No 54's Journey

[Lloyd Barnes]

cheers lads, looking forward to starting to fit parts to it. SHould get a day in the garage this weekend to get parts for plating/coating sorted out and a final order in for Jag bits. Its been a few months since I last worked on refurbing the Jag bits so need to catch back up to where I am with this.

[Lloyd Barnes]

Hello chaps. Quick update.

Parts started arriving back from the platers and powder coaters last week, so we had a day in the garage yesterday getting the rear end put together and into place. I hadn't done one of these before so its was a bit slow making sure everything was in the right place! Had some good help in the shape of a mate, none other than "clever b*llocks" himself

The last few weeks have been an education in metal finishing to say the least! Its one of the areas of the Dax that I didn't think I did as well as I could have in hindsight. We had the suspension parts blasted, primed (anaprimed I think he called it??) and then powder coated.

Next the hubs. I have some new knock on "Simon hubs" in bare steel for the front and some 2nd hand rear adaptors in steel with 4 aluminium Halibrand spinners from Purple for the remainder of the setup. I wanted to make sure these didn't rust unduly plus the 2nd hand hubs looked... well.. second hand not surprisingly! Spent some time talking to a lad in a company in Walsall called ACF Howell who recommended bright zinc plate rather than the nickel plate I had originally assumed would be needed. Apparently nickel plate on threads is a no no, the deposit being too thick to allow the thread to stay within size tolerance. See below for the before and after on the 2nd hand rear adaptors.

Then its onto the Halibrand spinners. These had a few minor hammer dings but I dont mind that, they'll get more soon enough plus I reckon it adds to the authenticity (move over Kev! )! However they were pretty grubby, beyond a normal clean. Clever b*llocks (who also did my suspension parts) vapour blasted one of them which apparently is a gentler process better suited to aluminium than normal media blasting and leaves a nice finish. Its looks pretty good so the other three will get done as well.

End result (apart from the rear calipers which haven't turned up yet), we have most of the rear suspension onto the car. Good weekends work and great to be back building a cobra again! Front suspension next weekend

[aaronjb]

Great refurbishing there, Lloyd! The hubs have come up an absolute treat (so shiny!) and the old Jag parts look fantastic too. Did you get it all done somewhere local to you?

Better get a wriggle on so I can have my old stuff refurbed so it can look as good as yours (Rather than rusty and knackered looking and sitting in a heap in the garage! )

[dom]

Looking great ! FYI, if you do want Nickel on a tolerance sensitive part, the process to go for is 'Electroless' Nickel, you can specify the required micron thickness and the process guarantees even coverage without 'building up' in threads and holes like most plating processes. You can also specify a high phosphor version if the part needs extra wear resistance.

[StewbieC]

Looking very nice Lloyd!!
I can see even Craig being a little jealous of that Blingtastic set up!

[kdavies3]

Looking good indeed Lloyd!

[JonnyT]

I like the bright nickel plate - looks beautiful.

[Lloyd Barnes]

Thanks for all the encouragement! A full 4 day weekend was too good an opportunity to miss a bit of cobra building, especially as Kath dislocated her toe last week and the dog has eaten the only shoe so can currently get on the swollen foot. So she's confined to the house in a huff! Best to be out of the way in these circumstances, even the dog has temporarily relocated to the garage looking confused!

Fitted up the Simon hubs and the rest of the front suspension this weekend. Seemed to go remarkably smoothly for once!! Couple of minor points to fettle making the new hubs fit ok but nothing major. Still waiting on a few parts to zip up this part of the build, rear calipers and bushes, front castor shims etc.

Next up I'm need some wheels so Steve prepare yourself for a deluge of questions before I stick my order in with Bob at Vintage!! Have you got yours on yet? Once they're on its back down to JK's for a body.

Hope you all had good weekends!

[kdavies3]

Looking good Lloyd, I've not had such a successful weekend as I'd hoped.
Engine almost finished but need shims to align some of the rockers they're slightly different position on the Eddy heads. (ordered)
I need a new input bearing and seal for my short TKO input shaft, I damaged the original trying to remove it from the original shaft. (ordered)

[Clarkson]

Looks fantastic Lloyd, I so wish I own a double garage, have you got any idea how hard it is to build a car in a single garage?? Lol!!

Only a dream for me.