02/11/2005

Windscreen

Today turned out to be a day of preparation for fitting the windscreen.  I had read the manual and it looked pretty straight forward. To be on the safe side I called ~Nostalgia with a couple of questions. "What size and length of bolts to fit the pillars to the bulkhead"? The answer was not what I expected.  7/16 UNF x 2.5" much smaller than the holes (16mm) in the outer pillar. " What is ,typically, the size of packing pieces required"? "We never pack the top holes but 3 - 4  7/16" washer in the bottom hole (approx 10mm)." The conversation  continued.  "Fitting the bolts and nuts can be difficult, some people have used keep plates"  "Fit a packing piece between the scuttle and centre support". "Make sure it is a nice snug fit so that the scuttle is not pulled down when the centre pillar is tightened"  "Fit a spreader plate under the bulkhead centre support for the centre pillar". "lastly it may be necessary to apply a tourniquet (Ratchet strap ) to the windscreen to make sure it is a close fit in to the frame, on not account twist or lever the frame or the windscreen may crack"   Armed with this new information  I found some 2" and 2¾" x 7/16 UNF bots and set screws which should to the job. I made a couple of keep pates out of  30mm x 6mm flat bar.  the plates about 5" long with one corner removes to allow fro the shape of the scuttle.  The plates were drilled and tapped to size to match the holes the bulkhead.  The conversation also yielded the fact that I needed rubbers to fit under the outer and central pillar.  This prompted an examination of all the windscreen components, which revealed that not only did I not have the rubbers but I was also missing the stainless screws to fit the central pillar capping plate.   I sent an e-mail to Nostalgia to get he missing parts. I can do no more until I have the missing parts.
 

03/11/2005

Heater Motor (Additional)

I had a vague memory of a conversation about heater motors, and the need to fit one from the donor vehicle.  It isn't mentioned in the build manual so I mentioned it in my e-mail to Nostalgia yesterday. " Yes you do need ot fit one to the LHS inner wing closing panel and connect to the inlet pipe of the heat exchanger".  This made sense of something that had been niggling me. I had made the windscreen wiper bridge plate and fitted the inlet heater pipe underneath it,. I had seen the hole in the inner wing panel but had not worked out how the pipe and hate panel were to be connected.  The heater motor from the XJ6 was the bridge.   Luckily I had kept both the heater motors from theXJ6.  I retrieved then from the heap of XJ6 part s up in the green shed.   The first thing to be done is to remove the flap and vacuum control. this is only held on with 3 screw leaving you with the motor and cowling. I tested the motors by connecting across a battery - both work fine.  however they are in a pretty sad stat so I will take them apart and refurbish them.   I took some time to work out the fact the the two motors are wired differently  for RH and LH  sides of he XJ6. I can't see it but there must be some difference in the fan rotor.  The fans are centrifugal inlet  so the airflow is the same whichever way  the motor and fan turns. However it will be more efficient  when rotating in the correct direction but not so as you would notice.  I will take a look at the installation tomorrow to decide which motor to refurbish and use.
 

04/11/2005

Heater Motor (Additional)

The motors are identical and definitely wired so that each motor is the reverse of the other. I can see no discernable difference in the fans which are of the squirrel cage type.   I spoke to Nostalgia and there is no preference on which fan to use. The choice is basically determined by the condition of the unit  The cases are handed  left and right as removed from the XJ6. I chose the RH unit because this , when mounted on the LHS of he Classic 120 means the outlet is outboard and tucked up neatly under the wing.     The air outlet is a rectangular horn projecting from the side of the casing like down stroke of the letter "P"   The air inlet is  centre of the unit  with the motor mounted  and exposed directly in the airflow.  exposing the motor to the in rush of air may all be very well in the  interior of the XJ6 where it was protected by  the inlet flaps, valves and casing.  In the classic 120 it is fully exposed in the engine bay.   I will have to do something about this.
 

05/11/2005

Heater Motor (Additional)

Well I've thought about it and decided I need to make a cover for the motor that will protect it and not impeded the airflow.  I found out that the plastic top of a Hammerite aerosol paint can was just the right size to fit over the motor.  I was concerned about the effect  the heat generated by prolonged running of the motor would have on the cover.  I conducted a little experiment by boiling a cap in water for about 5 minutes. the can got a bit soft and pliable but did not deform or melt.  The motor sits in a three legged bracket  clamped around the body and bolted to the fan casing.  I made a prototype with cut outs for the three legs and the clamp. It is a snug fit, pushed down over the motor and the mounting clamp.  I could see that I would need to alter the terminations on the wiring to accommodate the wiring in inside the new cover.   You could achieve this by soldering the leads directly on to the terminations attached to the motor brushes.  I chose to fit new terminations where the wires attached at right angles to the connector (like flags to a flag pole). this gave me plenty of room inside the cover to route  the wires out through a hole in the back of the cover to accept a ¼" grommet.   I placed the cover  over the wires and on to the motor.  connected the wiring up to a battery and ran the motor.  Over the short period of the test the motor did not even get warm, the airflow was unimpeded  I stripped the whole thing apart and made a production version of the cover I still have to solve how o fix it in place but sealer or duck tape look the likely options   I stripped the unit completely and cleaned up the mounting with a wire brush and sandpaper to remove any loose rust.  I treated then with  "Kurust"  and left them overnight  to dry.  The casing was similarly cleaned but, because of it's shape and condition, it was  placed in bath of Kurust overnight
 

06/11/2005

Bonnet Catch

First thing this morning I opened up the hole in the RH  side of the scuttle for the windscreen pillar.  I had done the LH one the other day and this job was remaining whilst I wait for the missing parts to arrive. At least I'll be ready to start when they do.

Lastly, back to the heater motor. I gave the mounting brackets a first coat of Hammerite black paint and the case a coat of etching primer
 

07/11/2005

Bonnet Catch

I took advantage of a break in the torrential rain of he past few days to open the garage door and do some work on the  front of the car.  I tightened the nuts holding the tie rod in place and did some preliminary investigating how the bonnet slam plate and bonnet catch fit.   I took one of the bonnet catches from the XJ6 and modified it as per the instructions in the build manual. I dismantled it from the catch bracket and degreased each part with "Gunk".  I cut the catch bracket to and bottom leaving a flat plate that the bonnet spring plunger to fit in  and bolts to the front cross member.  I modified the catch itself by  drilling out the rivet that holds cable clamp bracket in place. I cut off the extension that  attaches to the spring.  I must decide how to refit the cable clamp to the underside of the latch.  I  continued with painting of the heater motor case and brackets.
 

10/11/2005

5hrs

Bonnet Safety Catch

I phoned Nostalgia on Tuesday to confirm the arrangements for the bonnet safety catch.  Simon said that they use the safety catch and torsion spring from the XJ6 mounted on a suitable "U" bracket which in turn bolts to the slotted hole in the front cross member.  also it is necessary to make a stop pate, to prevent the latch from coming too far forward against the cross member and not automatically engaging wit the bonnet slam plate. 

I attempted to make a "U" bracket yesterday but had some difficulty in bending such a small bracket in the vice and getting it square.   Today I continued and eventually got it square and straight only to find it was too wide to use the pivot pin for the safety catch. so back to the drawing board.  The problem, I found out, was not making sufficient allowance for the thickness of the metal when bending it.  I designed a new one. The pin was 29mm long and the metal 2mm thick. Using drawn steel strip 25mm x 2mm  The new "U" bracket was  25mm each side and 25mm (inside measurement) across the base.  I drilled the  sides and base,  centrally, using a pillar drill.  I places a 25mm washer on the open end of the sides and drew round it. I cut of  the corners and ground the end down to the line to curve the open end.  I spent a considerable time working out how to fit the torsion spring so that it was forcing he hook of he safety catch to engage in the slam panel.  I solved the puzzle. The spring is fitted with the long arm pushing against the base of the "U" bracket and the short arm  protruding from the base of the spine of safety catch at right angles.  I made a distance piece out of a piece of aluminium tube that would  fit over the pivot pin and inside the torsion spring , just long enough and inside the sides of the safety catch. I packed washers ,each side, between the "U" bracket and the safety catch to hold it central.  The whole assembly worked very smoothly by hand the proof will be when it is mounted on the car.   I continued painting the heater fan casing.
 

11/11/2005

Bonnet Safety Catch

I made the extension to the bonnet safety catch today, without this it would be impossible to release the catch once the grill is in place.  The standard catch needs to be extended downwards  to that it can be operated from below the front cross member.  I  did some measurements of how far up the spine of  safety catch the extension should be fitted and how far below the cross member it need to hang. I came up with an overall  length of 140 mm. This s probably quite generous but it can always be shortened later if necessary.  I used a piece of flat drawn steel  140mm x 25mm a 2mm  I trimmed 5mm from each side for a distance of 40mm to form a tongue that will be attached to the back of the  safety catch.  The remainder (100mm) was trimmed each side,  on the bench grinder, to fit between the sides of the "U" bracket (about 2mm in my case ),   The main criteria's is that it is a slip fit inside the bracket to ensure that it operates smoothly  over the entire range of movement of the safety catch.   The extension can be welded or pop riveted to the back of the safety catch.  Assembly of he catch with huge extension in place is a bit more tricky because the extension gets in the way making it more difficult to locate the torsion spring. The torsion spring is now trapped between the extension piece and the "U" bracket  but it has he added advantage of applying extra pressure (more torsion)  to the spring making it more positive when engaged on the bonnet slam plate.
 

Bonnet Safety Catch

I seem to be going backwards over the past couple of days.  I cleaned up the bonnet catch mechanism and made the return spring bracket yesterday.  While I was at it I worked out the best root for the release cable, generally,  up the inside of the RH wing and in to the bulkhead area.  I'll work out the detail when I do the job.   I found a problem with the paint finish of the heater fan cowling.  I'm not sure what caused it but the paint is crazed in several areas.  nothing for it but to strip it back and start  again.  I  tried fitting the new bonnet safety catch an extension only to find the mounting bracket was too large to fit the gap between the front cross member and the body.  It can't be modified so I must make a new smaller one. I decided that to reduce the space required for he catch  and ensure that I had adequate adjustment vertically I needed, not only to make the mounting bracket smaller but mount the extension lever inside the safety catch. I roughed out the design and must get some 10mm and 20 mm steel strip tomorrow. 
 

17/11/2005

Bonnet Safety Catch

I got some 16mm & 20mm x 1mm flat  steel strip from B&Q today.  I set about making a new bracket . I was trying to use the pivot pin and the the spacers from the XJ6 as the fulcrum for the safety catch. I measured the distance between the spacers either side of the catch as 26mm. The side arms of the new bracket I set at 20mm.  The problem I ran in to was the thickness of the bracket. If I got the catch and spacers to fit inside the bracket the pivot pin was too short. Eventually I settled on making the bracket 28mm wide with 20mm side arms. This meant pivot pin was the exact length required but the spacers were too thick.   I ran the spacers up and down a flat file to reduce the thickness from 3.9mm to 3.7 mm. They were now a snug fit either side of the catch, between it and the inside of he bracket. I assembled the catch bracket and torsion spring to check that the movement was free and smooth with no sideways play.   I started on the extension piece. My trial fits of the catch and bracket had determined that the extension was best fitted inside the safety catch and also it would be necessary to bend a dog leg into it to avoid interference with the inside of the front bodywork.   I used a 125mm x 20kmm x 1mm piece of flat steel.  I cut a strip out of each side to form a 50mm x 12mm tongue that would fit inside the safety catch. It was necessary to do some shaping work at the end to match the narrowing of the safety catch.  At 38mm (1½") from the end I made a bend inwards towards the centre of the catch. At the point where the extension emerged from the catch (approx 12mm  or ½" from the fist bend) I put in a reverse bend  until the remainder of the extension was parallel with the tongue. I riveted the tongue inside the catch and rounded off the bottom of the extension to eliminate the sharp corners.  I assembled the catch and bracket without the torsion spring , trial fitted to the front cross member to check that I had sufficient clearance from the body work, sufficient operating movement to release the catch and sufficient vertical adjustment. All seems well. 

20/11/2005

Bonnet Safety Catch

I've worked steadily over he past two days with not too much to show for it.  I've been painting the bonnet safety catch components  and a small amount of investigation in to the fitting of bonnet slam plate and spring retainer. I discovered a problem with the painting of the heater cowling. The paint is crazed in places. I'm not sure why, but the only option was to strip the paint off and repaint it.  Whilst waiting for the paint stripper to work or paint  to dry, I've started work on e door locks. I rummaged around to find the old door locks from the XJ6, identified  whether they were front or back left or right and cleaned them up with "gunk"  to degrease them. they were in pretty good condition. you can easily tell which was the drivers door lock ,for example, by the amount of corrosion and wear on the lock.  Door locks are always a mystery. a collection of rods and levers hidden away within the door.  They  either work or they don't. I took some time to work out how they worked and which levers operated the lock to open it and  which  were  the actual locking levers.   Once I understood how they worked and how they fitted in relation to the door . I marked the slot, to be cut out in the door  (fig 3-25 in the build manual). I realised during this process that I was unhappy with the dimensions given and the position of the lock once the slot was cut.   I stopped at this point and will talk to Nostalgia in the morning.
 

21/11/2005

Door Locks

I called Nostalgia this afternoon. As usual the conversation was quite illuminating.  The door locks, when fitted to the XJ6,  have the catch mechanism fitted outside on the rear face of the door and the operating levers and mechanism fitted inside the door.  After talking to Nostalgia I found out that the complete assembly i.e. the  catch mechanism and operating levers etc. fit inside the door. . The slot in figure 3-25 of the build manual cut in the inside rear face of the door aligns with the slot in the catch mechanism and determines the position of the lock.   The hasp needs to be modified to project further out (40mm) to engage with the new position of the lock.  The hasp, and backing plate are held in place by some plastic fasteners. Releasing these and the assembly comes apart.  At first glance the modification doesn't look easy but I suspect the some round steel bar and a welding torch should fix the problem.  Nostalgia offered to send me some already modified so I took the easy way out and will part exchange my hasps for modified ones.
 

23/11/2005

4hrs

Door Locks

I dismantled one of the hasps, just to find out how it was put together , in preparation for the arrival of the new hasps.  I decided that I needed to re-measure and re-mark the slot for the lock in the passenger door .  The lock is not square and looks like it should be mounted with the inner edge parallel to the inner edge of the door.  since it will also fit inside the door it will also follow the line of  the back of he door.  both of these affect the angle of the slot. The slot in the inner face of the door will be at right angles to the back inner edge of the door. the slot in the inner back edge of the door will follow the angle of the slot in the lock. I  used a tape to measure the height of the centre of the slot from the bottom of inner edge of the door. Measured 5mm either side of this for the width of the slot. Using the lock catch assembly  I set a bevel gauge to the angle of the slot and transferred this to the door.  Where the slot reached the inner edge of the door I used a tri square to  mark  the extension of the slot along The inner face of the door.   I drilled each end with a pilot drill followed by a 10mm drill. I cut out the slot with a combination of a cutting wheel fitted to the Dremel and a pad saw.   I opened out the slot to the same width as the lock using a sanding drum fitted to the Dremel.   The lock fits inside the door with back of the slot in the lock aligned with the  slot in the door.  The easiest way to do this is to make a template of the face of the lock and position this accurately  on the back edge  of the door.  Mark the position of the securing holes  in the lock and drill  through using a pilot drill. Remove the template and drill out the holes  to 7mm (clearance for ¼ UNF bolts).  The bolts I have are too long by about ¼".  I will have ot get some shorter ones or cut the thread slightly longer.
 

Total hours to date =1355.0hrs.