NEW CLUTCH

Along with all the parts I got was a Spridget 1275 pressure plate and disk. Also the flywheel was turned on the ID and face and drilled and pinned to accept the 1275 clutch. This lightened the flywheel as a good bit of metal was removed.

STEERING COLUMN

I tackled the steering gear yesterday and today. It felt very stiff and what I found was the inner and outer tubes were both bent and the bracket that holds the reduction box to the scuttle was cracked and bent. Otherwise the internal parts were in very good condition. I also found that the draglink was bent indicating a wee bit of a bumping at some point.

I cleaned it all up and straightened the two tubes, welded up the bracket and then reassembled it all. I did lub it all during assembly and will pump more in. the spline and key way were perfect.
Here is Mr. Before:

And after:

THE ENGINE

I have been studying the engine ever since getting the car in March and here is what I found.
1. The crankshaft is in excellent condition and mic's at std. size. I'll have it polished and get new bearing shells.
2. New Sport cam shaft.
3. Lightened flywheel with 1275 Spridget clutch
4. Aquaplane head and valve cover.
5. Aquaplane intake with new SU carbs.
6. Aquaplane exhaust manifold.
7. I'll need new valves and guides
And now the bad part.
8. The rods are OK but I'd like to get new ones with bearing shells.
9. The cylinders were bored to 30 over but a sleeve was installed in #1 cyl. It was bored about .004 oversize so the ring gaps are at .028" and the piston will probably rattle. I have a new Ford sleeve on the way from NY (thanks Chris) and a shop here will cut the old one out and press in the new one.

I could have just put the engine back together as is. The other cylinders were in excellent shape with no wear and like new clearance. I intend to put some miles on this car so I'll fix it the right way.

PROPSHAFT SHIM

Nev's new book gives a dimension from the bell housing face to the front of the propshaft spline. I found mine was 1/4" to the rear so a shim is required. I found a penny stuck into the gearbox input shaft that was dated 1971 so I assume the car was restored in that year. It looks like the 1971 penny was soldered to the end of the propshaft at some point.

I made a plug from some nylon shaft I had on hand and deducted the thickness of the 1971 coin plus the 2019 coin that I added. Car value is going up!!

REAR SUSPENSION AGAIN

After reading Nev Lear's new book I decided to go back to the rear suspension and make some changes. The first was to make up a fork reinforcement bracket. This was welded up from the Tie Rod, two 3/8" plates and two 1/2" bolts. I checked many times to be sure the alignment was square.

Here is the finished product with wrapped springs coated with Boiled Linseed Oil.

Just a shot of the machinery and  milling the fork bracket.

GEARBOX BIG NUT

The left hand thread big nut on the rear of the gearbox has 4 slots so I made a wrench to fit it. An easy 15 minute milling job using a scrap piece of pipe. I tried a big pipe wrench on it but I think a hole drilled through and a Tommy Bar will be better but it does work well.

REAR SUSPENSION WORK

I decided to remove the rear springs and clean and grease and wrap them with plastic wrap and string. I painted them with boiled Linseed Oil after this photo was taken.
I also plan to re-enforce the cross members.

ACKERMANN PRINCIPLE

This is probably a much debated part of front end design. When I looked at the steering arms I could see that there was no Ackermann. The line through the track rod hole and the kingpin ran straight back on each side of the car. The line is supposed to point to the rear wheel contact patch.

It looked to me that the steering arms were on the wrong side so I swapped them.

Now the line through the kingpin is correct however now the track rod won't fit correctly.

There are 2 options. Make a new track rod with Rose Joint ends or heat and twist the ends of the steering arms. A quick heating with the Acetylene torch and a steel rod in the hole allowed me to bend the arms to get the arm holes plumb and square. The track rod now fits correctly except that is now 2.5" short. I still have to mill the hex down to an acceptable size and get it chrome plated and make stop nuts. The heating did turn the chrome blue but is doesn't show in the pix.

 Now I have correct Ackermann and therefore no scrub when cornering or parking. I look forward to driving an F type without this fix to see what the difference is. It was an afternoon of work.

Edit note.
I read in Nev's book that he suggests doing this exact same thing, however he cold bent the steering arms out to correct the Ackermann.

HYDRAULIC MASTER CYLINDER/ Portable Drill Press

To mount the master cyl. I had to drill 8 holes into the chassis. Four to relocate the pedals and four to mount the cyl. bracket. Some years ago I came up with an idea that I call the "Portable Drill Press". I am sure someone else has done this but I thought I'd show it. You need a drill motor, a stick or pipe and a length of rope. You put this all together to make a lever that pushes the drill bit through the work piece.

To make this work easily you need the simplest knot in the rope so you can easily adjust the length. I have a small loop in one end and thread the tail end through the loop. I double the tail end and do a simple half hitch. This will slide up and get tighter as you pull on it and comes loose by just pulling the tail end.

Apply pressure to the stick to the right and get an easy 3 to 1 mechanical advantage. The rope can be on the far side of the drill if needed in which case you push the stick to the left. I've drilled many dozens of holes with this rig.

So now to the master cylinder. Here is the bracket I fabricated.

Here it is installed. There is another angel bracket on the near side with 2 bolts.

Here is the pedal connection and the finished view.