4 January 2007
Session 132 - Alternator & bits and bobs
Only spent a few minutes in the garage tonight spent my time driving around picking bits and pieces up. The alternator that I bought December which did not fit the Westfield brackets I got exchanged. The company were very good and equipped with measurements and photographs we went through the stock on the shelves! Not surprisingly the best fit was the alternator as used in the later 4.6 Range Rovers. This unit is a higher rating at 135Amps, I probably only need 45Amps, I could always load the car with spot lamps! Here is a photograph of the later unit with different mountings and larger serpentine pulley (7 teeth).
A trial fit shows how close the rear is the alternator bracket fixing bolt to the head and general clearance, I will not know if the pulley aligns with the water pump and crank pulley until I get these items!
Erm, the next photograph is showing a rather ill-aligned alternator adjustor bracket. Either Westfield supplied me the wrong bracket which I doubt as it would not fit the water pump perfectly or there's a variant of this bracket for later serpentine dizzy less front timing covers. Later dizzy less covers maybe shallower as no dizzy drive gear is attached to the cam making it shorter. I I shall call Westfield to find out. Worst case is that there is not an alternative and I shall have to fix a stud through the alternator lugs. If I do insert a stud I shall use 4 nuts; 2 on the outside and 2 either side of the adjustor to make sure it is secure with no play. All this however makes me concerned that the pulleys will not align for the serpentine belt.
Moving on to less problematic areas, cosmetics. I picked up a nice item tonight a billet aluminum oil filler cap. I purchase from Mark Hudson off ebay. Looks nice and quality item.
Photograph showing original OEM filler cap
Photograph showing the nice billet version from Mark Hudson.
8 January 2007
Alternator alignment woes!
I have spoken to the Westfield Factory about the alternator brackets and it is worse as I expected. The reason the alternator adjustor does not align with the front alternator lug is that the brackets were made to suit an earlier Rover V8 which had a different timing cover. The interim timing cover, a type 7, which has a provision for a distributor drive is 35mm deeper and this is why the bracket does not align. Making the adjustor fit with some modification as previously mentioned will not work as the pulley alignment will be out. To correct the pulley alignment one would need to change or fabricate a new alternator bracket to move the alternator back some 35mm but there is not the space between the alternator and the block where the alternator needs to be positioned to avoid the chassis cross member. The domino effect! Options are 1) obtain a shallower alternator, a ford variant but the wiring is different and the loom will need changing! and make up custom bracketry or option 2) replace the type 8 gems timing cover with an intermediate type 7. The westfield factory and many others in this position went for option 2. I think I shall go for option 2! The interim cover having a provision for a distributor is bigger, but you can get a timing cover where the hole for the distributor drive is not drilled out, this is the ideal, otherwise a plate has to be fabricated and attached. I shall keep you posted on the issues that I get in replacing the cover!
10 January 2007
fuel tank
My fuel tank that I ordered from Westfield last year! Okay 27th December has arrived. Not cheap at £238 but I think represents good value for money, its more than just an empty box. For one it fits the chassis perfectly and shaped to not fowl with chassis bolts, loom, etc. It also has a swirl pot built in to avoid fuel surge and all the necessary plumbing to attach fuel pump, return, air valve, etc. It also has the fuel sender built in and all that is required is just to plug the relevant connector on the loom into it. The tank is tig welded and pressure tested. Tig welding is a specialist job.
This would be the top view of the tank when installed in the vehicle. Red thing lets air in as the tank is emptied (probably quite quickly), otherwise fuel not come out of the tank. I expect this valve does not let fuel out!
Grey thing in the middle is the fuel sender which plugs into the loom so that I know when I need to pay a visit to the fuel station! On the topic of fuel I thought I would measure the tank and attempt to calculate the capacity. I think it is a little under 42 litres, this is a long range tank. Well long range for a 4 cylinder engine maybe, be interesting to see how many miles per tank I will get with a 4.6 V8 Rover engine!
View from the back of the tank, here you can see the swirl pot and the filler.
This would be the view from the front.of the tank. Again you can see the swirl pot but now you can see the fuel outlet on the swirl pot. The other connector you can see is for fuel return that is required for an EFI engine. Westfield supply a blank to screw into the return just in case you have a carb fueled car.
View of the bottom of the tank.
Here's a picture of the tank placed in its rightful place on the car.
20 January 2007
Got an autocad drawing from a fellow Westfield Sports Car Club member. I only have autocad R14 and this file was in R15 so I converted down to R14. Viewed the design and looked good, decided not to change it (at this stage). I took some measurements to ensure it looked like it was to scale, which it was. The autocad drawing had two dashboard designs that would fit on a standard A0 plot and soon to discover standard piece of MDF also!
I found a company on the internet that could take an autocad drawing and print out on A0! Wow, they were fast, I emailed the file mid afternoon and by the next morning a tube with my drawings turned up.
I spent three hours today creating the templates! sounds a long time doesn't it, but this is what I did.
- Fix drawing to MDF and tape all around edges to ensure that it does not move and is perfectly flat.
- Using a craft or utility knife trace thorough all the lines/curves to mark the wood underneath.
- Remove drawing and mark lines made with knife with a pencil to improve visibility when cutting with jig saw
- Cut out shapes with Jig Saw
Good result for a template. I will not sand the edges yet, I shall leave that to when the scuttle is fixed down for last minute changes.
Photo of my preferred template placed on the car, the scuttle in the background is not fixed down. This dash is sufficient as it has positions for the Speedo/Odometer, Rev Counter, Oil temperature/Water temperature/Oil pressure and fuel gauge. I might go for five smaller dials but the switches are normally in the middle below the three dial position. Yes the shape on the passenger side is for a glove box!
Here's a photo of the other dash design which looks more conducive to a digital dash layout and as I am going to analogue gauges (digitally driven!) then I shall not be using this.
25 January 2007
My Ebay purchased used intermediate timing cover arrived today along with new oil pump gears. This cover is a little dirty but I am intending on refurbishing it anyway. Today I spent about 30 minutes taking it apart and inspecting the integral oil pump.
Photo of the inside of the cover with the oil pump cover plate and gearing removed.
I am a little concerned with this grove, what is it, is it there by design? I am thinking it is because it looks machined and I cannot see any marks on the gears but then the gears are steel and the housing is soft aluminum. I shall seek advice before I continue.
This is a photo of the oil gear cover plate.
27 January 2007
Session 135 - Timing cover continued..
Last night whilst the wife was at the bingo (why doesn't she ever win!) I undertook to clean the timing cover in the dishwasher! I ran it through the cycle three times before I decided it was not going to get any cleaner. It was not covered in oil as I had used my paraffin gun and compressor to blast as much oil and debris away and this made a pretty good job.
Today I continued cleaning and difficult areas, i.e. behind the water pump mounts in the webbing and down the side of the distributor drive mount, etc. It got very close to be acceptable colour with little staining. I had a brain wave and tried some alloy wheel cleaner this to make a difference.
Here's some photo's after about three hours of cleaning!
The inside is spotless now, shame will not be able to see this and it will get covered in oil. Cleaned all the gasket surfaces. The top part has lime scale where the water pump goes, I used some viakal. Viakal is what the wife uses to clean the taps, it is good stuff!
By the way the little v-groove in the oil pump housing which I was concerned about is there by design. Something about reducing back pressure to prevent oil pump whine apparently.
Here's a photo of the front of the timing cover, as you can see it is much cleaner and the photo gives it more justice actually as the flash evens out the surface discoloration. I have no doubt that armed with metal polish and dremel could polish out but I have decided to paint aluminum like I have done with other bits on the engine at least it will match then.
By the way I have removed all the bits and pieces from the timing cover, you know I have removed the oil pump and its cover but I also removed the oil pressure sensor and oil pressure regulator.I have not removed the front oil seal but I will, it requires a drift tool to remove and insert a new one. I do have a nice new seal but no tool!
Anyway I am going to use a special primer called ACID#8 etch. This bonds into the surface of the aluminum by etching into it! and then provides a nice surface for the top coat to adhere.
The masking up with a little fiddly, it took me 40 minutes.This is going to be the newest looking old part ever I think! Here's a picture of the timing cover again but with the first coat of etch primer on.
I really do enjoy doing these little jobs. I can see how some people building kit cars can get overwhelmed with all the little jobs but if you tackle each one as a little project and do not keep thinking about the main project it helps! But then I am a detail not an overview type of person.
Top coat of paint is now on. Here's the photos of the finished article, well I need to install the bits yet. I think My water pump is new but I am going to have to spray that to match I think.
Photo of reverse. No I haven't painted inside! Just showing that I have painted the reverse of the oil filter housing.
Go to February 2007