1972 MK3 1600L

[wolfrace 116]

Did you manage to get a gauge in the end?

[Ale06 7]

Fantastic pictures. Can I use one of them in my flickr gallery?

[Kenworth W900 38]

Unfortunately, not yet.

 

Finding just the ammeter on its own in good nick and an early one is quite tricky. And when I have seen one it's been £30 or so - which is more than I paid for the whole cluster.

 

I've been busying myself in the meantime with preparations to add a bunch of wires to the existing loom to accommodate all the new bits I have dotted around the car. So far they've all been fairly temporary wiring solutions using cables and terminals of fairly random ilk routed any which way. Instead I now want to take a more standard approach and route things properly using standard looking Ford tracer wires and neaten things up with more suitable terminals and covers then wrap in grey loom tape when I'm happy with the layout.

[wolfrace 116]

Thats a pain about the gauge. Sounds good about the loom though. ALways looks a million times better when all the wiring looks like it's meant to be there.

[Danish 294]

I now want to take a more standard approach and route things properly using standard looking Ford tracer wires and neaten things up with more suitable terminals and covers then wrap in grey loom tape when I'm happy with the layout.

 

That's what I've done. I used Polevolt.co.uk who sell most of the Ford colours (like black/yellow etc.) and I bought grey loom tape off ebay. I needed loads though, I think I'm on my fourth roll now and the end is not in sight :(

[Kenworth W900 38]

I am using Autosparks UK for my wiring.

 

It has the largest colour range for the gauge of cable I wanted. They have green, blue, slate grey, black, yellow, red, white and brown with most combinations between them plus extra colours like purple, orange, pink, lime green, etc. in order to add new colours to non standard MK3 equipment such as my electric washer bottle. I went with 2mm with an outer diameter of 2.7mm - which is about as close as I could find to the original Ford wiring which is approx 2.5mm (for the majority of the loom).

[martog 128]

Update: So I took the Beast on a road trip of epic proportions (as far as the car was concerned) two weeks ago. My mate backed out at the last minute so it was just me and the car for four days. The original itinerary went - Bristol, Clevedon, Weston, St. Austell then Gweek on the Lizard in Cornwall the following day then back up to Plymouth to stay at my mates uni flat then home on Sunday via Bath. Most of the plan went to pot :P

 

Firstly, my brother never woke up in time so I couldn't go and see him in Bristol on his birthday. Dropping off the foot operated washer pump in Clevedon actually went okay although I did get a little lost on the way into town. Stopping off in Weston also was generally fine - met up with my old flat mate the local Morrison's to save time finding her place. Didn't spend too much time there but it turns dark so quickly these days that I managed to get lost on the way out of town. Eventually started heading south again only to hit simply awful traffic in Bridgwater/Taunton. I spent about 10 minutes crossing one mini roundabout in Bridgwater!

 

Anywho got as far as the 'Route 303' American style diner and realised that hitting St. Austell was an unrealistic target as it was already so late and my back had begun to ache from driving all day (think there might be a slight lump in my 99p seats). So I arranged to stay at my mates place in Plymouth instead saving at least and hour. Unfortunately about 10 mins after giving my mate an ETA and setting off again my ignition light came on. I thought 'this can't be good'. Sure enough my fan belt had gone. Long story short I was at the side of the road for two and a half hours whilst the RAC sought out a new one for me. The mechanic was brilliant, a credit to them.

 

I finally reached Plymouth at half past midnight after 14 hours of traveling. Exhausted. The rest of the weekend went well, really enjoyed it all. Unfortunately on the way back my speedo cable snapped. Bit annoying with all the cameras on main routes these days. Anyway, not had any notices in the post yet so I hope I'm in the clear. Also managed to get ensnared in the crappy one way systems of the totally alien to me Bath inner city streets at night after I had spent about 45 mins attempting to drop off a headlight relay and grab handles with Rich (wolfrace). I think I spent about an hour and a half in Bath that evening! (It's times like that when I think I should've perhaps invested in a SatNav rather than a brand new 2015 'supreme scale' road atlas :D)

 

Anywho, the only pics I remembered to take were a couple of the car at my Grandparent's place:

 

 

 

When I got back my Dad had finished putting the doors on the garage so my car is nicely tucked up in bed at night now. Although my Micra has just failed it's MOT so I am still using it daily atm:

 

 

 

 

Main ongoing job is some rewiring to get things more neat and tidy after a few half arsed jobs on my part and the part of the previous owner. But I've also started fitting my new wing badges. From this:

 

 

To this:

 

 

 

I don't know which will horrify you guys the most, the totally unoriginal badges or the amount of muck I've let build up on my car. If only you could see my lane atm, then maybe you'd believe me when I say that this is only a few days worth. Admittedly the stupid oversized wheels don't help none. I'm switching them out soon.

 

 

 

Mad Max :thumbup:

 

"Do you see me Toecutter? Do you see me maaaaan? I am the Nightrider! I'm a fuel injected suicide machine! I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out-of-controller!!!"

[Danish 294]

Mad Max :thumbup:

 

"Do you see me Toecutter? Do you see me maaaaan? I am the Nightrider! I'm a fuel injected suicide machine! I am the rocker, I am the roller, I am the out-of-controller!!!"

 

You are the Ayatollah of Rock-and-Rolla ?

[martog 128]

You are the Ayatollah of Rock-and-Rolla ?

 

Sorry, not too sure what the Nightrider says when he starts waving his arm about. Just lifted the last words from Youtube comments. :ninja:

[Kenworth W900 38]

Update: Still driving mine everyday. Poor girl takes everything I throw at her (brutally cold starts etc.)

 

It's been so cold here even in our newly furnished garage that I haven't been doing much tinkering. I've been tidying up my wiring loom but I'm only about halfway through as funds dictate I can't gather everything together just yet. I have installed the little relay mod that was discussed here. Completely ripped off the idea - hope Rich doesn't mind - now when I pull my right stalk towards me my wipers engage for a 3-4 wipe cycle and the washers spray for as long as you hold it for. It's a great modern style addition and it's finally solved my non-parking wiper issue for me. When I installed the relay I earthed the wiper mechanism properly for the first time since I bought the car thereby solving the problem.

 

I have a few more goodies to show for the past month or two as well.

 

Firstly, a 4-2-1 branch manifold. I already had a 4-1 waiting in the wings to go on at some point but I'm led to believe that a 4-2-1 is even better. Although it's a slightly crude looking beast:

 

 

 

I also have a Weber carb manifold (although unfortunately no actual carb yet - due to 32/36s being prohibitively expensive):

 

 

And some new universal joints. Fingers crossed that my car uses circlipped joints - if they are 'stacked' then these are no use to me and replacing them will have to be done by a specialist:

 

 

In aid of my bid to win 'most chrome on your classic car' against my mate and his Triumph I also have these shiny new pedal trims:

 

[wolfrace 116]

Nice one on the pedal trims, quite a desirable thing to have.

 

As we didn't get to meet up a few weeks back at Jayne's I need to forward that money to you at some point. I haven't forgotten.

 

Do you still need an Amp gauge, I cant remember if you found one. I do have one knocking about.

[Kenworth W900 38]

I'm good for an ammeter currently as I've since bided my time and secured two extra sets of centre gauges cheaply enough. I'll sort out which are the best to use and keep a set spare and sell the third set once I've figured it all out. If however, I should by some tragedy have ended up with two more ammeters that don't work I'll let you know (I don't yet know because I have yet to hook them up and test them properly).

 

Anywho, a small update, I've found a boot badge from one of the South African MK3 GTX V6 models, may need a repaint at some point, but I like it on there for now:

 

[ChristinaGXL 23]

Now I do like that badge! Those pedal trims too! :D

[Danish 294]

Firstly, a 4-2-1 branch manifold. I already had a 4-1 waiting in the wings to go on at some point but I'm led to believe that a 4-2-1 is even better. Although it's a slightly crude looking beast:

 

My rolling road guy said that a 4-2-1 would be better, but I think it depends on whether you want torque or power, high revving or not, etc.

 

For now I have a brutish looking 50mm 4-1, but one day I'll replace it. :rolleyes:

[Kenworth W900 38]

I never realised it would make a difference Jayne.

 

So, for more power, the 4-2-1 is best? But for torque it would be 4-1?

 

I recently went to Birmingham for some parts. I was well happy with my haul. First up is my new seats. I've always found the GT tombstones to be rather strange, it irks me that the high-back top halves have a nice crisp squared off centre section but the bases have a slight arc to the centres and the join between the outer panels is at a 45 degree angle.

 

The obvious solution for me has always been, combine the GT backs to 'L' bases which also have the same squared off lower panel design. Also, I've sat in a few sets of GT seats before and I find the bases to be a little bit too spongy, the wider lower support panels actually seem to be less supporting than the 'L' model ones (or maybe that is just the ones I've sat on?).

 

The seats I bought were the combination of some tatty tan GXL bases with black vinyl GT backs. So I've switched over the backs to the bases of my car's original seats:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I cleaned off the worst of the filth that had built up over an indeterminate period of storage/neglect. They are going to need a proper clean up at some point though. Does anyone have any recommendations for the way to get them back to a good state? I was thinking a thorough going over with some warm soapy water? Then some form of vinyl restorer liquid? If there is such a thing, just to avoid any cracking?

 

And yes, I only have one installed so far. And yes, I have installed the passenger side seat on the driver's side by accident I will correct that in good time. I just wanted to test one out and to compare the genuine GT seats against the 99p seats I had before. They are very, very similar.