1975 LA Lancer Buildup - First Build - Page 5
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28th March 2006 - Diff completed
After six weeks I was very glad to have the diff assembled and back in the garage. As with most parts with this car, the diff caused some issues due to the gear fitment. There is still a question mark over the diff as the gears had to be machined to fit and could possibly come loose or move slightly. After it has been used for a short period of time, I will take it back to have an inspection to ensure all is OK.
Now that I have the diff back, I can take it to get the rear disc brakes fitted. The fabricator has looked at the Sigma rotors / Skyline calliper combination and decided it will work so I will be taking the diff to them this week for the rest of the work to be completed.
Whilst I haven't completed and physical work on the car in the last week, I have been chasing down some parts that I require. I have found a supplier for the front windscreen and rubber, but am in need of a real windscreen seal before I can fit the headlining. This is due to the design of the headlining, it is partially held in place by the windscreen rubber and I do not want to have it sitting there for a long period of time with out the seal in place. If you know of anyone that can supply a rear windscreen seal, please email me.
11th April 2006 - Rear brakes and springs in place
After two months of the car sitting on axle stands with no rear suspension or diff, it was good to get the diff, complete with the discs and calipers, back in to the car. With the new springs in place it appears to be sitting fairly even, although I am yet to measure it to find out if it is sitting even from side to side or back to front. I am still chasing down new shocks and sandwich pads for the rear and am purchasing some new rotors and brake pads to replace the second hand ones that were used in making the caliper mounts. Once I have all of these components, I will attempt to remember to take some pictures of the brake conversion.
Once the diff was fitted, work starting on modifying the standard seat mounts to fit the Sparco race seats. In order to ensure the seats are in the right position and that the sliding mechanism still works, considerable time was taken in measuring and testing before the final changes were made. All that is left to complete these is to drill the final holes and give them a quick coat of paint to stop any rust.
We also attempted to fit the roll cage, which unfortunately did not go to plan. After several hours of trying to line up the front legs to the main hoop, we gave up. The general consensus is that the drivers side leg has an incorrect bend just before it joins the main hoop, however we may just be stuffing it up, either way the car and cage will need to be taken to Bond Roll Bars so that it can be fitted correctly.
Another task that needs to be completed is the measuring of all flexible brake lines so new braided lines can be made up. I will also need to find someone that can modify the handbrake cables to ensure they work correctly, once I have these parts then the car can go to get the solid lines joined to the flexible lines, which will complete the brake system. Given the upcoming easter holidays and Anzac day, I am not expecting to have these completed for some time.
18th April 2006 - It runs!!
Given the amount of time since I bought the engine, I have been keen to get it running, also I have been worried that it may of deteriorated after sitting around with no oil pressure etc. The last week was spent putting the final components on the engine, including the carbs, gaskets, hoses etc. The fuel lines were correctly hooked up correctly at the engine bay but a temporary setup was used at the rear of the car as I had not yet mounted the fuel pump or cleaned the fuel tank. A bit of time was spent trying to find a problem with the electronic ignition setup, however we could not find the cause for the lack of spark and reverted to a points setup which worked first time. The only problem we then had was that we could not get the timing correct, so the dizzy was pulled out of the engine again and pulled apart. An incorrectly fitted spring was found, this was put in to place and the dizzy reinstalled, the engine then started straight away! It is running very badly, however that is to be expected as everything is new on the engine and it needs to be tuned. Apart from a minor water leak from the thermostat housing, everything else appeared to be working correctly.
Now that the engine was running, I put the car back in the garage and pulled out the diff, rear suspension and fuel tank. This is so I can fit the fuel pump, new brake rotors and pads as well as clean the fuel tank. The brakes have been cleaned up and the new parts fitted, the fuel tank cleaning is ongoing, but very time consuming and the fuel pump is partially mounted as I need to purchase a new connector to make it fit properly. Whilst I have been doing this, I also finished the mounts for the seats and put them in the car, the only thing left to complete with the seats is painting brackets to ensure that they don't rust.
Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I can get the brake lines sorted so that the car can be driven!
18th May 2006 - Quick Update
Only a small amount of work has been completed since the last update but work is slowly progressing. Due to the brake changes, none of the existing solid or flexible lines would fit, so the Lancer is currently at a workshop receiving new lines all around. I decided to get the lines made and fitted by an external company as this way I would not need to make multiple visits to the brake shop to ensure that each line would work as it connects to other lines and components.
Whilst the car has been away, I have purchased some other parts, mainly rear shocks and throttle linkages. The rear Bilstein shocks are not designed for the Lancer but after some comparisons it was decided that they should be suitable. As long as they physically fit it will be OK as they can be revalved if needed. New linkages were purchased for the webers as the ones on the car were made up from left over components that I had and would not of lasted any length of time due to the small bolts that I had to use. I have also ordered new front seatbelts to replace the 30 year old ones that I didn't want to refit...
Once the car is back with the new brake lines, I should be able to refit the fuel system and throttle linkages to make it a drivable car!
23rd May 2006 - More issues...
The car has been collected after having the brake lines completed, but due to the poor quality of the work, most of it will need to be completed again. Fortunately the flexible braided lines, which are the most expensive component of the work completed, can be used without any issues, all of the solid brake lines will need to be replaced/fixed before the car is driveable. Here are some pictures showing the work completed (click on each photo for a larger image to open in a new window) with arrows pointing to some of the problem areas.
What can't be seen in the photo's, is the main line running from the front to the back of the car, it was to replace the existing line which they removed and should of copied. Instead they have very roughly installed a new line, with no regards for form or function.
Whilst I have been kicking myself for taking the car to a dodgy workshop, I have completed some other tasks on the car. The rear Bilstein shocks have been fitted, it was a relief that they fitted without any issues as they are not designed for the car, many thanks to Sydney Shock Absorbers for the work in matching up the shocks. The linkages for the webers have been reworked and they are now much stronger and move more smoothly. All of the visible panel bolts have been replaced with new cap screws as the current ones where a mixture of old bolts with different styles and colours.
The new front seatbelts have been supplied by Hemco in a very short time period, they also worked out which seatbelts would fit the Lancer and they bolted in to the factory mounts without any problems at all. The final task that has been completed is the mounting of the fuel pump, once the fuel tank has been refitted and new hoses are in place, a guard will be fabricated to stop any stones etc. flicking up from the wheels and causing damage and possibly fuel leaks.
The next tasks to be worked on are replacing the dodgy brake lines and sorting out the roll cage so that the interior and windows can be completed.
13th June 2006 - Minor work
Not much has happened recently, however some progress has been made, the most notable being that the fuel tank has been cleaned, and fitted to the car. I ran out of new hose clamps when fitting the tank, so all that remains for the fuel system to be complete is some new hose clamps and a guard to stop stray objects hitting the fuel pump.
I also managed to purchase a new old stock ignition module to replace the existing unit which was suspect and replaced with points to get the engine started. I was unsure if the module I had was working correctly or if there was other issues with the ignition system and had planned to borrow a known good unit for testing before purchasing a replacement. However, I came across the new module on Ebay and at $10 I decided to purchase it as it would be easier then borrowing someone else's unit and it looked a lot better then mine. Fortunately for me, it also solved the problems with the ignition as after changing the module and removing the points, it appears to be working. I have only tested it be removing the dizzy and spinning it by hand with a spark plug connected to the coil, so I will need to adjust the timing to get the engine started again.
In the next couple of weeks I plan to take the car to Bond Roll Bars so that the issues with the roll cage can be sorted out as well as getting the headlining installed so that the windows can be fitted. Also, the adjustable strut tops that I have ordered should be arriving tomorrow which apart from aligning everything correctly, is the last part of the suspension to be completed. Once they are fitted, it can be taken to a local brake and suspension specialist to get the brake lines rectified (hopefully correctly this time...) as well as the suspension checked and aligned.
25th June 2006 - It Drives!
A substantial (well to me anyway!) amount of work has been carried out in the last couple of weeks. Firstly I wanted to check that the fuel and ignition systems were working properly after fitting the new ignition module and fuel tank. After starting the car, I took it to a private test road and gave it a quick squirt, after many years of work, it felt great to have the car driving! From the very short drive, I could tell that the brakes were not working as well as they should, and it is in bad need of a wheel alignment and tune up, however the engine appears to be running well and the LSD worked properly as well.
After that short drive, it was loaded on to the trailer to be taken to Bond Roll Bars to sort out the issues with the roll cage, I was very impressed with the service from Bond and they showed me exactly what to do when fitting the cage as well as removing some of the bend from the front legs to make it fit better. This has enabled me to fit the remainder of the roll cage, the only components remaining are the side intrusion bars, which need to be cut and bent to suit the exact positioning. Once they are fitted it will be removed for painting, then refitted so that the padding can be sorted out. Before the cage was fitted, I also made the new headlining and fitted it to the car. Once the headlining is extended down the pillars, I will be able to get the front and rear windows fitted which will make a major difference to the look of the car.
When I was loading the Lancer on to the trailer, I noticed a loud noise coming from the engine, this turned out to be the alternator pulley being loose, which required it to be removed to fix the issue. As the alternator was coming out and I needed to remove the webers to sort out a minor issue with the heater hoses, I decided to remove everything at once and sort out the engine bay brake lines by making a template and getting them made to suit my design. This turned out to be a good move as after I re-worked the main brake lines, I only needed to replace one line in the engine bay which cost $20 to get made. After fitting these lines and bleeding the brakes, the pedal has a much better feel, I have yet to test them out, but hope that they will work substantially better after the changes. I am very relieved that fixing the dodgy work carried out by the previous company cost me a lot less time and money then I thought it would.
Whilst working on the brake lines I removed the front struts and fitted the new strut tops that should allow for both camber and castor to be adjusted. Unfortunately these did not fit as easily as I would of hoped and they will require further modification in the future to allow them to operate properly.
Having to drain the coolant to fix the heater hoses showed me how difficult it would be to do on a regular basis without a drain plug, so the radiator was fitted with a drain plug before being re-fitted to the car. Without this modification I would need to drain the fluid from the car whilst it was not in the garage as there was no way of controlling the fluid when it was draining, this will aid servicing between races greatly.
As the exhaust manifold was also removed, I took the opportunity to make the gaskets for both the head and down pipes which have been refitted to the car. I was hoping that the thickness of the manifolds may stop the down pipes from hitting the gearbox, however it made no difference and it is still hard up against the bell housing near the clutch cable which will need to be rectified.
Having taken the car for a drive, fitting some key components and rectifying some of the issues, I am very keen to get the remainder of the work on the car completed and get some more time driving it!