The Cunning Coupe

[Manky Monkey]

Even I can see that's better Tony. 
I've bought a few bits & pieces for my own engine & carb from Real Steel. Very knowledgable guys & good, fast service.

[spanners]

Even I can see that's better Tony. 
I've bought a few bits & pieces for my own engine & carb from Real Steel. Very knowledgable guys & good, fast service.

real steel  that name about fits ,,,,,,,,,, are you made of money 

[cunningplan]

Even I can see that's better Tony. 
I've bought a few bits & pieces for my own engine & carb from Real Steel. Very knowledgable guys & good, fast service.

real steel  that name about fits ,,,,,,,,,, are you made of money 

Been using them for years and always had very good service and advice from them.
Priced the same parts up from the states and with the postage, inport tax and VAT it works out cheeper than it would have done a year ago.

[wizzkitt]

Cool. When I was on the Street Rodder Tour last year I did a tour of the Comps Cams factory in Memphis last year and it was great - proper machining by hand by blokes in dungarees. And they fed us too, so obviously I was impressed.

[spanners]

what by ?-----------------------being fed 

[wizzkitt]

 

[cunningplan]

I have been told that most of the old cam shops are a little like that (Old skool and not the feeding bit) would love to go to a place like that.

[wizzkitt]

Here's a couple of pics from that trip. No photo of the food, though. That was very remiss of me.

The Cunning Coupe

The Cunning Coupe

[cunningplan]

That looks so primitive

[cunningplan]

I took my car down Tonypandy town centre today as part of the Christmas light turning on celebrations.
During the week I took the carb and filter off the mini and fitted it to the coupe, it’s only a 600cfm but I only fitted it for the display. I like the way it looks so will be keeping the stack on when the new 750 is fitted.
Now that all the valve train is sorted, I had bought a oil pump primer so used it to see if it worked. At first I had forgot that I had removed the oil pressure switch and had oil squirt out of the hole all over the back of the engine and gearbox. This sorted; I used it until I had oil coming out of every rocker. (I had to turn the engine over a couple of times.)
I don’t know what the pressure was as I need a adaptor to fit the new gauge, but I nearly burnt out the drill (I had to remember to turn it anti clockwise as that’s the way the dizzy turns in a Ford)
I wanted to sort out the body firewall, so I went down early this morning and with the help of Jon quickly cut out a new one which will clear the engine. So as long as the left side rear rocker cover T handles are in the right place it now clears, this will be classed into the body. At the moment there is a gap between this and the engine plate (As, if it’s any longer, it would hit when you raise or lower the body) I am going to see if I can find some sort of flexi material to go in between.
Heres a couple of photos from down there.

The Cunning Coupe

The Cunning Coupe

The Cunning Coupe

Do you like the new Wild Bunch hub caps

[Manky Monkey]

You're a celebrity Tony!
Lookin' good. love that air filter. 

[hunter]

Looking good Tony,i must call down and see it in the raw.

[spanners]

god tony it must be rough around youre area

its rough around here at time,s   theyve been known to ,nick, wheels

but it looks worse where you are  cozz they left youre wheels,, but ,,nicked,, youre front axle 

[gazzagood]

  like that one!!!

[cunningplan]

It was the last weekend of the year to take to car to Steve & Lesley’s (Sorry no photos this time, at the end of the weekend when I went to take some, the cameras battery gave up)
The plan was to get the engine running but as you will find out, it was near but didn’t happen.
I got to the shed just after nine; the first thing to do was fit the front axle and get the car off the trailer into the shed. As it was a straight push back we did not notice that there was only ¼ turn to the left and nearly 2 to the right. We checked and checked everything and could not work it out, it was not until we had stripped the steering right off we found that the shaft had turned at the drop arm end. It was a very tight fit and was also pinned, the only thing we can think of is that when we had the car off the trailer the last time, we were turning it by the wheels; this put too much strain on the joint. While the steering was off, I completely stripped the box, cleaned it all out, greased it and put it all back together. (With the shaft now being pinned and welded back on.) This was left off until we had finished with the other things on my list. (We always start the day with a list and cross off everything we have finished.
We jacked the complete car up, unbolted the engine and box, slid the engine forward and took out the box. I changed the bell housing (For the one I had bead blasted) and gave the other one to Steve. He had taken off the engine plate, so he stuck this onto the bell housing to see if the starter holes lined up, they were not much out but needed a bit of trimming before the starter would fit.
While Steve was doing this, I fitted the torque converter, took off the back wheels, removed the half shafts and unbolted the diff; Steve gave me a hand to take it out. I fitted the gasket and refitted it. I rebuilt the axle and filled it with oil. The box was next followed by the engine. The engine was already filled with oil so I topped up the box as well. The steering was then refitted.
I/we were not happy with the gear change, the bar was a little small and flexed, so I had bought some stronger tube to fit. We bent it to the same shape and fitted it. It still didn’t want to work properly, with the problem getting back out of reverse.
This is where Steve comes in with some very good ideas; he looks in from the other side and starts drawing on the white board. The shift is a ratchet type and we found that the bar would have to move 1 inch each way off centre, so Steve designed a system which would work with two bars instead of the one. He made a pivot plate to fit on the two bottom axle mounts. The pivot is a upside down L with a two to one ratio. After it was finished and trial fitted, it worked a treat, so was taken back off and painted.
While Steve was making that, I was fitting the throttle and brake pedals. At the moment the engine still has the 600 cfm from the Mini on it, as I know it works, the engine will be started on this and the 750 will be fitted after. I am not happy with the throttle cable at the moment, it’s a custom one with a braided outer casing and it seems to flex a lot when I press the pedal (As it takes a lot of travel before the throttle starts to open). As I have some new black outer cable, I am going to try fitting this and see if it makes a difference.
I have a lot of brake fittings but before I can set them up, I need a few more odds and ends.
With all the extra things we had to do I just did not have time to do any of the wiring (Other than the plug leads) to get the engine running, so that will be put off until early next year when I’m back down the shed.
I will be doing as much as I can this Saturday down the garage and will take some photos of what was done this weekend.
The good news of the weekend was that the car came off and back onto the trailer with no problems at all. It is a little problem strapping down the back, but I think that can be sorted.
More news and photos soon.