Ol' Rusty - FB/EK Sedan

[funkyscooter]

Been a minute. Tinkering away but not much going on. Just making stuff shiny with a new bench top polisher that I got to complemnt/replace the angle polisher set up I made which was pretty loud when running.
Bought some stainless coach bolts to replace the chrome ones in the bumpers. Getting imperial in stainless is next to impossible from where I have searched on the internet, so metric it is. M8 and M10 for the rears.
First polish - straight out of the packet at the bottom and polished holding the bolt precariously by hand

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Second Attempt. Got smart and put the bolt in a drill. Results and pretty good, initial polish on the left, drill on the right. Take a couple of minutes per bolt.

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[Errol62]

You’re a clever bugger Scott!


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[funkyscooter]

You’re a clever bugger Scott!

Not when it comes to storing pool fencing

[Errol62]

Nothing broken? Clever. Otherwise, unlucky…….


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[Blacky]

Nothing broken?

[funkyscooter]

Nothing broken? Clever. Otherwise, unlucky…….

Too true!

Discovered the hard way that a tiny slope, gravity and roughly 400kg of glass strapped down with the help of 3D printed brackets is not the ideal way to store it.

Lasted 8 week in wind and rain then decided to fall over on a calm afternoon. Maybe my regular shaking to make sure everything was still tight was not the smartest idea.

On the plus side - the cost of glass has dropped (pun intended) over the last 14 years so it is relatively cheap to replace.

Just need to get this deck done then back onto the car.... been a slow winter.

[funkyscooter]

So back in May the plan was to reco my EH steering box using a rares kit.
Ordered an adjustable hand reamer (23 - 27.5mm) and asked my old man to source a large tap to assist the bushing removal. (4 month later and I’m still waiting on that tap.)
Rares kit arrives and after comparing it to what I pulled from the HR box I am now thinking I don’t need the kit. The bearings and races are in really good condition, and the bushes in the EH box are not sloppy with the HR sector shaft roughly fitted.
Only one way to find out and that will be to rebuild the EH box with the HR internals and see how it feels on the car for play. Won’t be able to test it in anything other than the vice for now but curious to know.

The ends of the splines on the shaft have been mashed a bit and are preventing the my pitman arm from fitting very well.

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So out with the file for a quick chamfer.

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Used a flat bladed screwdriver to tap out the HR bearing cup. These two recesses in the steering box are your friend when removing.

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Everything into an ultrasonic kero bath. Monitored temperature so as not to let it get too hot (google says flash point of kero is between 37-65C). I stop when it gets to 35 C. Clearly not a risk taker!

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Initial fitting of the bearing cup into EH box.

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In my ‘lathe’ I turned a washer down to the OD of the bearing cup.

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Final fitment with bolt/washer/socket combo pulling the bearing cup into place.

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Result

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Then it was just a matter of greasing everything and fitting. No photos as this was all dirty work.
Putting all the balls back in the nut was not as hard as I thought it was going to be.
Left the bearing cup in the HR adjusting nut and swapped it for my EH one.
There was minimal slop between the HR sector shaft and EH bushes, and the shaft moved freely so for now I’m going to leave it at that. Got the overhaul kit for future Scott if he needs it.

[funkyscooter]

Next is a seal for the top of the box to the steering shaft. At the moment the seal is for the selector shaft.

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I cut one down and my first thought was to fit o-rings between the steering and selector shaft segment to seal the gap and have the selector shaft turn with the steering wheel. But that feels a little hokey and I don't think the o-ring is up to the task. So I have been looking for a seal to fit the dimensions of steering box ID 33.4/ steering shaft OD 17.4mm/ seal width 6.35mm. Closest so far is 33/18/7 which is too loose in the housing, but fits nicely on the shaft.
What have others done to their modified steering box to seal them up?

[funkyscooter]

Apart from over complicating everything I do, the second biggest obstacle I face with this build is procrastination. Think I started looking at replacing the fuel tank with a Mustang one over 2 years ago. I have even had the tabs open in my web browser for all that time. Well, I bit the bullet as they ain't getting any cheaper.
For no reason other than buyers remorse - for the extra $210 - I now have a stainless tank, stainless 5/16 sender, locking ring and seal, mounting kit and filler hose. Just need clamps for the hoses, and sort out the neck off the old tank.
Someone isn't as excited as I am with the purchase (mainly because I wouldn't let him have the box it came in).

[funkyscooter]

Mustang tank install time.

Started off with a measuring tape and some CAD. Inlet pipe is slightly offset from centre by 20mm to the right, so tank has to be offset to the left.

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Plan was to build a frame out of 90 degree bent sheetmetal. As I don’t have a brake I got creative with a bit of scrap 25 x 25 x 1.6mm SHS to build a frame. Figured I could split the tube I had with a cutting disk in the angle grinder using the guard as a guide, and the result would be nice and thick and straight.
Not quite - 3 cutting disks later I had these 2 bananas.

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Bent over my knee to straighten, then cut out a notch and bent to create a 90 degree corner, repeat and clamp the two lengths to the tank and mark, ready for final cut and weld.

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Flip the car onto its belly, marked and notched out the bits where the lip of the old tank and and the bead roll were preventing the frame from lying flush.

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Side tracked as I decided to take the end of the bead and move it to the back behind the tank.

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Frame tacked in prior to cutting out the old metal.

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[funkyscooter]

Quick test fit.
Kept the filler neck off the old tank thinking I could re use it. Not quite! Ideas anyone? I thought of pie cutting the neck but if there is a simpler solution let me know.

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Cut out the metal from the floor and re used it to patch the gaps left by the spare wheel and old tank.

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A day of welding and grinding later, frame is installed. There is a bit of a bend in it but overall the floor is much stronger than before.

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Another test fit.

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Does my arse look big in this?

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Is it too low?

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[Blacky]

Very tidy work as usual mate , looks like a bought one. Can you use rubber fuel hose to make the filler line up rather than try to fettle the original filler pipe ?

[Harv]

Quick test fit.

Is it too low?

Need the diff and wheels on, and three fat mates in the back to check. Piece of string under a rear tyre, then lift it upwards from the back of the car. If the string hits the tank before the body, then too low. Can always pack it upwards, especially if the filler neck has a length of hose joining it.

Cheers,
Harv

[funkyscooter]

Thanks Blacky. I have a short straight hose, ID 57mm, to connect between the tank and the filler pipe. Think I’ll have to ditch that for a 45 degree one and adjust from there. Yeah mucking around with the original pipe is probably a bit of overkill as its a long way off at the moment

Thanks Harv - thought I’d read that but couldn’t find it. What I might try for now is to put the diff under and sit it on the bump stops with wheels on. Not sure if I will be sticking with the 13” dragways but it will give me an idea at least.

[funkyscooter]

Wiper set up fun and games.

So inspired by the intermittent wiper set up on Blacky’s FB Ute https://www.fbekholden.com/forum/viewto ... 76#p273876, I purchased a couple of MaxTronic intermittent wiper controllers.

Things have progressed a bit since I posted in Re: Neil's FB Station Wagon
https://www.fbekholden.com/forum/viewto ... 32#p274032, and I figured I should finish up what I started.

So I got 2 of these

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Did a couple mods to one of them. The circle is around a capacitor which I swapped from 100uF to 47uF to halve the intermittent time. Also removed the onboard Pot/Switch and replaced it with a 500K linear Push/Push pot so I can mount it remotely. The push switch also allows you to turn it on/off without losing the intermittent delay which you do with the on board. Didn’t need to wire the blue wire as it is tied to the yellow one on the board but only realised that after it was all soldered up

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Grand plan was to enable/disable the Maxtronic when you switch on the wipers. But there is much witchcraft in the wiper setup, and running all my testing without a fuse like an idiot, there was a bit blue smoke along the way. Only managed to melt the traces running from the relay to the outputs so tied them up and everything is still working.

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Much time later, I have ended up with this mess.

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What I have achieved? Not the original goal - I have wasted too much time on this already. So press the remote push button to turn intermittent function on/off, as before. But now, press and hold the washer button to squirt water AND wipe the wipers, and the wipers continue for approx 3 seconds after the wash button is released. If you tap the washer button, it will wipe for 3 seconds without any water being squirted.
Here is the little delay circuit.

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And found this on the bench - a 3D print I did a couple years ago to replace the wiper switch that I then found. It’s a good size for the MaxTronic.

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Most importantly, if there is a failure in the Maxtronic or the wiper delay, then the wipers will still work as originally intended. You would have to melt the relay in the on position to lose the ability for the wipers to park.