Lagoonblue's MK2 1600 deluxe

[LagoonBlue 133]

About time that I put something back together.

 

Parts waiting for assembly. Bump stop/dust gaiters not in the greatest shape but are original FoMoCo parts and will still do the job.

 

These are the instructions that came with my NOS strut inserts. There are couple points that are not in the workshop manual or Haynes repair manual, first is to fill the remaining space between insert and tube with engine oil to prevent corrosion and the second is that "special" nut should not bottom out when tightened.

 

Topping off with oil. For ease of handling I bolted the strut on top of a scrap rotor. And then the problems started "special" nuts that I had were not correct, they bottomed and the insert was left rattling in the tube, not good.

A few choice words and closer look later I deduced that correct nuts must have come with the inserts back in the day but mine were of course missing.

 

Luckily I found one nut from my pile of parts that was the correct size for these exact inserts, that gave me the dimensions I needed;

 

That still left me one nut short of a pair (heh..) so I modified one of the misfits. Using a poverty lathe (drill and angle grinder) I machined a washer and a small piece of tube to press fit inside the nut. After that filed it level not forgetting to add a chamfered edge in the center to allow for strut inserts seal.

 

After that diversion I could continue with the assembly;

Pair of assembled struts  Even though it was not mentioned in the instructions I added Loctite to the troublesome "special" nuts. Top nut can be torqued to correct spec only after installation. Couple small nicks to touch up on the paint work tomorrow courtesy of my crappy "widow maker" spring compressors and I can cross these off my list. 

[LagoonBlue 133]

Still nothing meaningful to report on the bodywork side of things, every place is currently at a standstill due to vacation season.. Nevertheless will not stop me doing other stuff in the meantime.

 

My latest finds;

Roll of gasket paper, made in England so should work on the Cortina

Restoration manual, charmingly outdated but still has some good nuggets of information. Actually had this on loan from the library years ago so knew to snap it right up when I saw it offered for a tenner .

Super hard anti-roll bar poly bushes. Most likely I will not use these but were cheap enough to get just in case.

And last but not least a set of new old stock Burton FP210 tappets. These are the earlier narrower type, I already have a set but those might be the later thicker type. Were at a car boot sale close by and cheaper than from Burtons so why not have a spare set.

 

I restored a series 2 plastic heater box ages ago but since then I have found enough bits to fix up a proper tin box. But as is typical;

Spot the difference?

 

It's the tubes that sprout out from the sides (18K280/1). Those have flaps operated by cables coming from the dash. The box that I had painted does not have the provisions for flap assemblies, instead it connected directly to accordion tubes. Luckily I still had my original box, though I had to change the four mounting brackets on the corners from a donor box because there were some extra holes drilled in them. After that i sand blasted and primed it. I will let it cure for a week or two and paint it together with some other bits.

Better that I caught this now rather than later.

 

Before I moved the series 2 box to storage I measured the resistor on it (looks like a spring). For such a low resistance it is best to do a 4 wire measurement.

 

 

And the survey says;

Let's call it 2 Ohms. Blower motor operating current is 3.5A in free air and stall current is 8A from a supply of around 12.4V.

I do not have an original resistor for series 1 box (they were prone to failure) but 3 Ohms rated at least 10W seems to be the ticket, though I would rather use a 20W or so resistor to err on the side of caution.

[dxcgnoc 3]

On 12/9/2020 at 9:43 PM, LagoonBlue said:

Thanks, i think i will but luckily i am not in any rush to do so. Better to have a little breather in the meanwhile. I want to be bored again, it's been a long time since i last was

 

On the Cortina side of things; farming out the remaining work on the bodyshell will still happen but needs to be bumped to somewhere around Q1 or 2 of 2021, too many irons on the fire right now.

Anyhow, i did get a nice part in the mail today.

It's a boot lock & a pair of keys in near mint condition. No, the keys are not melted, i blurred them on purpose

Not that it matters since the VIN is right there: BA90HA62563 which decodes to;

Ford of Britain

Dagenham

2 Door Standard

March 1968

so should fit my '68 Deluxe like a treat.

Was only 15€ +10€ for P&P, a bargain at twice the price.

 

I know that many cars of this era had the one key system, you know: one key for the door, one for the ignition, one or the boot, one for the glovebox and one for the gas cap

But how is it supposed to be on MK2's? I think it's doors and boot with the same key, Ignition would be it's own and gas cap also if fitted? So two to three keys in total. If so i will need to have the door locks recored (those need to be serviced anyway so not a big deal).

 

That is surprising   as i own a 68 mk2 super and that has  matching key for ignition ,boot and door , i am the second owner from new .   Well done with what you have done  so far  it will be a great car when finished

Edited July 14, 2022 by dxcgnoc

[LagoonBlue 133]

19 hours ago, dxcgnoc said:

 

That is surprising   as i own a 68 mk2 super and that has  matching key for ignition ,boot and door , i am the second owner from new .   Well done with what you have done  so far  it will be a great car when finished

 

Thank you! 

Good to know on the keys, I have enough stuff on my keyring already so if I can have all the locks work on just one key it would be all the better.

[mk2sav 38]

Ah , probably not for an export car as you probably have a column lock with the ignition switch combined . Those keys are not the same series but door and boot can be the same . 

[LagoonBlue 133]

23 minutes ago, mk2sav said:

Ah , probably not for an export car as you probably have a column lock with the ignition switch combined . Those keys are not the same series but door and boot can be the same . 

Yup, I always forget that domestic models had the dash mounted ignition switch.

Steering lock (or equivalent anti-theft device) became mandatory in Finland at 1968.

[LagoonBlue 133]

It's not over restoring if it's back to stock, I thought whilst re-bluing my rear ashtray retaining clips

To be fair this was mainly to test on how the stuff works. Meant for things that go bang but should also work on cold bluing screws etc.

 

Yet another batch of small bits painted;

This time around some seat brackets and the correct type of heater box. Seat brackets I hung on to a frame from both ends, keeps them from flapping about whilst painting.

 

My DIY heater resistor. I went with 3Ohms 50W resistor since I had couple in stock. Glad that I did since even this gets rather toasty in use.

Hopefully should still fit, if memory serves me correct there should be enough room under the dash. If not I will make it fit

 

And finally the heater box back in one piece.

This was quite a puzzle to assemble, I think I got everything in the right place (except the wire from fan to resistor which should go on the right side terminal, got to remember to fix that).

Though I could of have adapted my series 2 heater matrix to work on this box I had a fairly decent earlier thicker type, only had to clean insides of it with vinegar since it was chock full of calcium deposits (which is why one should mix the coolant only with distilled water).

I replaced flap gaskets and matrix spacers with EPDM, that stuff should not turn into dust quite so fast as the original foam.

For sealing the lid and duct passthroughs I used Sika 710 Butyl sealant. Stays flexible and allows dismantling.

[GhiaMk4/5 207]

Excellent attention to detail as per usual, brilliant.

[LagoonBlue 133]

Thank you! I try my best.

 

Ghosted by yet another paint shop If ya don't want the job just say so, can't be that hard. All the same as there is now a decent chance that I can get my first choice to do the car. Might take a while to secure a slot as the guy does good work and is hobbyist friendly.

 

Whilst that is brewing I have been keeping myself busy on other bits and bobs. Couple things are waiting on supplies so I rummaged my "to do" shelves and spotted an intake manifold in need of some TLC.

 

Right off the bat I managed to break off the coolant hose adapter into the manifold but after a good while of faffing about managed to dig out the remains and run a tap in the bore. This was the older type angled adapter that can not be turned with a socket and it was truly stuck in there. Luckily I had a spare adapter so no real harm done in the end.

 

Next I got me one of these cheap soda blasting things;

 

Decent enough results,  halfway done here;

 

Was something new to try out, has it's pros and cons.

+Does not hurt aluminium

+Reaches corners that brush will not

+Any residue can be washed off, water soluble

+/-Makes a mess, I used my blasting cabinet so not an issue for me

-Does not work on rust

-Media is one time use only

-Slow process (at least with this setup)

 

Used close to half of the 5 l jug but some was lost on experimenting and getting the settings right.

Will not be doing any bigger job than this manifold but might be ideal on carburettors and other delicate small things.

 

Spots like this just look too ugly

 

Little better.. Not too smooth though,  something to do with laminar flow and condensing fuel drips 

 

0.20mm gap in the middle. Might need to be trued, I will have machine shop take a look next time I am there.

I could stick some 600 grit on the stone and have at it but that's not really the proper way.

[LagoonBlue 133]

Brakes only slow you down but for some reason MOT guys seem to be keen that they are there. Better sort that out then

 

Jokes aside, this is not a how-to, just the way I did it. Everything feels and seems right but I can not be absolutely sure until I get to test them out for real.

 

Rear cylinders were easy as they are available and affordable. These have the correct 17,80mm bore for my DeLuxe.

 

Front calipers can also be bought but are on the pricey side. Mine were in not that bad shape so I decided to refurbish them.

Girling 14LFMKI with 48mm pistons.

Sourcing parts for these took some searching, easiest would of been to get a kit from Bigg Red but in my case that proved to be too costly after shipping and taxes.

 

This Autofren D41409C kit was the closest I could source. One kit per side of course.

 

Some differences though;

Pistons in the kit have a lip on them but to the best of my understanding that is not an issue if the correct dust seal is used. Bleed screw that came with the kit was too short but luckily a local shop had the correct part in stock. Bridge seals in this kit are not correct, I bought mine from Anglo Parts (part number 052.574).

 

Every manual warns against taking the halves apart but if done right that should not be an issue.

Make sure not to mix the halves!

Some sources say that the bolts are tightened to yield (as in stretch bolts) but in my case I found that hard to believe.

First off bolts were not that tight when I removed them and they were stamped as being grade Y;

That is in predecimal speak almost the same as DIN 12.9, hard as can be. No visible signs of stretching in these so I re-used them, not that I could of found new ones anyway.

After sandblasting (not the bores, threads or mating surfaces!) and a thorough clean I painted the halves with primer and rim silver (both Max. 120°C). Zinc plating would of been preferable but as this car is not going to be raced painting will be adequate. Better than nothing anyway.

 

I scraped the paint off around the mating surfaces and gave the lot another clean before assembly

I smeared red brake grease to all the moving parts and lightly to where the halves join. Piston seal went in first followed by the piston to about half the way in at which point I installed dust seal on the top of the piston and pressed them all the way in. After that it was easy to slip the dust seal to the caliper making sure it went all the way home. On the locking rings I made the ends touch and put that side over the seal first.

As I put the halves back together I was careful not to bind the bridge seal.

 

For torquing the bolts I installed caliper onto a spare strut. For the little bolt I used 31Nm, for the big bolts 58Nm. There is no gap between the halves, that is the removed paint later patched with a small brush.

 

And the finished calipers ready to install. 

 

All in all a fairly easy job once I had the right parts in hand.

[LagoonBlue 133]

I think it is fair to say that summer is over and I am mightily miffed about not having the car in paint  Well, the best laid plans of mice and men and all that.. Not for the lack of trying, the thing is that I trust in only few places to do the work and as expected their schedules are quite full. Just have to be patient and wait for my turn.

 

In the meantime I have been working on that famous last 10% that takes the 90% of the time, boring little stuff. Here is one particularly silly example;

 

My light switch had some contact issues. Took it apart and found that contacts had the barest whiff of silver plating on them. There was no way for me to silver plate them but I do however have this nifty gold plating kit;

Meant for repairing card edge connectors and the likes. Stupidly expensive but I got this for naught since it was rescued from a bin. Even had couple pens in it that had not dried up..

Order of operation was cleaning, polishing, cleaning again, nickel plating an gold plating.

 

Nice and shiny 

 

As is tradition this can be assembled in many many ways but only one is correct. I guess Poka-yoke was not a thing back in those days..

Note shape of the contact leafs, one goes in different orientation to the other. The difference is very subtle but allows the switching to be stacked (off, 1on+2off, 1on+2on).

Generous application of dielectric grease kept all the plungers and springs in order whilst I put it back together.

 

Tabs bent back in place and heat shrink tubing added for good measure.

As good as new 

[johnny boy 161]

Nice work you are doing there 

[LagoonBlue 133]

On 9/14/2022 at 8:33 PM, johnny boy said:

Nice work you are doing there 

Thank You! 

 

I was going through my parts stash and came across the generator that I had bought ages ago;

Indian made copy of the Lucas C40, new but of questionable quality.

 

And the pulley I had was for a tractor  (part# 54214804, 3,5" O.D.)

 

Let's make something little more appropriate.. I gathered my spares, and bought one more locally for 20€ to get the correct pulley.

 

And took them to bits;

I picked the best parts of each. The one in the center is C40T (T = tachometer) and has a different end plate but for some odd reason a normal armature. Maybe an old recondition job

 

To get the end bush out I dropped a small spacer in the hole to protect the star shaped washer between felt and bush and wound the old bush out with a tap.

 

After soaking the new bush in oil for two days I pressed it in the end plate. New brushes were fitted after this.

 

New front bearing (6202-Z), retainer and bearing shields. According to the catalog these were for Lucas ACR series but were identical to ones that I took out.

 

Commutator had plenty of meat left in it, cleaned that and undercutted the segments.

 

And assembled. I even fitted the often missing rubber oil cap in the end plate.

I have quite bit more faith in this than the Indian made unit, that one can go live in a Massey Ferguson or something 

[Tony Webster 28]

On 10/1/2022 at 6:00 PM, LagoonBlue said:

Thank You! 

 

I was going through my parts stash and came across the generator that I had bought ages ago;

Indian made copy of the Lucas C40, new but of questionable quality.

 

And the pulley I had was for a tractor  (part# 54214804, 3,5" O.D.)

 

Let's make something little more appropriate.. I gathered my spares, and bought one more locally for 20€ to get the correct pulley.

 

And took them to bits;

I picked the best parts of each. The one in the center is C40T (T = tachometer) and has a different end plate but for some odd reason a normal armature. Maybe an old recondition job

 

To get the end bush out I dropped a small spacer in the hole to protect the star shaped washer between felt and bush and wound the old bush out with a tap.

 

After soaking the new bush in oil for two days I pressed it in the end plate. New brushes were fitted after this.

 

New front bearing (6202-Z), retainer and bearing shields. According to the catalog these were for Lucas ACR series but were identical to ones that I took out.

 

Commutator had plenty of meat left in it, cleaned that and undercutted the segments.

 

And assembled. I even fitted the often missing rubber oil cap in the end plate.

I have quite bit more faith in this than the Indian made unit, that one can go live in a Massey Ferguson or something 

I've never, ever seen that oil cap before. Massey Ferguson, say no more ? 

[LagoonBlue 133]

14 hours ago, Tony Webster said:

I've never, ever seen that oil cap before. Massey Ferguson, say no more ? 

 

First for me also, has Lucas and oil in raised lettering on it. Might have been cost reduced out of existence in later years 

Here is one in a C39/C40 end plate. Mine was quite stuck in there so would not surprise me at all if these were summarily discarded the first time a generator was oiled.

Does not do much but won't hurt either.

 

What really bothered me the most on the cheapo copy was not the "artesanal" build quality but that the thrifty Indians had cast the end plates in iron, that thing is heavy!