Semi productive day today, no pics as my phone was low on power and I really couldn't be arsed as nothing major was being done………..
On the Series 2a I changed the shock bushes…….surprise surprise the ****part ones didn't fit over the studs for the lower shock mounts so I had to used the same kind of bush that was used for the top. Fine they fit and with some compression from the mole grips went on nicely so the shocks got plenty of rubber on it now.
Think I may have been given a part thats been superseded for a lower pin style rather than eye.
Also fixed the exhaust mount on it so its ready for the MOT now
Onto the **** bastard that is my Series 3………….
One step forward ten back.
Made a start at tidying up the roof, re-drilled all the pop rivets to do again with a nicer set and began to shove more bolts into the bodywork to make it secure now that its nearing the end. Halfway through this process I found a dead homing pigeon that had been attacked by a sparrow hawk and somehow managed to bounce off everything and find its way under the workbench………..took a break to report it etc.
After this minor stall I measured up my rear prop length, it would appear that I'll only have a 280mm prop shaft which is 10mm shorter than the absolute minimum for any kind of decent prop. So I'm bringing the engine forward by 110mm leaving me with a 390mm prop (only 160mm shorter than standard then) this means I can keep decent travel length and reduce vibrations.
So in order to account for this 110mm loss on front space whilst keeping the series front the radiator has been relocated to the rear or will be once I fabricate some brackets for it to lie on.
Radiator wise in order to account for the lost air flow I'm going for a twin rad set up with triple electric fans in order to keep things cool. These are going to be underslung rads, underneath the pickup bed with a filler cap going through the bed. measured up and they'll be perfectly safe under there especially once I put a mesh stone guard over them.
The crank pulley also has to be shortened so that it fits which means removing the redundant PS and AC belt pulley so it has been turned from a long nose pulley into a stumpy pulley by removing the first couple of belt pulleys and bolting it back together.
In order to sort the engine mount problem I'm using some box section and offsetting it 30mm between the holes to give me a 30mm engine lift (moves filter away from axle) and then making the holes on both sides 110mm apart……….now with these I'm not sure they'll fit and without having the engine out to measure I cant be certain so as well as making some box section mounts I'm also making a set of Z shaped ones too.
Only box section I had was 80x80x5mm so I'm not sure if it'll make the mounts a little too tight a fit hence the backup plan of two 1/4" steel plates welded with a 10mm bar between them creating the Z and then the offset holes allowing for the lift and movement forwards
Anyway by doing it this way it means I get to keep the series front end for the looks and get a decent length rear prop shaft allowing for a bit of extra comfort on the manufacturing side of things
The custom engine rubbers I wanted have arrived so just need to get all my mounts made up
Fuel pump needs mounting in the tank although I'm planning on getting creative and making a special mini swirl pot for it in order to make sure its constantly submerged in fuel. Once the TIG's set up and I can be arsed I'll be making up a full new tank.
Essentially then next weekend once I move the engine forward I can put all the major body panels back on and finish off neatening up the roof as I want it to look pretty much factory flush on top so thinking a little smear of body filler over the rivets before sanding down smooth should sort that. Fuel tank job is going to wait a little longer until I can work out just how I want the fuel pump to sit or if its possible to mount it inline within its own swirl pot fed via the fuel return which I think it may be depending on which of the two high pressure pumps I decide to use
