Swifty's Navigator

[8 Valve Ed]

Originally Posted by swifty

8 Valve Ed I never gave the horn bracket a thought, the bracket that came with the horn is 2mm mild steel while the brackets i welded to the frame are 1/8" thick so i think i will do a little experimenting as i have gone for the twin high and low note disc horns for a distinctive sound so cheers on that one.

You must of had a large workshop to house a 4 ton vert mill and a couple of colchesters, one of the lathe's i use is a Dean Smith and Grace which i think date's from the mid fifties but still turns out accurate work with the addition of a DRO for laziness but i can honestly say some of these modern lathes are not a patch on the old boys.
I like the manual lathes for the small items I've machined as it gives me the freedom to do a simple sketch then turn as required without being tied up on the tolerances and if its not right i can go back and alter at will.

Hi nearly missed this, been a bit distracted with software updates...

Yes, I had a great workshop, The firm I worked for were builders but because of my tenancy towards metal, I was allowed to equip my own workshop and I used it to innovate for the building side, I built all sorts of specialised equipment for underpinning buildings and drilling rock in difficult locations, rippers and specialised joinery tooling, to mention but a few. Unfortunately I have few photo's from those days.

The Cincinnati could drill a 50mm hole in one pass through 75mm boiler plate without even flinching. I had a little Denby flat belt driven horizontal mill too, that ended up as a rolling mill to curve large (75mm sq) box section to fabricate curved railings. I had a few diggers too.

I have decided if my host who is letting me use his shed, will allow, I hope to get my own lathe later this year. I have the free use of two but they are thirty and fifty miles away, I need to arrange access at mutually convenient times and there is the ever present risk of me breaking somebody else's (expensive) tooling. I need to be able to pop a chunk of metal in the chuck and turn it there and then. There are so many occasions I would have used a lathe during my Berlinetta restoration had one been readily available.

I am used to Colchesters, my friends is an old Harrison, I find the small headstock hole very restrictive, I think it's only 14mm and it only has an MT2 tailstock taper despite being quite a large and heavy lathe.

I need at least 25mm through the head with an MT3 tailstock. Min 150 throw and 600 between centres. I have been looking on eBay and there seem to be plenty with tooling and chucks well below £700.

I want to be able to turn rollers for a swaging machine/jenny (bead roller) The next phase of my build will hopefully involve replacing most or all of the GRP panels with aluminium.

[swifty]

Yesterday i collected the powder coated parts which have turned out great, now need to try and not chip the coated parts.

IMG_5368.jpg IMG_5365.jpg

Dashboard and gearbox tunnel.




IMG_5373.jpg IMG_5370.jpg

Dashboard in place with a couple of clocks fitted to see how it all looks, the surface has a slight texture that mimics stove enamel.

Now need to buy a few more clocks most likely off flea bay when a bargain appears.


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

[Paul L]

Swifty - That all looks good.

Michiel has a similar surface on his dash on Spyder #47 & that looks the part too.

Good luck, Paul.

[swifty]

Cheers Paul i did get the original idea from Michiel's build.

The speedo i bought off flea bay had a half black bezel so i've fitted a new chrome bezel with glass and seals.

A good guide on how to strip and repair speedo's can be found here in pdf format, written by Anthony Rhodes it covers the early to late speedo's, both Jaeger and Smiths.

IMG_5372.jpg IMG_5377.jpg

The first image shows the original half black bezel and the second is the new bezel.


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

[Scottie22]

Love your gearbox tunnel Swifty!!

[Mister Towed]

Originally Posted by Scottie22

Love your gearbox tunnel Swifty!!

Seconded. Isambard Kingdom Brunel would be happy with that.

[swifty]

Cheers Guys, Mr T i now know where my inspiration came from, i just could not put my finger on it before. LOL



Some new goodies arrived which i hope to have fitted this weekend.

IMG_5375.jpg

After reading Mr T's post on suspension upgrade i decided to go ahead and change the suspension on my build which was the standard setup with tired old front springs and bog standard dampers and for some unknown reason the front offside was lying lower as the temperature has warmed up, the car has not moved so the settling in theory has not played its part plus we did have a cold snap for a couple of days and the front offside rose up to the original height.

By coincidence Rimmer Bros sent an email with 15% off all Spax suspension so after a little home work i've taken the plunge and gone for front ride/height adjustable with uprated springs of 200lbs and free length 280mm and rear ride adjustable. The rear also has a 1 inch lowering block fitted which i can machine if its too low.


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

[andrewhush]

Hi Swifty,

Can I ask where you got the new chrome bezels and glass from?

Andrew

[1iTim]

Nice work swifty. However that's so many gauges that people will think it's a cobra (or a sik wrex). Maybe I'm just jealous as I have the grand total of three, a speedo, fuel and temp gauge

T

[christinedmc]

Hi There Swifty,

What an incredibble nice build you have. I looked back at your thread with great intrest. Superb quality en detail. Would love to see you project finished. Keep up this good work with magnificent result.

Michiel

[swifty]

andrewhush The bezel was bought off flea bay its for a 4 inch gauge. I've just noticed and you live very close to me, probably less than 5 miles.

1iTim Yes its a lot of gauges but after much debate it looked better with four small gauges, the center gauge will be a 125mm tacho, the rest of the holes are for the minimum amount of switch's and buttons.

christinedmc Thanks for the comment, i too would like to see your build so maybe who knows we may meet up at a show in the future.

[christinedmc]

Hi Swifty,

Meeting at a show would be very nice. I visited Stoneleigh a month ago (but not with my Spyder). I saw one green Sammio though. I hope to attend some events in the UK with my Spyder in the future.

Michiel

[swifty]

Look forward to meeting up Michiel.

Today fitted the new shocks and springs to all four corners.

IMG_5378.jpg IMG_5379.jpg

Rear and front parts fitted. The adjustment knob is easy to get to with the tyres fitted so making it easy to adjust the rebound in the future, there's 28 clicks from soft to hard so set them at mid way 14 clicks and will adjust once on the road.

The front height adjustment is set at half way until the car has been moved about and at the moment the front of the car is sitting about 30mm higher than with the standard springs etc so its looking good.





IMG_5380.jpg

The original front springs in red are about 40mm longer than the uprated springs which made the new springs easier to fit than the standard springs, if you wind the adjustment rings down to the bottom then the top spring cup can be fitted without the need to compress the spring.


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

[swifty]

Grabbed a couple of mins today on the build to progress the wiring.



IMG_5385.jpg IMG_5386.jpg

Used multi strand 10mm cable from the alternator charge post to the battery supply on the starter solenoid. The alternator i've fitted is a late Lucas type that has three connectors, two 10mm male spade's and one 6.3mm male spade, both 10mm's are connected together internally so i divided the cable end into two then soldered these to the 10mm female spade connectors for the charge circuit. The 6.3mm spade (white wire in pic) goes to the ign light on the dashboard, earlier Lucas alternators used the 6.3mm spade as the alternator exciter feed to start the charge current in the alternator.

Finished off with heat shrink wrap over the bare cable.


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

[8 Valve Ed]

More or less what I did, it helps to spread the load. Up to 45 Amps through one connector is better as 22 Amps each through two.

How is your earth? A second earth strap is good insurance, they often crack many of the strands due to the work hardening of the copper. That can lead to bearing failure in the drive train if the starter load has to take that route.

[swifty]

I've fitted two separate earths to the engine and one to the gearbox for good measure, i usually over engineering things if i can and due to the fire hazard of a fiberglass body i though it wise to over compensate.

I've also welded studs to various points through out the car for the earthing of the lights and equipment.

[8 Valve Ed]

Yes, with any chassied car earthing needs special attention, it's easy to become complacent with modern body shells but even with metal bodies the earthing of body to chassis can be iffy. I grew up with wooden framed metal bodies on a chassis, then Land Rovers which suffer badly from corrosion where the aluminium meets the steel.

I like the idea of welding studs to the chassis at strategic places. I weld a heavy steel lug to bolt the battery isolator to the chassis but other welded studs sounds a neat idea, thanks for that one!

[swifty]

Been busy on the miller making a couple of C spanners to adjust the Spax front shock height, made from 6mm ally plate.


IMG_5388.jpg



Today the Midi type car fuse holder arrived from flea bay, if you want one it's Here, also bought a few spare fuse's just in case.

IMG_5387.jpg

The fuse size i've gone with is 40 amps, there are other sizes available.


IMG_5389.jpg

Its fitted to the bulk head taking the 12v supply from the battery post on the starter solenoid and feeds the main fuse board with 12v, it's basically an extra safety precautions for the fuse board.
The solenoid in the picture is for radiator fan supply, i may fit a small deflector plate above the midi fuse holder to prevent water ingress off the bonnet shut lip.

The next job is to wire in all the switches and clocks on the dash board along with fitting the coolant hoses so that i can run the engine.


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

[swifty]

Looking at how to get the best air filter solution for the twin 150 strombergs. Have thought about using a universal cone type filter with a fabricated box mounted to the carb intake, this way i can draw cool air away from the engine.

Looking for advice on any pit falls and useful web sites for information, so if anybody has experience with this type of filtration then let me know of your experiences.

[Paul L]

Swifty - Good to see your build is still progressing nicely.

Good luck, Paul.