|
Date |
Event |
04/01/2006 7hrs Bonnet Release Cable
Bonnet Safety
Catch |
Before Christmas I made a drawing of the
ferrule for the end of the bonnet release able and John Hopkins kindly
turned one up on the lathe. I drilled the retaining bracket ot accept
the ferrule. In the process of trial fitting the bonnet catch mechanism and
safety catch I discovered that it is easier to assemble the safety
catch before fitting it. This in turn introduced a difficulty of trying to
hold the catch in place as well as tighten up the securing bolt at the
same time as adjusting the height of the catch was nearly impossible.
I thought the job would be made easier by fitting a rivnut to the bracket
(one less item to hold). I fitted an M5 Rivnut but discovered the catch
could not be aligned with the pivot holes in the bracket because the rivnut
was too long.
A heavy cold and Christmas holiday forced me
to take a break, so today was the first day back in the garage. I had
worked out a solution to the problem. Make a new bracket but
instead of clearance hole for the (M5) securing bolt, tap it to a matching
thread size. Screw in the bolt and secure with thread lock. so this
was today's task. It took a couple of attempts to make the bracket. mostly
because it you use the donor car securing pin, then the dimensions are
critical. The bracket must be wide enough so that the internal
dimension of the bracket accommodates the catch and distance pieces, but
after allowing for the thickness of the bracket that it is not too wide so
that the securing clip will not engage in the groove of the pivot pin,
Also care must be taken when drilling the bracket to ensure the the pivot
pin is parallel to the bracket both horizontally and vertically. One
tip I learned from John Hopkins was when tapping metal which is relative
thin compared to the size of the thread, (as in this case) to ensure the
hole is tapped square, put the tap in to a pillar drill and use this
to hold the square to the metal. Guide the pillar drill with one hand
whilst turning the chuck and tap with the other. (For safety reasons, make
sure the drill is isolated from the electrical supply). The new bracket made
I did a trial fit and I'm happy to say it works.
Whilst I was waiting for the thread lock to
dry, before I paint the bracket I started work on fitting the oil
cooler. I have some ex Renault 12/16 exhaust mounts which will
do as anti vibration mounts. But I've got to work out the mounting position
and the necessary brackets.
|
11/01/2005 8hrs Bonnet Catch
Oil Cooler |
All the components for the bonnet catch and
slam plate are now painted but not yet fitted. The oil cooler has been
giving me some grief over the past few days. I know Nostalgia do
not fit it as being more trouble that it is worth. I've been a
fan of oil coolers ever since I fitted one to our Mini back in the 60's.
The Mini would start at 50 psi but drop to about 20 (at Idle ) once
the engine was warm. Fitting the oil cooler and changing to Duckham's
20W/50 kept the oil pressure at 50 psi regardless. I know oil
technology has improved and viscosity is maintained over a wider temperature
range but the XK engine was fitted with an oil cooler in the XJ6 so why not
use it. My problem was to source some 40mm x 3 or 4mm
strip steel, top make the mounting brackets, without having to buy a truck
load. All my usual sources didn't have any or anything that was close.
8mm and 10mm were much too heavy for my needs. I
eventually hit in the idea of using box section and splitting it in
to 2 channels . This had the added advantage that I could use
thinner metal than than that required for flat brackets because the turned
up edges of the channel would act as stiffeners. I got some 40 x 20mm
box section form B&Q. Cut the length of the bracket (138 mm ) of the
end. Split the cut pike in half ( using a hack saw) to end up
with two 40mm x 10mm x138mm channels. I cut corners off the ends
of the sides (25mm x 10mm) to remove the sharp edges. I drilled
2x 6mm holes in one end to match the mounting holes in the oil cooler.
I cut 4 pieces of M6 threaded rod 150mm long. I cut
distance pieces 30mm and 88 mm for each rod. These
position the mounting brackets at the side of the cooler by
passing the rod from top to bottom of the cooler and threading the short
spacer, mounting bracket then lastly long spacer in sequence. the oil
cooer needs to be mounted as low as possible, in the air flow, without
obstructing the radiator. I have positioned the brackets to compensate for
the anti vibration mounts such that the middle of the oil cooler is in
line with the top of the chassis rail. I've got to drill the chassis
rail to accept the M8 studs of the A/V mounts tomorrow. I intend to
use M8 rivnuts in the chassis but I've got to make an insertion tool because
my current one only goes as far as M6.
|
13/01/2006 4hrs Oil cooler |
Friday the 13th... no comment. I
started work on the M8 insertion tool yesterday but did not make much
progress. My first thoughts were, to could I modify an old insertion tool I
had to take M8 rivnuts. I won't bore you with the detail because it is
not relevant but I managed to modify it. however I found that with M8 steel
rivnuts I could not exert enough leverage to pull them up. However the
basic modification was right, if I could change the lever action to
straight pulling action. The theory is to screw a nut down a
threaded rod. The nut. being prevented from travelling down the rod by the
head of the tool, effectively pulled the rod and piston up inside the body
of the tool. the rivnut mounted on the M8 stud in the piston is pulled
up and deformed to fit. I cut up the old tool leaving me with part of
the lever to which the m the mandrel was shrill attached and the
internal sliding piston. I had already drilled the piston to accept an M8
stud on with the rivnut would be located. I now drilled the other end
to accept an M8 threaded rod to be the operating rod. I cut a 150mm length
of 20 x 20mm steel box section to make the body of the tool. This tube was
just the right size to slip inside what remains of the old operating lever
still attached to the mandrel. This is the locator and the
bottom pressure point to form the rivnut. . In order the the
piston and operating rod don't rotate, but are pulled up inside the body of
the tool . I cut a 17 x 17 x 6mm square, drilled an M8 hole in the
centre. Threaded the square over the operating rod and locked it in place on
the back of the piston with an M8 plain nut. Some filing
of the square was necessary to ensure the rod an piston slid up an down the
body. I have to make head a head for tool tomorrow I've
already worked out the basic idea.
|
14/01/2006 6hrs Oil Cooler M8 Rivnut Insertion tool |
The head of the tool was made out of two
pieces of 40x30x6mm wrought steel. I cut a 20x20mm square out of one to fit
the body of the tool. The second piece acted as a cap. The two pieces
were fitted together by drilling and tapping the lower piece to accept M4
set screws. An 8.5mm hole was drilled in the centre of the cap to
accept the operating rod With the whole thing assembled a M8 plain nut
and washer was screwed on to the rod. Tightening the nut pulled the rod
upwards, deforms the rivnut and secures it in place. I tested the tool
on a scrap piece of metal. Placing the rivnut on the and inserting it to the
hole. Keeping pressure on the rivnut to hold i in place in the metal.
.Gripping the body of the tool with an adjustable wrench I tightened
the M8 nut at the head of the tool. it worked fine. However I decided
the tool was too long, this caused some instability when tightening the
tool. I cut the length of the boy down to 50 mm, which improved
,matters. I completed the day by drilling M8 clearance holes in
the oil cooler brackets. 25mm in from the end which should correspond to the
centre of the chassis rails.
|
15/01/2006 6hrs Oil cooler
Bonnet Safety Catch |
I started by placing masking tape on the top
of the chassis rails . Then placid the oil cooler assembly in position
across the chassis rails, making sure it was central between the chassis
rails . I marked the position of the holes on the masking tape.
I realised I needed to remove the radiator stays to mark and drill the
chassis. I did this one side at a time. I marked the hole
centres 25mm from the wing stay mounting bracket and central to the
chassis rail. Drilled a 3.5 mm pilot hole followed by a 10 drill to
open the hole out. The rivnut body was just under 10.5mm in diameter,
so I carefully opened out the hole with a rat tail file to accommodate the
rivnut. The M8 rivnut was inserted and secured using the tool. I replace the
radiator stay and repeated the operation on the other side. I fitted
the anti-vibration (A/V) mounts to the chassis and tightened then up.
I fitted the oil cooler assembly on the top. It fitted exactly but I
decided it was too low down and was partially masked by the chassis cross
member. This was easily rectified by changing the distance tubes
on the cooler to reposition the mounting brackets. I opted for
moving the brackets to half way, by making all ht mounting tubes 58.5 mm in
length. I trial fitted the oak cooler again and I'm satisfied with this
position.
I reassembled the bonnet safety catch,
and refitted the bonnet slam panel now that they are all
painted. I Fitted the safety catch to the cross member. As
expected the safety catch is over vertical, when in contact with the chassis
cross member, which prevents it operating automatically when the
bonnet is lowered. The fix for this is to make a stop plate to prevent
the lever going past the vertical, I made a plate and positioned it so
that stopped the lever travelling past the vertical. I drilled the plate and
the chassis to accept 4mm blind pop rivets. I chose to rivet the stop
plate in place because of space limitations and I did not think that
the stop would need adjusting in the future. If it proves necessary I can
drill out the rivets, fit M4 rivnuts and slot the plate to provide
adjustment.
Hopefully I will finish the bonnet lock and
operating cable assembly tomorrow.
|
16/01/2006 2hrs Oil cooler |
Progress today got hampered by the need to
get some more gas for the heater in the garage. Still progress of a
sort was made. I recapped the fitting of the top steadying bracket on
the oil cooler. It seemed the easiest solution was to fit a bracket be the
top of the oil cooler and the RH radiator stay. I placed the oil
cooler in position and measured from the oil cooler to the stay at 3"
(76mm). A simple right angle bracket will do, mounting on the front,
top securing stud of the oil cooler. I guessed that 2" (51mm) would be
needed as the vertical leg of the bracket. I cut a 5" ;length of 25 x
2mm strip steel. I bent this in the proportion 3": 2". I
drilled a hole in the 3" leg to match up with front securing stud on the
cooler. I fitted the bracket and trial fitted the cooler. It was exactly
right. I marked the bracket where it met the radiator stay. I removed
the cooler again and drilled an M6 clearance hole in the bracket exactly in
the centre of where it would meet the radiator stay.
Tomorrows task is to mark the radiator stay,
remove it and drill it.
|
17/01/2006 2hrs Oil Cooler
Bonnet Release Cable |
True to plan fitted the oil cooler in place
with the intention of drilling and marking the radiator stay. To be
sure I fully secured the cooler to the A/V mounts. I checked the position of
the hole in the support bracket against he radiator stay and decided I had
drilled the hole in the support bracket too low. It wasn't far off but I
decided to make a new bracket. I made a new bracket fitted it to the
oil cooler and secured the cooler in place again. I re-measured
where the hole in the bracket should be in relation to the radiator stay.
Took it all off again and drilled the support bracket accordingly.
At this point I got an interrupted by an emergency call from work. the
Practice nurses had somehow managed to invert the display of their computer.
the only way they could use it was to turn the monitor upside down........
don't ask I intend to dine out on what followed for years.
It was dark by the time I got back but I
managed to refit the cooler securely again mark the position of the hole in
the radiator stay , remove it and drill it. I needed to touch up
the paint work on the stay and whilst that was drying I started work on
determining where the hole in the bulkhead needed to be for the bonnet
release cable. The idea is to keep the pull on the cable as straight
as possible. I fitted the cable to the hole in the
Dashboard / Scuttle support structure to see the angle. Once it
was firmly in place I could see it was angled upwards more than I expected
and to determine exactly where it would pass through the bulkhead would
still be a guesstimate. To be more accurate I removed the cable
and fitted a length of M8 threaded rod in its place. I extended the rod
forward until it touched the inside of the bulkhead and secured it in place
with 2x plain nuts and washers so that it followed the angle of the cable.
Now I could see exactly where the needs to be in the bulkhead, but I will
need to check in the engine compartment tomorrow to see that it is safe to
drill in this position.
|
18/01/2006 6hrs Bonnet Lock & Safety Catch
Oil Cooler |
I almost have a fully working bonnet lock and
safety catch. As I thought, if I use the position indicated by the rod
to drill the bulkhead, the hole will interfere with the edge of the
windscreen wiper bridge plate. I could either drop the hole down
slightly , so that it would be entirely within the bridge plate, or move it
up slightly to miss the bridge plate. Upwards would be less of a
deviation from the straight line indicated by the rod also it would be
closer the top of the bulkhead and easier to achieve a smooth route.
Easiest way to drill the hole was to partially remove the windscreen wiper
motor and drill from inside the engine bay. I measured the position of
the hole from inside the bulkhead and transferred these to the nine bay side
of the bulkhead. With the windscreen wiper motor undone from it's
mounting and the drive cable loosened from the wheel boxes I could mover the
motor to one side. I drilled a pilot hole and then opened it out to
7.5mm to accommodate a rubber grommet. I fitted the cable to the
dash support structure and through the grommet in the bulkhead. the grommet
and cable were sealed with translucent sealer. The operating
handle was secured to the dash support structure. I refitted the
windscreen wiper motor and secured the drive tubes to the wheel boxes.
The cable is in position to run down the LH inner wing to the bonnet
lock but not secured. All the components of the bonnet lock have
dried after painting. I fitted the spring retainer to the RHS of the
cross member. The easiest way to fit the spring and the bonnet lock
was to fit the spring to the retainer and the other end to the lock , then
pull the lock in to place, stretching the spring and secure with 2 x
¼" UNF bolts , spring and plain washers. I fitted the cable restraint
in place but left the cable fitting to tomorrow as darkness approached.
The other job I did today was to jack up the
front of the car. Remove the front RH wheel ,so that I could get at the oil
cooler connections. I tried to fit the existing XJ6 pipe work but it
is too short and the radiator stays get in the way. I must now
research how to convert the ¾"BSP connections to Metric or JIC A/N
connectors as well as extend the pipe work by about 7" whilst t finding a
safe and secure route.
|
20/01/2006 2hrs
Oil Cooler |
I had a discussion with John at Unimaster
yesterday about making new pipes for the oil cooler. The first
surprise came when he pronounced that the oil cooler connections were not
BSP thread. IF I use the XK6 oil cooler I will need to use the existing
connections from the old pipes. He would braise new connections on to
the pipe and then we could attach new pipes with new ends to the engine
block, the overall cost would be about £60. I did a bit of research
work on the Internet and this looks to be the cheapest option. I
cut the ends of the pipes today and fitted them to the cooler. I refitted
the cooler and secured all the brackets so that it was held in its
correct position. This allowed me to look at ht clearances between the
pipe work, the radiator stay and the inner wing of the body. I'd noted
a
while back that routing the oil pipes from the engine block to the cooler
would not appear to be easy. The RHS of the engine is pretty crowded with
the redundant power steering pump, inlet manifold, engine mount etc
all getting in the way of a straight and simple run of the pipe work.
I decided it might be simpler without the power steering pump, this was only
fitted to provide a jockey wheel for the fan and the waster pump and to
avoid moving the alternator forward (As Nostalgia had suggested in the first
place.) I've decided I'm going to go with Nostalgia's suggestion
remove the power steering pump, move the alternator forward and drive the fan water pump and alternator from a single belt. When that is done I
will be able to work out the exact route and length of the pipe work.
|
21/01/2006 5hrs
Bonnet Release Cable
Slam Plate &
Catch
Alterantor Bracket |
I set out today to complete the bonnet
catch installation. I only had the cable to route and cut to the
required length to finish the job or so I thought. I routed the
cable down the top inside of the LH wing. I secured about every 9" with "P"
clips held in place by 3mm peel rivets. I regularly checked the
operation of the cable, as I secured it, to ensure that it worked smoothly.
the secret is to keep the cable a straight as possible and make any curves
as gentle as possible. I found the best way to attach the cable to the
lock, was to remove the lock hold it in your hand keeping the return
spring connected to the lock and its keep plate. Thread the cable through
the its keep plate ensuring the ferrule is engaged in the plate.
Thread the cable inner through the securing post. Replace the
lock and tighten the securing set screws. Pull the cable inner
tight with a pair of pliers. Make sure the cable outer is taught against the
keep plate and tighten the securing screw (use a 5/8" AF spanner). Job
done! It was now I found a major problem with my installation. the
bonnet latch plate was too high. I could not get the spring plunger low
enough to engage the lock with the bonnet fully closed. I had set it
early on where I thought it should fit, given the shape of the plate and the
fibreglass. but I was wrong. I'm not blaming anyone else but me,
however the build manual was not clear or even written in good English.
I quote , " The positioning of the latch plate is made , the
bonnet drilled and the assemblies secured" I realise now that it was
trying to say " Compete the assembly of the bonnet lock and secure in
place." "Fit the plunger from the XJ6 to the latch plate and secure".
"Fit the latch plate and plunger to the bonnet lock and lock in in
place." "Close the bonnet guiding the latch plate in to place inside
the GRP sides." "Mark and drill, corresponding securing holes in
the latch plate and bonnet." Secure the latch plate ot the bonnet. -
You know it makes sense! I'm not a happy bunny. My latch plate and
bonnet have got more holes in them than Swiss cheese which I'm not prepared
to live with. Holes in the GRP I can fix with some filler and you will
never know they were there. I'll order a new latch plate from
Nostalgia on Monday.
I removed the alternator and drive belt. I
removed the power steering pump. The task now is how to reposition the
alternator approx 50mm forward, to line up with the crank shaft and cooling
fan pulleys. I have a couple of questions to ask Nostalgia. What drive
belt to use? Do I modify the existing bracket or make a new one?
I think it is possible ot modify the existing bracket.
The power steering pump removed , frees up a
lot of space on the RHS of the engine it will be an easy matter to route the
oil cooler pipes.
|
25/01/2006 5hrs
Bonnet Slam / Latch Plate |
The new latch plate arrived yesterday along
with the transmission tunnel and the gearbox cover, and a new alternator
belt. I'd spoken to Nostalgia on Monday and decided to send my alternator
bracket back to them for modification. I despatched it Monday afternoon -
1st Class post. It remains to be seen how quickly they can turn it around.
I marked the new latch plate to accept the
spring plunger. Since I knew the position on the old one was OK, I just
copied the measurements to the new one. I drilled the hole 9.5mm and fitted
he plunger. To mark the securing holes in the sides I place masking tape on
the inner face of the bonnet sides and on the corresponding outer
sides of the plate. I engaged the plunger in the bonnet
lock and lowered the bonnet making sure the latch plate was inside the
bonnet sides. I checked the plate was as central as possible, fore and
aft, over the cross member and parallel to the cross member across the car.
I used a wooden spacer block to achieve the latter because the plate is
balanced on the spring plunger an therefore free to pivot. Once the
plate was correctly in place I clamped it to the plate to the sides of the
bonnet. I marked the position of the lower securing holes by
inserting an M6 bolt dipped in engineers blue through the GRP to mark
the plate. I took the plate off marked the centres with a centre punch
and drilled 4 x 6mm holes. I refitted the plate using M6
bolts penny washers and nyloc nuts. I tested the bonnet catch it the
bonnet down. It released when the cable was pulled and the safety catch held
the bonnet. I removed the plate again to mark and drill the upper
mounting holes. These 6mm holes were drilled on centres 10mm from the
top and side edges. I remounted the plate and tested the bonnet lock
and release again, all satisfactory. I removed the plate once more to
remove the fibreglass and fill in the redundant holes in the sides of he
bonnet. Once filled and painted these won't be noticeable;
|
Total
Number of Hours this Month = 53 hrs |
|
Total Number of hours to date
= 1427.0hrs |
|
|
|
|
|
|