03/01/2004
&
04/01/2004

8hrs

Brakes

Centralising Brake Calipers

I began by measuring and marking  the position of the "T" piece for the rear brakes, with the intention of starting work on fitting the brakes. Whilst working on this, standing within the chassis and looking towards the diff, I noticed that the right brake disc was not central to the brake caliper. I had not seen it from this position before. It had to be rectified.  This entailed removing the RH hand brake mechanism, and the disc caliper,  dismantling the RH rear suspension removing the lower diff mounting plate, unbolting the drive shaft from the brake disc, withdrawing the drive shaft from the brake disk, finally removing the brake disk from the diff.  I removed and  discarded  the disc centralising shims (the disc was too far outboard and needed to be closer to the diff. I cleaned the diff flange, removing any paint. Reassembly was the reverse process. Once reassembled  I measured the position of the disc relative to the caliper with a feeler gauge.  There are two machined surfaces at the bottom of the caliper which can be used  as datum points. The gap was as near equal as I am going to get it.  I tested the LH brake disc in the same way and found that although it looked central (using the Mk1 Eyeball) it was actually 0.88mm to far inboard. Nothing for it but to dismantle the LH brake, suspension and drive shaft.  I measured the shims I had to determine the nearest to 0.44mm (half the error to centralise it) cleaned and fitted the diff flange and  shims adding an extra shim to reduce the error.   Reassembled the LH Drive shaft, brake and suspension.  Measuring the disc position it was still not right. The error was reduced but I had overcompensated. It was all dismantled again and a slightly thinner shim fitted. This time, when it was reassembled, the error was 0.25mm.  Much closer than originally but I had run out of shims to get it any closer.  I decided that this was probably within tolerance, given that the caliper casting, discs, disc pad wear are not highly machined close tolerance components.  Wire locked the calipers and refitted the hand brake mechanism.
 

05/01/2004
1hr

Pedal Box

Before  Christmas I got a message from Malcolm @ Nostalgia advising that they had had an SVA Problem with the pedal  box and they thought that mine was similarly affected.  Today a message from Malcolm advised that if the CLUTCH pedal  was  of the cut profile type (square edged) and not forged it should be returned for replacement or modification.  Mine definitely looked like a cut profile type , so I dismantled if from the box and packed it for posting

06/01/2004
1hr

Pedal box

07/01/2004
1hr
Clutch
 

11/011/2004
5hrs
 Brake / Fuel Pipes

This weekend I finally got round to straightening the brake and fuel pipes ready for fitting.

Firstly, approximately straighten the pipe by hand as follows. Firmly grasp the end of the pipe with one hand and pull backwards on the pipe with the other hand, allowing the coil to unwind as your hand slides backwards down the pipe. You may have to do this several times but the pipe will safely straighten. With that length of pipe reasonably straight, move your hands down the pipe away from the end and repeat until you reach the far end of the pipe. You end up with a long slightly curved copper tube with very slight bends in it where you have varied the hand pressure on the pipe.

If you are bending 5mm brake pipe, with no preformed ends, then cut a block of wood 45mm x 45mm x 5inches (130mm) drill a 5mm hole down the centre of the cross section, the length of the block. (You might have to work from both ends if you don't have a long enough drill and meet in the middle - hopefully ) Using soft wood blocks I found it wasn't necessary to flare the ends of the holes, but you could do so if you were worried about damaging the end of the pipe Squirt some grease or WD40 in to the hole to lubricate it. Pass an old (or odd) piece of tube through it to spread the lubricant around and to avoid contaminating your "good" pipe. Put the block in a vice and insert the end of the tube in to the hole. push until it emerges from the far end of the block. Now pull the rest of the tube through. The tube will still be slightly curved but many of the imperfections will have been removed.

If your pipes have preformed ends the procedure is the same except. Cut 2 blocks the same size as before. Clamp them together. Draw diagonals across the ends to find the centre of the combination. Drill a 5mm hole where the diagonals meet. Again you may have to work from both ends. When you have finished, unclamp the blocks. You will have a channel in each block running the length of the block. To straighten the pipe place one block on one side of the pipe behind the pre formed end. Makes sure the pipe is lying in the channel Match the other block to it and place the combination in a vice. Pull the pipe through the blocks as before.

10 mm Fuel pipes can be straightened in the same way. Get them approximately straight by hand as above and then pass them through a 10mm hole drilled in a block with the same dimensions as above.

The end product will still be slightly curved over it's entire length and still have some slight kinks but these can be adjusted as the pipes are fitted in to their retaining or "P" clips on the chassis.
 

Using the XJ6 rear brake pipes as `a template I determined the beast position to mount the rear "T" piece.  I then set about bending the new rear brake  pipes in to an elongated "S"  to connect between  "T" piece and the brake calipers.  Care has to be taken with the shape to ensure adequate clearance around the handbrake mechanism under all operating conditions.

17/101/2004
4hrs

Brake / fuel pipes
Pedal box

Upper Steering column

Today has been a "bitty" frustrating day. I had been doing some planning on pipe runs and fitting during the week with  the intention of fitting them today. However I discovered that if I was to use the multi-pipe clips supplied by Nostalgia I would have to drill through the strengthening pieces between the floor and the chassis. or bend the pipe to run under them. Neither option looked easy to do using the clips supplied. I decided I needed more information sort sort out the route and the positioning of the clips. I could work it out for myself but I am not familiar with the type of clip, so sent an e-mail to Malcolm.

The rest of the day I did small jobs getting ready for the return of the pedals  cleaning up the pedal fulcrums, sorting out where the scuttle brackets, steering brackets fit and modifying the XJ6 upper steering bracket. cleaned up the clutch forks and prepared  it and the steering column bracket for painting.
 

Pedal box

This weekend I have been installing telephone cables , ADSL modems and software  because we are going over to Broadband.  Broadband is now up and running time to work on the car. The pedals returned from Nostalgia on Thursday so today I reassembled the pedal box and fitted the clutch master cylinder. I took a little while to work out how the return springs fitted to the pedal. I had no photographs  from when I took them apart, relying on my memory.....Fatal mistake!

The HM was not much help either. I eventually worked it out and completed the fitting. I added a couple of copper washers to the pivot shafts to take up a little side play when the pedals were fitted.   I made a gasket, from cardboard and copper gasket silicon sealer , to fit between the master clutch cylinder and the pedal box.  Last job of the day was to remove the brake reservoir from the master cylinder and commence cleaning up the master cylinder with a wire brush to prepare it for refurbishing.

This week, snow, wind and rain have seriously curtailed work on the car . I did manage to get some UNC bolts for fitting the pedal box and some self tapping screws for the fuel / brake pipe clips. I'm still undecided on the beast way to tackle this job to end up with the vision I have in my head.  I will get it right eventually.  Also I had a Broadband /  Computer problem which was demanding my time and nagging me to get it fixed. I did manage to dismantle the master cylinder and place it in a bath of hydraulic fluid to clean it,

Total Number of Hours this Month = 27

Total Number of hours to date =  478