oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Back to the straight six engine. The biggest problem was the scarcity of piston rings, but I finally managed to source some a couple of weeks ago. So the pistons went in Followed my the lovely new camshaft. Its a one off profile designed just for me. How lucky I am It will give similar benefits to a fast road cam, but retains the lower down usability of a mild cam. Together with the triple SU carbs, I'm hoping for around 130bhp, up from around 98hp when the engines were used in the Ford Zodiacs. Then the head went on. I've got to set the valve timing to work with the new cam, but haven't the tools or knowledge, so I'm putting it off till I can afford someone to show me. So I've now started to look at the massive task of the body. Yesterday evening, I took all this out of the nose cone. I'm not sure if its original, as the large panels would probably be needed for ducting air to the radiator and for holding the horns, BUT the quality of the fibreglass holding it all on is absolutely wibblepoo. I need to find another car to use as a reference. With all that out the way, I could get to the back of some damage in the front corner. I nearly fell over laughing when I found this. Someone filled this hole with MORTAR! The worst area on the front is here. Unfortunelty, it seems to have had a large shunt and all the gelcoat in front of the bonnet is cracked beyond repair. I'll probably grind/sand it all away and apply some more when I can afford to buy the materials. Opened up... A few other problem areas that I started to rectify this evening Then how the worst area was looking when I left it earlier (A LOT) more to come This is my first crack at any body work other than the engine bay work as above (which isn't that good), so it'll be a big learning curve to get it as good as it needs to be.
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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I hadn't realised how looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong that engine is, Josh.
The front of mine concealed frontal nudge damage too. Now you'll get into GRP repairs. One of the local Scim guys can show you the techniques to get started. With the other work you've done, I'm sure you'll grasp it.
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Sven
Part of things
Posts: 341
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Nice work. The coupe will be stunning.
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1969 Chevrolet 4x4 C10 Pickup 1969 VW extended cab pickup (doka) 1980 Volvo 240DL 1995 Mazda Miata MX-5 2007 Toyota FJ Cruiser 2007 Dodge Ram 2500 Cummins Diesel 2011 MK Indy R (building)
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Really liking seeing these develop.
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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I hadn't realised how looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong that engine is, Josh. The front of mine concealed frontal nudge damage too. Now you'll get into GRP repairs. One of the local Scim guys can show you the techniques to get started. With the other work you've done, I'm sure you'll grasp it. Oh yeah, with the gearbox on, it'll take up more than half the chassis length I'll save up and buy some materials and give it a go - the worst I can do is waste some time and materials I guess. Nice work. The coupe will be stunning. Thanks, I'm hoping it'll turn out ok. Time will tell I guess - I'm hoping to have it finished for the start of next year
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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I'll save up and buy some materials and give it a go - the worst I can do is waste some time and materials I guess. Buy a 1 litre container of resin, small bottle of catalyst, and a couple of metres of chopped strand matt. I think it'll be within your weekly budget , and enough to get you started.
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Mar 19, 2014 20:28:50 GMT
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Last week I pretty much gave up with this and put it up for sale. Every job has been a PITA and has gone badly. I had a think and I knew there wasn't much point on giving up now and I've just gotta get in with it, so here goes. Fuel lines in. I haven't decided on how to run it through the engine bay yet, so will leave that till the engine is in. Then back to the engine. The 'straw that brake the camel's back' last week was when one of the bolts that hold the cam sprocket on sheared off inside the cam. I just about managed to weld a nut on and get it out Tonight, we were going to time the cam in. That went well... Not. First problem: the cam thrust plate broke. Here's the broken off bit next to the (also broken) thrust plate out the spare engine So I now need to source another one of those. Problem number 2: the cam won't work. It's a high lift cam - too high for the rest of the engine. Here's a valve spring with the cam lobe at about 70% lift (the coils are touching despite what the photo looks like) The springs are totally coil bound, which obviously locks the engine. There's a few possible resolutions: 1. Have the valves re seated further into the head, so the tip of the valve stems are higher at zero lift. Not really an option as the valves will need to be seated so far in, the head will be seriously weakened. 2. New valves with longer stems. Again, not ideal as it'd mean the valves could be quite slack when at zero lift and I don't really want valves detaching from their springs at 6000rpm. 3. New valves AND new springs. Would definetly work if I can find valves with the same diameter stems and heads. Some investigation is needed and I'll be calling JW tomorrow to see why his cam profile won't work. I did end up thinking what other straight sixes would fit nicely in the car. I could've afforded a decent modern engine for the money I've spent on this :shock:
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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v8ian
Posted a lot
Posts: 3,766
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Mar 19, 2014 20:58:44 GMT
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retrorides.proboards.com/thread/164184/straight-engine-possibly-zepher-zodiacThere has to be ways around the spring binding, I'm assuming you have the tappet clearance set correctly, obvious one is to find better springs more suitable for the job, but you could pocket the spring seats, different spring caps can work, I seem to remember Lotus Twinks used a deep cap which would allow for more spring length, but you might have to mod the rocker arms to get the pads to touch the valves. , you will have to look at the spring caps hitting the guides in any case, I cant remember what springs we used to use, but it was something quite common, One check to make would be remove the binding spring, fit a fine soft spring and measure the fully open and fully closed distance between the top of the retainer and the spring seat. then you can search for your requirements on line.
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Atmo V8 Power . No slicks , No gas + No bits missing . Doing it in style. Austin A35van, very different------- but still doing it in style, going to be a funmoble
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Coupe post: Whoops, missed your post. Thanks I've now got some fibreglass materials so I can have a go on a simple split next week. I'm hoping I'll like fibreglassing as I've got a lot to do Engine: I rang JW (John Wade) today (after 1.5 weeks of no pick up) to be told bluntly it's my fault and he told me several times I'd definetly need new springs (he didn't; he said I may need to look into it.) He also had no issues selling me the cam. Ok, so I'll need some new springs then, to which he replied "do you want me to find some or are you going to ask someone more experienced?" Obviously, I asked him to find some (though he shouldn't have to 'find' any as he's recently built a S6 of a similar spec to mine) I mentioned Geoff had some double springs and he asked why I wasn't using them if they'd fit. Looking similar to the springs I have, I'm not sure they would fit and he then called me a SH*T under his breath and hung up Now I don't care how experienced or knowledgable he is, I am NEVER using someone who speaks to customers like that again. If he can get me some springs, I'll get them but if he doesn't, I'll sell the cam and get the other done to a standard spec by another Zodiac engine builder. Nothing's ever easy is it? GTE post: The car went on the rolling road but started to misfire moments before it was put on the rollers - even running badly it managed standard figures so it should be a bit better than that. It seems to run fine now, so don't know what went wrong there. We used it as a towcar to take our sprint car to a test day and it managed ok. I did a couple of laps in it (my first real drive of it) and its obvious the tyres, shocks and front suspension bushes have had it. It was hilarious I've already managed to get some replacment adjustable shocks and I'm going to get some tyres and a bush kit too. Other than that and new discs and pads, not much has happened. Just a good polish
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Last Edit: Apr 2, 2014 20:38:12 GMT by oakesy
'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Apr 10, 2014 19:33:09 GMT
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After a lot of messing about with the coupe engine, I've got it sorted. Basically, it was ok all along. The problem was caused when we built the engine up without setting the valve clearances. As the springs are close to binding when the clearances are set properly, when I did them a little too tight, it messed everything up. I dismantled the engine today for the valve caps to be machined (to stop them hitting the stem oil seals when at full lift) and it'll be reassembled for (hopefully) the last time. I also started on the dreaded body. I had a go at glassing a couple of the easy areas. I think it went ok to be honest. This crack has been glassed behind and should only need minor work to get it smooth on the front And this horrible hole has been glassed from behind but will need a lot of work from the front. A previous owner has sanded away the nice peaked profile of the area so some tissue and/or GRP filler will be required.
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Apr 13, 2014 19:50:03 GMT
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How that hole looks now. It just needs some fibreglass tissue and filler to create the original peaked profile And the crack. Again, just needs some filler or high build primer to get it totally smooth
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Apr 28, 2014 20:29:03 GMT
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Veeerrrrryyyy long time, no update. I haven't really been upto much as I'm doing some work on Lukeyboy46's Scimitar. Back to the front end: that massive crack has now had some attention. I glassed behind all the cracks on the front then glassed behind the whole front as it needs to be ground down from the top. Then I made the crack into a V shape and glassed the top side And sanded flush-ish (doesn't matter now, as seen later) Then I put some GRP filler to bring the rest of the dip upto profile which is now curing. Now I've started grinding the old and damaged gelcoat down back to fibreglass so it can be built back up with some fibreglass tissue. And I've started on the underneath of the front end. The back edge of the panel under the car is curved down to give it strength which is just asking to be hit by speed bumps (especially as the car is so low) because of the edge, when it is hit, it spreads the stress around the body and damages more. Long story short, there's a lot of GRP missing under there, so I've screwed a old flat GRP panel (with a non stick sheet) I had to the visible side of the damage so I can glass behind it and get it all flush with less effort.
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Last Edit: Apr 28, 2014 20:29:46 GMT by oakesy
'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Apr 29, 2014 18:29:08 GMT
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All the damaged gelcoat has now been removed from the front ready to be built up with glass tissue. I'm itching all over from that horrible stuff
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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May 31, 2014 19:36:45 GMT
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Jul 12, 2014 18:17:17 GMT
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The main job over the past two weeks was to get the yellow Scim driving nicely as it's always driven like a bag of nails. The front suspension setup on Scims is very similar to TR6s, so have the same typical issues involving trunnions. Both the trunnions were totally knackered, allowing huge movement of the upright inside the trunnion. Luckily, the uprights were not damaged as I couldn't of afforded the £150 each for new ones. Brief list of other things that were wrong which would've made the car drive like curse word: Old tyres Tracking out Knackered shocks Bolts that go through the trunnions were seized so didn't allow the suspension to move up and down correctly All rubber bushes were badly perished All metal inserts of bushes were heavily corroded and most seized to the bolts that went through them The fulcrums (that connect the upper wishbones to the chassis) were knackered and 2 of the wishbone bushes were seized onto the fulcrums The shocks took three weeks as they're made to order but my god they're worth it 8) So I stripped everything down which didn't go too badly. I had two bolts shear and get stuck in the chassis, but managed to weld some nuts on and the heat helped un seize them. I got it re assembled with all new poly bushes, wheel bearings, trunnions, trunnion fitting kits, fulcrums, shocks, ball joints, tracking done and new nuts and bolts where required. Of course, it would've been rude not to paint it all too The brakes still need sorting ideally, but I'm onto it. I just need to buy and adapt some vented disks to go under these 8) I also replaced the engine mounts as they were a bit old and I did the gaskets on the tubular manifolds I fitted (and welded them from when they hit a speedbump ) All back together now and it drives a billion times better (not that I would know as I'm too young to drive... ) I've made a little bit of progress on the Coupe but not enough to keep anyone interested
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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Jul 13, 2014 12:11:04 GMT
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Some challenging fibreglass work there! are you going to re-do the gel coat on the whole car?
on the engine rebuild you're on a learning curve, try reading one of David Vizard's old tuning books.
To set the cam timing it helps to know the degrees of duration and overlap you have on your new cam, e.g 260 intake and exhaust duration, 20 degrees overlap. You can make or buy a timing disc to help set the cam timing. A dial-test-indicator on the valve stem is also handy.
Higher lift cams often require uprated springs to keep the cam follower in contact with the cam at high rpm.
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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Jul 14, 2014 18:21:31 GMT
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Yes, the fibreglass is, erm, interesting. In a lot of ways, the shell was in very good condition, it's just the front and rear ends where it's been in collisions. Regards gelcoat, I'm going to leave it to the painter. I've decided I'm going to leave most the bodywork to him now as I'm not confident I'm doing it right. I will learn one day but I'm not sure this is the car I should be learning on. I've built the front end up with glass tissue but again, I'm just going to leave it now. No point doing something that will probably be re done before paint
Haven't heard of Davis Vizard, will have search. I'm pretty confident on the engine now. I built it up a few times and checked it all over. I've got some alternative valve springs I can try once if I get any problems.
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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oakesy
Part of things
Posts: 305
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This is the job list I've got to do before the massive Scimitar show which is next Thursday, so I set to work today Buy and fit new fuel lines and clips Re torque head bolts and re do valve clearances Fit new mirrors Fit new brake discs and calipers Done - just need to made pipes and bleedWeld two little but hard to reach holes in NS outrigger Fit new gearbox mount DoneBuy and fit new headlight adjusters and/or pods Had a look, some new units are requiredSet suspension up Weld pinholes in OS manifold Buy and replace diff pinion seal Remove towbar Half done, need more tools from the garageChange coolant DoneMOT Being booked for FridayTax ( Done - thanks Dad )I'm quite pleased with the brakes as some detective work was needed to sourse the right pads and get everything lined up right. I was going to buy some Sierra discs and get them adapted myself but didn't want to run out of time so I just bought them from RalDes and I'm glad I did now. Ordered Wed evening and arrived Friday - worth the extra ££ for sure.
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'66 Scimitar Coupe Straight Six in no Paint '74 Scimitar GTE in Yellow '71 Jaguar XJ6 in Blue '76 Scimitar GTE '87 Scimitar Turbo Previous- '87 Scimitar SS1 Turbo, '75 Triumph Toledo, '86 VW Scirocco, '93 Scimitar Sabre, '85 Scimitar SS1, '76 Scimitar GTE, '71 Scimitar GTE
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Sept 2, 2014 10:43:52 GMT
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Two very nice Scim's there sir, lovely stuff...!
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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Sept 2, 2014 14:03:12 GMT
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Cracking stuff. Thanks for taking the time to post. I'll have a proper read of your thread on scimitar web. I'm very interested to hear that you didn't bother to replace the metal inside the sills. I've not heard of that before (but not done much reading to be honest).
It's great to see someone who must have felt as lost as I do now get cracking on with the GRP repairs. I'm at a bit of a loss of where to start but I think your posts have given me something to work from. Did you find any good reading material on the subject?
Cheers!
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