Ti Motorsport

A Word of CAUTION

A word of caution to anyone needing to change the external push button for their Lifeline electric extinguisher.

The button on on Richard's Kadett had lost the centre. The replacement button has 4  terminals on it, ours had 2. Checking them, the inner 2 on the new switch had continuity in the rest position, the outer 2 are 'made' when the button is pressed.

What this means is that you MUST use the outer 2 terminals, otherwise you will set you extinguisher off when you plug in.

In order to prevent anyone accidentally making wrong connections in the future, I have cut the inner terminals off.

Having soldered the flying leads back on, it's now refitted & tested.

Calamity

One of the things I take for granted in my workshop, is compressed air. So when my compressor decided to throw a wobbly, I was a bit put out. Although it's not very old, I have already had a new motor and a new capacitor, so not too impressed with it. 

It turned out to be a non return valve. A broken spring and seal [called a pastel]. Eventually I managed to find a company who thought they might be able to help.

A trip to FPS Air Compressors at Chalgrove was called for. It was not too promising. When I got there and showed them my broken valve. I was told, Sorry, none of our valves are like that. The lady did however disappear off, to talk to one of the people who might know a way around the problem. They indeed didn't have anything like mine but would take another sort apart, as the gentleman though the pastel and spring might do the job. 

He was right, although the pastel was very slightly smaller in diameter, there was plenty of overlap to make a seal. I cleaned up the old housing and reassembled it.

I refitted the valve, sealing it in the compressor using some Loctite 545 and started it up.

Problem sorted, air restored to the workshop.

A little tease

We have arranged to use Dave Dockree's Sprinter again, for both Wales Rally GB and the Roger Albert, but this time, Andrew has had a little work to do on it. Dave had had the panel below the windscreen replaced and the dash had been out. This gave him the opportunity to change the radio/GPS unit, sadly, the replacement wasn't going to fit . The other thing that we wanted to sort out was the leisure battery. There are solar panels on the roof [where else would they be] and there are split chargers [all of this is way above my pay grade] but Dave and Andrew seem to speak that language, but for whatever reason, they didn't seem to be doing what they should. Andrew's job - sort it out. 

It worried Dave, when I sent a picture of Andrew at work. Wood working classes, maybe?? Or not, all will be revealed in the fullness of time, but here is a bit of a clue.

A little bit of BE 1

While I wait for some parts for the Davrian, I had a chance to give a Peugeot 205 BE 1 gearbox, a once over. Having previously taken it all apart, I had managed to source all the bits that I needed to complete the overhaul. I am finding it harder and harder to source some of the early 205 bits.

With the casings pressure washed and given a coat of paint, time to get on with it. New bearings have been fitted throughout. The synchro hubs were stripped and checked before being refitted.

Then it was put back in the housing.

The trickiest job on this part of the job, was refitting the selector mechanism. With the intermediate housing fitted, 5th gear was next, then the end cover.

With the box closed up, time to change the bearings on the diff. 

This is a standard box, so an open differential. As with the rest of the gears, the planet gears were in very good condition. All good to go back into the box.

 

A little 504 update

As I thought I had a buyer lined up for my 504, there were a couple of little jobs that I wanted to do first. First on the agenda was the hand brake. We had previously converted it to hydraulic, forgoing the umbrella handle original. For some reason best known to the Kenyan shippers, the lever had been dismantled. On inspection, the operating rod turned out to be made of a nylon variant. It's the middle bit in the photo. I decided to turn it into fly off one. First, I used a bit of aluminium welding rod to make a pattern, before making the real thing out of 4 mm rod. I turned up a piece of aluminium bar for the button.

The second thing, was to make a false floor for under the drivers feet. Having measured up, it was an ideal candidate for a bit of plasma cutter action. Then having marked it out, it was time to try out the  dimple die. It was a bit too much for the die to take out the hole as well as putting in the dimple, so I punched the holes first and then put the dimple in. Quite a lot of holes. A trial fit and a few more holes. All it needed then, was to make some spacers for the mounts. For that I used some of the poly bush material.

Sort of unrelated, I am making a few twin 45 DCOE inlet manifolds for the 504 XN engines. I had a spare pair of flanges cut, when mine was made. Sadly, the cutting out left a little bit to be desired. I shall get new ones, water cut, to the drawings that Stefan produced for me. Meanwhile I will use my manifold to make a jig for building the new ones.

I also need to make the distributor extension tube and shaft. Again I shall use mine as a pattern.

 

 

 

 

 

More manifolds

Having finalised the mods to the 4 into 1 exhaust manifold for the 205's, I have now been doing the same thing for a 4-2-1 system.

This time, I have a slightly different 205 to play with. This one has four motorbike carbs supplying the fuel and wants something a little different to remove the gasses.

This new manifold extends further back before going into one, so needed a different link pipe. It also extends further forward from the head, meaning the standard filter can remain, but does reduce the clearance to the radiator. The dip stick will also need a bit of TLC, as it interferes with the manifold. Having finally got something to fit, I had to make up a jig to be able to replicate it.

Having tacked one together on the jig, I did a trial fit before welding it out.

So we now have a 4-2-1 to go with the 4 into 1.

 

Both are now available to buy. 

 

The finished product.

The final touch on the 4 into 1 manifold, was to weld on a strap, to fix it to the gearbox. Then I to add the location to my jig.

With the jig sorted, it all went back on.

While I had Derek's car, I started taking measurements for the next project.

That will be making an inlet manifold to take twin 40 DCOE's. I remember that there wasn't a lot of room and the off side engine mount has to be cut and shut.

 

4-2-1

With the 4 into 1, 205 exhaust manifold now complete, it was time to move onto the 4 into 2 into 1 version. While the four into one was fairly straightforward, the length of the secondaries, make fitting th 4-2-1 more of a challenge. As this will be an ongoing sales item, I am making a jig. All I need is a car to trial fit the manifold.

In order to join the two section together, I have picked up a 2" joiner, which I have cut in half. Two for the price of one. I am hoping that I will be able to fit it without the need to shorten the secondaries.

Exhausting

Having now got Derek's 205 into the workshop, I have been able to get on with fabricating the next section of the manifold. First job of course was to remove the old cast manifold. Then it was time to decide how best to go about fitting the 4 branch. In the end I removed the oil filter and brought it up from underneath. The only problem, the manifold fouled the oil filter when I tried to refit it. The manifold is designed for phase 2 engines which run the shallower plastic style oil filter. I have fitted a similar style spin on filter. The same as used on the Renault Clio's. As I said elsewhere I am marrying it up to the standard rear section. Now I have to work out how to work out how to join the bits together.

As the standard pipe is basically 2 60 degree bends, I bought 2 stainless 2" mandrel 60's and went from there. By cutting them down in length and twisting the a little, I was able to get a very nice fit up.  The only non stainless piece, is the actual rear flange, which was fitted using silicon bronze  
I have now made up a jig from this one, so that I can replicate it, without needing a car.

New 1400, Peugeot 205 4 Branch Exhausts

Following numerous request over the last year or so, I have decided to make another batch of exhaust manifolds for the 1400 TU, Peugeot 205's.

This time, I am going to use a standard compensator to join the manifold to the exhaust system, instead of the flexi section and sliding joints. This should make it a bit more user friendly for road car use. This time, they will be 4 into 1 and stainless, instead of the steel used previously.

In order to ensure consistent fit, I am making up a new jig, using a stock manifold and down pipe, and I will be checking the final  fit on Derek Looker's car.