Week 8,1

New Year's Eve today so a quiet day in the workshop.

Used my nice shiny new ball joint splitter on the trackrod ends. Worked beautifully. To take the rack out I lowered the subframe. Its only held in with 4 bolts. The back two and the nearside front ones came off esilily enough but the offside front one seemed a bit reluctant. Got it loose enough though and then after taking the nearside antiroll bar attachment off was able to wiggle the rack out. Don't forget the bolt holding the rack to the steering column.

Where's the steering rack?

Not here....

or here....

Here it is!!

Week 8

A bit more progress today. The plan was to take the steering rack out. There is no power steering so not a mammoth task really. Track rods off the hub, steering column disconnected from the rack then a couple of bolts and its off. The nuts came off the track rod ends easily enough. Edd China just taps the hub around the taper with a little hammer and the ends just drop out. I used quite a big hammer and they didn't budge. I usually use a forked wedge on worn track rod ends but that smashed the rubber seal. Thats fine if they are being replaced but I want to use these ones again. Off to Machinemart to get a ball joint separator. A job for next time now.

One thing is becoming apparent is the amount of space I'm going to need for this project. I need space for the donor Fiesta, for all the bits that come out of it and then for the new hull for everything to go back in. The interior needs to be kept nice, especially the leather seats, so I whiled away a bit of time taking the rear seats out and I shall put them in the spare bedroom at home. The front seats will soon follow.

Next jobs on the list are to take out the steering rack then start cleaning it up as well as the engine, gearbox and shafts.

Week 7,6

So, with the engine out its time to start stripping bits off that need to go to Dutton for modification and preinstallation into the hull.

The easiest start is to take the gearbox off.

Need to take the clutch off to get it on the engine stand. Took the exhaust manifold off as well. 

 With the engine looking safeish on the stand, I've taken the hoist to bits and will need to hide it somewhere until its time for the engine to go back in.

Sometime before then I'll change the auxillary and cam belts.

Week 7,1

I was talking to my neighbour the other day about the project. He is restoring a Triumph TR3 and has been for about ten years. In conversation I said that I was just about at the taking the engine out stage and he offered me the use of his engine hoist and stand. Actually, and as he pointed out, the engine stand is mine - left over from when I made my Robin Hood Sub K with my son (now the owner of Up To Scratch) He was Director of Form while I was Director of Function.
So it was straight around to his lock up to collect the aforementioned hoist and stand.

The hoist needed a bit of putting together then it just needed sizing up to the engine in the car

Looks OK. So thought I might as well get underneath and disconnect the exhaust pipe and lower gearbox mounting.

Only the fuel line, the extended cables and the +ve cable from the battery to disconnect then

 Once the top mounts are unbolted the engine sort of just comes out .

and gets lowered onto a dolly

 Job done. Can now seriously start stripping stuff off to get to Dutton for modification and preinstallation into the new hull.

But before then - it's Christmas!

Week 7

So, while I'm waiting for the borrow of an engine crane and stand I thought I'd make a start on the doors. The plan is to remove the door locks and handles as well as the mirrors.
First job is to take the door card off which is pretty straightforward after taking out the screw behind the opening lever and behind the pull handle. Don't forget to disconnect the various electrical switches!
Having done that you'll see an inner card that supports the regulator and speaker. Take out the speaker. Lower the window to about half way down, or halfway up if you prefer! The glass is held onto the regulator with some plastic locaters. Push these through the holes in the glass with a screwdriver and pull the glass up. I taped it up out of the way. Its now possible to lift the regulator out of the way. The outer door handle is removed by slacking off the screw behind the grommet on the door shut. The seating is then released to taking out the screw at the forward end and pushing it into the door. Once three screws holding the latch in place are out then the whole assembly can be removed. It then a simple job to removed the wiring harness after releasing the connection at the hinge end. Don't forget to remove the body striker plates as well.

When you've finished you should have a pile of bits like this

And the doors should look like this

I put all the bits I don't need at the moment back in the door

As more and more stuff comes off the donor the more space I'm going to need! I'll be keeping to donor until the project is complete, I need space for the new hull and a little corner to store all the bits that come off the donor before reinstalling.

Week 6

Most of this week has been spent in preparing the engine for removal. First job is to get the driveshafts out. The Haynes manual wants you to do rather more than is necessary. I loosened the nuts in the engine bay that secure the suspension strut then removed the nut and bolt clamping the lower suspension arm ball joint. Removing the hub nut (32mm) took quite a lot of effort on the end of 1m socket extension bar. The slot at the bottom of the hub that forms the clamp for the lower ball joint needs opening up a bit with a chisel. Prise the suspension arm off the hub. This again needs considerable effort, a long lever and a lump of wood under the subframe. Once the hub is free then its just a question of using a hub puller to separate the hub from the drive shaft.

The nearside shaft is then levered out of the differential/gearbox casing. The offside shaft needs the intermediate shaft bearing cap to be removed before the shaft is just slid out.

A little tip here is to either drain the gearbox oil before you start or have a suitable container under the gearbox.

The shafts out of the car!

Spent sometime disconnecting stuff from the engine in readiness for its removal. The gear selector cables, clutch hydraulic hose, the heater hoses, air con hoses etc.

Here are the gear selector cables.

Week 5

So, having got the engine running right the next thing is to modify the engine wiring. The amount of wiring for a modern engine is astonishing when compared to the Sierra engine I used to make my last car! Amfey's engine will be in the back but the fusebox, battery and dashboard will be staying in their existing relative positions. I need to extend the cables from the fusebox to the engine. There are two bundles with a total of 47 individual cables including three twisted pairs.

To do this I shall cut the wires one at a time and solder in a 4.1m length of new cable - so only 94 joints! I don't get on especially well with this modern lead free solder and so I'll be using all in one heat shrink solder sleeves.

Here we are. I think these are great. Its a heat shrink sleeve with a ring of solder in the middle and two rings of melty glue. Just need to strip the end of the cable shove them into the sleeve with the exposed wire in the solder ring then lay into it with a heat gun. About 5 seconds later the solder and glue have melted and the sleeve has shrunk. In another few seconds the solder and glue have set and there you are - a soldered joint in a waterproof sleeve.

Here is a desperately disappointing video of one in action.

 So on with the work.

There are two bundles of cables to be extended. The first is from the ECU to the fusebox

 

And the other is from the the big connector just at the bottom of the picture.

This is what it looks like now.

It was great when having done it all the engine still works.


Engine out next

Week 4

Another quiet week while I wait for cable and connectors to be delivered. In the meantime I changed the oil and filter as well as replacing the spark plugs. I'll change the auxillary and cam belts when the engine is out of the car.
Took delivery of a new radiator and fan shroud that I'll fit later.