This weekend was going to be a little different, on the way to Mustang Maniac. A good friend of mine has been badgering me to come and look at my car and of course Adam’s collection of cars. Gary turned up on time and loaded some bits into my car. Before we even had a chance to say hello we were in our way. We had a good catch up on the way down there with the radio on, we did decide that Joy Division tracks before 9 am when Gazza hadn’t even had a coffee yet wasn’t a good idea. The journey was quicker than normal, we arrived parked up and looked for Adam. After formal introductions it was coffee and cakes time in the boys club. I spoke with Adam to see what was the plan for the day and decided that my aluminium coated headers were to go on the car then the rest of the engine parts.
I got my headers from the storage area and took them to the workshop and prepared what I needed to do. Adam kindly took Gazza out on a little “road test” in the recently completed Shelby KR tribute. I must point out at this point I wasn’t to impressed as I ain’t even been out in that one yet. Jealous? Yep. Anyway Gazza came back looking quite pleased with himself and decided he was going to help instead of having joy rides all day. Yogi and Adam came over at this point to check all was OK, the left side header was going to be a problem as the 3″ pipe was tight and not going to fit. The answer was to drop the steering ram and try to get up to the block that way. I was a lucky boy, it just and I mean only just fitted in. We were thinking that the engine may have to come back out to get them in.
The spark plugs were removed and the rocker covers to give us as much space as possible to work in. We were going to try a new set of header bolts which are supposed to stop them coming undone with vibration.
As it turned out the bolts were very tight to fit in place against the pipes. We held the headers in place with a couple of the bolts each end and dropped the gaskets in place.
The rest of the bolts were put in but there was an issue with cylinder five inner bolt, notoriously difficult at the best of times, but these new bolt washers were a fraction to big to fit so we had to use a standard bolt in place. Yogi left us to it and Gazza got some gloves on to tighten the bolts up before the final tightening. Just prove it Gazza hard at work, well working anyway. 🙂
With the headers in place we gapped and put the spark plugs back in. Next was the power steering pump, coil and one wire alternator. All looking rather good, but there again I would say that wouldn’t I?
Adam found me the a fuel tank sender a fitted it for me, it’s a tricky job and I forgot to take photos of it as I was holding the torch. Well, that’s my excuse anyway. All in all a good day and I help too. Thanks to Adam for letting me bring a mate to his yard. Cheers Gazza for your help.
What is he bangin’ on about? Yesterday I spent a few hours down at Mustang Maniacwhere I was talking to Adam about my next project and what I needed, that project being my wiper motor. It turns out that my two-speed motor is like trying to find mermaid tears in the ocean. It seems a total nightmare, but Adam is on the case so I will just have to wait and see what happens. While I was down there I also took my power steering pump and we had a look at the issues, the main one being that the pump is more interested in squirting fluid out the seal than it should be pumping out the back into the steering ram! It turns out that the last Air Con version pump was fitted to another car and I was going to be without. But that wasn’t a problem for Adam as he said “I will swap the “cans” over for you, it will be better than a new one.” This entailed taking the old case of my pump, and putting it straight onto the new upright filler tube version. The correct pump was found with the in line fittings and we went off to the workshops with a couple of pumps and the usual escort of guard dogs. I was told that the fitting for the pulley was an “interference fit”, this was new one on me. It turns out that interference fit is where the bore is microns smaller than the shaft and so its a real tight fit, no key ways are used. The special tool was found and I was shown how to do it. There is no way that any of my tools would have done it without damaging the pulley wheel or damaging the case. Watching intently the process took no more than twenty minutes which included me saying “hang on, I want a picture of that”. The cans were swapped over, an I still have the original case and tag under the hood from the original factory fit and not a reconditioned one. How’s that for customer service? I have added the full process to the existing guide, click here, or go to the photos, Engine bay – Power Steering Pump project.
Fitting the removal tool in place
As we were walking around I was shown around the new additions to the yard. I was shown a customer car that was a complete nightmare that was purchased in good faith, but turned out to be a mess and was in need of some serious TLC. Speaking to Adam he will post his set of pics on the blog when he gets a few minutes. There is also some news he will post about a car he has just bought. I was going to spill the beans but you will just have to wait and see on his blog what it is. It’s a little bit special shall we say.
I got round to bleeding the front brakes today and I can say – I have a pedal. Ohhh, yeah baby! I press the pedal the drums stop, the fluid don’t come out. The pedal don’t go all the way down to the bulk head now and there is resistance. I started off with the Sealey vacuum tool, (review to foloow very soon), then when the final air was out the tried and trusted pipe in a pot method was to be used. All I can say is thanks to the wife who sat there pressing the pedal to command. I did say it will only take two minutes, but as I have a clock in the garage I was constantly reminded of how many minutes had elapsed since she got in the car. The funny side is that as I have no seat in the car, all I could see was a pair of eyes looking over the top of the door sill when I got back up to top the reservoir up again. I wasn’t laughin’ much, honestly darling. Next Weekend I will put more fuel in the car and reverse it out of the garage and drive it back in.
That will be a big day for me if it works, I may just have to get a beer out to celebrate or I will be crying in my beer!
This weekend has been all about getting stuff off.
This weekend I am not sure what has come over me, I don’t know if it was the sunshine for most of the week and now it’s the weekend that got me in this mood. I think I have taken more bits of the car now than when I got it! The front valance is off (click here), the radiator valance is off, the hood catch is off (click here), the front drums are off again (click here) and then I started on the inside.
So the inside, has not got a headliner, no dash cover, no driver seat, steering wheel off, no rear parcel shelf and no dashboard again. The seat was removed as I needed clear space to get to the wires and under dash work. The seat frame had collapsed and my mate Will at Park Garage repaired it for me. The headliner, will be one of the last things I get for the inside. The dash is now out again so I can get to the wiper motor a lot easier. The wiper motor was burnt and melted, which I knew about when I went to look at the car and took a look under the dash. The bloke I bought it from said it wouldn’t take much to put right. Oh, how little I knew then. The fact this classic car restoration thing is supposed to be a learning curve for me turned out to be a reinforced concrete wall that I had run into head first just after I got the car. I now have manuals and I now have people in the know at Mustang Maniac who help me out with parts, advice I need and parts I should have but don’t even know it – yet. Sometimes it feels like trying to run up the playground slide in the wet! Don’t tell me you never don’t that as a kid. 🙂
What am I on about this weekend? I decided that the next job is going to be the wiper motor replacement, the fact the wipers are stuck half way across the screen annoys me and the fact I have not tidied up the wires since I re-wired her annoys me. The reason I have not tidied the wiring as I knew the wiper motor had to come out sooner rather than later, this weekend was that time. My research tells me it was going to be a difficult job so I put it off for as long as possible . At the Enfield Pageant I purchased some stubby spanners with this job very much in mind as well. Armed with my selection of spanners, screw drivers, pliers, various assorted ratchets & sockets, WD40, torches and just about anything for four bolts or three if I was lucky! The wiper motor is held to a bracket by three insulated bolts to a bracket. The bracket is held in place by four bolts. Two bolts at the top behind the dash and two at the bottom right up under where the brake pedal is located. Plan A: Wiper motor off, job done. Plan B: Bracket off not ideal but it won’t come to that.
So I sat down crossed legged on the floor pan and started to investigate. It was dark – torch (Snap On magnetic) sorted. It was very tight in there and I couldn’t see where I needed to go, extending mirror – sorted. 7/16ths stubby spanner to the inside of the bracket – nope! The arm of the back of the motor was sitting right on top of the nut I was trying to get too. Plan B was lookin’ ominous for implementation. Idea, Plan A/2, remove the arm then I could get to the bolts, I went to remove the nut on top, job done. Just had to lift up the arm of the motor spindle and I was in there. Nope, it weren’t gonna move. Poxy Plan B it was going to have to be. Remember what they said on YouTube – clips at the bottom and clips at the top. They will be a pain but can be done. There it was clip at the bottom, screwdriver in second attempt to open the clip success. I smiled. Then the top wiper arm pivot clip. What clip, there is no clip. So I cleaned the top up of grease and grime and repositioned the mirror. Moving the fingers to the top I felt it and my heart sank. A C-clip was on the top. It was turning quite freely and laughing in my face of concentration and patience. I tried long nose pliers and circlips pliers. No way, so I had to resort to improvised Plan B/2. This involved a weird contortion of the left arm and a small screw driver to lift the clip up on one side. But I had to have my other hand through the radio hole to hold the clip still from spinning. So there I was hands in the dash head trying to look through a letterbox of a dash-board and a steering column jammed just under the collar-bone. Eventually after an unknown amount of efforts one side lifted up and then it pinged up into my hand. Ha, who’s laughin’ now then clip? There is no way that little swine that still has my flaring tool part is gonna have this bit as well. OK, so I bent it a bit but it was off, I straightened it with pliers and it is fine again. The wiper arms came of no problem after that, they were able to be moved quite freely once they were disconnected. Now the four bolts for the bracket top two were simple and the bottom two were a bit of a pain. To cut a long story short I have posted a guide on the process here, or go to the Photos – Inside Car – Wiper Motor 2 Speed Project. Once I eventually got the bracket out it was time to take it back to the man cave, I uncrossed my legs and then it hit me, cramp in my leg. I couldn’t stand up or get out the car, I had to spin round on my back an straighten the leg up towards the rear window with my head under the dash next to the brake pedal. The pain subsided and it was time to get out of the car. I was crossed legged for almost two hours according to my clock on the wall. I knew my legs were getting a bit numb but my concentration had taken my mind of it all.
The parts were taken back for photographing for the steps. Sunday I managed to get out the power assisted steering pump as well as this has a leak from the seal at the front of the pump, I will need a new one of these too. I have also got a set of photos for steering pump removal here, or go to the Photos – Engine Bay – Power Steering pump. So If your reading this Adam, I think you know what I need, a two-speed wiper motor, wiper under dash loom and a power steering pump for an Air Con fitting car. The wiper motor was worse than I expected, here is a couple of pictures of the damage to the wiper motor, other parts of the wiring loom were like this as well and can be seen in the original wiring pictures.
loom plug melteddamaged and melted
They don’t tell you in workshop manual give yourself a break to avoid getting cramp! The do’s and don’ts of wiper motor removal.
Do take a break, and don’t sit there too long with your legs crossed. Will I get the clip back on? I hope so and to be honest a bit worried about it, this time I will not sit crossed legged for too long, but I will keep my fingers crossed!
