Tonight's session was fun because it was the time when all the pieces are ready and it's just reassembly and fine tuning.
Remember the strut brace fittings that I sent off for rechroming?
Here they are, and for $30 I think they turned out great! I also asked for a set of nuts and washers to be chromed too, and I've put a normal cad-plated nut there as a reference to what it used to look like.
The only thing is, the process is re-plating, and it doesn't remove the old chrome plating, the new chrome just goes on top. So the new chrome plate actually makes the threads tangibly thicker, and I had to sand the threads down a little and even then the nut was a very tight fit on the male brace end. Before, the nut was a very loose rattly fit, but the first time the nut went on it had to go on with quite a bit of force, and I had to keep backing off the nut to clean out the little bits of chrome plate which were being worn off the threads.
It's worth thinking about when you get parts rechromed, that you may have to clean the excess chrome off the threads with a tap and die later, but I think with the powdercoated tower brackets, the strut brace will look quite nice.
Ok, onto the engine. Remember how the Redline manifold requires such a long brake booster hose that it's a little unsightly?
Someone made the excellent suggestion of using a hardline to replace some of that rubber hose. So I started off with this dodgy bit of 10mm copper tube that the JDM engine builders used as a fuel rail.
Straighten it out, polish it up and cut it to length...
Then seal in the shine with a few coats of clear...fit up with a couple of P-clips to the rocker cover bolts and voila!
It curves around the back of the head...
Where I rerouted the rubber hose and one way valve under the clutch master cylinder. Came out pretty good.
Next thing to do was to finish the throttle linkages. Before, I goofed and didn't realise that the Redline manifold required that the linkages be fitted before the manifold goes onto the engine. I did get the linkage jackshaft on, but only after removing the centre mount so that I could swivel it in place.
Anyway, it turns out that a length of steel 10mm rod is only $20/m, so I bought some and had it cut to length. It's much shorter than the JDM jackshaft, and gave me enough clearance to fit it with the centre mount back in place.
Next, set up the new Lynx ball rods. They have to be the exact same length.
You might notice that the throttle arms on the jackshaft are almost vertical. If the jackshaft arms were exactly parallel to the carb arms then there would be a 1:1 movement ratio when you depress the accelerator. The arms on the carbs are at 45 degrees or so, so adjusting the ballrods to have the jackshaft arms more vertical means that the throttle is slightly progressive.
Setting up the linkages for the first time is a little fiddly and time consuming since there are so many variables. In the end I got it pretty close, but I wasn't happy with the angle of the cable bellcrank, and also the amount of slack in the cable I had to adjust in to get the right pedal travel.
So I shortened the stainless bracket I made by 20mm, which made it a lot better.
Then the angle of the bellcrank is adjusted so that when the pedal is floored, the carbs are at full throttle. At full throttle, I think it's ok, the cable isn't going to fall out of the groove of the bellcrank when it returns to idle, and there isn't too much slack.
There's probably more fine tuning to do on the linkages when I get the car going, but at the moment it turned out pretty nice.
Ok, tomorrow night I'll triple check everything and then have a go at firing her up and giving it a tune. Fingers crossed...but at least it looks nice!
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datsunfreak wrote:
No Kev, you are eating a duck fetus.
)
