So Many Tasks and So Little Time

Only had a hour and a half to work on the car this weekend. Started by slightly trimming the footwell ally panel. It was a tight fit and clashed with a weld, so I made it get in easier. When I was going to apply some PU adesive to clamp it and leave it to dry, I noticed the can was dry. I must have closed and stored incorrectly. What a pity, it was a great product. Managed to extract just enough to clamp the panel. Left it drying to be riveted next weekend.

Following task was trying to center the shaft that runs through the hub on the rear wheel. I was using a tool that should be able to hold pipes but the shaft still slipped and WD40 didn't help me undo the nut. When I was puting it all back together it hit me that maybe with the brake disk in place the wheel will not rub on the shaft. I'll have to see if I can check that one of these week nights.

No pictures since nothing relevant was actually archieved.

Clutch Cable and Front Disks

Spent some time slightly shortening the bolt that should hold the clutch cable on the peddle because it was a hard fit. Later went to the car and used it. Steve from Aries had told me not to tighten the bolt too much because it should have some play, otherwise the cable would suffer. It's such a tight spot that I can't tighten the bolt. Need more small tools for it, since I bet Steve meant "don't over-tighten" and not "make is so that it will come apart after 2 red lights"...
Then, and after seeing pictures from another friend builder, I fitted the other end of the cable on the engine clutch lever. It looks nice! Unfortunately, I probably did something wrong since when I step on the peddle the clutch lever doesn't move all the way and then it doesn't go back to previous position when I lift my foot of. Will have to ask for help on this.

Grabbed the front disks and bolted them on the front flanges. It's only hand-tightened since I forgot to take with me the allan keys. This has been happening almost every time since I have to carry all tools around to the car, no matter how much planning I do.

I took with me a wheel to trial fit it on the rear hubs, that are basically done. Glad I did so. On the right side it went well and looks marvelous. On the left side it didn't work as well. The shaft that runs through the hub and is threaded on both ends was not centered. When I tightened the bolts last weekend it stayed bigger on one end than on the other. It's so off to the rear that it rubs the wheel inside. I tried to un-tighten that nut and move the shaft a bit forward to make it centered but the nut does not move and since both nuts tighten on the same direction, the other one can't help. I'll have to try again armed with some WD40. Otherwise, will have to ask for help on how to do it (cut off a bit of the shaft?).

Last bit was checking the ally panel to put on the passenger's footwell. I need to slightly trim a bit to make a better fit. My plan was to apply the PU adhesive and fit it so that it would dry and stick and tomorrow I would go with the driller and apply the rivets. Ends up I didn't have enough time for that.

EDIT: Later in the night I was still thinking about the clutch cable issue and suddenly I had an idea about how to make it work. The cable runs inside a bigger tube and the tube has nuts on both ends (as visible in the photo above). If I used the nuts to pull the tube away from the two ends, it would make the route longer. Today while showing the car to a cousin, I made the adjustment and I now have a fully functional clutch peddle!

Diff and Suspension Tightened Up

Bought me ear mufflers (from Bosh) and they were money well spent. I started my session opening up the holes with a 12mm drill bit and, although I was hearing noise, it seemed I was underwater. Noise far away and almost like as if it was nothing with me. Marvelous! I'm thinking about taking the mufflers with me to work so that I can concentrate on my code without disruption from some people around me more interested on the last soccer game than their work.

Back to the car... When I placed the rubber discs between the chassis and the upper diff support, I noticed that it made the holes "move away". I had to re-drill (or enlarge in an oval pattern) to be able to pass the bolts through... If I had paid attention to my trig classes in school, I would have guessed it... With the ear mufflers and the 12mm drill bit, it was painless. Then it was just a matter of tightening up the diff on the chassis. Pictures, just because last post had none...

Then I went around rear and front suspensions tightening up all bolts. It took a while but it is all done now. I can move on to the "next stage"!

Final task was to put the clutch cable on the car. On the peddle side, it would be easier if the bolt was 2mm shorter, so I think I'll try to find a replacement or cut that one. On the engine side, I should have looked for pictures before attempting the task. The cable was getting lose, it seemed the clutch wouldn't release... I ended up not attaching it yet and will do it after "learning" how to.

Tightening Bolts and Friend's Help

Today had a friend to help. He was one of the people that helped me on arrival day to carry the chassis with engine from the rented van outside the garage (it was too tall to go inside) to the parking space two floors bellow. He has some mechanical knowledge and with help from his father has restored two Volkswagen historical cars.

After showing him how things were since he had last seen the car, we went around tightening all the transmission bolts that I had previously done alone. He taught me a trick to add leverage to the allan key so that I could get more strength on the bolts. While he tightened them I was holding the wheel flange.

When we got to the prop shaft bolts, he told me to put the engine in gear. It was a wonderful moment when I realized how to engage gears on that engine. I'm now really into fitting the clutch cable and the gear linkage!

I had also planned for us to fit the front brake disks but his opinion was that I should save the disks to the end so that I would fit the wheels right after and thus protect the disks from dust and accidental bumps. I really was looking forward to fitting the brakes, but I guess I'll postpone that a bit.

We finished the session with me drilling the two holes on the chassis to bolt the diff's upper support. Turns out the 10mm drill bit I bought for this is not big enough, will still have to enlarge the holes slightly. But not now, my ears are still humming. I'm now really considering buying ear mufflers, specially since I still have loads of holes to drill to fit the body panels.

After finishing the diff, and since I'll postpone the brakes, it seems next tasks will be tightening the suspension bolts, fitting the clutch cable (:)), riveting the ally panel on the passenger's footwell and the the gear linkage (:)). Then... Gas and water pipework? And then electrical? I fear the electrical part...