The Camaro - Mojo creeping back...

Time for a long overdue update. Been snowed under with .. stuff. Here is where it is at:

Been on ebay buying some bits and bobs. To be honest, its nothing interesting but ultimately really neccessary stuff. I went down on Jan 2nd for a tinker. Got this done:

Mega irritating fuel pump cleaned up and refitted. Its a ballache getting the pump shaft and plate for this bolted on, and it cant be done before dropping the engine in as that is the engine mount directly behind it. So a wee bit closer. Also, did this:

Refitted the alternator with its shiney new bracket. Got the bottom crank pulley reconnected and the belt back on. Will now have power and water for the restart / test fire. This leaves it looking like this:

Engines always look a bit more compelte with a belt on! Havent attached the power steering pump yet as the aircon bracket formed an integral part of the pump support. Needless to say some funky bracketry is afoot. Watch this space.

While I was there I started seriously appraising what still needs done before the grand re-start. Spark plugs, which are shagged, have been purchased and should be here for the end of the week, along with a new oil filter. Once those arrive I can throw the distributer on and finish the top end build up and set the timing. A can of oil should see it lubed too. After that I need to finish the exhausts so it wont deafen Shawlands, throw the rest of the coolant system on, and poke Kenny to help wire it up, and we should be ready for a test fire and 2k cam bed in. 

So then i had work. Was sat bored during January and I just had a wee moment. This project has been nipping at me somewhat to get the finger out. Been dragging my heels on the wheel and tire front since getting the fronts sorted with cooper cobras. The rears have been so bloody rare and expensive in BFG and Cooper cobras respectively I have forgotten about it. Today I trawled ebay and found this:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TYRE-295-50-15-295-50-R-15-2955015-29550R15-/400269139602?_trksid=p5197.m7&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D5538645411698914838

I emailed the dude and asked what type he had in, expecting linglong pingpong with tipex letters on the side. His exact response:

"These are currently Cooper Cobra brand"

I shite thee not, I had a pair bought less than 10 seconds after he sent that. £228 for a pair. Delivered. I wasn't holding my breath, as this was still frighteningly cheap for it to be true, but stranger things have happened....

So i had a wait for those to arrive. In my head I'm trying to make a conscious effort to keep at this, doing as many silly jobs wherever possible just to break the back of the mountain of stuff needed to get this lump running again. I got a new set of plugs and set about fitting them, only to find that the new tubular manifolds restrict every port. All plugs had to be nipped up with a spanner a fraction of a turn at a time. Very frustrating.

I also got the new oil filter on:

...everything is just BIGGER on a V8!! Primed it and attached with little drama.

Now that the plugs are in, I set about reattaching the dizzy. Got the leads allocated ok, but the drive could be anywhere as I have cranked the engine a millionty times since fitting the new cam and lifters. Will need to work out how to set it for the first start.

Also, the plug leads... those now don't fit because of the feckin manifolds. I think I need leads that attach to the plug at 90 degrees, but not too sure what i'm looking fo there, as none of the kits I have seen say how they attach...

Then things got better. Biggest news was the mega wide 295/50 R15 Cooper Cobras arriving. Quick visit to TyresBwise and we were in business:

 

Very very happy about that outcome! Mojo somewhat restored, it was time to move onto the exhausts...

After checking that the new boxes fitted adequately onto the existing mid pipe I have...

...it was time to weld!

All metal-glued together, it was time for a trial fit...

 

...looking ok....

...yea, not bad...

 

...I'm happy with that. Couldnt get it fully lined up as it started raining HARD and my feet needed to stick out the garage door to get into it right. Bloody big yank tanks...

Had some time to kill waiting for a courier so I cracked on with another wee job I had up my sleeve fro a (literally) rainy day.

Take one throttle pedal assembly, and cut the pedal plate off...

...then weld on a nut so as to attach and bearing assembly. If anyone is wondering, thats a skateboard bearing:

That sorted, we take a section of 2x2 steel bar, cut the bottom off, then drill and profile:

...like this:

Then weld into the drivers floor:

...and attach this:

...so it looks a bit like this:

Bingo. No yank cruiser is complete without a big organ mash-pedal!!

Post Xmas progress...

...which is slim to nil on the MR2 front. Been a bit of a mojo depletion again recently. I guess weather, life and festivities have left me a bit empty. I have actually started focusing more on the MR2 than on the Camaro in fact. might be something to do with an increase in potholes or something, but it just feels rougher... or clunkier even... on rough ground. Some inspection underneath has unearthed worn bushes on the rear tie bars. Naturally, this is a mega rare and expensive part, so some of my musings have been on a method of getting around this...

In other MR2 news, i have bought new wheels. Clearly, this does not mean i have done anything remotely sensible. Far from it, i have went balls out as usual:

16 inch split rim Image wheels. Staggered too so should look a bit mean. 

Heres how they look trial fitted:

(Its all a bit Carlos Fandango at the moment though)

Fronts look ok fron this angle, but there is a good inch and a half of outwards poke here, and the rubber catches the arches with the slightest of steering turn. I might get away with changing to stretched rubber here... I hope. The other option is going to be coilovers to set the rideheight bang on. See here:

Not legal. Oh, and thats the good end. Heres the back:

 

Will need some wide arches here, as thats 2 inches of outward poke:

I have some rivet on goodness up my sleeve for this solution, but it will need to wait. The rear tie bars are absolutely destroyed at the moment, giving me the fear over every bump in the road. Need the inner bushes AND the outer balljoints changed. Currently concocting something better than the 200+ quid toyota only option, and it will look better too. Other advances in this are:

...clear side repeaters, and...

...clear front repeaters, and...

...a bloody good scrub. That white stripe has been painted proper since the pic, I just primered it to keep the winter rust out.

The winter is attacking other areas though... my window wipers are giving me grief again. As before the rod keeps popping off from the balljoint where it attaches to the motor. I have a proper beefy solution in the post, but for the moment I have no wipers...

Yea, so I had to bodge it today so I can use the wipers until the new parts arrive for my homebrew solution. I'll let the pics do the talking:

Have tried some various modified clips but they ultimately pop off. Todays ultra-bodge: a cable tie noosed around the base of the ball, and through it another cable tie looped around the rod. Essentially "handcuffing" the parts together. No idea how long it will last, but with nothing to lose its a worthy bodge!