Monday 20 May 2019

Upholstery, Gauges, Roofliner, Brakes, Handbrake - a total grab-bag!

Ok - first up, I have a few requests for info on my rear "lap sash" seat belts. That's great but I can't seem to reply to any of these as the addresses come up "unknown".
Bottom line.... no one makes them so I fabricated them myself. Try sending to 520bbfmustang@gmail.com and hopefully your address comes thru for a reply... I haven't tested that address yet, but my profile says I have it..... I will supply another address if that ends up a dud.
The blog entries pretty much sum up the seat belt anchor point "build" though, but I may have some more photos to share if you email again.

Secondly, the current status as of May 2019 is that I am at the very last stumbling block to get this car registered. And you wont believe what it is.... my wipers weren't wiping faster than the 42 wipes per minute that is the rule. Wtf! I did not know that rule existed, but that is all fixed now and I just need time to get the car back to the engineer/tester.

Apart from that, the following text has been sitting around for nearly a year, not being published only as I can't find the time to load up photos (plus I forgot my login for 6 months - oops). So here is that text - i'd forgotten some of these frustrations....

To get the car registered I need to complete the interior (console and dash) to be able to install the windscreen. So it is a bit like playing tetris - I need the wiring loom secured before I mount the gauges/switches, then I dummy them in their panels before pulling them all out again to trim them in leather, and I have to do all this before trimming the dash, and the dash has to go in before the front windscreen can finally go in because I can't get to the front set of dash securing screws with the windscreen installed - and on it goes.......
But thankfully I have been able to start the car and drive short distances. Problem areas that these excursions have uncovered so far (that I have subsequently fixed) have been:
  • Fuel pump overheating (that I suspect was due to an insufficient Earth connection) into a dead short. Thank god I ran two pumps otherwise I was stranded.
  • Not installing fuses on every possible device that has a direct 12v power supply (eg - from the relay to the above EFI pumps!)
  • Dry Sump return lines "internally delaminating" such that the inner liner collapsed (blocking flow) yet from the outside the pipes looks fine. 
  • Coolant leaks (just an annoying weep) from my custom front-dress on the engine (eg, from between the alloy timing cover (that runs the belt drive) to the custom coolant inlet pipe flanges.
  • Leaky "engine block to sump" gasket caused from the heavily modified original wet-sump (resulting in a slightly warped sump flange) to block mating surface - despite locking the sump down during welding.
  • Leaky (brand new) AN fittings due to less than optimal manufacture. Very annoying this one.
  • An Autometer fuel pressure gauge having issues such that when you try to put the gauge light on (yes, by simply supplying 12v on the white wire along with the rest of the gauges) it stops working and therefore falsely triggers my custom built failsafe engine shut off feature (eg, to avoid a damaging "lean out" from a drop in fuel pressure). This was really painful until it finally failed outright.
  • And these are just the items I can immediately remember while writing this.
What I have now been able to do is get the car to the Engineer for its first inspection and this has uncovered a few more items that need fixing.
First issue is that I need more clearance between any steering components and extractors. I thought it was 10mm, so gave 12mm, but the rule is 15mm "static" (engine off) and 10mm "dynamic" (engine on and any torque twisting). The extra 3mm meant I had to adjust all pipes on one side - a very painful and tedious fix. Lesson? I have now given 20mm clearance just to be sure, but should have done this from the start....
I was never happy with the brakes and this was "found out". Basically the car would pull up, but I could not "lock up" the wheels. It was kinda like having ABS - but none was fitted! So just not good enough.
The fix was to talk to some specialist braking shops, and in the end I slightly changed the pedal travel to master cylinder pushrod ratio, but I think the biggest change came from swapping out the default 6" brake booster for an 8" diameter dual vacuum unit. Remember, this is an under-dash unit so space is very limited!
It may sound trite, but compared to before this change I nearly went thru the windscreen when I hit the brakes on the first test. It locks up now!

Now I know that all the above is a real grab-bag of issues that anyone building a car from scratch may encounter... I will make sure to include mostly photos in the next update. As I reckon text is just plain boring. As a tease, the car now has a full 4-Link rear suspension setup to show you amongst other little upgrades.

Sorry for the delay in updates for those following this build. It is indeed still underway! And so close to done it is driving me nuts.