Brake lines finished

I finished the brake lines this week. The final step had been to secure the lines running from the master cylinders to the couplers on the frame that got run a long time ago.




I ended up doing it twice because I was not happy with the way it all came out the first time. Mainly, I did not like that the manual called for the use of #10 screws going into the footbox. I did it the way the manual said at first, but then removed the screws and replaced them with 5/16" rivits. Now there is nothing pointy poking through the footbox around my feet.

I also ended up slightly rerouting the lines to get a little more clearance around the big fuel line. I am still not overjoyed with the way the three lines (front and rear brakes, and fuel) run, but it will do, I guess.



A more troubling clearance matter is that there is only about 1/4" between the brake lines on the footbox and the headers coming out of the engine. The headers get extremely hot, and can do bad things like overheat the brake fluid effecting their performance. Here is a blurry picture of just how little room there is. (The header exhaust holes are covered in green tape and eventually connect to the sidepipes).



I have no idea if there are leaks in the system or not. I suppose I could fill the system with brake fluid to test, but it seems less likely to be depressing to just assume it is okay. And I still need at some point to hook up the brake fluid reservoirs, but that comes much later in the build.

Next up is to attach the inner fender liners. Boy, it is really unclear to me how to make the pieces I have work. Everything is so tight and the clearances around the suspension pieces and power steering pump look almost impossible. Better do the passenger side first.

I'm baaaaack

Not working on the car just yet, but felt like at least blogging.

This week marked the third anniversary of picking up my kit. It has been a lot of fun so far, though the problems I've run into sometimes get a little depressing. In about 3 months, I will become eligible for the senior tour (turning 50) and it would be kind of nice to make some serious progress on the car before then. My schedule does not look too bad, knock on wood.

First, let's summarize where I am. The car is getting close to being a go-kart. The only system that has not had substantial work is the electrical. Frame, fueling, suspension, brakes, engine, transmission, exhaust, steering are pretty far along. Cooling needs pretty much work. Going by the manual, I have completed about 102 pages out of 200 or so. That is 17 out of 37 chapters.

So I think it is probably reasonable at this point to set a goal of starting the engine and actually riding it as a go-kart at least down the street by the end of May. I have always refrained from setting any kind of timetables or goals because I never wanted to turn this project into work instead of just a hobby. But it seems now that a significant milepost is attainable with some consistent efforts. So pray for decent weather and keep checking back here now. Weekly posts should be reliable again.

Next up...affixing the inner fender liners to the frame. After that, according to the manual at least, is the windshield wiper assembly.

Car Work halt

With my mom's skull injury, I doubt I will be getting back to the Cobra very much. I am way behind on real life stuff and don't like working on the car much when it gets down into the 30s.

No report

I did nothing on the car this week. I did get new batteries for the camera, and it seems to be working well again.

I won't get anything done on the car this coming week. My mom fell and fractured her skull and will be hospitalized for a few days. Then the holiday, etc. Maybe the following week, if I am lucky.

Little work done

I only got an hour in on the car this week, although I did spend a LOT of time researching and trying to figure out what parts are used for the next step. That step is to install the inside fender liners. The aluminum panels will get riveted to the engine bay frame, but like everything else, the fit is very tight. I got them test fit and it was so-so. It will just take more time than you would think to get them perfectly lined up. I had some trouble figuring out how the bottom connects and which were the right brackets to use.

I did apply the POR-15 rust preventing paint to the spots on the bottom of the frame that I had missed (twice) earlier. I still need to install the clamps that will hold the brake lines in place, but that is just a couple of screws and will just take a couple of minutes. But it should be done before hanging the aluminum fender liners.

My camera is acting up again, so no pictures. I had gotten new batteries a few weeks ago, but they must not be good. (They were very cheap). The camera shuts itself off very quickly, and was not cooperating when I tried to upload some other pictures to my computer.

No Car Work

I did not get to work on the car this week. Too many real-life things to do. I did purchase another small can of POR-15, the rust-proofing paint, to cover up the last set of spots that I have missed on the frame. Third time is the charm, I hope.

Trouble?

I managed to basically finish off the brakes this week. I got the pushrods connected to the brake pedal easily after taking off the brake light switch that I had installed earlier. Essentially, I needed to be able to move the brake pedal up more than it was allowing in order to connect everything. Simple enough; I just wish the manual had said to wait on the brake light switch until after the master cylinders were in. There was no reason not to, and it made the MC install much easier.

I then ran the brake lines from the master cylinders to the previously run hard lines from a couple of years ago. Not much of a problem with that. I have not clamped everything down, but everything is run and tightened, so there won't be any trouble there. A small concern is that the lines running from the master cylinders are very very close to the exhaust headers coming off of the engine. Boiling the brake fluid is a bad idea, so I may end up doing something to keep them from getting too hot.

I should have taken a picture or two of the brake stuff, but while I was down under the car connecting the brake lines, I noticed a rather serious crack in the engine block. It is the bolt that connects the mechanical fuel pump to the engine block. The whole thing is cracked. I must have over-tightened this in November 2008 when I installed the fuel pump. I have a picture of that crack, but it does not show it very well.



I will have to wait and see if there is an oil leak. I am not that close to filling the engine with oil, so I guess I just mush on. I think the worst case is that I may have to have someone weld it back up. My guess is that I may be okay since the crack seems to all be on the outside of the block.