Making full use of my Christmas pass, to spend uninterupted time in my cave........ good progress has been made on the Phaeton.
I have finished the roll bar by welding in a cross bar for the seat belt top fixings, out of the same diameter tube. Smoothing out the welds so it will appear seamless, welded on the bottom fillets and completed the welding around the shock top mounts, now I have them in the correct position. The whole assembly has now been removed and is ready to go off to be chrome plated.
All final welding has been done on the rear axle and link bars, even managed to get a coat of paint on it tonight...... mind you, I had to cut the top off the can of POR15 with a hack saw to get inside, then break through a skin, like concrete, that stuff does go off hard !!!
I have fitted a fillet of 6mm steel on top of the link arm brackets welded to the chassis, to strengthen the rear of the chassis where I cut out the triangulated bracing rod in order to fit the 5 link, once welded on both sides, it will be good and strong.
Another crack at it tomorrow, its amazing how much you get done when you don't have interuptions !!! don't go a lot on having to make me own tea though....
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Picked up my new dash/scuttle from Pete Brown yesterday..........as with everything 'Dutton' it needs a fair bit of fettling to make it fit as you want it to. But, am very pleased with it. It is considerably stronger than the old S2 dash, and has a little bit more caricature. The mould they have used to make the new dash is obveously not the original, and has been made from an old dash unit, so the new one comes complete with ready moulded in star cracks on the surface !!!
Finished the hand brake tonight, the aim was for simplicity, I have used a Morris Ital van cable, and making a simple slide that is attached to the panhard rod to support the outer cable and centre knuckle, it allows the inner cable to work virtually parallel to the axle and in perfect allignment to the linkage arms in the drums. Result.
Had a call from Pete Brown, to say that my new dash/scuttle is ready, so an early rise on Saturday morning is in order and a slap up the A10 to Kings Lynn to pay him a visit and collect....all very exciting.
A tad cold in the workshop this week, so havn't had the motivation to stay at work late, to continue work on the Phaeton. Still waiting for a call from Pete Brown to say that my new dash scuttle is ready.
Managed a few hours today and finished the steering column, I have used a column from a Mini Mayfair, which is the perfect length, I turned up a steel bush that has been welded into an upright on the bulkhead. The end of the shaft has a 9/16 x 36 spline female pinch bolt. The existing shaft through the engine bay had a fitment for a Triumph steering column, different to the Mini, by cutting around the weld at the top, I could slide the old shaft out of the extention tube, and slide in and weld a new shaft purchased from Car Builder Solutions for £23.00.
We now have steering !!
Had domestic stuff to do today (roller blinds etc) but got some done on the car one of the axle brackets has been removed and remade smaller, also i am looking into making new rear shocker mounts top and bottom since they just do not line up with anything.
And the front end is ticking me off the triumph set up is badly aligned (castor and camber is out) i am beginning to wish i had rose jointed my axle like yours.....it would make getting it all straight much easier.
Been doing my favorite thing today..... Metalwork, I have been forming 25mm box section to the contours of the dash scuttle, as I have decided to make the scuttle easily removable. So the screen, scuttle and wiper motor lift off in one unit, with a multi plug for the wiper electrics. Leaving the dashboard and clocks in situ. This will make it easy to wire the electrics neatly and give me access to the pedal box and heater etc. Why ? Because in my business, I am constantly moaning about the fact that designers don't think about the engineers (me) that have to repair the things when they bl**dy well go wrong !!!!! and it gets the old creative juices flowing. will post some pics soon.
Top mounts made from rectangular box section, I have a length of it, can cut some off and send, if you want to make some.
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