11.09.2019 Hurrah - got the gear stick on and the movement is really good. Only issue is from third to fourth, I could hear it catching something at the back. Had a look and could see it was catching slightly on the last H beam so will need a little fettling but nothing massive so fairly happy No idea where the gear knob is………...
17.09.2019 Fitted the brake and clutch pedals tonight and had a look at fitting the clutch cable. It wasn’t long enough According to the sticker on the pack and JK’s web site this is the correct one, but when I attached it to the leaver at the gearbox end and pulled it tight at the clutch pedal end, with the clutch pedal was up, it measured short by around 75mm………. The 68 to 71 cable shows as 3254 so still to short - or is it me?? Pic of the sticker. Fitted the speedo cable which went well. Another one for you guys….. Then tried to put the heater cables in. Cut the ends off at the engine end and when I pull them they don’t budge - is it just a case of more brute force?? Cheers
18.09.2019 Attached the clutch cable to the pedal first then to the arm at the gearbox end (with the wing nut only on by about 5mm). With the pedal fully up (as in clutch would be engaged) the arm is not perpendicular and when you look at the clutch release bearing is pushed out by about 5cm. Looks to me like the cable is too short! Then to the heater cables……… Started to work on the nearside one first doing as suggested by twisting and pulling - it started to move. Got about 30cm out then went very easy. I thought “great, cracked it”…….. Then noticed that the cable was uncoiling and ended up with just unwound coild about 10ft in length. Looks like the outer sheath is stuck inside (could be from welding the conduit to the chassis….) Really hard to pull now so gave up this evening and will have another go tomorrow. All good fun I suppose
So - took the cable out and measured it - give or take 5mm its as per the label it is about 3210 so can't blame them. It looks like I need the pre '71 cable then so will give them a ring tomorrow and hope we can do a swap. Also, rain stopped play so no real work made today.
27.09.2019 Hurrah - got the longer clutch cable (for the 71 year only) which is perfick Will take it out (again) now I know it's good and grease it and fit the rubber boots to go over the ends of the to stop rubbish getting into the tube.... Weather is crap this week so this is all I could do.
19.10.2019 Carburetor time so let’s give a clean and replace some gaskets and stuff. Here we are: This gasket has seen better days: Old one on the left but the rubber is thicker: Nice and clean: New one on the right……. Cleaned out the old one and put it back: All done: Just need an air cleaner to go on top. Connected to the manifold now so almost ready to put the engine in……...
01.02.2020 Managed to get the heater cables out, the off-side one pulled out OK but the nearside, I had to cut the tube near the engine end so need to find 1.5 metre length of 10mm tube - once I can sort this then I can finish off the underside and be close to getting the engine back in! Here is the steering wheel - not pretty but salvageable. This is it after sanding it all down and making the cracks bigger to get some filler in.
must admit my steering wheel is not looking that good and it's nice to see what you've done, nice job, what paint did you use?
16.02.2020 Went over the steering wheel with 600 grade wet and dry sandpaper, then another couple of coats of paint - ready to put back together. Also bought 2 x 1 metre 10mm tubing so I can sort out the heater cable tubing once we get weather that will allow me to work outside.
14.03.2020 Good weather today and nothing else in the diary so after doing some diy stuff and tidying up the drive and patio area I decided to add the tubing I bought for the heater cables. I needed around 1.5 metres but could only buy 1 metre lengths of 10mm tubing. I had some 12mm tubing left over that I had from tubing I bought for the van (can’t remember what for!!) so used this as sleeving to join the pieces today. A picture before the main work: Showing the sleeve - had to slit it so it would fit over (nice tight fit) and give me somewhere to weld and not go through the tube. The end of the tube still on the van. First tube added and the sleeve After cutting and bending the last section I welded the sleeves but the battery on my phone died so will try and get some pics soon of the finished article (minus protective paint which will be soon). Can now mount the heater tube, feed the cables through and look to mount the engine (gulp)
21.03.2020 Pushed the cables through the conduit and connected them up to the levers in the dash Also, fitted the clutch cable: Slowly but surely.
Did you know there should be a pile of plastic bits and bobs on the end of the conduit to both slot into that bracket and hold the cable outer in place?
05.04.2020 Nice day today so cracked on with working on the underneath. Fitted the plastic and rubber bits to the end of the tubes that carry the cables for the heater tube flaps Then proceeded to fit the heater tube - not enough room to weld so it's currently a push fit which is very tight and liberal amounts of Polyurethane glue stuff so will be good and strong Once dry I can fit the blue tubes then look to finish off the heating area and think about putting the engine in (realised I need to get to earth straps - one for the gearbox and one for the engine….)
11.04.2020 Fitted the pipes to the metal Y pipe for the heater channels. Then fitted the concertina pipes so near enough all ready
03.05.2020 In-between other jobs decided to put the steering stuff back in - lost one of the pics (deleted by accident) where a couple of connections soldered on the indicator stalk thingy snapped so had to weld them on. So - column in place ready for the steering wheel to be mounted. While in the gagare sorting a few bits and bobs out, the cat sneaked into the van and quickly dozed off…… Steering wheel now on - although I have a circlip leftover so need to work out where its from - about the width of the shaft at the top….. Bought a few bits last week such as the earth strap for the gearbox which I will try to fit next week then start the task of putting the flywheel back on the engine followed by the clutch.
