I wanted to get the engine sealed up asap so valve cover was an urgent job, my tig is setup for a stainless exhaust i'm doing at the moment so popped over to my mate Garys, plus he has a brand new Miller Dynasty First job was to cut off the offending portion, then we sliced up a new end cap and job was a good un Rushed back to fit it and it was pissing down yet again !!!
Pretty slick fab job Langy! Love that car of yours! Scott Posted using two Dixie cups and a medium length piece of string.
Beautiful build every detail is so brilliant if I were to look at the car at the end alot of the work would not be noticed at least by me.. Every time I see an update I want to learn and own a mill too. Cant wait for the end burnout down the cobblestone road and the next crazy build.
Thanks appreciate the comment, next is a Willys shop truck using our own body available at my Rodshop. It will be gasser style but not that high, got a 292 Y block for it with Fenton 3 x 2, thunderbird valve covers and a load of unusual bits
It stopped raining for a while today so I popped the valve cover on to check clearance, I now have a nice 3/4" of clearance instead of the 1/4" I had previously.. Before After
now wait a minute Steve, what about the coupe project? you mean Ive got to sit thru another AWESOME build of yours before the coupe!! lol
Got a real lot off the list of jobs to do today, had to dodge a few showers but its nice to get stuff done. First job was the fittings on the transmission cooler, it had push on type but it was bugging me that i really wanted bolt on type, solution was to turn up 2 fittings on the lathe with a 37 degree taper and bore out to fit the 3/8" copper pipe on the cooler, first off the ends were trimmed and the fittings pushed on, I reamed these to get a real tight fit, then they were soldered with plumbers solder. Here it is fitted with the lines Next job was to alter the pipework on the electric water pump, because I altered the blower belt configuration it now allowed me to run the pump a lot lower, the entry port is now straight off the bottom hose stub. I just extended the pipework down with a couple of mandrel bends and gave it a quick going over on the polisher. Next job was to fit the plug wires I had already bought, unfortunately I received 90 degree dizzy fittings instead of the straight type I asked for so these will get replaced at some point, they are also too short on the offside and pass over the top of the valve covers which I don't really like, the nearside are fine though. They will do for starting it up. Just those little jobs took all day !!! But at least the list is a lot smaller This is how it looks so far, headers will be coming off again for coating, Its getting busy in there
"FIRE IT UP!" "FIRE IT UP!" "FIRE IT UP!" and dont forget the video. with sound of course. lookin' good Steve. real good.
Steve, I had to go back to the beginning of this thread and remind myself of where you started. It's simply staggering to see what you have made of very humble beginnings - hats off mate....
Managed to find a few hours today as ran out of materials on a job I was doing so looked out the window and it had stopped raining so managed to get a few more jobs of the list, its actually very short now !!! I had ordered another blower belt due to the repositioning of the idler assembly so that was the first thing to fit, got it all in place and now the idler fouled the thermostat cover end of the top hose, unfortunately the length belt I wanted they don't make so had to have one slightly shorter. So out with the thin cutting disc and within minutes I had a selection of bits, the top hose was duly modified and extended where needed but the thermostat cover needed to exit at an angle, so more cutting and the bend was rewelded round a bit, all good now !!! I'm glad I altered the idler now as it gives excellent blower belt wrap. I really must get a nice cover for that rad cap !!! Before After Filled all the fluids up today and although I knew the modified oil pan was gonna be greedy I didn't realise it would devour 2 gallons of Valvoline VR1 !!! Need to get 2 more quarts tomorrow to get it to full on the stick !!! .
A few more jobs done today, the hose fitting and longer coil lead turned up so they got fitted, about the only awkward job left was to make an alternator mounting for the small Nippon Denso alternator I have, I'm quite surprised no one noticed it missing to be honest Its a 60 amp so should be fine but I have an 80amp which is a straight swop if needed. I've left it as one of the last jobs as I needed to sort the blower belt first, I had a few options but ended up mounting it low on the drivers side. It was quite awkward to do on the willys with all the other stuff in the way so used my 26T Cadillac motor as a jig, plus its nice and warm in the workshop The rear mount picks up on the original engine mount pad and the front mount picks up off the fuel pump blank off plate, nice and simple. I originally intended to lighten the incredibly heavy stock cast pulley, I started turning of the not needed excess but then thought I might as well make an aluminium one, still need to put the groove in for the belt. Next I needed an adjusting arm, this mounts on the frame. These pics are it all bolted in place, its tricky to photograph now the front end panels are back on. Also moved the Willys to its new home for the winter Thanks to Jason & Vince for helping me move it, doing 3 point turns with a spool equipped car is definitely not fun !!! .
Nice work Steve! Yours is only the 2nd alternator adjustment arm I've seen mounted off the frame. The first is on my Austin gasser, and when I did it I got all sorts of strange looks from people who looked into the wheelwell and saw it mounted on the frame. A few even commented that they didn't think it could stay properly tensioned with a frame mount, but it's worked out great, and solved the space problems of a V8 in an old A10 Austin.
This is such an awesome build all around! Your craftsmanship just blows me away Langy! One quick question.....any plans to relieve those anodized AN fittings of color? If so, you probably already know this, but plain old spray oven cleaner works really well. I see so many nice builds lately, but they tend to leave those ugly color anodized fittings alone, ruins most builds IMHO. You seem so focused on attention to detail though, I'm quite sure you've pondered this! Steven
Its not something that is high on my list at the moment as I just want to get it all reliable to use but over the winter I may if I get time get them black anodised or maybe nickel plated. I,m not keen on the red & blue either.
I haven't been here for a while. Enjoyed reading the last few pages. That Gold Flake paint is amazing, not to mention all your great fabrication. Great work Steve.
Thanks Oz, nearly there now, glad to hear of no problems with yours, all looks great and hopefully you can see light at the end of the tunnel.
Had a stroke of luck on sunday I thought I was gonna have to make a grooving tool for the alternator pulley but chatting with my mate Brian and he said he had a grooving tool for vee belts, so had a borrow of it today and put the groove in the aluminium pulley I made up earlier .
The Jalopy Journal
