Author: hainkm

Slow progress, but moving forward

(05/27/2024)

Ok, it’s been a month+ since I last posted, but I have been busy and haven’t had a chance to do much with the car.

One exciting thing though is that the Torque Trends TorqueBox 3:1 reduction box is here and it is beautiful!

I also start designing brackets for the Volvo-based power steering pump. I really wanted to put an electric motor-based rack assist off a Kia, but it just won’t fit with how tight things are both under the dash and to the rack, so this is the next best thing. Making the brackets out of 3d prints first to make sure everything fits up, then will make them out of metal.

Lastly I’m working on revision 4 of the turn signal controller board. Rev. 1-3 did not work out so well. Hopeful I have it right this time!

Brakes are (basically) done!

(03/31/2024)

This weekend I bolted the brake booster in for what I hope is the last time. I made a gasket for the lid and did my best at bending the nickel-copper lines. I then designed and 3d printed a small clip to hold the lines in place. It didn’t turn out too bad!

I started working on the throttle for the vehicle. Using the existing pedal because no modern electronic pedal will fit, but rather than using all the linkage over (that was used for the transmission kickdown and cruise control) I am running the cable right to the pedal. The issue is that the gap in the pedal had to be widened about .020″ – – which meant I had to do this sketchy thing:

Aside from all that I also cleaned up the instrument cluster mid plate and primed it. Hope the right color paint arrives this week and I can get the cluster going again!

Brakes are nearly complete

(03/24/2024)

I’ve been sick most of this weekend so I haven’t done much here. However, I have the brake box completely painted and assembled for (hopefully) the last time. I need to make a new throttle ingress plate first before I bolt this to the car, but I’m close. I also mounted the brake proportioning valve and plumbed that in.

It’s been close to two years since I started the taillight portion of the project, but I finally drew up the PCB for the taillight controller. I have sent this out to Oshpark to make a board and hopefully no mistakes!

Gauges!

(02/24/2024)

At one point I was going to go full digital on the gauges. Old school 7-segment displays. Then I changed to use some round TFTs I found – – but those ended up having some driver issues and the ‘fix’ I didn’t like and felt it had some longevity constraints.

So, back to analog gauges! The speedometer can stay the same, the center four “roller gauges” will be a display (that isn’t as critical) and the tach is now changed to be an amp gauge. I’m fairly happy with how this came out, however the dry transfers I had made were not the best; even though I sent vector files to ensure they would be perfect, they have imperfections.

I’m going to let it go for now and know that I have another tach I can clean and paint and redo the gauge when I feel like it. Enjoy!

More brakes and making chips

(02/12/2024)

I made some progress this weekend on the brake pivot. I machined out the actual pivot piece from aluminum once I was (fairly) confident that the plastic mock up was right.

This was a chunk of 6161 cut off from eBay to turn into what we see in red:

Cutting that down:

And now machine to match…

Next was a test fit in the car before I started making the hinge part out of plastic:

The plastic part seems fairly straight forward, I’m using two of the bolts for the pedal box to sandwich it all together:

As this is a test I wanted to get fluid in the system. Not a bad flare for the first time on Nickle-Copper lines for me.

Everything in place, fluid is in and it works! It looks like I have a rubber line on the front passenger that may be collapsed, but those are original lines from 38 years ago, so worth a change anyway.

I will eventually have this proportioning valve for the rear brakes and the spacing looks nearly perfect if I mount it here.

Lastly I have the rubber line off the side I think is bad, I was able to push back the cylinder (good sign) and new rubber lines will be here later this week:

More interior and brakes!

(02/04/2024)

So I can’t believe it’s been a month since I’ve posted, but I have done work throughout January.

Two quick updates – the backseat area is finished and new LED retrofit lights made and installed!

Next item to tackle is power brakes. I’m using a Bosch iBooster 2 from a Tesla model Y – – – and it doesn’t clear the wheel well. So, I need to mount it 90 degrees and make a pivot box. Sounds simple, and it probably is, but for me it has been a head scratcher. Slowly getting it and making it out of metal, after multiple 3D printed trial. I 3D print the test parts and then once I know it’s good, I replicate it from steel/aluminum as needed.

Then after all this, I still had tolerances too close and had to make a spacer plate for the pedal box to the firewall – which is a real joy to bolt up.

Then this past weekend I machined out the extension for the booster pushrod; converting the M8-1.25 to 3/8-25 since everything else is UNC.

Hopefully I’ll make more posts throughout February, I need to get back to my every weekend habit… Until next time.

Christmas and New Years holiday

(01-01-2024)

Here we are at the start of a new year. I got a LOT done on the Jag over the holiday. Most importantly I have the entire back seat area reinstalled – everything cleaned, mold-free, replaced the velvet fabric, new speakers, etc. I’m waiting on some LEDs to arrive before I install the rear dome lights. Also in this photo dump is the beginning of the foam removal from the bottoms of the front seats. I wanted to add seat heaters – and I will on the seat part, but certainly not tacking the backs…it looks like it would be really tough to pull back the leather and install heating elements. I will have wires available in case some day I decide to do that.

Enjoy the photo dump!

Cold again…

(12/11/2023)

It’s cold in Michigan again, so that means outdoor work is done and back to the Jag I go!

My dad was doing some sandblasting this week so I brought over one of the starfish wheels. I have four clean wheels I want to repaint to match.

Back on the car I managed to get the passenger side cleaned up and a sealing coat of paint on it. Next up is adding in wire loom, figuring out as much of the “boot to bonnet” wiring runs as I can (adding a pull string for the ones I forget down the road), and then installing carpet!

Still here!

(09/10/2023)

It’s been a nice summer in Michigan and the car has taken the back seat (pun?) At any rate I do plan to resume working on this soon. I did do some cleaning of parts over the summer, removed what I think is the last of the mice nests. I hope to order carpet soon and start getting the interior back together.