Engine Shuffle

To cut a long story short the 3.5ltr Rover v8 engine I bought turned out to be a 1993 engine and not 1992. This means that it is subject to more stringent emissions tests which would probably mean a Cat. So I bought a 1990 3.9ltr Rover v8 (more BHP than the 3.5!)

I need to keep the 3.5ltr and in order to make space I put the 3.5ltr in the shed and the 3.9ltr next to the chassis ready to go into the car. Getting a engine into a shed proved a little challenging, but with the aid of a dolly trolley that I made I succeeded:

Steering rack and column

The Steering rack and column went in over the weekend. Took much longer than I anticipated. When I set the wheel alignment to 0 deg I found that the track rod ends need to be wound all the way in. Sadly the threads on the track rods were rusted  from never being used on the old Sierra donor, and with little to hold onto it was impossible to simple wind the nut on. It took me a while to wire brush both sides and finally get the nuts and track rod ends to their correct position.

The steering column goes through a hole in the bulkhead that is way too big for the Sierra column bush, so with advice from the forums I bought a £10 bearing to fit in the hole. The guys at BearingBoys did a great job in sending it the next day:

And here it is fitted to the bulkhead:

The steering column needs extending which was a simple task if you follow the method in the manual. Once extended it no longer rubbed on the brake pedal which was an initial worry (instant IVA failure!).

On all fours...

Here's the missing picture of the diff in place. It wasn't quite as hard as I had imagined to lift and bolt in:

Once the diff was in place it was a simple matter to add the drive shafts (longer one on the drivers side). I bought new rear slave cylinders, brake shoes and springs as the old ones were rusty and new brake components is always wise!

 One last brake line from the flexihose attached to the hub that runs to the slave cylinder. I bought a 25ft role of copper brake pipe and have 3cm left over ;-) More by luck than judgement!

The handbrake is in place and attached but needs some serious tightening up which I'm sure is possible...I hope. Now that the all the brakes and suspension is in place I could resist bolting on the wheels and letting it sit on all four for the first time!

Rear Brake Lines

Much the same as the front brakes. Lots of measuring, flaring, drilling, and riveting, taking great care to ensure there are enough clips holding the brake pipe to keep Mr.IVAman happy. There is no specified distance in the IVA manual, but they mustn't move AT ALL. More clips is safer and also ensuring that the pipe doesn't touch the chassis as it bends around corners.

The pipe runs along the drivers side from the master cylinder and under the rear end where it splits via a t-piece shown below.

Up and over the tunnel (glad I didn't fit the diff first! ) to the other flexi-hose:

This last photo also shows the handbrake cable in place and attached to the handbrake poking through the tunnel.

The diff (picture to follow) was tricky to get in. I eventually managed it by raising it on a trolley jack, fitting the bracket as I lifted it and the lower the chassis to get it into it's final position. Did it 1 handed too!

Front brake lines

Fairly simple job once I remembered how to flare a brake line - it's been a while!

Pictures of both side:

Next the rear brakes. This is a long run down the side of the body to the back where it splits via a T-piece to each of the rear brake drums. Then the plan goes something like this, Diff, Drive shafts, rear brake assembly, Wheels, Engine, Christmas ;-)

Not quite rolling

As with all kit cars, plans often go out the window. It is the beginning of May and my plan for a rolling chassis by end-April was a little ambitious... Mainly due to lack of time, other things going wrong, and some extra DIY on my car port ;-)

Putting the rubber/steel bushes into the suspension parts proved a lot harder than I thought. Hitting with a hammer clearly wasn't going to work and winding in with a vice didn't quite cut it either. I asked the local garage to use their hydraulic press to push them in which they did for a few quid.

Front suspension went in without any major problems as the manual is quite helpful here

The other side looks the same ;-)

I did fit one side of the rear suspension and started to trial fit the diff - this is clearly a 2 man job as one person needs to raise the diff on a jack while the other fits the bolts. While checking the position and making sure the bolts fit, I realised that fitting the brake pipes after the diff would be a real pain, so I abandoned the rear end and started on the brakes (manual is less helpful here!)

Here you can see the brake servo and master cylinder from the sierra donor. This bolts on to the bulkhead and connects to the pedal box (next picture below). This is a simple (not) matter of doing up 2 nuts as the 2 parts fit together. a) the hole for the clutch cable wasn't big enough and b)it is another 2 man job (thanks Alex), as one person needs to hold the servo, while the other does up the nuts in drivers footwell.

 Clutch and brake pedal. Alex and I sat in the car and pressed the pedals....;-) Exciting!

I got bored of getting wet, and getting rid of pools of water from the tarpaulin covering the chassis. So I adding some posts and clear plastic roofing sheets to keep everything dry. Another 2 man job - thanks Michael for all your help!

Next week brake pipes if I can find the right size rivets...