As I mentioned a while ago, I have been
trying to get some pieces for making it possible to connect up the oil pressure sender. After 3 attempts I finally
managed it today.
From Greengauges I got a 1/2" UNF to 1/8 NPTF adapter. (They had previous sent me something that I think is M13...) Into that I screwed a 1/8 NPTF elbow that came from Think Automotive. It looks a bit wierd but with luck it will work. I'm a bit concerned about the array of materials though, there's a brass bush, an alloy elbow and the steel sender itself.
I finished off here by doing the wiring for the pressure sender and the pressure light.
I haven't had much time recently, mainly as I was in one of those "which
bit do I do next" phases. However, a bunch of things have been going on.
I've been thinking about the dash layout. In order to work some things out I made a full size template of the dash. I then took photos of all the instruments and printed them out at full size so that I could sort some ideas. I think I've also decided to get an oil temperature gauge as I've heard of some people having trouble with the V8 running its oil too hot.
I didn't come to any conclusions about the dash, except that it should fit fine. One think I would like to do is to angle the instruments slightly towards the driver. I'm not sure about the best way to do this though, especially due to the SVA projection regulations.
I fitted the engine earth strap, which was one I had around from some previous project that I've forgotten about. I need to buy the other battery cables as the ones I've got are rather knackered.
I also cleaned up the old heater outlet pipe from the original inlet manifold and bolted to the new one. It's amazing how good silver Hammerite can make things look...
As I mentioned before, I need to arrange
a support for the exhaust system[s]. Rather than wait for some Dax-originated parts I decided to make something
like the ones that Dax had made for their own demonstrator. The first job was to work out where it was going to
fit. To do this properly I hung one of the exhaust systems onto the passenger side of the car. I put a couple of
bolts into the manifold to head fittings to make sure that it was going to be in the right place. It's clear from
this that it's going to be quite tricky to fit. For one thing this exhaust seems to be just one piece, unless I
missed something. That is, there's no easy way to fit the manifold pipes through the side panel. At the moment
I can't quite see how to trim this.
However, with the exhaust there it was easy to mark out where the rear mounting needed to be. The plan is to make a strap that goes under the seat, just on top of the floor, out of steel (Dax gave me a chunk of 3mm that will do) and to use another chunk on the underside of the floor with the whole lots bolted together. The lower piece can be extended beyond the side panels and have a bobbin-style exhaust mounting bolted to it for support of the pipe itself.
With the mounting position worked out I need to fabricate the under-seat strap.
I suppose it might be possible to just bend the steel to the right shape but it's such a complicated shape, and
would need rather better tools than I have, that I decided to do it a different way. I cut a number of separate
bits of steel (thank goodness for cutting discs!) and arranged them all to fit nicely. I then welded the whole
lot together to get one very complicated shape, which nonetheless fits perfectly. I finished that off, again, with
some more Hammerite. (Or Smoothrite, as Duncan calls it!)
Now I have to do the one on the other side...sigh...
in case you've got to this frame directly and can't get out, go here.