Escort mk1 - xflow to XE to Cossie!

[MegatronUK]

Did you get your front screen fitting better? I tried my quarter rubbers today were a shocking fit especially at the pointy end!

Yeah, when it came back from the painters the second time we took a bit longer to fit the front screen. It's fitting better, but it's still not as good as original ford items - I think we still might have to put a bit of sealant under the top corners before we fit the chrome trim to lock it in place.

The front seal is the worst - quarters seem okay (went in quite easily, actually) and the rear seal is not bad. Doesn't help that I've got all new glass of course, so it could be out a bit compared to the original.

[MegatronUK]

Name and shame
Won't really do much but will make you feel better

It's Hetton Body Repair Centre.

The first time round it was over 5 months to paint the car last year and came back with fish eyes all along the front and rear wings, dirt around the door openings, bits that had overspray and hadn't been polished back and after a couple of weeks we started seeing the micro blistering in both front wings. It wasn't a job I paid peanuts for, nor did I make the assumption that dad and I had the car fully prepped; it all needed running down and priming properly after all the work we'd done.

It went back early in the new year, supposedly for the problem areas to be taken back to bare metal. Again it took longer than quoted. The quality was definitely improved the second time around, but it's not a brilliant job by any stretch of the imagination; there's definitely bits you look at and just shake your head, various bits with dirt in the paint, runs that have been polished here and there... I could live with most of those (the majority you only see with the car up on the ramp, or fitting bits of trim pieces, most you wouldn't see everyday - it still sucks for a 'professional' job to be of that quality though), but as you can see the blistering is back - worse than the first time, actually.

The really galling thing is that dad painted it himself about 14-15 years ago with an ancient spray gun from his 40+ year old compressor just in his workshop. Yes, it was a simple flat red finish, but it lasted all that time. Given a chance to practice with the pearl paint and lacquer, I bet we could have done it ourselves....

[MegatronUK]

Got the last of the front suspension and braking bits fitted this morning.

Started out by making a bracket for the Stack wheel speed sensor mounting it off the bolt for the steering arm and painted it before fitting the hub up:

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Then bolted up the caliper for the same hub:

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One of the pads is really tight - the disc isn't quite central in the caliper. I don't think it's a major issue; once the pad is worn a little it should ease up a bit:

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Other side is nice and free:

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Pads that came with the kit are basic EBC Ultimax (oem replacement spec from what I can make out). Most interesting thing about them is the fitment - Volvo! I'll see what they're like, remembering that this is road use only now, but may get a set of Green stuff or Mintex pads later on.

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Will try and get the rear suspension painted again and get the headlamp and sidelight bowls fitted this afternoon.

[MegatronUK]

Got the headlamp bowls in, as well as the drivers side sidelight/indicator. Lost the screws for the passenger side though :-(

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Finally got the axle and rear suspension painted in gloss black again - much tidier than being covered in primer overspray

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Managed to do it on the car too, which saved a bit of time!

Fitted the washer bottle under the drivers side wing... god it's now years since we trial fitted that! Also got the bonnet catch spring fitted - need to drill the holes for the slam catch though - I think we filled them when I fitted bonnet pins:

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Last job was to repaint the steering column (just the section that goes from rack to bulkhead - the interior part is all Corsa) and the prop:

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[MegatronUK]

Did some more work on the car this weekend - was a bit of a case of '2 steps forward, 1 step back'.... you'll see what I mean:

Got the brake fluid pipes made up from the fluid container to the bulkhead - I'm quite a fan of the way these teflon hoses go together; they're really neat, much easier to construct then the fuel lines we've made up.

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Also got all four new wheels and tyres on - after painting the rear springs again and fiddling around with the isolation pads and spacer blocks. Tried a 2" block and just a single pad, seemed to give the most positive location for the spring.

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With the -2" decambered springs swapped from side to side and the bigger 2" blocks, the ride height looks spot on:

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But.....

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The width of the new wider tyres (225 section) puts them dangerously close to the wheel arch edge. I suspect the first big bump or pothole and the tyre will smash its way into the bubbles. Also, I've got a clearance problem on the passenger front:

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But strangely not on the drivers side front:

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I might be able to dial out some of the clearance on the front by shortening the track control arms, but will need to rotate the strut tops around to suit as well. I hope that give it enough space, otherwise I'm knackered.

So, I've got a bit of a dilemma. Options, as I can see them are:

1. Replace wheels with different offset rims, or machine the rear faces to achieve the same. These are currently ET0.
2. Replace the wider front alloy hubs with the originals to narrow the track.
3. Swap the tyres for lower profiles and possibly narrower (215?).
4. Have the rear axle shortened by 2" - 2.5".

Options 1 and 2 would solve the problem on all four corners. Option 3 would just solve the front, and Option 4 would just solve the rear.

I need to try altering the front first with the adjustment I've got available before trying anything else with that..... but the more I think about it, the more I think the only realistic option at the back is to narrow the axle - it's a full width 2.8 Capri Atlas; I got away with the wheels on it before as I only had 205/50 tyres, of course these new ones are much wider (and a little taller).

[Mk2_mad]

Looking good, colour really suits it and cant wait to see this finished

[MegatronUK]

Been doing some research this evening and have decided to buy a standard 'narrow' Atlas - 50" - and transfer my diff over. I'm thinking about taking the opportunity to fit the Wilwood Cosworth rear caliper + disc kit at the same time (non-weld kit). It's not a race car, so I'm not going to bother with 18 tooth shafts or fully floating hubs. I'll just use the standard ends, remove the drums and backplates and bolt it up. I'd love a limited slip diff, but that would about take all the money I've got available to get this axle replaced.

1" off either side should give me the clearance I need.

[donnie]

Shorter atlas will be better plus he discs are a bonus, that will resolve the issue at the rear with clash.

Taking shape and we know whats it like 2 steps forward and 1 back, all fords are the same when you modify them from standard

Shes taking shape and keep at it

[MegatronUK]

Made the plunge and ordered the 273x10mm rear disc conversion from David at Classic and Rally Spares. I *really* like the idea of a complete bolt-on kit!

Just speaking to Ian Evans right now about getting a basic, narrow Atlas built up. Probably standard 50" casing and shafts, swap my 3.75:1 diff over, as well as install new wheel bearings, leaf spring saddles, anti-tramp and panhard rod brackets (to match my existing ones). He seems a decent guy with fair prices, so I've got my fingers crossed it's not going to be too expensive (putting my 52" Atlas and shafts in as part of the deal).

[MegatronUK]

Guess what I'm starting with today....

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That's the complete engine bay wiring loom, apart from the seperate little loom that comes with the Stack instruments. The only thing I need to do is make up a little harness for the front lights (the only original part of the loom I've kept is for the rear lights, as everything else has been chopped to bits by various people of the years).

Just for my own sanity, I think I only need the following wires:

1x headlight
1x dipped headlight
1x sidelight
2x indicator
1x horn
1x wheel speed sensor

I have Stack looms for:
Boost gauge
Oil pressure gauge
Oil temp gauge
Water temp gauge

[MegatronUK]

A bit more of the loom done this afternoon - mainly wiring to the instrument cluster, but also installed the dash top and trial fit the rear door cards.

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Need to hunt down wiring diagram for the Corsa column switchgear as I'm using the whole thing (indicators, dip beam, washer jet, wipers). But I've just got a 6" length of the Corsa loom from the multi plug; I'll need to strip out the bits I don't need (intermittent wash/wipe, rear wiper, etc) and then make up a little harness to go from that to my new fusebox.

[MegatronUK]

On buying some cable to do the headlight and ignition barrel wiring and I think I'm at the point where the engine needs to go in now!

The Corsa ignition barrel doesn't look too bad to wire up, so I'll just need to extend the existing loom from the back of it to the starter, battery and the new fusebox.

[5tox]

Really enjoyed reading through this thread, some really great work.
Love the styling right down to the door handles and window winders.

[MegatronUK]

More lovely wires

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That's all the loom installed - all the engine harness, plus a newly made lighting harness, horn and washer motor, and starter and alternator cables. I think that's everything that's needed!

Still need to connect up everything inside the car now. That's the fun bit

Also took delivery of the rear disc conversion I bought last week:

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Looks like a nice piece of kit. Need to sort out a replacement axle at some point though!

[MegatronUK]

Few more wires stripped, ends fitted and labelled up today. That should be all the wires in the original rear lighting harness ready to hook up to the new fusebox fairly shortly now.

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Also fitted the dash top air vents and bolted on my replacement to the original faux wood trim that ran along the front - I changed it to alcantara-copy material and also extended it to cover the area that housed the heater controls, turned out better than I expected, and should match my door cards when I get around to fitting them!

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Next weekend is fitting the engine, so we can start to clip in the engine bay loom. First it might be worthwhile doing a trial fit of the strut brace, I think I remember it being one that had to be bolted through the side of the inner wing as well (group 4 fitment?). Anyway, that will be a pig with the Cossie lump fitted, so best to do that first I think!

[mario r h santos]

Congrats on your project!

I can relate to many of your struggles during the "resto" process as I'm finishing myself a grp4 zakspeed which I started 4 years ago.

Keep it up! In the end you know it will be worth it and, most of all, especial to your heart.

Cheers,

Mário Santos.

[MegatronUK]

Well, engine is now in!

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Flywheel/clutch and gearbox not bolted up yet, but got a new oil seal installed, just before we do. I've a set of ARP flywheel bolts ready to fit, just need to clean out the threads of the crank first - it's been sitting for a while now.

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Thought I'd take a picture of the clearance to the crossmember - there's probably about 3/4 - 1" taken off the back.

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So, it went it nicely. No scratches or scrapes, which I'm pleased with. Easy line up with the crossmember, and it fits nicely. A couple of minor issues to resolve however; the bulkhead vacuum connection is blocked by by the intake manifold, so we'll need to either move it, or find something much smaller in its place; I'm thinking a grommet to fill the hole and a plastic t-piece or similar inserted through instead. Also, the oil catch tank hasn't got a hope in hell of fitting! There's no way it's going with the intake manifold, wiring loom and brake pipes in there now - we'll have to find somewhere else for it to go, first thoughts are to drop it down so that it's probably about level with the top of the starter, it should clear the intake plenum then.

Goodies arriving this week:

- AP heavy duty organic friction plate (re-using the pressure plate - it looks decent, but the friction plate is knackered).
- Loctite thread lock for the flywheel bolts.
- Replacement dowels for the bellhousing/dust cover.

Should be ready to fit the box next weekend, then crack on with the engine bay wiring and water/oil pipework.

Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention that the strut brace brackets are now fitted and we rotated the strut top mounts around another 3 bolt holes to take off a bit more of the negative camber; if I were to guess, I'd reckon there's probably about 2 - 2.5 degrees on there now. Won't know for definite until we get the tracking equipment out and check it; toe in also needs checking, I think there's a fraction too much at present.

Finally, we've decided to try to shorten the axle ourselves. That will be fun. I think we're going to use the cut, insert inner sleeve and plug weld technique, as we don't have the kit to take out the tubes from the diff end ourselves.

[MegatronUK]

Flywheel clutch and gearbox now in and bolted up:

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My new, no-name, £60 starter motor is in.... how long it will last is anyone's guess, but it was worth a punt

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Radtec radiator and intercooler installed:

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Now starting to install the water and boost pipework and connect up the electrics. We've got an aluminium plate made for the bulkhead to go in place of the heater bubble - hopefully tomorrow (day off work, yay!) we'll get that bolted on and connect up a new zetec coilpack and fit the twin ignition amps to it:

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We need to make up some pipework from the header tank to the bottom hose, so I'll need a t-piece for the bottom hose and various bits of stainless pipe and some more plain red silicone hoses from the same people that I got the Cossie boost/water hoses from (Roose Motorsport).

Making some cracking progress now

[wildo105e]

full steam ahead great progress

[MegatronUK]

So, progress today included:

Drilled the bulkhead to fit the bolts for the alloy plate, made up some mounts for the coilpack and twin ignition amps, looks good, I think!

Water pipes from the bulkhead/heater inlets to the oil filter sandwich plate, head to sandwich plate, thermostat to heater inlet, top hose to radiator all fitted and tightened up.

Fitted a couple of large p-clips to the bellhousing to stop the water line that runs around the back of the head from rubbing on the chassis or the bellhousing.

Also fitted a p-clip off the back of the inlet manifold to stop one of the two water pipes to the oil filter housing from rubbing.

Got the Stack boost sensor fitted to the manifold.

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I need to work out where to mount the MAP sensor and the amal valve and work out the routing for the breather pipes from the block and cam cover.... they're fairly huge diameter pipe, so that's going to be fun....

Got a Stant radiator cap on the way, as well as a new coil pack and ignition amps (just placeholders on the bulkhead for now), also need to get some plug leads made.

[wildo105e]

Finally, we've decided to try to shorten the axle ourselves. That will be fun. I think we're going to use the cut, insert inner sleeve and plug weld technique, as we don't have the kit to take out the tubes from the diff end ourselves.

Thinking about this could you not cut off the drive shaft flanges chop out what you need to the weld the flange back on

[MegatronUK]

I did think about that - it would be by far the easiest option, but I'm a little bit nervous about talk of heat distorting the outer bearing race and/or oil seals when people have fitted weld-on caliper mounts. Once we've got the engine all finished I think this it what we'll be looking at next. Getting the right diameter pipe to sleeve inside the axle tubes would probably be the biggest issue.

[MegatronUK]

Dad and I spent most of today making up and fitting the rest of the water and boost pipes and they're just about all finished now:

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First job of the day was to refit the cleaned and tested dark green injectors - I've had these cleaned and flow tested; they were all good spray pattern and only a couple of cc/min down on standard. After cleaning they all came up 3-5 cc, so within or slightly above tolerance. They would probably have been fine, but for £60 including return postage and new seals, filters and pintle caps I thought it worth it.

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Main job was making up a water line from the header tank to the bottom hose. This runs from the header tank, across under the inlet manifold, down past the distributor and then along under the bottom pulley. It's joined to the waterpump/bottom hose with an T-piece. Quite please with the way it turned out!

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The next thing was the elbow from the turbo to intercooler. This was just not the right shape to fit, it was wedged up against the inner wing and too long to fit all the way on the intercooler inlet pipe. So, we chopped around 2" off the turbo pipe and actually made the decision to take another 1" - 1.5" off the actual intercooler pipe to allow it to be pushed further on.

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Much better!

Also tidied up all the other hoses where they'd been cut, a grinder and polishing disc works wonders for that! So that was top hose, intercooler to throttle body etc. All neater now:

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Engine bay wiring tomorrow

[MegatronUK]

Cold air intakes covered with stainless mesh:

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New -31 wastegate actuator:

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Refitted the Hillman indicators - I removed these previously to paint/dye the foam gasket as it stood out like a sore thumb in cream against the dark red paintwork. They're now black and blend in a little better:

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Fitted the new 4x4 Cossie knock sensor into the block (now got it clipped against the sump and zip tied to the steering rack, so it's not loose like it shows below):

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Got the engine bay loom fastened in and all of the intake side sensors plugged in:

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Still have an Amal valve to source and a new 3 bar. MAP sensor to fit. Probably going to fit the MAP sensor to the intake side (nice bolt hole already in place, not sure it was off originally!), next to the intercooler, and the Amal valve on the exhaust side, next to the intercooler (where my wing mounted washer tank bolts come through the inner wing).

Got a black, dual piston dump valve ordered, as well as another ignition amplifier so that I can fit the alloy plate to the bulkhead finally and start connecting up the plug leads.

However, tomorrow is likely to be a 'cable' day: bonnet cable (including drilling the exit hole from the inside), clutch cable and throttle cable.

[MegatronUK]

Remaining water pipes fitted today (turbo related, mainly), including a join to the thermostat (and bung for the bleed take-off). Also got the last replacement brass pressure take-offs installed in the compressor housing and the inlet manifold:

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Spent most of the day fitting the clutch cable (a proper part from Burton for the YB/T5 in a mk1). However, it proved to be a swine of a job. When we tried offering up the cable to the bulkhead we found that the metal part that slots in to the bulkhead receptacle was about 2mm oversize (12mm) compared to the 10mm internal diamter of the bulkhead hole. I checked with my old cable (as used with my Type 9 box), just in case the hole had been filled with paint or something, nope, the original cable was 10mm diameter. Not sure why the Burton cable was 12mm.... is there a difference between mk1 and mk2 perhaps? Anyway, it took a lot of filing down to reduce it down to the right size.

The biggest issue was fitting it to the top of the pedal arm. That was a proper 'mare - with the master cylinders in place, the power column and brake pipes it meant laying on my back in the footwell using a single finger to try and guide the clutch cable eye in to place, whilst trying to simultaneously push the clevis pin back though! Arghhhh! Hope I don't have to do that again in a hurry. I think I have a seat-box-section-support shaped indention in my lower back now....

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Cable run is not yet exactly how I want it, but the good news is that the operation seems to be smooth, so that's a positive

Also got the opportunity to fit some ends to the battery cable which runs to the starter motor, as well as the starter to alternator link cable. They're fairly hefty cables so hopefully the boot mounted battery won't drop voltage too much.

Things ordered and expected shortly:

- Second Cossie ignition amplifier unit
- 3Bar MAP sensor
- Forge twin piston atmospheric dump valve
- Assorted clips, hoses, fasteners (does the need for these ever end????)

Before closing up the garage for the day we spent a bit of time looking at the exhaust system again. I've got a 3" bore stainless steel Mongoose 2wd downpipe and it's very tight! It's going to miss everything, but comes quite close to the steering column, so might have to apply a bit of heat and put a little bit of deformation in at just that point. Other than that, we were looking at how to run the exhaust under the car, I'm thinking, to reduce the amount of complexity and joins, run a straight section down the drivers side of the car, run it under the axle and then have a relatively large silencer run across the boot, exiting from the left hand side as normal. Not the normal way of doing things, but simplifies the installation to one box. Thoughts on a postcard please!

[Ruudje]

That sure fits in nicely

[Alan G]

Looking very good!!

What throttle cable are you planning on using??

[MegatronUK]

Hi Alan, I've got a sierra cable, but I think I'll need to chop the end off as my pedal is just a slotted one at the top. Not sure how to tackle the bulkhead yet - the top of the pedal looks like the cable is going to be very near the top; I hope it doesn't have to come out where I've now got my brake fluid container!

[Alan G]

Currently in the same situation myself and yes, it will come out near your brake fluid container if you use the highest point on the pedal.

I'm going to use this item from GRP4 Fabrications. The block splits and lets you position the cable end wherever you want on the pedal to ensure straight line travel through the bulkhead via the pedal.

http://grp4fabrications.com/product_...products_id=31

Worth a look!

[Duffer]

Nice project, been reading this one from time to time, gives me motivation to do mine! Just be aware that the twin piston BOV may not work properly as they are designed for cars with a mass airflow meter. If you have issues routing the throttle cable at the throttle body because of the boost hose (as I did) you may find that fitting a swedish plenum throttle bracket works quite well. I used the standard Sierra cable, just be aware of how close to the downpipe, you may want to wrap the cable

Love the pictures, they give a good idea to others as to what goes where!

[MegatronUK]

Currently in the same situation myself and yes, it will come out near your brake fluid container if you use the highest point on the pedal.

I'm going to use this item from GRP4 Fabrications. The block splits and lets you position the cable end wherever you want on the pedal to ensure straight line travel through the bulkhead via the pedal.

http://grp4fabrications.com/product_...products_id=31

Worth a look!

Cheers Alan - sounds like that may indeed be worth a look; the throttle pedal is too long by the looks of things - I definitely don't want the cable coming out that high!

[MegatronUK]

Nice project, been reading this one from time to time, gives me motivation to do mine! Just be aware that the twin piston BOV may not work properly as they are designed for cars with a mass airflow meter. If you have issues routing the throttle cable at the throttle body because of the boost hose (as I did) you may find that fitting a swedish plenum throttle bracket works quite well. I used the standard Sierra cable, just be aware of how close to the downpipe, you may want to wrap the cable

Love the pictures, they give a good idea to others as to what goes where!

Cheers, I'll bear that idea in mind. At the moment I don't know where I'm going to route the cable, so having another option would be good!

[MegatronUK]

Well, I've got a long weekend from today, so decided to work on the car for pretty much all of it... well, apart from jobs I've been told must be done this weekend, by the boss

So, stuff that arrived this week:

3 Bar MAP sensor
Amal boost control solenoid valve
Magneti Marelli ignition module (the second, as needed for the wasted spark system)
Radiator fan switch
Oil filter sandwich plate/sensor take-off.
Forge twin piston dump valve
Intake plenum one-way valve
Wastegate arm R-clips

....erm, I think that was it all?? There's probably something I'm forgetting

So, first job ticked off the list today was fitting the MAP sensor... here goes:

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Got some rubber backing applied to the ally plate that the coilpack and ignition amps are fitted to (now bolted down, after applying conductive paste to the back of them) and it's now fastened to the bulkhead:

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I got a replacement Amal valve from Timsrs (cheers Tim!) and decided to mount it using the bolts coming through the inner wing from the washer tank:

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The big job of today was fitting the throttle cable. It's a Sierra Cossie type, looks like this:

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The first problem we found was with the bias pedal box (a Motorsport Tools item). Looking at the pedal arm, at the top of its travel it's way out of line with any of the usual holes in the bulkhead for a throttle cable - the only way you can get a straight cable travel is to go up through the bulkhead. It's bloody lucky that the brake fluid container is ever so slightly offset from where the cable needs to exit... thank god for that!

Here's what the pedal arrangement looks like:

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This is where the cable exits the bulkhead - it just clears the brake fluid container!

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The second problem with fitting the cable was that when test fitting it it pulled the throttle plate open, even with the adjuster wound all the way in. My first thought was that the outer cable had been left too long - especially since the throttle pedal end was pulled right back to the bulkhead - no slack at all. So, very, very carefully we snipped away about 20mm of the cable outer to give a bit of slack to the cable. If you get a cable like this, you may need to check the amount of play carefully!

So, finally connected up to the throttle body using a nice new stainless bracket:

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And here's the actual cable run:

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The other thing we got done today was to move the header tank on the bulkhead about 3 inches closer to the centre of the car - that allowed us to connect the feed to the bottom hose much easier than we could before - there's also plenty of room around it now where it comes out through the 3rd and 4th inlet runner. You can see it in the image above.

So, tomorrow we start on the bonnet cable, we'll probably do something similar with the throttle cable by clipping it to the top of the inner wing to stop it flapping around. If I get time I might be able to get the plug leads made up, then we're planning on getting the car back on the 2 post ramp so that we can drop the axle to start the job of narrowing it. Fun!

[MegatronUK]

Well, we didn't get much done today. Spent most of the day fighting with the throttle cable - we noticed the pedal action was really poor; lots of effort needed and the actual travel was only a couple of inches.

Looks like the group 4 throttle pedal might be the culprit. We'll have to try moving the entry point of the cable and then where it connects to the pedal arm further down... though this means at least one more hole in the bulkhead and possibly even a slightly longer cable.

On the upside, we did get the new bonnet cable in, and it's now clipped in place, along with a replacement handle. So that's progress, I suppose.

[MegatronUK]

I managed to get a few little jobs done today, as well as some prep for some further work.

The first thing was making up the plug leads for the wasted spark system. Rather than buy a set of £80+ ready converted leads, I decided to buy a normal set of 4x4 plug leads (for less than £35) and then a set of gen 1 Ford coilpack ends (£12 including postage).

So, here's how I did it!

Take a set of standard Cossie plug leads:
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Measure each to the coilpack and mark where you need to cut. I left a little slack in the cables to allow for engine movement, plug some adjustment of the connector at either end:
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Once cut to length, carefully cut back from the end about 15mm and strip the silicone insulation, exposing the core:
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Take the new coil pack ends and seperate the rubber boot section from the plastic locking cap:
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It needs a small flat bladed screwdriver to lever it out, but they do come apart:
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Thread the locking cap over the plug lead.... do not miss this step (ask me how I know....):
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Now, the rubber boot will try to bind to the silicone rubber of the cable, so you may want to use to spray grease to make it easier, though it requires a bit of effort regardless!:
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When the cable is through the boot by an inch or so, you can fold back the core and then crimp the terminal over it:
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You might want to spray some grease in the boot, as you'll probably find that pulling the cable through has pushed most of it out. Be carefull pulling the cable back through - too much force and the cable might try to pull out of the terminal as it starts to wedge itself at the point the boot turns 90 degrees:
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Once the terminal is in place in the boot, pull the locking cap back over the top:
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Now just do another three (it's not as easy as it seems!) and you can fit your cheap plug leads to your wasted spark system

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Few others jobs that got done included finally putting a grommet in the inner wing where the lighting loom passes through, as well as getting the washer pump installed and washer tubing run through the engine bay:
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I've got the alternator/ignition warning lamp wire and the washer pump wire to put in somehow, as I forgot to add it to the new loom when I installed it. SHouldn't be too much of an issue as they're very light gauge.

Managed to measure up for all the remaining vacuum/boost (fpr to plenum, map to plenum, amal to turbo/wastegate/airfilter) and water pipes (radiator to header tank overflow, turbo water out to header tank) as well as the breathers (not sure where I'm going to find the room for those! LOL!).

Still, steady progress.

[Ianbavs]

The cosy Ht leads have a small metal pin that pushes in along side the inner conductor and the metal crimp clamps on this to give a better connection if u strip down the old plug leads :-)
Did this on mine 😁


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[MegatronUK]

Almost all of the hoses are now done - the only one that I still need some pipe for is the turbo water return to the header tank. I need to find a reducer for the header tank inlet.

Dump valve is installed, fuel pressure regulator, MAP sensor, Stack boost sensor, servo vacuum take off, Amal valve all connected up now. Also got the radiator overflow hose in place and routed back to the header tank. It's starting to look pretty packed now!

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Still need to fix the throttle cable, but not going to bother with it for now - plenty of other stuff to be doing. Next big job was sorting out the rear axle - here's why:

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So the axle is now out, and we intend to shorten it by cutting down and sleeving the tubes:

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At the same time we'll be fitting the new rear Cossie 4x4 rear disc brake system.

[wildo105e]

good job on the plug leads may be copying that technique

[MegatronUK]

Well, dad has been busy today:

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That's one tube cut down by 1" - it looks like the halfshaft could actually be cut down by even more than that; probably 1-1/4", and still fit okay, but we'll play it safe and go with 1" shorter for now.

Inner diameter of the axle tube appears to be a 'smidge' under 50mm (that's a technical term!). I'll need to get some 50mm external diameter steel tube to sleeve the axle tube join and we'll plug weld it through a series of holes around the tube (both sides) as well.

[paul g]

very nice