Swifty's Navigator - Page 32

Paul L · #**621** 20th February 2016, 11:30

Swifty - Your seat belt guides are great.

By the looks of it, your car has as much room behind the seats as mine.

Good luck, Paul.

swifty · #**622** 20th February 2016, 19:08

Steering wheel mount finished today.

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Its made of three main parts to adapt the detachable mount to the original steering column.

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First an adapter mount was made for the original spline casting, the casting was machined down to size and fixed to the new part with three 6mm high tensile counter sink bolts, basically this made it possible to mount a detachable mount to the original steering column.

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New base spline mount with the bottom half of the detachable mount fitted to the steering column, the original hex nut was used to tighten this part to the steering column after the bore of the detachable base mount had been opened up.

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Plate made to attach the steering wheel, two different hole pcd's to match the detachable part and the steering wheel. High tensile counter sink bolts used which will be hidden once the wheel is in place.

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Steering wheel in place with plain center plate, the horn push was originally here but to make it easier for myself ive now mounted the horn push on the dash. Stainless steel counter sinks hold the steering wheel in place.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

swifty · #**623** 21st February 2016, 18:48

Today was a day trying to clear up the many small jobs Ive been putting off for a while, wiring the many dash lamps etc, also did a small adjustment to the wheel tracking at the rear.

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Seat belts finally fitted and working so i was able to fit the back panel before bolting the seats in place that is after the floor has been cleaned.

I think that if i was to build one of these again then i would angle the back panel backwards from the floor up over to give slightly more room behind the seats at the top.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

Roadster · #**624** 21st February 2016, 20:47

Loving the steering wheel soloution

Looks superb

swifty · #**625** 28th February 2016, 20:57

Been having a few issues with the carbs, if the engine was stopped once hot then restarted with slightly pressing the throttle the carb's flooded, more so the front one. I removed both float bowls to check that there was no debris in the float needle valves then turned my attention to the Filter King with fuel pressure regulator which i backed off slightly, all seems to be fine now just need to make sure enough fuel is getting to the carbs at full speed.

I did take it around the local estate for a quick spin and boy does it sound great, can't wait to get it on the open road. Its funny how the sound of a crackling exhaust make's a petrol heads day. Roll on the summer......

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Picture showing the hole the fuel pours out of when flooding, this port vent's from the float chamber that allows excess fuel to pass through into the air filter housing.

One more major step completed with the build, the dash is finally complete with all clocks etc working. I had been waiting for a water temp gauge with a degree scale to come on flebay at a reasonable price which it did last week so after turning a brass adapter to suit the thermostat housing and the capillary tube nut the dash was complete.

I've also ran a bead of clear silicone on the under side of the screen ally trim to prevent water traveling under the screen and into the cockpit, although if it pours down while on the road the seal between the screen and car will the least of my worries.

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I had intended to use the warning lamps built into the original speedo for high beam, alternator charge and indicator but decided to use individual Lucas warning lamps instead.

All in all I'm pretty pleased at how its turned out.

Next the seats are to be fitted then its off to the MOT station which i am trying to put off so as not to be able to use the car until the salt grit has washed off the roads.

Well that's it for now see you all soon.

molleur · #**626** 28th February 2016, 21:23

Very neat.

DaveP · #**627** 28th February 2016, 21:36

Wicked interior - great progress

froggyman · #**628** 28th February 2016, 22:16

Dash looks great and really look the business.
Gritter passed my house as I was reading your post so keep it in the garage a little longer!

Mister Towed · #**629** 29th February 2016, 06:03

Love your dash design and the exposed tube frame in the doors. Nice work Swifty, great looking car.

Scottie22 · #**630** 1st March 2016, 11:13

I've been offline for a while Swifty, so its good to see your car interior looking so good, impressed with the dash, very nice!

Scottie

swifty · #**631** 1st March 2016, 19:14

Nice to see you back online Scottie, i had been wondering as you have not posted on your thread for some time, hopefully you will have some new posts soon.

Cheers on the dash comment.

Paul L · #**632** 3rd March 2016, 05:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by swifty

… then its off to the MOT station...

Swifty - Great news that you have finally reached the MOT stage.

Can't wait to see a photo of the car wheeled outside for that trip, as it all looked amazing.

Good luck, Paul.

swifty · #**633** 3rd March 2016, 18:09

The local roads have been covered in salt so even though i am VERY VERY tempted to have the MOT done the car will be staying in the garage for some time plus it's allowing me to finish off the small jobs.

Ive decided to have a go at fabricating an ally trim to fit around the inside lip of the bonnet, never tried this before so it will be a massive learning curve, made two wooden slapper tools from pine, ive gone for pine rather than a hard wood as pine is softer so hopefully will be easier to work the soft ally without creating too many dents.

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The image shows the front lip circled in blue that will hopefully have an ally trim fitted. The 250 swb on tributes site has something similar fitted as standard and it finishes the look off.
The problem i can see is the ally has to be formed around opposing curves so stretching/work hardening will be an issue, ive already annealed the ally but will more than likely have to anneal it a few times during the fabrication.

Decided to make a mold of the lip profile from mdf, two pieces of 25mm thick should do the trick.

Here's a photo of the brass adapter made for the mechanical water temperature gauge sensor.

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If any body needs to make one the thread size's are 3/8 BSP x 13mm long capillary tube nut side and 5/8 18 UNF x 10mm long for thermostat housing side. The hole through the adapter is 11.5mm dia with a 8mm deep 13.5 od counter bore at the capillary tube side, this allow the capillary tube bulb to seat correctly in the brass adapter, the hex is 18mm AF. I used stock size 25mm round brass bar then milled the flats on a dividing head with the threads etc done in the lathe.

Well that's it for now see you all soon and i will post pictures of the ally nose trim when it's hopefully finished, fingers crossed that is.

swifty · #**634** 5th March 2016, 18:59

Today i started to try and and make the ally nose trim, first a former was made from 24mm mdf joining four piece together to make the required thickness.

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Replicated the bonnet oval as close as i could with a radius edge matching the bonnet.

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Screwed the trim center point to the former which left the ends of the ally curved to the front.

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After heating the ally a number of times then working it around the former the ends were pulled back in line with the back edge of the former, my intentions are to trim the back edge once the front edge is worked to the correct curve. The ally stretches fairly easy if its kept hot and worked with a radius slapper tool.

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Worked one half around the former then flipped over and did the same to the other half. The joining ends will be trimmed to length once the trim has been formed and still thinking on how i can finish the two joins, might have to machine a thin cover strip.

Still not convinced it will look ok but at the minute i think a brushed surface finish will be required to flatten the slapper tool marks left in the ally.

Well that's it for now see you all soon

DaveP · #**635** 5th March 2016, 20:45

Good work so far - hope it comes out as you want

Dave

swifty · #**636** 9th March 2016, 20:39

Anybody recommend a decent online company who does stickers etc for cars.

Roadster · #**637** 9th March 2016, 22:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by swifty

Anybody recommend a decent online company who does stickers etc for cars.

Sticky fingers work is good

http://martincull.create.net/

jones · #**638** 9th March 2016, 22:03

I have used www.isaydingdong.co.uk, pretty good service and a wide range of stock items but will make some up too.

swifty · #**639** 10th March 2016, 06:55

I had been looking at i say ding dong but after emailing them on a number of occasions with no replies i feel reluctant to spend money with them, why do companies have an email contact then ignore enquiries, their site however is easy to use but i need a couple of things made thats not shown on their web site.

reneanglia · #**640** 10th March 2016, 12:49

Just pickup the phone and call them..........a bit of obsolete these days,i know,but i never use email to contact companies because you always have to wait someone reads it and then give you the wrong answer so you email again and again...............
René