George takes a trip

Today George went to Reading.
With some trepidation I set off up the A4 from Newbury heading towards junction 11 of the M4.

Not exactly the road trip of the century but further than he has been for a while.

Overall the trip was great fun, with a small amount of hooning where appropriate of course ;-)
The downside was that the alternator tensioner is buggered, the bracket has slipped and the bolt head has sheared off.
So, the next job will be to fabricate another bracket using a different fixing point.

Test Drive

Having finally fitted the front propshaft we took George for a test drive yesterday, just a few miles up the road to a couple of byways near Cold Ash.

Other than being quite noisy due to the silencer being knackered, there were no major issues. The steering was somewhat wandering about and the headlights decided not to work.

I have had a go at tightening the steering box adjuster, so am hoping that this will help with things as all the other steering bits seem tight.

There is still a problem with hot idle speed being far too high. Not sure what to do next though as I have now had both SUs off and been through the setup process. There is new vacuum hose to both the dizzy and the brake booster and I can't find any other obvious air leaks.

Anyway, now for some pictures.

Test drive

Local Byway

Local Byway

Next jobs are to sort out the roof / windscreen fixing to stop it banging and clattering, sort out the lights and  to fix down all the flooring and panels.

Back on the road

Eventually after much buggering about, George is again fit for the road, well mostly.

The electrics have been sorted (only a couple of small things need doing now). Some bits still need tidying up.
Amazingly, all things seem to be working and nothing major has dropped off on the runs I have made so far.
Some pictures:-

Fuse Box - Prior to connecting

Fuse Box - Work in progress

Fuse Box - Completed

Fuse Box - View from above

Coil fixed and connected.

I have made a start on the monster list of things to do, I have fitted a new seat belt on the drivers side and have removed the sliding windows from the truck cab. That was a bit of a pain to do, but will make things much better when I get some new, clear perspex in there.

Some oil has been added to the steering box and relay, as well as topping up the gear and transfer box. The handbrake has been cleaned and adjusted, but I think that the pads will need replacing as they were somewhat oily.

The road tests were fun, but the steering is not quite right, it is a full time job keeping George on the correct side of the road. I will see if I can adjust the slack in the steering box a little to help with that.

One other thing that is spoiling the drive is the idle speed gets stuck at 1500rpm when it gets warm, I have taken a quick look and can see that the carb pistons are not dropping fully back down. Not sure why, but have bought some new brake vacuum hose to replace the current knackered one just to remove it from the equation.

I am tempted to take George off to a garage who can do a proper job of setting up the carbs and timing, I would think the cost would be offset by the reduction in fuel consumption. I think a new exhaust is required as the left ear takes a bashing. Am hoping I can get it to be a proper 4 -> 2 setup.

Progress Report

Just a quick update for all my followers.

A fair bit of progress with the electrics have been made. I now have finally decided where the fuse box will go (to the left of transfer box) and have made up a frame for it to sit in.

The wires running into the box have been passed through the glands from an IP65 junction box, I will need to drill some 22mms hole in the box to fit them into.

The tricky bit is ensuring that there is enough flex inside and out to enable removal and maintenance in the future without having too much flapping around.

Hopefully I can design something that is functional yet not too untidy.

8 is a great number

tAt last, George has all 8 cylinders working, in the end it was just a tiny piece of paint/plastic in the inlet valve of the OS carb float chamber. This is the result of having no filter installed in the original Facet pump. Now I have two.

Took him for a quick run up the road, and am still grinning like a muppet. Not only does he run, he starts on the button too.
The bits I bought from SimonBBC all seem to work great, sadly I had to spend another £40 as I killed the first ignition unit with reverse polarity). Good service too.

Now I really need to get the electrics finished and get onto the road. The good news is that most of the new wiring is tested and working. I shall be making smaller neater fuse/relay board (new chopping board :-) ) and have some ally plate to make the dash switch/light panel.

Fuse box testing

To my great surprise I found that most of the functions on the fuse / relay board worked first time.

In the end I seemed to definitely only blow one fuse, and that was due to my clumsiness with the test wires.

A little bit of rework was needed due to some swapped wires and poor connections, but it all seems to work now.

Next task is to do a trial run fitting it into George, once I get it to work I will either redesign it smaller and neater or just leave it for a while until I get the engine running.

I do think I have missed something though. I will let you know when I do.

Fuse box construction

Tonight I have finished the first attempt at the fusebox. Such a simple word for a complicated thing.

Anyway here are some pictures of the finished article. The mounting board as you can see is a natty chopping board. The benefit of which is that it is non conductive and fairly easy to cut.

Fuse box, switch out connections at bottom

Fuse box, power out connections at bottom

Fuse box, rats nest

The basic idea is that all major things are controlled by relays, 15 in all (2 are in the dash for the blower and windscreen wipers).
The controls switch to earth with the exception of the brake pedal switch which has a loop out and back.
The fuses are split into two groups, permanent live and switched live, the key relay dealing with that.

The starter relay also is designed to turn off most circuits while it is energised. This feature is extended by the addition of the 'wading' switch, which can be used to turn off the cooling fan, lights and other things that won't like getting wet.

Although the rats nest looks bad currently, it is like that as I want to remount things on another board as a final design. Having thought about things a bit more there are some layout issues I want to fix.

Next step is to test it and try to plumb it in.

Prizes for guessing how many fuses get blown.