3D Printed Mirror Mount

The chance to have something 3d printed has arisen, so here’s a picture of the CAD model, it’s basically a plinth to raise the rear view mirror up by 25mm to a point where (hopefully) I can see something other than the roll bar’s diagonal brace.

As you can see I’ve taken the opportunity to add a GoPro mount onto the side so I can dash-mount it.

Fuel Gauge - Working

Well well well, after a month or so of tinkering, the Fury is all back together & returned to road-worthiness. The principle problem to be solved was the lack of a fuel gauge, it wasn’t a problem for general purpose blatting as I could fill it up before the off & be sure of getting home within the tank-full. But with the Rallye Des Jonquilles approaching as well as the “Rogue Runners” tour of Britain, the need was becoming a pressing one.

So with a heavy heart I started removing the tank all over again. I was expecting to find one or other of the wires to the level sender unplugged or broken by some heavy handedness when re-fitting the tank a while back - but no, all was well. So I took out the sender (a fiddly job at best) with the intention of testing the whole system, it was only when I tried to turn on the ignition that I remembered I’d taken the dashboard out. So – once I’d found it, laid it roughly in the car, plugged in the gauge loom, turned the fuel pump off & the ignition on, twiddling the float on the sender resulted in the needle moving up & down nicely, so it was working – except that I knew that it wasn’t – such is electrical fault chasing.

I put the sender back in the tank & bolted it down. I rocked the tank to & fro & could hear the sender moving, but the needle wasn’t (sigh). When I took the sender out again, I noticed the float was ½ full of petrol, so it had been submerged & sure enough as I re-inserted it, the wire to the float pot got caught round the rod the float attaches to – stopping it moving. I put it back more carefully, rocked the tank again & the gauge came back to life. Hurrah!

So the tank got re-installed & a day or two later the dash went back in, to be followed by a brief drive up to the petrol shop, where £10 worth made the needle go to half full. Job done.

So the next job is to repair the rear valence bracket that came adrift when I took the valence down & apart from a spanner check & maybe some tyres, it’s ready for another year’s blatting.

Squirt!

I got a little more time in the garage as my wife was “going into town for a couple of bits” & “wouldn’t be long” so I knew I had a few hours.

 

 

 

First I checked the clearances on the 13” wheels at full lock, the tyre touched the front of the wheel arch, but nothing a trim couldn’t sort out.

  

So as Mrs Blatter was still in town, I thought I’d take the dash out ready for a couple of things that needed doing, then when it was all out & there was still no sign of Mrs Blatter’s return, I thought I’d attach the new screen wash bracket, which meant taking the air filter off. Having emptied out the various small stones, flora & fauna out of the filter, I could drill off the two remaining mounting holes & a hole for the pipe to go through. I found a grommet with a “strain relief” tube attached, sorted it all out & riveted it to the car.

Key in, ignition on, push the button & the jets hit the perfect spot on the screen. Pleased with that.

With my hands now too cold to hold tools & my wife STILL not home, I locked the garage & went inside.

Again Again

I've been out to the garage again. I took the wheel off, fitted a 3mm spacer & found the wheel stopped rotating just as the nuts were tightened. So I swapped it for a 6mm spacer & all was well - except there was a spacer betwixt the wheel & the hub.

I closely inspected the brake calliper, where the bleed nipples exit there is a machined pocket. on the lower one was some deformation showing where the wheel had pushed it inwards, so I have a plan. Remove the metal where it's been pushed in, remove the spacers from the brake calliper mounting kit & take 1mm off each & that should ensure the fourspoke fits. At the moment I don't know if I want the fourspokes or not, but I'd like the option.






A single Peugeot peperpot alloy & tyre weighs 15.5 Kg, a fourspoke & tyre weighs 13Kg so that's 10 Kg of unsprung rotating mass reduced if I go for the 13 inch wheels. That could easily take the car back under 600Kg so it's worth considering.





"2000 HC" sticker for the cam cover

Also omitted from the last post were a couple of photos of the new retro 60's stickerage. only under the bonnet at this stage, but there will be more

 

"CAUTION NEGATIVE EARTH" decal just like cars used to have

 

New Year

It's the Christmas break & I've not been out to the garage too much, but I did take the car out & 1/2 fill it with fuel - enough to prove that the fuel gauge still isn't working, so I think with the council spraying salt about with gay abandon (well, abandon anyway - I couldn't comment on the councils "orientation") I think it's time to take the car off the road & do some jobs properly.

A couple of days ago I popped over to Forrest Hill to pick up four wheels from Rich In the SKCC

There was a frost ........

they're borrowed - & just as well, because they don't fit. As anyone who modifies cars will tell you, selecting wheels & tyres is a bit of a nightmare, there's the wheel diameter, width, offset (where the mounting flange sits in relation to the rim centreline) & the bolt pattern to be considered, then there's the tyres, the diameter must match the wheel (obviously) but a variety of tyre widths will fit on any given wheel width, & a variety of heights for each width. Oh & there's an eclectic mix of imperial & metric sizes for good measure (see what I did there?).

The wheels on the car are:-                                  The tyres are:-
14 (inch dia)                                                         185 (mm wide)
5.5 (inch wide)                                                     14 (inch dia)
offset 24 (mm),                                                     60 (% width to height ratio).

The wheels I borrowed are:-                                The tyres are:-
13 (inch dia)                                                         185 (mm wide)
6 (inch wide)                                                        13 (inch dia)
offset 16 (mm),                                                     70 (% width to height ratio).



I still haven't worked out how to turn pictures sideways.

The upshot of all that maths is that from outside the car, there should be NO difference, the overall diameter should be the same & the position of the tyre in the wheel arch should be identical

So having fitted the two wheels with the size tyres I wanted, I tried to push the car out to photograph it. It wouldn't move. Then I looked more closely as the front wheels.


As can be seen from the pic, the brake callipers are touching the inside of the wheel – not good.

I’ll need to use spacers if I want to fit the four spokes. The rear ones only just fit under the arch. Hmmmm.
 The problems with spacers are many fold. They mean the wheel studs are being bent rather than sheared which invites problems with metal fatigue, they mean the wheel isn't located properly in the centre diameter as well as another couple of points, so I'd REALLY rather not use spacers. I know people do use them successfully , but I'd rather not.

Thinking cap on.

I did fit some stickerage to the engine bay, a replica Ford decal for the cam box & a negative earth one for the battery bay door. these are part of an on-going "plan" to make the car look more '60s. You'll see more of this over the coming months.