'74 Vauxhall Viva - Twink > SBC V8 - Shockingly slow - pg32

[Steve]

Running update time

1256 is singing along quite nicely at the moment, aside from a few small hick-ups she's now running quite well. I have reverted back to the stromberg carb for now........the weber sounded nice but was drinking fuel like there was no tomorrow so i expect ive prob regained at least 5 maybe 6bhp and reasonable fuel consumption when I'm not giving it the boot!
As of half an hour ago I'm now the owner of a type9 gearbox for the twin-cam project, just gotta go and pick it up sometime in the week.........things are moving along, all be it slowly

Steve

[B-8-D]

excellent news about the gearbox steve..
have some summer fun whilst collecting stuf and do the conversion in the winter...

si

[craig]

What you need now is a 1256 - type 9 bell housing. It's half done then ;D

[Steve]

Jun 23, 2010 19:34:05 GMT craig said:

What you need now is a 1256 - type 9 bell housing. It's half done then ;D

Hmmm, as tempting that may be i think I'm gonna have to pass mate as knowing my luck the gearbox will prob be in the wrong place so my already cut-up crossmember would not fit PLUS any prop i make up would then also be the wrong length when it came to fitting the twin-cam.

Well, ive not long got back from collecting my type9 and to my suprise the car barely drank a drop of fuel during the 50mile trip......either I'm being rather gentle on the throttle or the 1256 has decided it doesnt like unleaded and is weening itself off it ;D Gonna start cleaning&assessing the condition of it tomorrow but as for anymore progress being made in terms of parts buying........this is prob the last update for quite sometime due to a massive funds issue(as in I AINT GOT ANY!!) so until some kind of payed work comes along I'm pretty much at a standstill

Thanks everyone for following my efforts to polish a turd into something slightly better ;D

Cheers
Steve

[icedmunkie]

Looking good mate,
I am looking at tuning a 1256 and somebody has also mentioned a type 9 box....

[Steve]

Jun 24, 2010 12:17:57 GMT icedmunkie said:

Looking good mate,
I am looking at tuning a 1256 and somebody has also mentioned a type 9 box....

For Type9 conversion parts speak to Craig mate, he can knock you up a bellhousing as for tuning a 1256...........it can be done but given the amount of other engines out there of similar size that are simply miles ahead in terms of refinement&power......it aint worth it dude If that doesnt put you off................ive got a dcoe weber on a 1256 manifold that might aid you in your quest for power ;D

Steve

[Steve]

I felt the need to go out to the garage this evening to have a fiddle with the twin-cam bits, bolted the skimmed flywheel onto the engine then the clutch pressure cover so that i could put the gearbox on to see if the clutch is gonna operate properly.....and uhh......it don't




The only way i could get any free movement of the clutch release arm was to loosen the g'box bolts a bit and pull it back about 7-8mm so looks like either I'm gonna have to look into if there is a different design of clutch that will fit this engine OR see if i can loose some more meat off the flywheel........bummer really as the more weight i lose of the flywheel, the more low-down grunt i lose

Also, the g'box came with the splined end of a propshaft but yet again this appears to be part of a 2-piece prop(like whats fitted to the MT75 g'box)......i don't want a 2-piece so will prob go hunting for the remains of a single-piece jobbie or try and adapt what i have and cobble together a one-piece prop.
Here's a pic of what i have to work with:



Got two-weeks temp work starting monday so wont be doing alot with this for a while, and all money earned has gotta go towards the ever growing pile of bills so no spending on the car

Laters
Steve

[sheffieldcortinacentre]

you'll have to space the box 10 mm & the starter same , theres no clutch pressure plte thin enough.
also the only one piece prop that may work is avenger or mk4 zep/zod but both need diff flange swapping for viva.
other option is mk2 escort auto & rs 2000 2 piece length is right but again needs viva diff flange fitting.
as the 2.0 & above props use the rubber doughnut which can't cope with angles.

[Steve]

Jun 25, 2010 23:34:16 GMT sheffieldcortinacentre said:

you'll have to space the box 10 mm & the starter same , theres no clutch pressure plte thin enough.
also the only one piece prop that may work is avenger or mk4 zep/zod but both need diff flange swapping for viva.
other option is mk2 escort auto & rs 2000 2 piece length is right but again needs viva diff flange fitting.
as the 2.0 & above props use the rubber doughnut which can't cope with angles.

Thanks for the info on props, think i need to go hunting for a zeph/zodiac prop.....is the splined shaft going into the box the same number of splines?

And as for the spacing issue, i had the flywheel skimmed 10mm to try and address the issue but it doesnt seem to have been enough, now I'm a bit worried that soon the recess in the centre of the flywheel wont be enough for the clutch to work.

Steve

[yoeddynz]

i had the same prob with my type 9 on back of crossflow in my viva. There are two types of clutch fork/arms. Both quite different. You might have wrong one. The one i had was like yours and i could not get any movement at all. Ask about- you'll find the one you need.

[sheffieldcortinacentre]

yes its the right spline

[craig]

I got the spline end of a Capri prop here you can have? I'll take some more off your flywheel too if you want? I'll come round soon and get the mock up box back off you.

[Steve]

Jun 27, 2010 18:55:39 GMT craig said:

I got the spline end of a Capri prop here you can have? I'll take some more off your flywheel too if you want? I'll come round soon and get the mock up box back off you.

Thanks dude, i'll give you a bell next week or poss drop that 'box back to you

Last weekend i decided to do something about my front speakers in the car........ever since i fitted the stereo in i had gone along with the "ghetto" loose speakers under the dash look and had decided enough was enough and made some mounts for them.

Here's a couple of pics during:



Made out of old Land-Rover roof ally and some old speaker grills i had kicking about, due to not having a hole saw big enough i ended up chain-drilling the hole out then going round with a file to smooth it out Took quite a while but was worth it.

And here is one i made earlier:


They blend in wonderfully with the rest of the dash and seem almost invisible when you look in through the windows.....and added bonus is they sound MUCH better than before

Steve

[carmad]

that speaker looks awesome

[Steve]

Jul 3, 2010 8:01:29 GMT carmad said:

that speaker looks awesome

Thanks dude.......may be willing to make another pair for anyone who wants them

Today we have mostly been doing Flyeyes ;D

We start with this:

Slightly bent but otherwise very pretty(beauty is in the eyes of the beholder )

Started off with the o/s headlight.....realized that the stuff wouldnt work very well when applying over the whole lens so did just the front face of the lamp which kinda works but may do the outer edge at some point

One side done along with indicator lens:


Then other side:


It works for me, but I'm a little pee'd off that i managed to get the o/s indicator slightly on the curse word when i put the material on .....prob gonna do it again

Whats the collective opinion??? I'm thinking of doing the rear lights in it too....

Steve

[Deleted]

i think it looks really smart for what its worth mate

[carmad]

that would hide my headlights that are all rusty inside lol

was it some sort of tint spray?

[Rusted Pistons]

In the past 2 weeks Ive spent over £30 on tint spray and the paint has reacted everytmie no matter how thorough my prep. After seeing peoples results on here Ive stumped up some more cash and ordered some red flyeys for my tail lights, looks like proper good stuff, the tint spray has had it for me, its an to use and its hard to get the right finish, it also remains soft so its really hard to polish without scratching it. Nice one dude, viva looks ace and I love the tints

[Loxlee]

looks good with the tints mate!

The little speaker boxes are cool good work!

[Deleted]

I think the flypaper is an improvement on the nose end, really cleans it all up and makes it look wider. Those speaker boxes are really smart too, look nice and tidy with lots of space to put bigger ones in if it turns out you want to later on.