Roadkill's 1983 Chevy Z28 - (Work Starts on Page 5)

[Roadkill]

Pfft !!! - I can't belive no one has commented on my funky sketch.

Anyway . . .

Box and rack are now back off the car.

I've taken some measurements and am gonna start designing a plate to off-set the holes . . . in the process a chunk of the existing bracket will have to be cut away so I'm incorporating a stiffener plate as part of the design which'll make it part bolt-in, part weld in and should brace it all nicely.

[ianjpage]

Quoting: Roadkill

Pfft !!! - I can't belive no one has commented on my funky sketch.  

Anyway . . .

Box and rack are now back off the car.

I've taken some measurements and am gonna start designing a plate to off-set the holes . . . in the process a chunk of the existing bracket will have to be cut away so I'm incorporating a stiffener plate as part of the design which'll make it part bolt-in, part weld in and should brace it all nicely.

it is very good, especially the wildlife....i would have expected to see a cat with a stone heading in its direction though lol

Ahh cool sounds like that prob the best / easiest way to sort it then

[Cunning Plan]

Just to bring me up-to-date - why is it not in line? Who put the box there?

[Roadkill]

Myself and Ian put the box there, based on the reasonings listed in a previous post.

It's a manual steering box we fitted - the car originally came with power steering but I went manual to save weight, keep the engine bay as clear as possible and ironically avoid complications !!!

[Jamieg285]

How is the pitman arm keyed?  Is it the same as the power steering, i.e. keyed at 90*, or can you re-align it in between?

[Titsy]

Quoting: Jamieg285

How is the pitman arm keyed?

There is no pitman arm, it's a pinto rack:

[Roadkill]

Got the bits I need in production so providing they're done I should hit it again this weekend . . . .

[Jamieg285]

Quoting: Titsy

There is no pitman arm, it's a pinto rack:

Oh.  All previous post say it's a box.

I've not had any experience of racks for a long time, so I can't offer much more advice for now.

[Roadkill]

To summarise the list of jobs that needed doing as of last Friday :

Find TDC.
Mark TDC / modify pointer.
Time the engine.
Test fit new slam panel / modify to fit.
Fit / weld new brackets for steering.
Prime / paint lower cross-member / new brackets.
Re-fit rack.
(hopefully) connect inner-to-outer track ends
modify main steering column as needed in order to operate steering.
Paint steering column.
Final fit steering column.
Test steering.

. . . I Was at it every available second but the net result wasn't as much as I'd hoped.  Could've been worse though . . . .

Find TDC.
Mark TDC / modify pointer.
Time the engine.
Test fit new slam panel / modify to fit.  Needs 2 mins of final adjusting
Fit / weld new brackets for steering.
Prime / paint lower cross-member / new brackets.
Re-fit rack.
(hopefully) connect inner-to-outer track ends
modify main steering column as needed in order to operate steering.  In progress
Paint steering column.
Final fit steering column.
Test steering.  

Basically the rack is back on - and what a b@stard that was to do !!!

Thanks to Ian for assistance on Saturday - loads of delays but we got just enough done for me to continue reasonably successfully on Sunday.

The rack was moved over 33mm to the drivers side and if I'm honest, could've gone another 3mm or so to get it truly central.  Even then there's only a few milimetres of thread showing on the rod ends so it doesn't leave hardly any room for adjustment . . . . which is a worry as there's no way of improving this !!

The "TDC" related jobs will be fairly straight-forward (I hope) so I'm concentrating on sorting the steering column out this week.

I've said this before, I know, but there's no reason why she shouldn't be moveable under own power by the end of this weekend.

[Roadkill]

A few pics to follow . . . I'll try and get some of it all fitted tonight.

(apologies to the engineers for the lower case text used in the drawing on the picture - it's how I distinguish between my "official" and "non-official" drawings)



Did have a video, too, but that was taking forever to upload !!

[ianjpage]

Quoting: Roadkill

The rack was moved over 33mm to the drivers side and if I'm honest, could've gone another 3mm or so to get it truly central. Even then there's only a few milimetres of thread showing on the rod ends so it doesn't leave hardly any room for adjustment . . . . which is a worry as there's no way of improving this !!  

wow that's mad  - there is no way that original bracket would have fitted anywhere near that!!!

Dunno about you but boy did i have a bad case of arc-eye saturday night / sunday ...

Quoting: Roadkill

The "TDC" related jobs will be fairly straight-forward (I hope) so I'm concentrating on sorting the steering column out this week.

Quoting: Roadkill

I've said this before, I know, but there's no reason why she shouldn't be moveable under own power by the end of this weekend.

cool - let us know when / if you need help as be great to see it move on its own at last!

[Roadkill]

Quoting: ianjpage

Dunno about you but boy did i have a bad case of arc-eye saturday night / sunday ...

Actually I was fine.  Forehead was sore, though !

Am off Thursday-Tuesday so am hoping that with a 6-day weekend to get the bitch moving !!!

[ianjpage]

Quoting: Roadkill

Actually I was fine. Forehead was sore, though !  

lol yeah my face is a bit red and sore lol

Quoting: Roadkill

Am off Thursday-Tuesday so am hoping that with a 6-day weekend to get the bitch moving !!!

Cool, likewise off thanks to the wonders of bank holidays! (and more!)

[Roadkill]

I've got Sammy's mum looking after Jensen on Thursday so I should be unhindered !!



He didn't fall asleep until 5pm yesterday - had him out with me in the front garden but he kept getting bored and moaning !

He was mesmerised (sp) by a 19mm spanner - even after clonking himself in the head with it !

[ianjpage]

Quoting: Roadkill

I've got Sammy's mum looking after Jensen on Thursday so I should be unhindered !!

lol nicely done!!

Quoting: Roadkill

He didn't fall asleep until 5pm yesterday - had him out with me in the front garden but he kept getting bored and moaning !

Ahh probably wanted to play with / in the car

Quoting: Roadkill

He was mesmerised (sp) by a 19mm spanner - even after clonking himself in the head with it !

LOL - oops poor thing!!

[Andy]

Oh dear, dimensioning the Hypotenuse of a triangle. I got a bollocking for that at college

Good work guys! Can you get some photos of it all fixed on the car? Intrigued, especially as you say you don't have much adjustment...

[Roadkill]

Quoting: Andy

Oh dear, dimensioning the Hypotenuse of a triangle. I got a bollocking for that at college

Yeah, my Draughting lecturer came out with all manner of bull$hit . . . unfortunately it's often different in the real world . . . adding dimensions like that often result in getting something that's right !

My philosophy has always been as few dimensions as possible - but always more than just enough.

Anyway . . .

She's playing proper hard-ar$e, now.

Was outside for a couple of hours after work yesterday and decide that the only way I could stop the binding on one of the UJ's was to introduce another - namely the stock original (limited) UJ at the top of the column.

I had to modify it somewhat but got it fitting nice . . . angles looked good but the section attached to it was shorter than the one that came out so I had to modify one of my already modified sections to get the correct length.



Alas, there was too much slop when turning the wheel . . . which was a b@stard because everything else looked good !



Nevermind . . . I've still got a couple of bits of round bar in my tool box that I can file down to fit !!!

Got one or two more different arrangements to try . . . each one seems to take about 2 hours including all the fettling so I'm hoping the weather improves so I can get out there tonight . . . .

[FUBAR]

Blimey there's a lot of work going on!  1st time i've read this thread for a while so catching up a bit, like the sketch BTW

Not looking promising for this evening's weather

[Cunning Plan]

Good to see some work

[Roadkill]

Quoting: FUBAR

Not looking promising for this evening's weather

Quite.

Nevermind - It gave me the opportunity to finish a couple of jobs in the kitchen and tidy the garage.

I should be getting back from site early today so my 6-day-weekend should hit the ground running . . . . weather permitting.

[Andy]

Now that's an Easter Holiday if the weather holds, 6 days of grease, oil and scraped knuckles!

[Roadkill]

Yeah !

My forehead started peeling last night after my close-up welding exploits at the weekend !!!

Hardcore !!!

[ianjpage]

Quoting: Roadkill

My forehead started peeling last night after my close-up welding exploits at the weekend !!!

LOL same here...whole face is now peeling nicely!

[Roadkill]

If there was such-a-thing as a Anti-Update - Maybe a Undate or a Downdate (???) - I'd be posting it.

Utterly disasterous Easter weekend on the Camaro . . . truly the gods were/are against us.

Nevermind.

Several months (or a year ?) of time and £££ down the pan.

A few small battles won but we were definately on the losing side this time.

I'm now off to spend more money I don't have !!!

It's not over, yet.

EDIT - Ian - Re. our discussions yesterday . . . . . There are now 1.65 ratio rockers available . . . And my springs can eat the extra valve lift . . . .

[Roadkill]

It never ceases to amaze me how much money you can throw at an engine . . . I've learnt alot today, though.



Could pick up a few extra HP for "relatively" little out lay . . . . . . . . . And as my top end is back in pieces I don't see why not.