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Dales Cannon

Dales Cannon

lightbrain about 4pm
Staff member
Follow up on the oil pump drive I was making up for the NA Cosworth. I grabbed another distributor and cut the shaft out of it but when I tried to turn it up it was somehow bent at the drive gear. Guess it had been dropped in a previous life so sacrificial distributor #3 was hacked and all good. Discovered that the second shaft was not only bent but was 0.5mm smaller in diameter than the one I used. Not sure what is happening there but anyway a good thing it was bent because it would have flopped around like an untrained seal in the relocated bush.

I have done a bit of research on the 2.0 Cosworth motors and the genuine ones seemed to run twin point distributors so who knows what parts were in the parts bin when the Pintos were being run out. The Cosworth blocks were a special casting but the only difference was the sump flange was thicker and the same as the Spanish cast Pintos. Obviously my mate has Spanish blocks to receive the Cosworth DOHC goodness.

When it came to a test fit without the bulk of the distributor it was quite difficult to get the leverage on the plug to fit. So I hit it with some emery and took 0.3 bee's dicks off the aluminium. At this point I realised that once the plug and drive were in it would take many special words to get it all back out. So back to the lathe and I drilled and tapped the shaft M6 so a bolt can be screwed into it and the whole assembly pulled out.

tapping the shaft:



screw test fit:



Some nylon on the lathe left over from turning up new shifter bushes to replace the worn rubber ones in the XR4.

the bits ready for insertion (without new o ring):



installed, note there is also a cover where the fuel pump used to go (electric pump will go in the drop tank for the itbs):



The cover was deliberately left a coarse turned finish so that the clamp had something to bite on.

The block was honed this afternoon and will be stripped and repainted. This is going to be a cammed Pinto until the head work is done on the Cosworth. A lot of work for a temporary motor...

And after the last sprint meeting I reckoned the old seat we had was missing a big chunk of its padding and as I was planning on making that the passenger seat I grabbed a Cobra composite race seat today to fit for the weekend. Of course the seat frame is different (higher and wider) so I needed to redo the mounts and cut about 25mm out of the spacers. In between rain showers (yay!) and working on the back of the trailer and in the dark I got the spacers cut and seat fitted. Maybe still 5mm too high but I will check it again tomorrow.

But....



in my haste I put the bloody frame on backwards! Damn! Ah well. I need to get new frame mounting bolts tomorrow so I will swap it back then. And if it is raining again I wont be a lazy bastard and I will run the car off the trailer and into the carport! Seat is very good. It had a 10mm nick in the cloth at the back of the seat and that meant I paid about $300 less than I should have!
 
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link1896

link1896

Mr Greenfield
After draining her of water and leaving a fan blowing in the inlet/outlet/over pressure relief holes for 28 hours, the 120L LPG tank is dry and pretty much rust free on the inside.


Used a block and tackle to drag her up into position. 1ton slings for the win. Screw hours spent with complicated mounts.

Started modifying the bronze valve blocks for some high flow action.

 
Haakon

Haakon

has an accommodating arse
hifiandmtb said:
Our taxpayer dollars at work. You should be in cattle class.
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Why? It’s a business trip. Anyway, staying out of that one, you might happier in the daily telegraph comments section with that comment.

I’m just commenting here on a plane nerd basis. It’s a nice plane, noticeably quieter than anything else, has a very cool and distinctive deep hum on full noise at takeoff.
 
fatboyonabike

fatboyonabike

Captain oblivious
Haakon said:
I’m just commenting here on a plane nerd basis. It’s a nice plane, noticeably quieter than anything else, has a very cool and distinctive deep hum on full noise at takeoff.
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you should know, you spend alot of time burning up jet fuel and tax payers dollars...im glad we were able to make you as comfortable as possible on your overseas junket
 
Haakon

Haakon

has an accommodating arse
fatboyonabike said:
you should know, you spend alot of time burning up jet fuel and tax payers dollars...im glad we were able to make you as comfortable as possible on your overseas junket
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Ok, that was a plane nerd comment. The purpose of the trip you know nothing about, and I’m not going into it.

I don’t choose the tickets, but perhaps worth noting every foreign colleague I deal with all fly business internationally and economy domestically just like us and it’s always been that way. Take it up with someone else if you think you have a problem.
 
Haakon

Haakon

has an accommodating arse
Ultra Lord said:
Fucken tradies.
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Fucken tradies...

When did it become a thing to think you should get a say in where tax dollars get spent? I pay a lot of tax that ends up in childcare that just breeds more fucken tradies, so I think the tradies can wear a few plane tickets... This quickly devolves into a pointless circular argument. Short version is the democratic system basically has taxes and the tax payers don’t get to choose where they’re spent.

Tevs. I still like planes they’re cool. Some people I know are bored by them and treat it as a chore but I still get the little kid grin on them. Super cool machines.

Just wish there was a few billion world wide being thrown at carbon neutral fuels...
 
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