2 October 2010 – Radiator, Steering Column and Fuel Cell

The weekend started of with unpacking the new parts and ensuring everything was in place. Just with my luck, the bulge at the bottom that houses the outlets and the mounting brackets would throw a spanner in the way I thought I’ll. be able to mount the unit. The Fuel Cell is made of 3mm Aluminium with 2 inlets, 2 returns and a filler cap. The exhaust flange that I had lazercut was fitted to the motor, luck was on my side as it is a very good fit. The quick release steering hub was expected and a few plans was made to design the weld on adaptor, as I’m unable to bolt it to the steering column, I will weld a adaptor to the column and bolt the hub to the adaptor. What is nice about this particular hub is the fact that it has no movement and the steering wheel can only fit in one specific place. The rear suspension parts and a few odds and ends went in for electro plating, these parts was checked to make sure everything returned. I must say, this picture creates the illusion that these parts is cold plated.

Saturday morning, work started with the mounting of the Radiator, first order of business was to remount the nose section that was cut out, to be made removable for engine installs. I had some electro-galv plate bend for the radiator mounts, these was formed to fit snuggle against the radiator support panel to follow all the different angles, was then fitted to the car with a few 5mm bolts, during the final assembly I will mount them with a layer of sealer to keep water out. The radiator was aligned and holes drilled in the unit itself and in the mountings.

Due to the fact that I was working alone this weekend I only managed to get a few things done, next on my list was the mounting of the steering column. As the power steering rack is a Toyota Cressida Unit, I felt it would just be easier to also source a steering column from the same model, I settled for the môre luxuries model which offered angle adjustment of the steering wheel, this is the ideal unit in my case as I have a extra universal which will aid to mount the steering as I prefer it. First everything was cleaned and then everything was stripped, at the end only the shafts, bearings, universal and upper bearing carrier was left, the top bearing carrier will be used as a temporary mounting point until the seat is mounted to determine final ride position. I managed to determine the steering position by using a old bucket seat, this was then used to mount the bottom bearing on the steering shaft. Once the roll cage is at a stage where I can mount the top bearing, the final installation wil be done. To keep some Datsun/Nissan in the car, I decided that the remote reservoir bottle for the power steering fluid would be a Nissan Skyline Unit.

Sunday morning started with me in front of the lathe to machine the spacers for the fuel cell out of nylon. Due to the fact that it was Sunday the front mountings was cut the previous night, I had to mark out the position of the tank and drill the holes. The tank was mounted in the middel of the car, at a later stage i will measure the corner weights and adjust as needed. This also allows me to mount the surge tank with lift pump and filter on the one side and on the other the side the Hi Pressure Pump and filter on the other side. The rest of the afternoon was used to measure out the roll cage support plates on the floor and planning around the seat mounts, these can now be ordered to ensure that there is parts available for the next visits. We also found the time to measure the Ford Sapphire Hubs and Carriers, i decided to mount VW Golf III front wheel bearings in them, some minor machining will be required, these will be send of to the machine shop and hopefully on the next visit wil be done.

On the Next visit I want to mount the Oil Cooler and assemble the new sump.

More Pictures – 2 October 2010 – Radiator, Steering Column and Fuel Cell

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