Clutch and Brake Lines

 

I’ll start this update with some advice to anyone making or building anything. You must have the right tool for the job…. Fact. Years back when I build my Cobra I was lucky enough to borrow a neighbours vice mounted brake flare tool and the correct tool makes brake flares all day every day and consistently. I have a small extremely common hand clamp tool that has different dies that clamp onto the brake pipe and that can occasionally make a good brake flare….but. After about three hours playing in the garage practicing some flares on the cheap flare tool I concluded that it was basically shite. I failed to make even one flare that was half acceptable, so I was forced to purchasing a proper tool for the job. I picked one up of eBay brand new as I couldn’t find a used one cheaper anyway and the first flare…. Booom. Instant perfect brake flare bubble with even consistent manipulation time after time after time…. Bloody perfect. With this being a custom made car it wasn’t even an option to cut and bend the lines then take them to a garage to flare them… just not practical, so the new tool has justified itself and paid for itself already with the time I have saved. 

So, first up was making the clutch line. I’m trying to really plan ahead with routs for these copper lines. I want them neat and clean looking but they must also not hinder other components getting fitted later on in the build of which I don’t know what or where really, but a fair few photos on Google and the Fiorano website to help guide me. I made up my clutch line shape and took my time to form the bends evenly and neatly along with adding a pig tail curl at the vibration point between the body and gearbox. The pigtail corkscrew as such is an old fashioned technique to help eliminate metal fatigue through vibration and whilst they do look interesting within the engine bay they don’t really work that well and can be a sod to clear air locks when bleeding. Still was either this or flexible lines that I didn’t really want. I’m trying to get a classic vintage look to the whole car, not a blingy show piece like the Cobra. 

 Once the clutch line was formed and flared I was able to fit it and pressure up the clutch. This was a tad daunting because upon delivery of the donor car the clutch was not engaging or giving any sign of life whatsoever. Granted I have replaced pretty much everything with exception of the master cylinder, which has had new seals but the fear of it not being correct or operating correctly were certainly present. 

This attached video should display that my fears were unnecessary. After bleeding the clutch line I was able to sit in the car and rotate the prop shaft by had and so long as the car was in gear and the clutch depressed. Then if you realise the clutch the prop shaft will no longer rotate as the drive line is engaged through the gearbox. This is extremely satisfying to me as it’s genuinely the first mechanical part of the car that actually is working as it should.

Next up was just following the same process for the brake lines. The brake system here is a dual line system consisting of “Primary” (front) and “secondary” (rear) I have rebuilt the master cylinder and replaced all the seals etc, along with the new cap included the float switch for a warning light. I spend a methodical few hours just taking my time a manipulating the brake lines how I wanted them. I have gone to the same effort as if building to IVA standard with the correct clip spacing and overall the front brake lines are looking great. I took extra effort to bend a crossover into the pipe where it crosses the clutch line, which really adds some detail to build which is exactly what I want from the whole car…. Attention to detail. 

I routed the primary line from the master cylinder along the bulkhead then down to the chassis leg where it runs forward to just in front of the engine mount. Here it’s split into a union where it feeds the near side brake and the second feed routed round the front chassis crossmember back to the offside. 

I have started on the rear brake lines also, however I have had to stop whilst I wait for parts. I’m intending to run the secondary feed from the master, straight down the bulkhead and into a bulkhead union. Then I can run the brake line all the way back along the outside face of the floor pan, under/around the rear half shaft and into another three way union. So until my fittings arrive I can’t continue with the install and disappointingly can’t pressure up the brakes. Still relatively straightforward so long as no joints leak when finished but once that’s all sorted I will be able to seal the boot floor and start making plans for the fuel tank, seat belt mounts and possibly even things like the fuel filler also. So I bit more progress and another few ticks off the list…. Still plenty more to go mind!! 

Studs and Floors

 With my new wheels and knock on hubs sat ready for a trial fit, it was time to start tackling the wheel studs. I had noticed ages ago when stripping all the running gear that a fair few of the wheel studs were showing signs of trauma and stress. The spitfire wheel studs do have a slight reputation from being weak, but so long as they are torqued correctly and not over tightened they will be fine. Many people upgrade the studs to Freelander studs that are a tad thicker and stronger, however because I’m converting to knock on hubs this is not an option for me. You can see pictured hear one of the studs that is looking seriously knackerd  and thin which is not good at all, so time to replace. I have ordered a full set of sixteen studs and knock on nuts online and the old ones are easy enough to knock out from both the front and rear hubs. The front hubs have undergone another strip down as in order to press the new studs in I have had to remove the calliper and disc so have to take the hub off again.

Once the front hubs were off the old studs simply tap out with the aid of a hammer. The rear studs are removed in a similar fashion however I only needed to remove the brake drum as I had enough clearance to drop the old studs out without removing the brake backplate. When side by side you can see the damaged and potentially dangerous old stud agains the new replacement. These really were ready to let go anytime if they were left on. Notice also the new replacement studs are threaded the full shaft length, the older presumed original studs have a slight smooth taper at the end to aid even threading of the wheel nut, with less risk of cross thread. When I get some tyres for my wires and fit the wheel’s properly I will need to cut these new studs down slightly, so that they won’t void on the rear of the wheels, however I’m not going to do this until I need to as I need to just wait until I have the tyres are fitted and balanced first….pointless otherwise.

The picture here shows a front knock on hub fitted and also showing the protruding stud that will need to be cut back a touch. The rear face of the wheel sits extremely close to the studs so if they are not cut back the wire wheel will not seat properly or evenly on the hub, which in turn would put excessive wear on the main center lock and could be dangerous and unbalanced when driving. When they are cut back correctly the nuts are torqued down and center punched to reduce wind back to achieve the correct fitting procedure. I can’t decide if I should hunt for tyres now or wait until closer to completion, after all tyres are date stamped now, so what’s the point in new tyres now when the build end date is still unknown. I possibly will take the current steel wheel tyres off and temporally fit them to the wires so I can continue to roll around, this will help with setting alignment and geometry easier than if changing wheels later on down the line.

Next on the list is to make a start on the boot floor. I started by marking a line on the rear bulkhead 470mm from top centre then scoring a horizontal line across from this mark. The boot floor is made up from three separate sections of bent alloy sheet. The first is fixed to the rear bulkhead with rivets spaced equally every two inches and then the outer edges are sealed with polyurethane sealant against the body. I can’t progress too much hear or fix to much of the boot floor, as I still need access to fit the brake lines which will be much easier from above as opposed to lying on my back underneath, I think that will be my next little update and progress in a week or so. 

With the correct horizontal line drawn I started making a template using a takeaway pizza box which is used to mirror the shape against the panel. Once I had one end cut to suit I just mirrored the same process for the other side. To calculate the length of the panel in order to cut to size I just ran a length of masking tape along the bulkhead horizontal line and with it cut either end to the edge of the body I could simply remove and stick onto the boot floor panel, which would give me the correct length and measurement to cut it down to. The fit doesn’t have to be millimetre perfect as the PU sealer will grip and fill any small gaps between the panel and the body, and that will all be covered with the boot floor carpet so it doesn’t even need to look pretty as it will all be covered when finished. This first section of boot floor will house the fuel tank so it does have to be solid and firm, as a full tank of fuel will be heavy and must be secure and safe. 

The firsts section of floor once cut and trimmed to fit was then marked down the centre of the rear flange and marks made from the center line every two inches, I drilled these out and then I was able to offer the panel into place and drill through the bulkhead for the rivets. Fitting the first panel was harder then I thought it would be. Probably because a few weeks back I have already fixed the body tub and bonded the rear bulkhead to the shell. This has removed all the side flex out of the tub and so fitting this panel was a tad tricky. As mentioned previously I can fix this first panel properly but can’t secure the second or third until after I have sorted the brake lines and fuel lines. 

The first panel is now in and I have bonded it either side also, next is to trim and cut the second panel which is going to be slightly more tricky because of how it is shaped and wraps over the rear swing spring and diff. This really has to be fitted correctly because the rear seatbelt triangulation mounts also fix into the suspension bridge on the chassis. So a lot of accurate measurements coming up and possibly some spacers will be needed so that the panel sits correctly. Luckily for me when I got my chassis bits manufactured locally I got two sections of the second boot floor panel. This allows me a second chance incase I cut the first one badly, but more importantly I can creat an access panel within this panel so I can access the top of the spring if needed and make a nice cover plate to fit over the top. 

I followed the same process for cutting the second boot floor panel using a cardboard template to attempt to cut a nice tight fitting panel. Unfortunately I’m not to happy with how it came out but I do have a plan on sorting it and keeping it cosmetically nice. More importantly the panel seats perfectly onto the chassis mounts and is nice and solid. I also made my access point for the rear spring should I need it in the future so I just need to mark and drill the two mounting holes for the seatbelt mounting brackets and tidy up either edge where it meet the body. 

I have put the fuel tank in to gauge fitting and positioning and I’m a tad concerned about how it will be secured and fitted. When this is full of fuel it will have a good amount of weight to it, so I’m going to have to be creative on how it fixes and mounts securely. Possibly configure a bracket with the seat belt mounts to help beef everything up. 

Next update will be some brake lines I think. I need to plumb up and pressurise the brakes in order to final fit the boot and thus the fuel tank, seat belts etc… etc… but progress is progress