Finishing Up the Rear Brake Pipe

After looking at build pictures from Aries web site and another Aries car, I was confident about the work I had to do. I went to the car, changed slightly the routes I had previously laid down for the brake pipes and started drilling and riveting again.

The hardest part was when I had to drill the 6mmØ hole for the 3-way bolt. The cheap drill bit I bought was not good, I had to drill on an angle with my 90º helper and drilling the tube twice wore me out. It eventually got done and the fun started again. The best part was when I got enough room to be able to drill with my new wonderful 3,5mmØ pro drill bit in a 90º angle. It went through the steel as an hot blade on butter!

Got all the rear pipes in place. Grabbed one of the rear flexible pipes to fit it on the extremities, just to be sure it all was good before the final rivets. Was very happy with the outcome of my work! It is better than my photographer capabilities...

Next step: riveting down the fuel pipe...

Rear Brake Pipe - Working on the Tunnel

The wife and mother-in-law gave me a small early Christmas present on the 24th: some car time before the Christmas party. Since two weeks ago I had the issues with the drill bits and last week there was an electrical problem on the parking floors, preventing me from working on the car, I was basically on my third week without car-time.

So, I spent the gifted hour and a half drilling the center tunnel to rivet the rear brake pipe into place. I used my new most expensive drill bit and... It DOES make a difference. It drilled better, faster and never broke (only drilled some 7 holes, anyway). To be honest, I'm not drilling on a 90º angle, which is not optimal. But this new drill bit was wonderful!

When I got to the last p-clips before getting to the 3-way on the back, I got concerned about the possibility of laying incorrectly the pipe and having issues when the diff got in place. So, I grabbed the diff and tried to lift it into position. Ended up quitting. It is too heavy for me to put it in alone. Anyway, I got an idea and figured out I should look into some build photos just to make sure.

Drill Bit Woes

Went this evening to work on the car with only one hour to spare. But didn't stay there that long. Was drilling holes for pop-rivets on the center tunnel, to hold the brake pipe. The "half drill" I was using broke again while drilling the 2nd hole of the day. Grabbed a new drill bit and it broke drilling the 3rd hole of the day. Grabbed the half of that broken one to try and use it and it broke again. I never got to finish the 3rd hole!

I had no more 3,5mmØ drills, so later on went shopping. I was buying a brand that was "0,95€ for 2". This time I bought two packs, one that was "2,65€ for 2" and another that was "3,45€ for 2". The one I used to have said "for occasional use (metal)". The middle one is "for standard metals like steel and ally" and the more expensive one is "professional for resistant metals like stainless steel and cast iron". I hope the price difference represents a resistance difference too! More news on that next weekend...
By the way, bought also a 6mmØ "pack of 2" (of the cheap ones) to have "proper tools" for the bolt that holds the rear 3-way into the chassis.

Front Brake Pipes Done!

Great evening on the car today! Finished drilling and riveting with p-clips the front brake pipes. The biggest issues were taking care to be sure there was no way the steering column could foul with the pipe and drilling the hole for the 4-way bolt. Ends up the 4-way bolt, that has to go from top to bottom of the chassis, is 6mm Ø. I only have 4,5mm Ø and 8mm Ø drill bits, nothing in between. Ended up using the 4,5mm Ø to enlarge the hole, which took a bit of time and lots of effort. Once more, it's proven that having the correct tools saves time and effort.

After that, started on the rear brake pipe. Spent a lot of time figuring out how to hold the pipe on the foot well wall, behind the peddles, since I couldn't fit the rivet pliers due to the engine being in place. Ended up holding the p-clip in place with some steel wire, let's see if that is deemed acceptable. At least it is well locked. Did a couple more rivets along the tunnel. No photos, those will come when the whole tunnel is done.

The First Rivets! (P-Clips for Brake Pipes)

After many weeks postponing this, I've been mentally preparing myself to drill and pop-rivet the car to hold the break pipes in place. So, today (holiday in Portugal) I had a couple of hours and went for this task. My main tools were my driller, a 90º angle for the driller, a 3,5mm drill bit and the rivet plier (the big one can't be used in these tight spaces).

After much thinking and measuring, ended up drilling the first hole the hard way, from behind, since I didn't have clearance due to the engine being on the car. Turns out that measuring several times paid out. And the first p-clip got applied on the rear brake pipe. It looks a bit odd from the backside, I thought it would be level but it protrudes... Oh, well...

With renewed confidence, I went for the front pipe. The next eight rivets were done in as much time as the first took. To note that I ended up re-routing slightly the front pipe near the suspension pick-up point to have it suspended for a smaller distance.

Next weekend I hope to finish up the front pipes, maybe start on the central tunnel for the rear one. But next couple of weeks will be drilling and pop-riveting. Drilling steel is a lot harder than what I'm used to, specially when using the 90º angle thing. It vibrates a lot!

Filing Bushes and Proper Tools

Having the proper tools for the job makes a big difference. Started today's work by filing the bush tubes in the camber adjusters. I had started it before but it was taking a long time. Long story short, filling rubber and steel with a wood file and emery tip is not the way to do it... With my new steel file, and with help from the vice, it took a bit but it got done. After getting them to easily fit the upright, I reattached them to the upper suspension arms.

Then I made a new attempt to insert the wheel stud, using a hammer and the wood file. Placed the upright assembly on top of some wood, the file tip on the back of the stud and then hammered the top of the file. The stud got a bit more inside. It seems to be less than a third to go. Probably, with the WD40 that Steve recommended, it will get into place. I'm also leaving the remaining studs on the freezer for the night. I hope to have good news tomorrow.

I noticed, while hammering the stud, that the upright assembly was moving a bit. The flange was moving out a bit, since the nut on the tip of he inner c/v joint wasn't tightened enough. Tightening proved to be a challenge but doable in the end. Using a steel pipe, I locked the flange in place and tightened the nut enough for it to be near the flange. Steve said that the final tightening can only be done with the car on its wheels and someone pressing the brakes.

Peddle Rubbers and More Studs

Wednesday had half-hour after dinner near the car for two quick jobs.

First one was to glue the two pieces of rubber that came with the peddle box on the clutch and brake peddles. It looks wonderful! I'll take a picture when I get the proper light there again. (picture taken and added on the 8th December 2010)

Second job was another attempt at pushing the wheel stud with the washers and wheel nut. This time I put a bit of lithium grease on the stud and the hole. I could still only get a third of the stud in.

After reading my previous post and thinking about it, it was clear I couldn't enlarge the hole otherwise I would be unable to tighten the wheel nut on the stub. Dumb me for even considering it...

So, I wrote an email to Steve to ask for advice. He replied the following morning stating that the ideal situation would have been for me to hammer them in before I assembled the flange on the upright. Since that was done, and taking it apart could damage the bearings (requiring new ones), I really had to go with the washers/tube and wheel nut. But he added that it could be easier to do it with the upright on the car, preventing the flange from spinning by putting a bar through 2 of the studs onto the floor.And using lots of WD40!

Let's see how it goes. I hope to fix with p-clips the brake and fuel lines this weekend so that I can finally start to assemble the rear axle.