a bit of this and a bit of that

[mygasser]

today we unpacked the power rack so we could bolt it in place. mmmmmmm............ the power rack is held to the crossmember with long bolts going through thick parts of the end castings, one each side rather than the 2 u shaped clamps of the non power rack. doh! so after cutting the brackets off of the crossmember we clamped the rack in place with wooden spacers, measured, adjusted and remeasured until it was central and low enough so it'd clear the engine's sump. next we drilled through the wooden blocks and crossmember to lock in the position. with the rack out of the way we could open the holes up to allow a tube each side to pass through to the backside which then stops the crossmember crushing when the bolts are tightened. we then bolted the rack in place to tack the tubes in position. it was then we noticed the body of the rack sat against the top front edge of the crossmember. so off with the rack.... again and we 'relieved' that part with a slitting disc and the welder before bolting the rack on... again. all good this time so we could now tack the tubes each side. guess what we did next, yup unbolted the rack..... again, but this time to fully weld the tubes along with 2 short bits of bigger tube sleeved over the top to double the thickness of the mount. lastly, of course.... we bolted the rack on..... again, lol.
neil.

[mygasser]

we got the 2 front struts put back together today and 'refitted' to the car. i use that word loosely as they didn't want to fit which was nice. it seemed either the struts were too long or the crossmember was mounted too high in relation to them. i've spoken to my mate and the capri stuff and the essex v6 were in the car and running but after stripping the car and starting some of the welding he'd swapped the struts for a pair of 'coilover' bilstein's he had in stock. sooooo to confirm the crossmember's ok where it is i asked him to put a straight edge across under the sump in line with the mounts and measure up to them so i can compare that to the car (the chassis side engine mounts are welded to the chassis not the crossmember). once we've established that we'll need shorter softer springs (the ones fitted would hold up a blown big block) at best or shorter struts altogether. the only alternative to shorter struts (softer springs are a given whatever) is mounting the crossmember lower down under the chassis rails. either will work and bring the geometry back into capri 'ish' spec'.
neil.

[mygasser]

we turned the coilover's adjusters all the way down (2" ish) so we could add stands under the bottom ball joints and lift them 'til the coils make contact at the top simulating shorter struts. with the heavy old essex v6 in there it'll lower it some more. we need to know if we can get away with the billies as they are so even if we have to cut the coils for mock up so be it. we made the anti roll bar front clamps and plates so next we'll get the struts set to a) length and b) the right distance front to back, then we'll get the plates welded in place.
neil.

[mygasser]

today we measured the strut positions (front to back) each side and matched them up with the wings and wheels back on to a) get them the same and b) get them centred in the arch. next we pushed the rollbar, clamps etc up to the corner brackets and tacked the 'base plates' to the corner brackets. lastly we dropped the rollbar back out of the way and fully welded both base plates. we can clean it all up tomorrow and bolt the rollbar in place. re the issues with strut length and or crossmember height, we're going to trim the springs for now and if the alignment's still not right swapping to shorter struts will be the route the owner will take. steering column next and he wants to keep the zephyr wheel/column switches etc so as the box has been cut off at the bottom (inner and outer) of the column we'll turn a nylon bush then slip and weld a splined shaft in the inner column so a uj can fit there with another at the rack.
neil.