Project Blue Book

[Wh1t3Kn1ght]

Another awesome update - can't wait to see this one in the flesh

 

[Chief]

Thanks you so much

 

[Chief]

Time for a bit of a catch up....
Lot's happening. The engine and box have been packed up and sent over to Angus and the boys at Greatworth Classics. A lot of discussion of the direction to go in. More of this in a later thread as it progresses.
For now they have stripped both engine and box, cleaned all of it and started on some of the passive plating.


















More to come. This is going to get very interesting....

 

[Chief]

Been quite busy in the workshop this last few days. Some time ago I posted up some images of a lovely 356 oil cannister that I had decided to repurpose into my oil vent and catch tank. Well it was on the back burner with all the other bits and bobs going on. I thought it was well time to finish this off. I have been giving some thought about positioning and how best to utilise it. The fire wall is slanted back to accomodate the lean on the passenger seats. This meant creating something to straighten up the oil can (as we shall refer to it).

This is what I inherited.



I welded in some AN fittings.
Some measuring and here we go.


I welded in some studs so I could fit it through the firewall and just spin on nuts from the inside of the car.
I then welded in the sides to creat a nicer looking box.

Some holes drilled and nuts welded in for the oil can bracket.

Next was to create a breather in the lid. I did not want to put one other little breather filters on as it would give the game away. It needs to look stock.


Some paint next. Just satin black to sort of blend in.

So I thought whilst making this I could maybe hide the coil. As we are going wasted spark and no distributor I needed to hide this modern addition.


Next post will show the can it's self. As they say back after these messages.....

 

[Chief]

And were are back....
So oil can needed to be orange (not silver).

Painted then flatted and clear coated.

This is going to be the first thing you see when the engine lid is popped, so has to be just right.

Ford Carnival Red. Just needs a light flat and polish to finish. New decals have arrived and will go one once it's installed.
So as I am not running an extrnal filter/ breather I made my own internal one.



So there you have it. It will filter and breath without looking like a catch can.

And just thrown together to show you kinda what it will look like once finished.
Hopefully as it's viewed from above you won't even see the coil pack, fingers crossed.
Some more later on....

 

[Chief]

Just finished off another task.

Seat belt anchors were looking a bit worse for wear. So time to have a look at getting them a bit neater.



New 'Press' stickers from 914 Rubber.






A bit more crackle finish (yes I know) and a little satin on the screw heads. Not bad for 50 years old.

 

[Chief]

Just to finish off the Oils breather bit.

I fitted everything up and with the silver bracket it just kept drawing the eye to the coil pack which is supposed to be hidden.
On looking back at the original photos I realised that the said bracket should be black.

So back to painting....





Much better. You really don't look past the orange oil can. I'm pleased with how this came out. Just looks like it should have always been there.
New revisit was to the wiring loom. This time the charging circuit and starter looms. I had left these until I knew how I was going to use the engine mamagement and wasted coil (also I was sick to the back teeth with wires).
Both looms handle a lot of current, so really were a fire waiting to happen after fifty years of heat and grime. On further investigation I was right. The wiring was so stiff internally and very corroded.





So another trip to the guys at the auto wiring supplies store...

De soldering all these little buggers and reusing with the new wiring caused some colourful language!



Much better and much safer.
Last image now shows the coil pack wiring. This basically breaks the pack into two sets of two. So I could reuse the coil positive from the Porsche loom and then the RED controls two spark plugs and the same with the BLUE. The centre GREEN is the live feed.

These two then route towards the battery where the ECU will be hidded. They will trigger the coil to fire.
I have finished the wiring to the logic relay under the passenger seat that controls the ignition and the seatbelt warning lights. However I have bypassed the main live to avoid issues in the future, but I wanted to reinstate the wiring just to see how it all worked.
By way of a change of scenery I started fitting the anti drum/ vibration material. I think this is going to take some time and effort!
So that's it from me for now. All have a very, very merry Christmas and enjoy time with family and friends.

 

[Chief]

Managed to get a bit of time in the garage. I thought I would try to finish up the washer system and last bit of the brown paper/ foil tubing.
The original sytem hooked up the the spare tyre to get pressure to spit the water at the windscreen. So that wouldn't do. I managed to get a proper Porsche pump as fitted to just about all their models back in the day. I needed to get a nice factory looking spot to fit the pump. Not easy as the space is a little restricted under there. I fitted the paper hose to see what space was left. I fitted the cleaned washer bottle and lined up the pump to mirror.

The thought of self tappers made me shudder, so out with the rivnutter!




As the system is pressurised by the tyre I needed to add a one way breather so as to not stall the pump when operated.

This is off a BMW and is just one of there generic breathers for pipework. Just a case of drilling a hole in the top the pushing through. The end is the same as shown so I just pushed a short bit of washer tube to keep it in situ. I just need some more pipe to finish off the top.

New project, which is quite refreshing. I have what some would call VINTAGE! audio gear from 1986/7. I have never installed a complete audio set up before, so am really interested in this next project. I have a huge list of stuff arriving to complete this. So more later. Should be fun....




Do any of your remember when we used to have these carriage head units that pulled out and came with us????
Well Happy New Year all and I hope it's a healthy and peaceful one.

 

[Mac996t]

Omg I used my first pay packet to buy the tape version of that head unit (plus cd changer) KRC852D, it was Sept 1994, and then had it in every car until around 2015 when the sound went crackly!
My mates and the lads at work all copied me and bought the exact same model. I used to take it out and take it everywhere with me! Good memories!

 

[FZP]

Chief.
You need sectioning.Ive just gone through that thread, start to finish and appreciate the level of detail that you've gone to on this project.
I was looking at what I can learn from your efforts and apply it to my efforts. If I could getto 50% of the bar you've set, I'd be pretty happy
Great work

 

[spinnaker]

You need sectioning.

Just amazing work.

 

[Chief]

Thank you evero much fellas. I really appreciate the comments!
I have been busy in the garage with lots of things going on at the same time. But to get up to date, let's carry on with the Stereo install. I have to say it's a work in progress and by no means finished. There has been a lot to learn.

A lot of measuring with this one. Measure twice and cut once!
The firewall was the obvious place to put everything as there isn't much room in the cabin. The firewall isn't even all the way down so I have had to machine some threaded stand off's to get the mounting plate parallel.


The next image show how I am going to conceal the amp and crossovers.



You just press the centre of the button and they pop off.


So I went back to my woodworking routes and started to put together the cover. This will be trimmed after.

Lots of drilling and tapping threads to fit everything.



Taking shape. Lots of cabling to bring through from the cabin. I used a clean line from the battery to the fuseboard. This should cut down on interference noise.
The realys are for spot lights and a spare for anything else I want to install.
The eagle eyed of you will see that I did not use my old amplifier. I wnr for a new one with pre outs to fit a driven base box to go in the passenger foot well.
Just seemed an easier option.

Shown here are the relay for spot lights plus a spare and a set of 'Switched Lives' if needed along with tsome earths.
So with the main infrastucture sorted I could get back to fitting the petrol tank. I will revisit the stereo once i'm a bit further on with other stuff.
I will sign off now....

 

[Chief]

Okies, onto the petrol tank...

I made up some braided hoses at 14 inches for fuel and fuel return. I have used this to avoid kinks when pushing them back under the tank. The braided is still really conformable so should work a treat.




A fair bit of cleaning and painting later.


A new gauze strainer fitted.


Tank securing pads all cleaned up.


All ready to put the bonnet back on. Let's hope it still lines up!

Just a hint of the next project. Here we go again!!



More of this later. Lots more measuring twice and cutting once. Stressy!

Angus and the boys at Greatworth Classics have been doing some great things.










Moving a quite a pace now. Let's hope I can keep up.
Thanks all for following. More later....

 

[Chief]

Morning All.
Easter gave some time to shuffle along with the Project Blue Book build. All about the details now.
First off Angus, Sam and the chaps at 'Greatworth Classics' have been moving at some considerable pace with the build.




Some lovely 'Amberglas' on show. This was molded from my fiberglass engine shroud. I have spent a long time getting this to fit as it allows the original oil cooler to remain. These are quite a rare find!





Starting to take shape now.

Whilst they are busy in Banbury i'm playing catch up a home.
We left last time with my bumper project. So here is where we are at....











SPOT LIGHT brackets were a right pain to make as the body shell is kinda boat pointy at the front so the brackets needed to be made at an angle to come through the bumper straight. This also meant threading them to be able to pop long cap head set screws loosely through to get through the bumper holes and then be tightend up at the same time as the bumper. This was because I only wanted the bumper holes to be a couple of 'mm' bigger than the bracket to keep it looking tight.

Here is one of the many trial fits and mock-up.





And finally...









So just the covers to pop on, but not go around to that bit and photos, so more later.
Thank for looking in!

 

[Cunno]

Thanks for spending the time doing an update Chief, really enjoying this rebuild