Sunny Sunday, Time to remove the rack and pinion steering

So after going to the beach it was time to get some work done on the RattyT. Todays plan was to remove the old steering and look at the seating.

First task was to roll / push her out of the garage so I had some more room to work on it since I was having to crawl underneath to get at all the bolts.

I am liking the look with the new manifold, card and air filter.

Right, fist step was to unbolt the upright steering column, This was a tricky job as I was alone and needed to be in two places at once. This was due to the bolts turning when I tried to undo them.

Once the bolts were undone the outer guide was removed. Next was the actual column and that was a single bolt at the bottom of the shaft. Once a gain a real pain to get at and undo.

Next was to undo blots holding the rack itself. Once again a real pain of a job under the car in tricky places. Took twice as long as it should but I finally got them all undone.

I had to undo the drag arm. What I did find was that the old drag arm was long enough to be cut and reused for the next custom made one Ill need for the new steering setup. So that will be a little saving.

I then spent some time trying different seat heights using block of wood to try and figure out how high I wanted it. I came to no real decision on it. As the comfort become worse as I lower it.
So more experimentation required.

Inlet manifold revisted

Ok so after my first go at putting the new manifold on, and getting advice and doing some more reading I decided to redo it and do it more correctly. So everything had to come off. The tricky bit was getting the manifold off. Since i over gooed it it was well and truly stuck in place. But after a number of minutes with a sharp knife and a rubber hammer I got the manifold to come off.

So here is the newly install and removed manifold.

It was the perfect chance to see if the silicon only end gasket worked, They appeared to have given a good seal. So I will do the same this time around, and not use the cork end gaskets.

The manifold was a real pain to clean up, but after a couple of hours careful work it was all cleaned up ready to reinstall.

As for the gaskets on the heads, they came of easily and took little time to clean up compared to the last time I had to do this.

So once again in with the plastic shopping bags and and a good chisel to remove the new / old gasket.

So all clean ready for the next attempt. So this time around I used minimal gasket goo on the heads to hold the gasket in place, a little more around the water inlet ports. Also a good bead on the ends of the block as I'm not using the cork gaskets.

Placed the gaskets on and pressed them down and used the dowel to hold them in place. I then added some gasket goo around the water inlets only this time.

Next before I placed the manifold on I added a bead of gasket goo on the ends to help get a good seal where the cork gaskets had been replaced.

It all went smoothly and it took alot less time then first time I did it.

All back together again. So a great learning experience. But the next big test will be once I get it running and there are not leaks or complications.

Throttle and return springs finally done

Well after much hmm and harring and mucking about I have finally got the throttle cable and return springs sorted. the reason for the hassle was that on the new Holley card for whatever reason the armature that the cable attaches to didnt have a location to month the return springs. All other Holley carbs i have looked at do have this, but not the new 465cfm one I got.

So besides needing to get extra parts and two days of running around getting lots of little bits and pieces I finally got it all sorted.

First pile of new stuff to go on the rattyT, large 14inch Edelbrock air filter, with the same design as the valve covers, a fire wall mounted throttle pedal and a universal throttle cable mount.

Next was a universal throttle cable, 24inchs long. I also got a few other parts that were missing. Once was the double threaded bolt that screws into the carb and the screw to hole the are filter on, and a little angle bracket that I used to mount the throttle return springs (shown below)

So the little angle bracket was placed at the front of the manifold, there was a 3/8s bolt hole that was in the manifold that I could use to mount this. To get high enough I drilled out a 3/8s nut as a spacer. this raised it above the manifold mounting bolt that was right beside the "spare" bolt hole. (you have to zoom in to see that detail)

next was the universal throttle cable mount at the back of the carb. This fitted perfectly, So I now have a simple direct pull action on the throttle springs. I mad sure I get the full travel and there is even tension through the full movement of the throttle.

Next on was the Air filter. hit a small snag with this also. The filter came with a deep dished base (This lowers it over the carb) This caused the two spurs on the top of the carb to hit the top of the air filter, which meant that could use it. So I headed back and was able to get a flat base and it all fitted nicely.

I think that is fills the space thats there, Since the removal of the tunnel ram it looked naked. But now that thinks are going back on its starting to take on the look Im after.

All fitted and sorted, well until I try and setup the throttle pedal.

Electric fan and headlight mounts

So after I did the manifold install I started on the electric fan install. Since I had made a custom radiator mount the mounts on the electric fan were not going to work.

So I cut all the existing mounts off the electric fan. I now fitted nicely inside the new frame, all I had to do was make a new mounting system. I decided to use sheet metal "tabs" that were riveted to the plastic fan and then they would be bolted to the new radiator mount. I wanted to make sure that if it was required I could remove the electric fan with out to much hassle.

The above shot shows the electric fan lying on the radiator, and the tabs mocked up to mount to the radiator and the new mounting bracket I had made up. The tabs were hand cut.

I used the sheet metal that came out of the floor of the Ratty. As you can see it was a bit tatty, but was perfect for what I needed.

After all the tabs were done (two each side) they were riveted to the fan surround. I made sure that the rivet ends would not rub the radiator once mounted. The rivets were stainless steel. I also made a backing plate so that the rivets didn't pull through the plastic fan surround, I also used two rivets on each tab to make sure that was no movement.

After all the tabs were done, a quick spary of black paint.

Here is the finished painted tabs sitting on the Radiator, all that needs to happen how is the mounting frame to have the bolt holes drilled and it all bolted together.

The next job was to move the head light mounting points. They use to be on ugly alloy arms. and since the whole front end has changed with the new steering box I needed to move the lights. The perfect place was on top of the shock mounts. So it was time to get out the tap and die set.

The hole location measured and marked ready for drilling.

The headlight mount threaded in to the newly drill and taped hole.

Both headlight mounts done.

Lights and the radiator installed and mocked up to check clearances.

Plenty of room behind the electric fan and around the lights and radiator.
In all not a bad 5hr worth of work.

Install the new manifold

Well I got some time on Saturday to work on the car. So I decided to bite the bullet and have a go at installing the inlet manifold. After some reading (Not enough, more on that later) I started the process of installing the manifold.

The heads are all clean and rubbed down with alcohol to remove any grease & oil. I did this at least 5 time to make sure.

Next I applied the gasket goo, on the heads.

One side done, as you can see the dowel holding it in place. the other side done ready for the gasket.

To make sure I got a good seal, I also added gasket goo to the gasket before putting it on the heads. My thinking was that would make sure I had a good seal. Since this is my first time I was proberly over cautious and used to much gasket goo.

Now this is where I think I went wrong on the whole process.  As I then went and also put gasket goo on the topside of the new gaskets & the new manifold. And after I had finished I read the book I have on rebuilding ford engines, and it said to only use gasket goo around the water inlet ports on the top. But by that time I have already installed the manifold, and tightened it down.

Manifold with gasket goo.

Gaskets with gasket goo. The above shot also shows where I just used the gasket goo on the block ends instead of using the cork gaskets. This was the  recommended way to go by a number of people who know what they are doing. So there was a thick bead of gasket goo on the block as well as the manifold. Time will tell if i got it right when I get to fire the old girl back up ... that's when I will find if I have any oil leaks.

Manifold on and tightened down. I followed the book I have to make sure I did the bolts in the right order. I don't have a torque wrench yet so did it to best guess.

Now that the manifold is on it was time for the new carb to be test fitted. First up was the carb stud bolts.

Here it is already for the carb, Gasket and bolts in place.

Carb now sitting in the manifold. I only finger tightened the nuts.

So that's the manifold on, I will have to go and check with people who know what they are doing what the implications are of me going gasket goo happy.

New manifold

Well after a bout of the flu which knocked me for six I have not been 100% for the last 10 days. I finally have felt well enough to get back into the garage to do some more work on the RattyT.

So the first job at hand is to get the manifold on. First step to this is to clean the old gaskets off and get the surfaces nice and clean and ready to put the new manifold on. I used an old wood chisel for this. The old gaskets were stuck down really well and it was the only thing to get them off.

Waiting and ready for some attention.

Before I started removing the old gaskets I stuffed the inlets with shopping bags to stop any crap from getting into them. Its a trick I read about on the web.

Now this is my adaptation of a trick I read on the web. One of the biggest issues when putting on new manifolds is the gasket slipping out of place as you lower the manifold on. So some of the suggestions to help this was to place some headless bolt in the bolt holes to stop the gasket from slipping down. So I though since I didn't have any of the correct bolts needed, how about a piece of wooden dowel. 6mm dowel were a perfect fit, and as you can see from the picture the gasket is held in place and the chances of it slipping are now nil. I was pretty chuffed with this "idea" and that it worked so well.

So here you can see the manifold in place the dowel coming up through the bolt holes. They are different lengths on purpose. This allows you to do one at a time and you don't have to struggle trying to get all 5-6 in the holes at once.

The front gap where the silicon gasket is used will need to filled. Gasket kits come with cork gasket to go here, but almost everybody I have talked to said forget them and just use extra silicon gasket goo. So that's the plan. I was just seeing how much of a bead will be needed.

A couple of shots of the cleaned up heads where the manifold gaskets go.

Now you have to remember that I have never done this before and learning as I go, So please feel free to comment and add advice as you see fit.

First delay

Well no updates from last week as I was struck down with a nasty flu virus thing and was bed ridden for 2-3 days and today is the first day back at work and the first day I have felt like even looking at the ratty, Now that is unsual as I have all the good new bits to add. But now on the road to recovery. So hopefully a couple of days work will able to be put in before the inlaws arrive for the weekend.