Scimitar mission creep

[mpbarrett]

6 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

It's the hairspring for the gear lever bias. The bolts set the height of the fingers which set the neutral position of the lever.

OEM is at the 3-4 gate although personally I think 1-2 is better 

cheers, I understand now!

 

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Slow progress, but progress.

Finished setting up the reverse gate and switch on the gearbox, filled it with MTF94 gear oil (the latest suggestion to help sort the LT77 shift while not destroying the bearings a la ATF, etc), jacked up the front of the car and rolled the gearbox under.

Jacked into place. Rear mounting fitted and front end temporarily supported. Spitfire gearknob

Thinking that I might get round to addressing the excessively long hose for the clutch. The slave cylinder is on the nearside with the original Ford engine/gearbox and the offside for the Rover. Also faces the opposite way.

Some other jobs done while waiting for parts.

Straightened up and properly reattached the two rattly aluminum heatshields either side of the bulkhead/tunnel. The old speedo cable was pretty 'done' so replaced it with a new and slightly longer one. Which was a bit of a swine of a job.

And having thought about the oil pressure switch/fuel pump supply realised that as the Scimitar doesn't actually have a oil pressure light I could do away with the old and now unobtainable Rover SD1 switch and instead fit one of the ubiquitous inertia switches from ebay.

Meant unwrapping the loom to remove the wiring I put in for old switch when I fitted the V8 and then wrapping it up again but allowed me to tidy up the wiring around the relay at the same time.

I am considering where to fit the inertia switch. Under the bonnet or in the car to make access easier. What I am planning on doing is taking the trigger for the fuel pump relay from the redundant Ford gearbox overdrive connections behind the dash. Which allows a manual pump isolator.

The radiator was getting a bit past it even though it wasn't leaking. The bottom mounting plate fell off when I was taking the radiator out of the car and the top one wasn't that secure either. It's copper/brass so I took it along to one of the local repair emporia for them to have a look and was rather taken aback at the price. So for the same money I obtained a new aluminium radiator from one of the Scimitar specialists. I am amazed at the difference in weight between the two.

I also finished sorting out the electric winch I was given a while back. New wire and hook along with re-instating the overtravel switch and generally making the wiring safe. This now hung from the steel beam in the garage and has been tested by lifting the engine down off the trolley so I could fit the nicely skimmed flywheel and new Borg and Beck clutch.

I think that's it all rady to go back in.

At long last.

[Hamish]

This is getting more and more exciting as it all comes together. 

[PeteStupps]

Great progress, you've been busy!

I'd put the inertia switch somewhere under the dash in reach from the driver's seat. Just in case it's triggered going over a pothole or something.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Thanks Hamish. And Pete. Good point about the ability to apply a local reset funtionality for the inertia switch.

Spent the day in the garage and the engine is in, twice actually but we'll come to that.

A bit of rearranging was require to get the car under the winch so lifted the engine well up, put the front wheels of the car on skates and then pushed it so the engine bay was under the winch.

A trolley jack under the front of the gearbox and another wheel skate with appropriately sized blocks of wood on the floor in the engine bay to accept the engine and with quite a bit of adjusting of heights and angles I got the engine in and bolted up to the gearbox.

That was when I realised that I had forgotten to fit the blanking plate that covers the lower portion of the bellhousing.

Bollocks, athough I used a slightly different phrase..... a number of times.

It is impossible to fit the plate with the engine in the car so it had to come back out again. Easy with the winch.

Once the bellhousing bolts were back out.

Fitting the plate is a straightforward with the engine hanging from the ceiling although the two rear sump bolts have to come out first when the flywheel is in the way.

And then I noticed that I had managed to catch the clutch release lever and pull it off. Bollocks again. Fitting is very similar to the GT6/Vitesse arrangement, with a spring clip that goes over a peg and slippers that go into slots on the carrier. So an exercise in frustration getting the two slippers and clip all in place at once. Grrr.

Anyway second time around was a lot quicker but just as awkward getting to all the bellhousing bolts.

And while the engine was out the second time I took the opportunity to fit the starter motor which is a lot easier to do out of the car.

Then the awkward job of fitting the engine mounts and finally in place.

The steering rack is in there temporarily to check the clearance to the crankshaft pulley. Fore and aft is very tight. About 5mm at the rear between the corners of the cyclinder heads and the sides of the tunnel and 5mm at the front to the rack.

I have always thought that I should modify the rack mounts to move the rack forward 5-10mm to give just a tiny bit more room for the engine which would make changing the rear plugs a lot less of a trial. Didn't bother in the end when I did the conversion but thinking I should bite the bullet this time.

Would also make it possible to replace the fan belt without having to undo the rack mounting bolts first!

The only problem is that the monting brackets don't lend themselves to simple modifcation or reproduction. Those reinforcing gussets are replicated on the other side as well.

The bottom is bolted to a plate on the chassis much like the Spitfire/Herald arrangement and the rack bolts to the top.

I do however wonder if a single bolt in the middle to the chassis would be sufficient and allow a more forward spacing.

Thoughts from the Sideways University?

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Escadrille Ecosse
typos

[PeteStupps]

19 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Bollocks, athough I used a slightly different phrase..... a number of times.

Lol. Good work though. I'm afraid I know nothing useful about the rack mount question

Edited November 25, 2022 by PeteStupps
Typo

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Cut to the chase with the steering rack and concluded that a single 3/8" bolt to the chassis on either side was quite sufficient to hold everything safely in place. Moved the rack 1/2" forward which was all it would go on the steering column and before it would hit the radiator.

And rack in.

With the engine moved forward it's a tight fit between the rack and the front pulley but just enough space to squeeze the fanbelt through.

It finally (as is 20 years) dawned on me that removing the bumper support panel that bolts to the front of the chassis would make fitting the rack and hydraulic pipes so much easier. And it did.

Also showed up some corrosion in the crossmember and the front of the two panels side panels. Basically all the captive nuts pulled out. So I bought a set of replacement panels which are a. relatively cheap and b. galvanised.

Quick coat of U-Pol 8 etch primer and some satin black to blend them in

I also made up a decent closing plate for the gearbox tunnel

And a better heater return pipe. That also got painted black as I'm not into polishing bare metal.

Progress a bit slow as the freezing weather was not in the least bit conducive to staying out in the garage for any length of time but picking up at last.

Edited December 23, 2022 by Escadrille Ecosse

[Nick Jones]

 The Scimitar mission is creeping to its conclusion. Looking good and must be very satisfying to be able to make these incremental improvements along the way…. 
 

I hear you on garage temperature. It’s not that bad down here now. Everything dripping wet instead.

[Escadrille Ecosse]

A bit of a push today with the hope of getting the beast started and the rings broken in. And some two steps forward one step back as well.

Radiator in, plumbing connected and filled as best as possible until I can start it and get the rest of the air out.

Carb and cables bolted up, battery in and ignition on to check the fuel pump after my mods fitting the inertia switch. Zip, nada. Hmmm.

In the end I had to put the inertia switch under the bonnet as there was nowhere suitable in the cockpit. So started off checking the supply. 12V at the switch under the dash, and at the feed to the inertia switch. But nothing out of the switch. So took it off, jiggled the thing and hey presto. 12V.

Turns out the intertia switch plug was wired on the NO contacts. Presumably to advise the less alert driver that they have just crashed and had better turn off the fuel pump manually to avoid incineration .

Swapped the wiring in the plug to the NC contact and pump starts pumping. Woo hoo!

Next it's time to prime the oil pump. Driven by the distributor and on Rover V8s notorious for being a swine to prime. Trick is to use the tool that fits on the pump drive and spin it up with a drill.

However, even with that it wasn't priming so I had to pour oil down the pipe going from the pump to the remote filter after which it finally primed and I got good oil pressure.

Then distributor in. This is a bit of a faff of a job as the distributor has a skew drive from the camshaft and the location of the body is very restricted by the radiator hose and of course you also need to line up the oil pump drive for where it will be when the distributor is almost in. It's all described in the manual but because of the four barrel manifold the radiator hose is at a different angle and the distributor needs to be turned slightly to suit.

Thought I had it all in though. Leads reconnected and all set to go.

First turn of the key all I got was a click from the starter motor, but a gentle tap and second time fired up on the button!!

Bit rough at first but I hopped out to adjust the fast idle to keep the revs up for breaking in and in the 2-3 minutes it took to get the screwdriver and do that, the exhaust manifolds were cherry red .

So turn everything off as obviously running seriously retarded. Bollocks.

Too late by then so a job for tomorrow.

[Sprint95m]

9 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

I also made up a decent closing plate for the gearbox tunnel

 

 

The gear lever gaitor Colin,
is it new and what is it from?
I was asked about where to get one for a Triumph Dolomite Sprint and suggested Stag, but your one looks more suitable?

As always your updates are informative and enjoyable

 

 

 

Thanks

Ian

[Escadrille Ecosse]

11 hours ago, Sprint95m said:

The gear lever gaitor Colin,
is it new and what is it from?
I was asked about where to get one for a Triumph Dolomite Sprint and suggested Stag, but your one looks more suitable?

Hi Ian. It's from an MGB (!) BHH2049.

11 hours ago, Sprint95m said:

As always your updates are informative and enjoyable

Thank you

[Sprint95m]

Thanks Colin.

Coincidentally I have actually bought an MGB gaitor for my Sprint!
 

Really need to complete this car. My work situation has just improved because the shift pattern doing nights has been changed from four on/ four off to a much easier seven on/seven off, which means 6 days off every fortnight and not feeling tired all the time!
In a calendar year this change actually gains me 19 extra days off….

No real excuse anymore

Thanks

Ian

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Well things have been a bit frustrating with the car and it still not running

So had a look at the timing issue on the assumption that it was simply running too retarded. The skew drive gear and the limited space under the top radiator shoe make fitting the distributor on the V8 more critical than on the small Triumphs.

The carb version of the SD1 was fitted with the earlier Lucas D8AM distributor which are rubbish so I fitted a D8LM as used on the Vittesse and RR Classic. Even so to get it to fit I had to remove the amplifier pack from the side of the body and mount it remotely. Not all bad as it help keep the electronics cooler.

The other issue is that the upper mechanical advance section that carries the inductor and rotor arm is supposed to be retained with a plastic clip. Never seen one on any of the distributors I have and as a result unless you are extremely careful handling it the top section lifts up and the springs and bob weights explode.

This had happened to mine and the mechanical advance had jammed.

After a repeat incident I carried out a minor mod with a couple of small wahers and a tiny O ring. Although what was wrong with the bolt used on every other distributor made by Lucas I just don't know.

Incidentally I have modified the distributor wih lighter springs and less mechanical advance.

Tried the engine again but only slightly better. Also running rough, spitting back and sounding very unahppy.

So went back and checked everything from the engine TDC to the valve timing. Even checked that the cam followers hadn't stuck open for some reason (not easy to do). And again no joy.

One thing that did occur to me is that running the engine on fast idle (2000rpm) and no load to break in the cam and rings means that the idle circuit on the downdraught carb will be all screwed up and it will run very weak/hot as a result. Increasing the mixture doesn't help this it just tends to make things worse by adding combustion in the manifold into the mix.

The normal way to address this is to get the enging running and then add as much static advance to the engine as you can/it will take. This did help a little but not enough. And looking at the plugs suggested a very weak mixture on the front six cyclinders. Cylinders 7 and 8 being slightly less so.

My conclusion being that there is most likely an air leak into the inlet manifold at the interface with the heads even though there was no sign of any water leaks. I tried all the obvious sources like carb gasket, servo take-off but no joy. Bugger!

Nothing for it but to get the manifold off and re-fit with a new gasket. Double bugger!

And so here we are... (again)

While waiting for the gasket I had a go at the tracking with the new steering rack as I had only put things together by eye. I had previously centred the rack in the same way as the Triumph rack using the 'pip' at the pinion and got the steering wheel and column aligned on that.

So it was axle stands, two bits of wood and some (blue) thread to get the front wheels centred to the rear axle. Amazed to find that the drivers side was pretty much dead ahead and the passenger side with less than 1/8" toe out. Not bad for Mk1 eyeball.

Final alignment of 1/16" total toe in using my ancient but trusty Manco Wheel Alignment Gage (sic), with it's custom shaping.

Only bit of good news unfortunately. Unless you count the growing list of things I've checked, double checked and discounted. Grrr...

Further 'progress' (hrrmm) reports to follow.

Including hopefully on my diesel garage heater. When it arrives. Stuck in the Hermes depot in Glasgow since 15th December... Grrr again.

Edited December 31, 2022 by Escadrille Ecosse

[Nick Jones]

2 hours ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

My conclusion being that there is most likely an air leak into the inlet manifold at the interface with the heads even though there was no sign of any water leaks. I tried all the obvious sources like carb gasket, servo take-off but no joy. Bugger!

Tend to agree with you diagnosis…. Though how an air leak is achieved without matching water leaks is a puzzle….

Bugger indeed! No core plugs in the casting? No clues when spraying brake cleaner around? Do you have a vacuum gauge you could connect up?

Did you skim the heads? Doesn’t that affect manifold fit?

Hopefully the new gasket will do the job!

[Escadrille Ecosse]

18 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

Did you skim the heads? Doesn’t that affect manifold fit?

Yes and yes. However this was done previous to the current strip down. The skim of the heads has the effect of lifting the manifold in the vee but there is sufficient clearance on the gasket and the bolts to account for this.

I do remember having to refit the manifold due to a leak previously but I can't remember if it was on the original SU manifold or the 4-barrel one. Age doesn't come alone...

18 hours ago, Nick Jones said:

Bugger indeed! No core plugs in the casting? No clues when spraying brake cleaner around? Do you have a vacuum gauge you could connect up?

No core plugs. I did try the leak test trick but used the butane torch (unlit) instead . Might have been a bit too cold for the gas!

I have a rather cr@p vac gauge I can maybe bodge in somehow if necessary.

Meanwhile today while I had the valley gasket out I decided to do a double check on the com follower preload. The non standard cam means it needs shims under the rocker pedestals. Preload should be between .020" and .060" measured between the pushrod seat and the retaining clip in the follower when on the back of the cam lobe and the rocker gear all assembled. Check done with a bit of bent wire

And the followers drained of oil. This last bit is impossible to achieve in the car when it's this cold as the oil is just too thick to shift. So the job involved loosening the pedestal bolts enough to remove the pushrods and then fish out the followers.

These then got a gentle cook in the slow cooker to warm them up and then easy to pump the oil out.

Straightforward if time consuming. One definite advantage of the V8 arrangement. All OK of course but one less thing to worry about.

However I did notice the faces for the washers under the bolts have been faced flat but the facing is the exact size of the washer. So although there is room for the bolt within the bore the washer forces it off at an angle. So had a go at filing these flat.

Enough for today. Bloody freezing still in the garage.

[Nick Jones]

You’re thinking the washers were preventing full seating?

That follower business sounds like a right faff.

Warmer down here at present. Though damp….

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Slow progress on the car mostly down to feeling crap, the cold and waiting on a couple of bits to arrive.

However I did refit the inlet manifold with my 'revised' bolt faces. Was a lot easier to get the bolts in without binding and with them all loosely in I could shuffle the manifold to feel it into place. Anyway bolted up so we'll see.

The radiator top hose was definitely past it's best so I had intended replacing it at some point with silicone bends and ally pipe. With two gallons of water drained out it seemed sensible to do it before putting it all back together again.

That has been the biggest delay. Working out what I need a bit at a time then waiting interminably for the various bits to arrive.

Everything here now at last so while the diesel heater was doing its trial run I set about getting stuff organised and cut to size before finally clamping it all up. And the first job was to fit a vent from the highest point of the top hose back to the header tank.

I reused the rather nice fitting I had from the old hose. And made a punch from a bit of 8mm copper pipe to cut a clean hole in the, expensive, silicone reducing elbow.

Hopefully out again tomorrow with the heater on so I'll take a few more pics.

Edited January 17, 2023 by Escadrille Ecosse

[Nick Jones]

Progress is progress. This time of year is always a struggle!

Not too far off now….

[Escadrille Ecosse]

Out in the garage today. Enjoying the warmth from the diesel heater.

Got the top hoses and piping assembled. Major inprovement on the access for the distributor if nothing else. Plenty of options for the relative position of the body/vacuum capsule.

You can just see it but I had also painted the cast iron thermostat housing. Previously a rusty lump.

And this is the inlet manifolt and the bolts fitted with the washer counterbores removed. I didn't open up the bores for the bolts but on the passenger bank the heads must be 1/16" nearer the centre of the engine than they were before when the washers restricted their movement. drivers side similar just not quite as much.

Filled it with water and put the plug leads on.

Started no problem on the choke and this time running much more smoothly once the followers filled with oil. Ran at fast idle for about 10 minutes and the manifolds were getting very hot but this time sticking on more advance and weakening off the mixture kept things manageable.

Then dropped the revs to idle and final adjustment of the timing and idle mixture and everything cooled down nicely and it sat happily at around 700 rpm.

Ya, bloody hoo!

Need to adjust the clutch and check the slave cylinder size as the pedal is sitting too high and the release is very sharp otherwise seems good. At last.

The tappets sound a little rattly as if I have the preload a bit to large. I'll run it a bit to see if they settle otherwise it's just a case of swapping shims to close things up a little.

Oh and I suppose I should put the bonnet back on

[Nick Jones]

57 minutes ago, Escadrille Ecosse said:

Ya, bloody hoo!

[PeteStupps]

Great news! Good work under trying circumstances. Although I quite liked the look of the glowing exhaust manifold with the previous setup...

[Martin]

 I like the Scimitar 

[Escadrille Ecosse]

14 hours ago, Martin said:

 I like the Scimitar 

Thanks Martin. Driving it is a very pleasant experience as a rule.

16 hours ago, PeteStupps said:

Great news! Good work under trying circumstances. Although I quite liked the look of the glowing exhaust manifold with the previous setup...

Chuffing scarey standing next to it.

Need to book an MOT now. Technically I think it doesn't need one but still think it's worth it. January is a rubbish time for that though. 

[Escadrille Ecosse]

MOT is booked for Monday.

Swapped around the rocker pedestal shims to adjust the lifter preload and the enine is running a lot quieter. Had a bit of a struggle starting the thing after doing that until it dawned on me that I had had to disconnect the throttle cable and move the carb when I had the rocker covers off and had forgotted to clip the cable end back onto the linkage. DOH!

Fired up after that so I gave it a quick run up and down the road to check all working. Minor panic as it wouldn't rev over about 1800rpm. But guessed it was probably the new rev limiter.

It was. The instructions suggested that the limit would be set high rather than low like it was but once I got that sorted all well.

And the new rubber grommet round the gearlever is catching on the edge of the hole in the centre console which makes 2nd slightly awkward. Need to 'adjust' the hole a bit. But otherwise the gearbox feels a lot better even if a wee bit of third was as far as I could manage on the street.

[Nick Jones]

Ya bloody hoo again?