Kit's fresh Fords and Swedes

9,265 · October 25, 2020

I would like to say that you do utterly shit work... sadly my deal with the priest to stop being such a sour old lying git precludes such a statement. So I'll tell the truth: Fantastic work! Not only must you keep it up, you must also post many many updates to this thread so that I and others can live vicariously through you.

4,645 · October 25, 2020

2 hours ago, sickboy said:

Nah I'm just an amateur bodger........

.......although seriously, I'm willing to do bits on other's cars if they ask nicely

South west shitters, please form an orderly queue

19,503 · October 25, 2020

Man, that's some nice work...

How has a Cali car ended up so crusty though?

1,728 · October 26, 2020

8 hours ago, spartacus said:

Great selection of cars there and great work going into that Falcon.

More about the AX please, when you get chance.

Thanks! I’ll present some coverage of it later this week. Until then, have some teaser shots of its French grimness.....

8 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Man, that's some nice work...

How has a Cali car ended up so crusty though?

Believe it or not, by 60’s yank standards, this isn’t crusty. If this was from say North Dakota or Minnesota for example, you’d have no floor at all and no lower 8-10” behind the arches. I doubt mine would have rusted so badly in the arch if it had been repaired probably in the first place.

Besides, I don’t know where in California it spent most of its life. California’s a big state; North Cali climate varies a lot from South Cali’s.

Thanks for the kind kudos all of you, genuinely flattered.

14,085 · October 26, 2020

This is amazing. Educational reading.

2,275 · October 26, 2020

Great posts, I love to see somebody with proper skills giving a car love like this.

Taking time to put the factory pressings back in panels that wont be seen shows true commitment.

8,345 · October 26, 2020

Just read this through, top skillz Sir, although I reckon you're doing yourself a disservice by calling your labours "bodgery"!

My welding talents have long gone, and even when we were racing 20 years ago they were approximately 97.341674% shitter that this.

1,728 · October 26, 2020

1 hour ago, outlaw118 said:

Just read this through, top skillz Sir, although I reckon you're doing yourself a disservice by calling your labours "bodgery"!

My welding talents have long gone, and even when we were racing 20 years ago they were approximately 97.341674% shitter that this.

Thanks man, that means a lot. I really enjoy it. Granted, I wasn't intending that " bodgery" remark to be taken seriously 😄

I do the odd bit of this sort of thing for other people on the side , so am always happy to assist 🙂

1,728 · October 28, 2020

Thought I'd show a bit more. The door glass channels were shot to bits, to the point they were removed with a brush! Whilst making new ones I found the nylon bushes which run in the rail were worn out, so I made new ones from aluminium at the same time.

I used Tiger Seal to affix the channel to the glass.

3,058 · October 28, 2020

Impressive 👍

1,728 · October 28, 2020

A few pictures of the engine, although not a lot to show yet. I have most of the jammy bits to build it now, just need to order pistons and rings. Taken ages researching the best pistons to use in terms of comp ratio, valve reliefs, ring pack, material etc. Think I'm decided on the right ones now.

Then I need to put my hand in my pocket for machine work. Its in bits at the moment; I work for a machine shop / classic engine specialist so most of the bottom end is currently residing under my bench at work. A job for the winter is the plan...

1,728 · October 28, 2020

All brakes rebuilt, new cylinders and hard lines. I also made a drain bung for the axle casing and welded that in, since these Ford 8" and 9" axles never had this provision, so you normally have to split the 3rd member to drain the oil (and yes, I decided to do this AFTER I painted it!!) 🙄

1,728 · October 28, 2020

The steering idler bracket had been bodged and bird-shit welded to the chassis rail. Not sure why, perhaps to clear the transplanted V8's exhaust or something since this was originally a 6cyl car. Seeing the daft money some of them were on eBay USA for, I opted to cut this off and make one

1,728 · October 28, 2020

Finished the inner wheel tub. My homebrewed bead roller really helped make this, at it needed to be a compound curve. I had to trim more of this inner arch out than needed for rot repair (you can see the stitching in the second picture down). This was to allow access for the dolly when planishing any imperfections. I then stripped, primed and undersealed both rear tubs, and primed and chassis black the entire back side of the new rear quarter.

Then it was onto filler work, which isn't a job I enjoy. I undertook this in dribs and drabs over the summer, to avoid driving myself mad!! I kept redoing bits trying to make them a bit better, all the while with passing mates saying "just bloody prime it!!"

But, desperate to get it in primer before the cold and damp weather set in, I finally got to this stage a few weeks ago and I epoxy primed it

Turned out OK. I plan to get it n the road in primer then find someone to spray the top coat later on. Its been repsrayed before so I have no idea what shade red it is now

Fitted the axle last weekend

13,410 · October 28, 2020

Stunning.

6,699 · October 28, 2020

Looks highly professional that.

I had understood that leaving a car in primer was a bad idea as it can absorb water; I take it that's not the case with epoxy primer?

1,728 · October 29, 2020

7 hours ago, cort1977 said:

Looks highly professional that.

I had understood that leaving a car in primer was a bad idea as it can absorb water; I take it that's not the case with epoxy primer?

Epoxy is still porous, but a lot more forgiving than other primers. Its just until I can get it on the road and registered, it’s not a permanent state.

It will hopefully be on it’s wheels in the coming weeks and then I can start thinking about wiring and putting the interior back in......or wheel it out and get the Saab in for welding whilst I save the money for the Falcon wiring harness 🤔

36,632 · October 29, 2020

Incredibly impressive work here! I've not had the time or energy to carry on with my Dolomite, but my work will be very embarrassing against the quality of yours!

26,577 · October 30, 2020

I'm looking at your work here, and thinking back over what I've been doing this summer with my Cadillac. There's no way any of your work can be called bodging! You are going to have a glorious Falcon when you've done.

Positively Magnificent!

1,728 · October 30, 2020

15 hours ago, SiC said:

Incredibly impressive work here! I've not had the time or energy to carry on with my Dolomite, but my work will be very embarrassing against the quality of yours!

2 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

I'm looking at your work here, and thinking back over what I've been doing this summer with my Cadillac. There's no way any of your work can be called bodging! You are going to have a glorious Falcon when you've done.

Positively Magnificent!

Nonsense @SiC, your Dolly looks like its coming along a treat! And Huggy Bear is ace,@eddyramrod, loving it's 70's brown-ness and its great to see you're making full use of it and actually driving it ; that's what its all about. I'd be truly proud of either project guys!!

Both of you, let me know if you need any repair sections making or fabrication doing

36,632 · October 30, 2020

8 minutes ago, sickboy said:

Both of you, let me know if you need any repair sections making or fabrication doing

I might take you up on that for the rear wheel arch panel for it! 😀

I'll see what can be salvaged off what's there already. Hopefully I can get most of it off and made as a template, as it looks directly welded over the top of the original body.

1,728 · November 2, 2020

Only a small, menial update. A few odd jobs this weekend. Finished plumbing the brakes. I decided the run the line from the back through the outrigger, predominately for safety to make it less prone to damage from hitting something, jacking it up etc.

Also was a clip short to affix the front brake line to the bulkhead, so made another one rather than used a rubberised one to keep it all looking factory and consistent (told you this was a small, menial update!). This will be fitted to the RHF brake line in the engine bay, far left of the imagine below, once the heater is fitted, as it'll use one of the heater's fixing studs.

Came to fit the rear interior quarter panels, and decided to ditch the irritating stock door card clips and use stainless rivnut inserts with countersunk screws instead. Only had two M5 inserts so ordered a few more to do the other side; should be by the weekend.

Dug the fuel tank out too. Its still dented to buggery from the historical rear end shunt, but there's no way I'm pulling the dent since its enclosed, you can't weld to it and its super thick steel too. So plan was to just clean it, treat it inside and bung it back in. Only closer inspection showed the inside is worse than I'd hoped, and checking to see the cost of a new tank, they can be bought brand spanking new for $90. The tank treatment is £50!! So I'll go new tank. .methinks

Had a look at the sender though, and winding's a appear to be ok, so I'll give it a chance before buying a new one.

Fitted up the handbrake cables and filled the axle with EP90

Deliberating which aftermarket harness kit to choose at the moment. Its the next part of the puzzle. I made the entire one from scratch in my 100E, buying each wire and and creating a diagram to suit. But the time expense, plus the fact it actually came out quite expensive compared to an off-the-shelf one, puts me off doing this on the Falcon. Bit skint at the moment though, so cost is admittedly a factor.

Dropped it back onto it's wheels to cheer myself up. First time its been off axle stands in two years!!

1,728 · November 22, 2020

Some more tinkering over the last few weeks, centering on the battery box the wiring.

I'm a bit shit at wiring. Since I made the complete harness from scratch on my 100e I admittedly now have a better understanding than before, but I'm still a novice. Time expense aside, it also ended up costing more in materials than I thought it would, probably around £60 just in wires. With the Falcon a bigger car with more circuits, I opted to buy a harness kit instead this time. I ended up buying this cheaper, unbranded UK- sold harness rather than this branded one, frankly because it looked identical in the pictures but at half the price. I suspect they're both made in the same factory. There was little online about these and description was lacking in any technical specs, but I'm really impressed by the quality of it. The copper in the wires is nice and thick, which is important, as often you find cheap car electrical products boast of heavy gauge wires which are just thick insulation around a thin copper core, hardly safe for much amperage.

I'm still routing the wires at the moment, planning it all out, nothing is attached but I will use plastic trunking and nylon P clips to run the harness from the fuse box to the under dash, front and rear. I want to try and keep it all tidy

22,904 · November 22, 2020

Amazing to think how this (and earlier) generation(s) of car had a virtually identical wiring diagram, no matter what model or wherever made.

1,728 · November 22, 2020

I also made a battery box. I used 1.2mm aluminum. Still not finished, as I'm waiting on a mate for some nice brass aircraft rivets for the corners. Failing that I'll just weld it.

I used my bead roller with my homemade joggle dies to put the straightening bead into the sides. Sooo much nicer to form ali than steel

Had to cut a length of angle to fold up the second stage of the box

Then I made a dimple die to make some feet for the base. This was ali too as its softer and less prone to making marks on the sheet. Ideally I'd have not done these and instead just joggled another pad into the bottom to match the sides, but if I did that it wouldn't have fitted in the metal brake!!!

As well as the awaited rivets for the securing the 4 corners, I plan to drill a hole in either end of that cross bar and run R-clips so it can be easily slid aside for battery removal. Of course, that plastic backing will be peeled off later to avoid scratching it whilst I'm still building

1,728 · November 29, 2020

When I acquired "UHU" to Citroen AX Jive at the beginning of last month, the boot wouldn't open. No matter. After cycling to collect it, I clambered in through the front, manually unlatched it, bundled my bike in and drove away feeling like a king

The boot lock barrel and gear knob had become chocolate in the intervening 26 years since their conception

The swivel on the end is what attaches the barrel to the latch actuating rod, and it was this critical bit which had melted. Asking various online breakers showed this to be a common issue on many AX's and that I'd struggle to get one. However, AX saviour @NorthernMonkey came to the rescue, and owing to his good grace and immense generosity, I had an AX aka "UHU" session earlier today

I took apart the new lock assembly he'd kindly sent to relinquish the swivel....

.....and assembled it into my car. I removed the wiper motor assembly to make access easier. Love the simplicity of these charming little cars. Everything is under 5 bolts away from being in your hand

After buttoning it up and a little latch striker adjustment, I fitted my new knob

Driving the car home, the speedometer needle would fluctuate up and down. Although the speedo worked, road speed was more suggested than accurately indicated. I suspected the old cable had become notchy through age and coagulated grease inside was making it jerky and inconsistent, so feeling keen I proceeded to change the speedometer cable

First off was the airbox to access the cable at the gearbox

Then I removed the instrument cluster and released the cable from the back

All good thus far. Fun started when I had to withdraw the old cable. It routes behind the heater assembly, but the cable runs so close to the bulkhead the end wouldn't pass past it. I imagine the heater was fitted over the cable and sandwiched it against the bulkhead. In the end I had to cut the end off in order to get it out.

Worth it though, found an aged 50p tape measure upon removing the glove box 😁

MOT expired this week and I’ve not been able to test whether the new cable has indeed fixed the issue, but fingers crossed!!

December 12, 2020

I've just had a good ol' read thorugh this thread.

Wow, I don't think there are words! Proper fabrication and professionalisticalism on that Ford, were there any panels that you didn't have to repair? What's the engine deets?

Awesome AXness, with a bonus tape measure too! Although hoping for anything more than a 50p item from an AX owner is probably too much optimism tbh. I mean, I keep all my £1.99 tape emasure in the Lexus 🤣 That's not bad value though, steel with a little spirit level too -nifty. I had thought the AX speedo wobble was a bit of french TADTS, both my BX and AX do it, but the AX is way worse.

Top shiting! Love the Saab, really want the convertible version but not likely to be able to afford one in the near future.

1,728 · June 13, 2021

6 months on, I thought I’d update.

Got the interior in the Falcon, but I decided in February that the Saab was closer to being on the road so I'd focus on getting that done for the summer. Like all these things, it ended up being worse than I thought. Ho hum.

Wind back to February last year, and I repaired the driveshaft tunnels

1,728 · June 13, 2021

Come this year, I decided I'd first tackle the dubiously repaired front wing. Standard crusty lip and evident filler/paper mache artistry swayed me to replace it.