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I haven't had much time to get in the garage this week but tonight I started reassembling the passenger side front suspension. I still need to compress the spring and get that in.
I also drilled a hole in the top of my brand new fuel tank as part of my fuel level sender improvement project. To keep the debris in the tank to a minimum I turned it upside down, set my shop vac to blow, and stuffed the hose in the filler neck so it was constantly blowing air out the hole I was drilling. More to come on that later when my new fuel level senders arrive.
Today was a long day out in the garage but I got a lot done. First up was the left side front suspension. All the pieces were sand-blasted and painted with 2k paint and reassembled with new hardware. Here are the control arms and the new upper ball joint.
I learned that the 2' long piece of all thread I used to remove the spring is a poor choice for replacing the spring. There isn't enough slack in the system to align the spring pan with the lower control arm. The proper Churchill tool probably allows for the right amount of movement but my home made tool doesn't. Not to be deterred we move to plan B - the four 1' sections of threaded rod come out of the box.
Using my floor jack, I raise the spring pan to compress the spring. I stopped every couple of inches and ran the nuts up just in case.
Without the weight of the engine, I got about half way before the front of the car just lifted off the jack stands. I used a ratchet strap around the cross member and attached to the jack to allow me to continue compressing the spring.
It was easy to replace the threaded rods with the proper nut & bolt one at a time.
Here I have replaced the brake line and started reassembly of the front axle.
Brake caliper mounted and new lug nuts on. The wheel bearings were packed by hand then I used the grease zerk to fill up the hub. I'm going to wait to put the brake pads in - I don't know why but something told me not to do it right now.
Next up were the fuel level senders. Here's one of the floats from the stock fuel senders taking on some gas.
I'm using reed-switch fuel level senders. These mount in the top of the tank and have a float mounted on a pole. There are no gauge electrics touching the gas; everything electric is sealed inside the tube with no way to gas to get to it.
I put one of these in my MGB a few years ago and have been very happy with their accuracy and functionality.
Here's another shot of the float.
To mount the new fuel level sender, I bought a weld-on plate. These senders generally have the SAE 5-bolt pattern so it was a good bet it would work.
I cut the old fuel level sender off the mounting plate - I needed to use the original mounting plate to seal the hole.
All screwed in and ready to pressure test.
With the shop vac sent to blow instead of suck, and the other end of the hose taped it to the fuel inlet there was a strong volume of air going into the tank. I sprayed soap around the welds - no leaks!
Both rear calipers got the sand-blast and paint treatment. The history said these had been rebuilt in the near past but I'm guessing someone has lower "rebuild" standards than I do. New pistons and seals should be here in a few days.
It was a short day in the garage but I knocked off everything on my to-do list. First was removing the bushings from the trailing arms. If you've never done this before there is a small lip on the big end of the arm and you need to press down from that side.
This side has the lip and should face up in your press...
This side does not have the lip and should face down in the press...
All set up in the press.
Here's the bushing about half way pressed out.
To remove the small end bushings I used a large socket as a presser
One came out easily and the other came out even easier. This one had been chewed up and split when I pressed the bushing out. I think I might have a spare out in the shed.
While I had the press out I removed the u-joints from the left side half shaft. Then I cleaned up the pieces and prepped them for paint.
Tonight I got the left-hand tank back in position and started plumbing up the low-pressure feed from that tank. -6 aluminum tubing from the tank to a 100 micron fuel filter to the low-pressure pump.
The weather in Chicago has really cooled off and today was a slow day in the garage. I started off removing the rest of the large trailing arm bushing that were stuck to the car. A lot of penetrating fluid and a large lever had them off pretty easy.
My EFI surge tank arrived this week. The Bosch 044 pumps are a perfect fit. I'm waiting on new fittings for the outlets and filter socks for the inlets.
I'm still working where I want t put it. Up front where the battery is would be ideal but the trunk would be a cooler location and might help the pumps live longer.
The rear cage minus all the parts got mounted so I could check clearances for the new fuel lines.
Investing in a tubing straightener makes like a lot easier. It's easier for me to work with a section of straight tubing than it is for me to try to straighten as I go. This is -6 aluminum tubing that goes from the engine compartment back to where the rear cage is.
The low-pressure fuel pumps feed the EFI surge tank and both started get plumbed up today.
I still need to pick up a pair of check valves but the low-pressure pumps both feed into this tee. The metal line in the middle goes to the surge tank.
Today I did some more work on the fuel system with a focus on the high-pressure feed line to the engine. I made a braided stainless steel flex hose to go over the rear cage.
AN -6 bulk head fitting on the left from the high-pressure fuel pumps, -6 aluminum fuel line up to the engine compartment on the right, and the hose bridges the two.
Plenty of clearance on the front side of the cage...
As well as on the back side of the cage.
After I repeat the process for the return line from the engine I will use clamps to hold them in place.
I'm also considering moving the battery to the trunk and mounting the computer for the new engine where the battery was. But I'm also working out an idea that would hide most of the engine wires so I am still undecided.
Tonight I started removing engine parts that either were no longer needed (AC lines, PS lines, exhaust manifolds) or needed to be out of the way to get the engine hoist attached (alternator, air pump). Then I hooked it up to the battery and made sure the engine would turn over.
After that I wanted to see how well my new Jet-Hot coated manifolds fit and they line up perfectly.
Although I really don't want to I think I'm going to have to separate the engine and transmission to make it easier to get in the car. But I'm not at that point yet so I have some more time to decide the best way to handle it.
I've had the sbc and trans in and out of my car many times, I found it just as easy to pull the eng trans together. Also, I always did it alone. I once had the eng/trans out in 45min. Proved my dad wrong...
Same going in though, I'd do it together.
Tonight I removed the wiring harness from the engine and ordered 4 Weber 48 IDF carbs to put on the car.
Just kidding - I wanted to see if you were still paying attention
I removed each connection one at a time and tagged it before I moved onto the next connection. The next step with this is removing the factory loom and deciding which wires need to stay and which need to go.
I also removed the transmission cooler lines and confirmed that a pair 1/4" NPT to -6 AN fittings will fit. This makes it easy to use braided stainless steel hose for my transmission cooler lines.
