19 April 2021 Tidied up the garage a bit. Put the oil cooler and the rear coolant temperature sensor housing on the engine block. The last things left before fitting it into the car are the flywheel and clutch but I need to take it off the stand for that. Torqued and marked the brake pedal mount. Decided to finish off the steering column mounting, the bulkhead seal for the steering column needs modifying to fit the shape of the Replicar bulkhead. I Marked the positions of 2 of the 3 holes on the bulkhead seal. Dismantled the steering column (again). I had to remove the clutch pedal and master cylinder to get access to drill the holes. I bolted the seal in place with the two bolt holes and marked up the bulkhead seal where it needed to be bent to fit the shape of the bulkhead. I pulled the rubber bulkhead seal out of the metal carrier and then made some cuts in the edge where I wanted the folds to be. I folded the metal housing in my vice. Estimated where the second bend needed to be and bent it. Offered it up to the bulkhead and it was pretty close, bolted it in place and then adjusted the folds with a hammer. Drilled the last hole and then refitted the rubber seal and tested the fit again. All seemed good so I applied a thin layer of silicon to get the rubber to stick back to the metal carrier, bolted it up and tested the lower steering column fit, which was fine. Replaced the clutch pedal and master cylinder, torqued all the nuts and bolts up and marked them. On reflection it might have been better to make a cardboard template to figure out the folds and holes. 20 April 2021 Engine swap day! Undid the engine mounts at the subframe, and the few bolts holding the old engine to the gearbox. Attached the hoist and took the engine's weight, jacked up the gearbox and undid the bolts holding the mounts to the side of the engine, this made it easier to then lift the engine and get the mounting plates out of the way. Then I could get the engine completely out and down on the ground. Next I took the rebuilt engine off the engine stand, attached the engine plate before cleaning up and bolting the flywheel onto the crank with a new spigot bearing. Then I attached the clutch and pressure plate, using a clutch alignment tool to centre the clutch plate. I put the new clutch release bearing on the gearbox shaft. Then I lifted engine up and into the engine bay, aligned the engine with the gearbox and slid it into position. Then I loosely bolted the engine to gearbox and put the engine mounts into position on the subframe. I lowered the engine until I was able to bolt the engine mounts to the engine. Then I could fully release the engine from the hoist. I will need to finish tightening up the engine/gearbox bolts and the engine mounts but the engine is back in the car. 22 April 2021 Drilled the holes for mounting the fuel tank and bolted it in place, then looked at a suitable location for the fuel filter. I wanted it somewhere easy to access for maintenance so I decided to bolt in on the side of the fuel tank, utilising some of the old mounting holes. I needed to bend the old filter clamp so it sat the way I wanted but that was easy enough to do after cutting some slots in the bracket. I dropped it in the ultrasonic cleaner once it was bent, to start prepping for painting. I am going to reuse the Mazda quick connect fittings on the fuel tank, filter, fuel reail and fuel damper as that will simplify the connections to the hard fixings. I stripped the quick connectors off the old plastic fuel pipe so I can clamp them to my new rubber hose. I will use olives soldered on the end of the copper pipe to allow me to secure the rubber to the copper pipe that runs under the car. I dropped the pipe connectors in the ultrasonic cleaner as well. Really pleased with how well the ultrasonic cleaner works with the heater on using a mix of water and Bilt and Hamber Surfex HD. 23 April 2021 Torqued up the engine mounts, steering rack mounts, and front subframe brace. Dug out the fuel injectors and replaced the seals on them, inserted them into the block and added the fuel rail on top, torqued the securing bolts down. I painted the fuel filter bracket in black paint. I removed the fuel damper and the rubber bobbins from the brackets they are mounted to, and cleaned them all up. Looking at the brackets they seemed overly complex (and a bit corroded) so I decided to make a new simple bracket. I didn't have anything suitable in stock so popped out to the local hardware store to pick some steel angle up. 24 April 2021 Made up the bracket for the fuel damper from some steel angle. I cut the angle to the length I needed and drilled holes to match the fuel damper mounts and also holes to mount the bracket on to the chassis. Then I drilled the chassis by the suspension turret to mount he bracket on. With the position of the damper fixed, I also mounted the fuel filter on the fuel tank and cut the rubber hoses from the fuel pump to the filter to the correct length taking into account what additional supports will be needed to meet the IVA requirements. I inserted the Mazda connectors into the hose and clamped the rubber hose using screw clamps. Need some p-clips to clamp the flexi hose and also run the copper hardline from front to back.
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AuthorThis is my first kit car although I've messed about with cars all my life. Archives
November 2023
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