Scarlet

[Scarlet]

I have completed scraping off the old under seal at the rear. It is now ready to put the diff back in.
The fuel tank and tank guard also had a freshen up and the fuel vent pipe has new grommets, it was probably the cause of one of the many rattles.
The hole in the boot floor at the shock mount was cut out to give clearance to the GAZ shocks.
The paint is black underbody spray available in spray cans from Repco, it has a textured finish and is great for hiding any imperfections, it actually looks really good.
The fuel tank and all suspension parts are painted in enamel satin black chassis paint also from Repco in spray cans.

[Scarlet]

Diff is in place, picture shows the top arms.
Because I had dismantled the suspenion a few times I no longer had any grease left that was supplied with the bushes.
I tried four brands of lithium grease that people recommended on Google search but I found they all squeaked pretty much straight away as they were not thick enough and all the grease squished out when I tighten the bolts up.
I went to BNT and asked I could sample there grease range and ended up using Fuchs Polyplex Polymar lithium grease, good water resistant qualities and super super sticky, and no squeaks.
I also put a washer in between the arm and bush at the diff end to stop the fingers on the arm from bending in and pinching the bush when tightened to the correct torque numbers.
Everything now works as it is supposed to.

[Scarlet]

I felt the original brakes were not up to scratch no matter how hard you tried to get the best from them.
Upgrade shown in photo is Lotus sunbeam set up. The beauty of this set up is it is a direct bolt on fit and is period correct.
M16 Callipers are easy to find as Mk 3,4 Cortina, Capri, Escorts all had them, the disc on the other hand are listed only for the Lotus Sunbeam. Some say you can substitute Ford discs if you re drill them?
Shown in the photo on one calliper is Scarlets original inlet pipe so that is also a bolt on fit
Discs are slightly larger and thicker 248mm diameter, 13mm thick, 24mm height verses 242mm diameter, 10mm thick, 25mm height.
The M16 calliper has a 54mm piston verses 48mm ,and there is also a better range of fast road brake pads.
The callipers will return to there natural metal colour finish once rebuilt.

[Scarlet]

Disc bolted to the original hub, so far so good.
When I first enquired about these discs they were no longer available. Speedy Spares have only just had a batch re-manufactured.

[Scarlet]

I had some concerns on how well the disc lined up in the centre of the calliper as I am only guessing on the whole conversion, photo shows the disc and calliper mounted on the strut and you can see it is pretty much spot on.

[Scarlet]

And the final alignment check is the original brake line needed a couple of gentle bends so it was sitting naturally so that  it is not being forced into place by doing up the bolts.
Calliper will get a rebuild before it is fit for service as well as removing the non original blue paint.
If anyone's interested Wilwood make an aluminium four piston M16 calliper.
Another thing to keep in mind when replacing the tie rod ends or the lower control arm with new "old stock" items is the rubber boots are just as old as the ones you took off. Even though they look good in the wrapper they will all have split before the year is out necessitating another complete disassembly of the entire suspension to replace all four boots.

[Scarlet]

Photo shows the alignment issues you would have to sort out first if you just wanted to bolt the calliper on using the original Avenger disc.
I believe there is a metric M16 and imperial P16 calliper. I do not know what the difference is, I just bought the first pair I saw and everything fitted.

[Scarlet]

The steering rack with the quick rack fitted, a simple job once you are told how, the main points is to get the clearances correct.
The easiest way was to machine the white plunger flush with the housing and the pinion side had a thick spacer which was also machined flush with the housing, then I just selected the correct size shim, both covers were fitted with several shims of different thickness's but not enough to set the correct clearances hence the reason for machining the spacers down
Originally the racks were filled with oil but I used grease.
Behind the rack is what's called a grp4 steering coupling, it is a bolt on replacement which dose away with the rubber coupling

[Scarlet]

Starting to tinker around with the engine now which I will do in progressive stages much like how I have done with the suspension, (which there is still more to do).
First job is fitting the twin Strombergs, photo shows the manifold is matched to the gasket size using a course 40 grit flap-wheel.
Manifold was cleaned using Meguairs mag wheel cleaner, worked great

[Scarlet]

Big Bore. A David Vizard tip is to open the exhaust manifold up to match the gasket, worth a couple of HP.
I used a drill extension to get right in there

[Scarlet]

Rebuilding the carbs at the moment but playing around with them as I go, I smoothed the piston using 1200 grit. Piston was turning slowly in a drill using 1200 grit-wet. The piston had machine marks which felt notchy when test sliding the piston up and down. The difference in smoothness is quite noticeable.
At this stage the carbs will use the original jets

[Scarlet]

A bit more work on the sliding piston, I also polished the piston shaft that slides up and down the top cover.
On the left is a wad of steel wool that I screwed a wood screw into so I could polish the top cover internal shaft and the internal shaft on the piston, to polish the outside of the piston shaft I used 1200 grit wrapped around it. It now slides very very smoothly
The brass jet adjuster show a needle file that I used to clean the sharp edges on the inside where the holes were drilled into them.

[Scarlet]

The throttle shafts had a bit of wear in them while the carburettor body seemed OK.
A Google search showed building up the wear with silver solder was a common method of repair
Took me a few goes to work out how to spread the solder without it falling off, I will then file and test fit for finish.

[Scarlet]

I am quite happy with the fit of the repaired shafts, although there is still some movement caused by wear in the body housing, A Google search suggests using grease on the shaft to seal any air leaks.
While it is all apart I thinned down the throttle shaft and knife-edged the throttle valve plate, the difference can be compared to the shaft ends, there no screws are in the shaft as yet but I am thinking of using countersink heads to get them down lower, the threaded end can also be filed flush with the shaft.
I just hope all this will work?

[Scarlet]

Photo shows countersink screws, top of the screw head is a little less than the height of the original shaft height.
You can also see the knife edged butterfly on the bottom, the top is done on the opposite side.
I used Fuchs Polyplex Polymar lithium grease on the shafts going through the body housing to act as a seal as it is a very sticky grease designed to resist squeeze out.
The rest of the carburettor will now be assembled using a new rebuild kit