Saturday, April 29, 2006

Gathering Pictures


Vern Brannon drove his 2000 saloon daily driver to the Gathering. Vern really does drive this car daily. I believe it came from Oregon as it has a PTOA sticker on the back window.

I hope at some point to get a steering wheel like this one for the Estate.


There's an interesting story behind the tear in the hood sheetmetal (visible just to the side of the "hood scoop"). Apparently Vern was driving the car one day when the original fan blade lost a blade...which left, rather rapidly, while creating the tear along the way. Vern has since replaced the fan...and this led me to buy a TR250 fan for Chrissy.

As far as progress on OUR car, I've done some more blasting and painting, but there's a lot more to do. I'm still struggling with the eventual brake specifications. At this point, I'm leaning towards a Stag M/C, Stag front brakes, and possibly putting a proportioning valve into the system to keep the rears from locking up rather than replacing the rear brakes with Stag brakes. Anyone got any experience with proportioning valves? They seem pretty affordable on eBay. I've also acquired some more parts off the list that never seems to end...but will eventually.

One more thing...it's lonely out here. If you read this, please post a comment so that I know you did...:-) Thanks!

Jamie

Monday, April 24, 2006

Update...but not much to report

It's been pretty busy lately with the TCOC's main event, The Gathering, which was last weekend and was a great deal of fun!

The latest issues are how to rig up the throttle (I'm going to try a late Spit 1500 cable attached to a highly modified RHD pedal assembly) and what to use for a brake master cylinder. At this point I'm going to start off with a NOS 2000 master cylinder...but that may create a "long" pedal with the Stag front calipers. We'll have to see. If I have to go to the Stag brake M/C I'll have to relocate the clutch M/C in one way or another. Two solutions were posted to my question on the forum, one to move the cylinder over, one to create a part that relocates the cylinder forward and to also extend the pushrod. We'll have to see.

Also, my friend Doug from Durham has offered to help me figure out a way to get more gauges into the dash without it looking horrible. I really want a tachometer, and I would prefer a voltmeter over the ammeter.

More to come, I'm sure...

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

Aussie Parts Arrive!

Yea! The parts from Australia are here! Here's the box from Andy:

Note the "This way up". The box was very solidly constructed, and I can at least say that the local DHL delivery folks did pay attention to the directions...it was in my driveway that side up!








I eagerly unpacked the box (LOTS of screws):















I now have in the garage awaiting cleaning, fettling and installation:
SU carbs, linkage and manifold
Gas, brake and clutch pedals
Remote air cleaner assembly and ducting
Sump for 2.5 engine
Engine mount spacer plates

And the bumper and sidelamp have been repacked and sent on to Stephen...

Now to find some time!