AcC8braman]

Hi, the pods are, not the grills

[L5000s]

Originally Posted by AcC8braman

Hi, the pods are, not the grills

thanks Steve for the info

[Paul L]

Dave - Looks like thinks are coming together nicely.

I know it is just a close up camera shot, but your gear selection gate looks HUGE!

Good luck, Paul.

PS

Originally Posted by davecymru

Quite how i managed to build my Sammio without riv-nuts ill never know!

I followed your previous riv-nut link, but do you have a specific one for what you bought?

Thanks.

[davecymru]

Cheers Paul,

Currently that plate is the same size as the one that was fitted previously, but i sort of agree that even that looked a bit big. So i might shrink this down by a few mm?

Here's the original one in place when i first got the car:




CBS do a budget rivnut kit :
http://www.cbsonline.co.uk/product/R...t_Budget_RIVBG

But i thought i only wanted to do a few and i wasn't convinced at how useful it'd be so i bought a cheaper one from e-bay for £12 just to have a play and it's been great!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PROFESSION...-/360463087894

It's fine for alloy riv-nuts but not so good for steel. But seeing as i only want alloy ones then i'm not too fussed! Also, some of the bigger M6 rivnuts take a good bit of squeezing and swearing

[Paul L]

Thanks for the RivNut links Dave, I'll have a look & a think.

But don't get me wrong on the HUGE comment, I just meant that in the last photo it looks like it has been carved out of something the size of a dustbin lid!

In real scale, I'd leave it the same size as the original.

I'm sure you will be reminded of the effort it took you when you change gear & that is what makes it special.

Good luck, Paul.