My Type 54 to sort of 47 Conversion

[RoddyMac]

I managed to get two days, well one and a half days working on the car this past weekend.  I picked up a clutch kit Saturday morning and spent most of Saturday afternoon trying to dismantle the NG3 bellhousing I had so that I could rob the clutch fork from it along with the release bearing.  The previous weekend I picked up the TC bellhousing from the machine shop,  I had the bellhousing modified to accept the NG3 input bearing/seal assembly.  Saturday that was pressed back in.  I had hoped to use the bearing provided in the clutch kit that I picked up (Ford Escort ZX2) and lo and behold, by machining up a spacer it will fit on the NG3 release bearing carrier.  On Sunday I went to the garage where the car is and fitted it all up...

 

The bearing will require a spacer to put it closer to the pressure plate.  I'm not to upset about it, I had somewhat figured that it would require more work.  The other obstacle I ran into was the clutch cross shaft.  I had hoped to rework it with the lever pointing up as I'll be using a slave cylinder, but after bolting the bellhousing back onto the motor, the shaft is directly under the upper crossmember on the chassis that I've built.



After some thinking I think I can make it work with a bent lever.  It wont be as strong or as light as a straight lever, but compromises have to be made.  The other thing I'll be sorting is the length of the lever and the size of the slave cylinder.  I've measured the distance the clutch master moves while depressing the pedal, but until I make the spacer for the release bearing I cant measure the distance required for the slave cylinder/clutch shaft lever to move in order to disengage the clutch.  Hopefully next weekend I'll get off to the metal shop to grab some steel bar stock to make the spacer.

One last thing, it sure is easy to work on the clutch in this car.  I'm able to sit behind the motor even with the body on.

Rod

[BDA]

Looking good, Roddy!


WRT your clutch slave and M/C,  how are you going to size them? Are you going to start with how much pedal travel you want and go from there?

[RoddyMac]

BDA,
That's pretty much it.  I currently have a 5/8" master cylinder which travels 7/8" when fully depressed (giving a displacement of 0.2684 cu in).  Once the spacer is machined and installed I can put a tube  (to make the lever longer) over the current clutch lever and measure the distance required (at a known point on the lever) for the clutch to release the disc.  Using some maths I can then determine how far the slave has to travel again using a known point on the clutch lever and determine the bore of slave required.  I'm hoping that I wont have to change the master cylinder, but if needed .70" and 3/4" are easy to source.  Once it's all sized I'll see what the pedal effort it like before bolting up the gearbox. 

[RoddyMac]

I made some progress this weekend, but I`m still not able to size the slave cylinder.  Saturday I picked up some aluminium and a boring bar set so that I could turn a bearing spacer on the lathe. The boring bars took a bit of set up time, but once I got everything lined up I managed to turn up a nice shiny spacer:





I had measured everything twice, and checked my calculations a few times, so this should have worked.  Unfortunately, when I went to the other garage today and went to bolt things together, the bearing was spaced out too far.  So after a few curse words, the dial calipers came out and I now know how much I need to remove from the spacer.  But, that will have to wait till next weekend. 

Other than that issue, I did manage to tidy up the rear chassis cross member, install the oil filter mount to it, machine up some bungs that got welded to the oil filter adaptor (there was no room for elbows so I welded on some bits) and as I had the cross member off the car, the rear sway bar mounts were fabricated today and installed (temporarily):





So, hopefully by this time next weekend I will have sorted the clutch and will have moved on to finalising the exhaust, along with a whole list of things to do.  The current goal is to have the motor run inside the next month. 

Rod

[BDA]

Things are really starting to come together! Did you make the flanged holes in the fiberglass for the cross member? I would have assumed that the original S2 had a smaller relief for the cross member (my TCS did) and it looks nicely done!

[RoddyMac]

BDA,
The only modification I've done to the engine bay is are the trailing arm covers and a very small notch at either side of the rear portion of the chassis.  The flanged openings are either stock or were done during the cars previous life.  I may have to enlarge them slightly to clear the sway bar as I haven't checked the clearances at full bump or droop.

[Mike Surber]

Are the rear shocks at stock angle? They look to be laid down more. The lower the angle the less efficient they are. Looking good though.

[SwiftDB4]

The shocks look stock angle for a 47. Very nice work Rod.

[RoddyMac]

Mike and SwiftDB4,
Thanks for the compliments. 

Mike,
The shocks aren't anywhere close to being at the stock angle for a Europa, and as SwiftDB4 pointed out they are close to what the 47 had.  I've managed to get some dimensions from some 47 owners and have calculated the wheel rates and suspension frequencies they use, which I then worked backwards with my design.  The current springs are 275 lb/in in the rear and 200 lb/in for the front.  I will most likely be changing the rear spring rate once I get the car on the road and sorted.

As for them being less efficient, I am aware of that, but as I'm trying to mimic the 47 I'm stuck with them being at that angle.

Rod

[RoddyMac]

I managed to get some time in the garage this past weekend, and finally got the clutch to work.  I had to shorten the spacer roughly 5/8" and now it actually works.  I did some measuring while moving the clutch cross shaft lever and I know should have all the info I need to size the slave cylinder.  I just need to do some CAD work.

Other than that, I made up the exhaust system and offered it up the car.  It looks like it will work, but it will be very noisy.   I'm sure I'll be making another system in the future:





I still need to fabricate a mount for the rear portion of the exhaust, but I can't do that until the gearbox is bolt up to the motor.  I attempted bolting the 'box to the motor yesterday, but my back just couldn't handle lifting the box into place one handed and trying to install the bolts.  It certainly didn't help that the clutch disc moved slightly while I was testing the clutch.  Next weekend I'll take another stab at it, and hopefully have some help.

Rod

[BDA]

Nice work as usual, Rod.


Put the tranny on a floor jack. Then you can move around or up and down and it doesn't put as much strain on your back.

[Bainford]

Oh man, that thing is going to bark!  Looks good, Rod.

[RoddyMac]

So the gearbox has been in and out of the car at least 3 times now, I'm getting better at installing it.  The latest install took all of 4 minutes and fingers crossed it's the last time that I'll have to install it.  I spent most of Saturday fabricating a slave cylinder mount and Sunday it was in the car:


I've gone with a 13/16" dia slave cylinder, time will tell if I've chosen the right one.  The slave is from a mid eighties Toyota Corolla and cost a whopping $6 on Rock Auto (with shipping it landed in Vancouver at $20). 

I've also started on a different gearbox mount, I wasn't happy with the Mk 1 version as it hung too low at the rear of the car.  Unfortunately I didn't get it finished this weekend, but I'm hoping to have something at least tacked together by next weekend. 

Other than that, I drilled some holes in the front luggage compartment/heater plenum area for the pedal box hoses.  I still have to make up a reinforcing plate for where the hose ends pass through the fiberglass, but at least now I can finally sort out the brake line routing:






Rod

[Rosco5000]

Hey Rod, that looks great!   I have a question where did you get those bulkhead fittings for the brakes I have been looking for some for another project.
Thanks,
Ross

[RoddyMac]

Ross,
The fittings you see are the long end of the brake hose.  But, I think Gregg Distrubutors in Port Kells has them as they carry BrakeQuip, failing that Mopac might have them.  I had Gregg make up the brake hoses for the pedal box and the rear calipers. 

Rod