New Build from the States

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Mark I
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Joined: Sun May 26, 2013 4:35 pm
Location: United States

Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

After cleaning out the engine compartment we completely re-did the firewall and surrounding areas. I've gotten pretty good at this process now. It takes two of us four days to get all the neoprene and heat shield cut and glued in place.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

So this whole project started as I stated before because I blew up the transmission. Or at least I thought I had done. It turned out the torque converter had torn itself apart, which obviously destroyed the transmission. I went back-and-forth quite a bit on replacing it with a more modern one or doing what I did on my wife's, using the Gear Vendor overdrive unit. In the end we decided to keep it stock, so I had the transmission rebuilt. Since the engine was out I took it over to Clay, after inspecting it and because it only had 25,000 original miles .We decided to simply pull it apart, check everything, replace the rear seals, timing chain and install aluminum heads.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

Got the engine back in. As you can see I'm using the same pulling and belt system along with the FiTech throttle-body which is now in all of our cars. Clay spent some time with the original valve covers. He had to do a little bit of milling and opened up the bolt holes. I had some leaking problems at first but finally got rid of them.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

I ended up running the heater hoses the same way I did on the Coupe. I'm using the high heat silicone hoses along with a heat shield and running them underneath the intake manifold. Then around back and below where I've snuck in the new heater control valve.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

This is a good one that I've done now and two of our cars. You're looking at underneath the heater core AC box from the engine compartment side. Normally there are 2 round drain balls. All the condensation from the AC drip down onto the transmission then onto the ground. When you drive there's nothing keeping the air from blowing through and all the road noise. I have no pictures but I got a couple 1/34" brass freeze plugs, drill them out and put half-inch hose barbs on them. Glue them around the drain holes. Obviously wrapped that with the heat shield. Then I run a hose down around the side and back behind the transmission with a single drain ball on the end. You don't get the same road noise, hot air and this reduces air flow loss when the AC is on.
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Last edited by Mark I on Sun Jul 09, 2017 2:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

Moved the remote oil filter upfront on the main frame which is protected by the sway-bar, like in the Coupe. I definitely like this location better than where we had installed it on my wife's. There's more airflow and it's easier to access.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

Shorten and lengthen some of the hoses to get nice clean runs. Also did the same treatment on the steering column.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

So here's a mod that I've now done all three cars. This was suggested to me by a friend when I was getting the first of the three new aluminum radiators from Craig at Martin Robey. And since doing so I have not had a single drop of water underneath them, even after running hard on hot days.

Instead of running an open port from the radiator to an overflow tank which has a pressure cap on it. The radiator has the pressure cap which pushes the water under pressure over to the overflow tank. That does not have a pressure cap, I just took my existing pressure And cut the spring and remove the rubber washer. It's been explained to me that as the radiator builds up pressure and opens the pressure cap then pushes the water over to the overflow tank. And as it begins to close it creates a siphon affect and sucks that fluid back into the radiator. From my experience over the last months this is absolutely true.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

Well I was working on the Coupe some months back I had a friend who works on hot rods and he couldn't understand why there was a separate starter solenoid. considering there is already one on all the new starters. In fact I explain to him that I've actually seen one fry out on Tim's Jensen. Luckily the hood was open, we ran over and yanked off the battery terminal. Tim told me that's happened to him two times before and I've heard it form few other people.
So here's what we've done, again on all three cars. I have a small power distribution block that's tucked up and attach to the firewall. The main feed for the battery goes to it with a nice big fat wire going down to the starter. The two brown wires coming from the interior attach to it along with a new feed for the stereo and amp. Another wire goes to a new relay that then feeds down to the starters solenoid. The white and red wire that comes from the key/ignition goes to that relay. The ignition wire W/R is not quite powerful enough on its own to kick the starters solenoid.
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Last edited by Mark I on Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

After running my car around with the FiTech in-line pump I decided to switch it over to the in tank system that we are running on my wife's car. There's nothing wrong the FiTech in-line pump and filter system except that it's incredibly loud. Also I do think I'm getting better all around performance out of the in tank which everybody says you will.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

Took a few tries but here is a flasher and turn signal unit that works with the LED lights.
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

Here's one that most of you won't know about, I was given a 1 inch sway bar. Apparently 50 or 100 were made, We discovered this after pulling it out when we were removing everything. Look at the pictures you'll see exactly what I found. So I made up a set of solid links.
If you got one of the big thick sway-bars you might want to climb underneath your car and take a look
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Mark I
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Re: New Build from the States

Post by Mark I »

Already had a very effective fan shroud that I had made, similar to the one on the Coupe but wanted to see if I could improve on that. I ended up reaching out to Darren who makes the radiators and gas tanks for Martin Robey. These guys were definitely helpful and know their stuff. He told me that the most effective way to cool one of these radiators is having two fans across the top and one on the bottom. So I pulled out the old original shroud from the Coupe and installed. Definitely saw better results than the two fan system I had built. I then ordered a bunch of fans from Summit. Funny thing is Derale, Spal and Mishimoto all use the same fan shroud housing and blades. Electric motors are the difference. As you can see from the first photo, front left is the Mishimoto. This little 10 inch fan freaking rocks. It blows like a little mini hurricane rated at 1600 CFM. I did notice that the Spal fan to the right after 20 seconds starts to heat up where as the Mishimoto stayed cool. So I made up a new shroud with the Mishimoto"s and have been running them in conjunction with the autocoolguy.com 85 unit

I've been driving the car around in temperatures above 100° and it run anywhere from 170 to 190 depending on how much I'm stopping, going and all that good stuff. Couldn't be more happy, working on one right now for the Coupe.
It should be noted I'm getting my readings from the FiTech digital readout that's located in the glove box now. So I can pull it out and actually see the true engine temperature, not from the gauge on the dash.
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Last edited by Mark I on Fri Jun 30, 2017 2:47 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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RockyUSA
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Location: Tucson, Arizona, USA

Re: New Build from the States

Post by RockyUSA »

Super work. Really looks great.

Thanks for taking the time to post up... (Even though it makes us all jealous!)

Rocky
‘71 TVR Vixen 2500 - (M Series Tribute)
'72 Interceptor III - 133/5597
'73 DeTomaso Pantera
'74 Toyota Land Cruiser FJ-40
'95 Jaguar XJS Convertible
Basil McKinley
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Location: Tasmania

Re: New Build from the States

Post by Basil McKinley »

I agree that the work is superb which seems to be stating the obvious!. I'm wondering though if what looks like brass fittings for the aluminium water pump housing might give dissimilar metals corrosion problems down the track? Aluminium push lok fittings might be better?

Regards,
Basil
1970 Interceptor MkII 123/3798
1973 JH MkI 1141/12698
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