Neil's FB Station Wagon

[FireKraka]

Fitted up the bonnet hinges while I was getting the workshop ready to move, two reasons, 1 hold the bonnet on, 2 I wouldn’t lose the bloody bolts and fittings

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I tell you, you wouldn’t want your bonnet catch to let go the gas struts are fairly strong

[Errol62]

They look neat and you won’t have any trouble running a bonnet budgie. Weight saving as well no doubt, both car and wallet.


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[FireKraka]

Work on the Reverend has had to go on hold for the moment we have sold our property and bought a place back in suburbia
have a friend with a factory unit so I’m going to share with him until I finish the wagon.
Have been moving for the last 5 days and the worse part is trying to move my workshop

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The Reverend on the tilt tray heading to new workshop.

Want to wish everyone a safe and Merry Xmas and Happy New Year

[Errol62]

Love the bigs and littles gasser stance Neil.
Good luck with the move and Merry Christmas to Robyn and you.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[FireKraka]

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Well the Reverend has been in his new home since just before Xmas, I went to visit yesterday to remember if I still had as much junk as I thought I did and yes the parts fairies didn't come and sort it out for me, this is what you get for 20 years of gathering bits I suppose and this is after I had made considerable donations to EK Mart

[FireKraka]

Well things have finally settled down a bit since the move so have had a bit of time to get back onto the wagon.
I don't have a hoist or anywhere to put on know so decided to buy a Quickjack hydraulic stands.
Gets really good height and much more clear when sliding underneath than being on car stands.

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After I filled them with oil and bled them they worked really well.

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Went to the workshop on the weekend sand got the engine into the engine bay so I can set the angle and work on getting the engine mounts welded in also come up with a gearbox mount.

[EK283]

Nice new and clean floor Neil,

How long will that last ???? Ha Ha ha !

Any progress is good progress.

Greg

[Errol62]

Great stuff mate. The lower you want the back end then the higher the rear mount needs to be, or you end up with too much angle between driveline and tail shaft. Less than 3 degrees preferred. Most likely you know this after doing a few cars now.


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[FireKraka]

Thanks guys.
Don't know how long the floor will last like that but because I'm sharing with some other guys that run a business out of there I will probably have to keep it pretty clean

Clay the thing that I have with the rear is that the pinion angle of the diff does not change (lift when accelerating) because of the way it is bolted into the cradle (replacing the leaf springs) and being independent it doesn't go up and down like a solid axle on leaf springs so I have to get the engine mounts lower then probably cut them to the angle and make sure that the output of the gearbox is as close to in line with the pinion of the diff as I can get it.

The engine mounts I'm talking about cutting are the ones I made that are replicas of the HR crossmember mounts, so I can shave them down to get it where I want it before welding them to the crossmember, this has been holding me up for a while now.

[Errol62]

That’s good, so you can keep the two axis parallel. That doesn’t negate the issue of the driveline to tailshaft angle though. This shouldn’t be more than three degrees, so I’m told. By the same token, there needs to be some angle, or the needle rollers don’t precess and therefore wear unevenly.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie

[EK283]

Awesome Neil,

Surely the rear end has some degree of driveline angle built in, as Clay has suggested 3 degrees maximum.

If you get the gearbox shaft at the same angle that should eliminate drivetrain vibration, i would hate to do all that work then end up with the dreaded teeth chattering !

Actually because your diff center dosent move that is really optimal if you get it right.

Look foward to the progress.

For those who are scratching their head, this picture explains it.

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Greg

[FireKraka]

Hi Greg;
Yes the diff does have some angle set in to it, it is a little hard to get a good reading on the angle but now that I have it up in the air and really accessible I can get under and get a good reading.

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So the photo above is the VE rear coupling or whatever you call it, as opposed to a universal joint, I have made a plate (needs to be cut down some more) to bolt to the coupling once I bolt it to the diff, this will allow me to put my magnetic angle box thingy (same one Blacky showed in the post on the 4 speed) the plate will also allow me to put my cheap (TEMU) laser alignment tool and point it forward towards the gearbox while I align the engine to the diff.
Does this make sense

[Errol62]

Yes it does I’m sure you’re on to it Neil. Not hard for me to turn a mole hill into a mountain mate.

Greg’s first example I was advised to avoid as it doesn’t allow the roller bearings in the uni joints to precess and share the wear. The issue I am tslking about is the opposite extreme of this, the extreme version of example two, where the angles between tailshaft and the two parallel axis is more than three degrees.


FB ute fixer upper, EK van on rotisserie