BritishV8 Forum

I had a chance to do a short test drive this afternoon and have several positive things to report. The tachometer is working correctly and is rock solid. The alternator is holding 14.5 volts which is fine. The capacitor trick on the fuel gauge is going to work but I have to find a place to hide a 34,000 microfarad capacitor. The radio works. The speedometer does not. Luckily Dan requested installation instructions so when those get here maybe they will help, and having the tach working will be a big help. The hood latches properly, the air cleaner doesn't try to rotate anymore and the air ride system is working correctly. The PCV and tray are in place, there is a heat shield on the heater hose and the seat back adjuster tabs are in place and working but not yet glued on. I think we are getting down to the more minor annoyances.

Of those, and pardon my whining but that's what you guys are paying me the big bucks to do, we have a problem with the heater controls. Apparently not all of the gearboxes are the same, and the shafts on the ones we have are too short to allow the early style knobs to lock in place. Really I'm just guessing here because I don't exactly know what is going on or why, I just know the knob keeps falling off. Someone needs to figure out why and find the parts to fix it.

That leaves the speedo, balancing the driveshaft, the noisy diff, and a few minor oil leaks. And apparently the console light which I will probably fix later today, and then go over Max's knock-out list to see if there is anything I missed.

I think everyone deserves a big congratulation at this point, because by George, we've done it! Although I really do think we need to balance that driveshaft before doing any more long distance trips, its a two man job, requiring one to operate the controls while the other places the adjustable weights to eliminate the vibration. So it may be February before we can get to that one.

JB

Sounds like great progress Jim.

I don't have any good knobs, but I'm pretty sure I have at least a couple of the heater switch mechanisms.  Let me know if they'd help.

What year car did they come from Rob? David Bash was going to send a knob ('69-'71 {at least} style with the white letters) but I'm not sure he's gotten the PM I sent him with my address. David, I should have just said send it to the address under my avatar. Sorry, I forgot it was there.

Anyway the story on those gearbox mechanisms is that we had a couple of broken ones and a couple of good ones and picked the best and tossed the others, never noticing if there was a difference.  Then there was a vinyl overlay applied to the dash but none of us expected that to add enough thickness to cause any problems, and now the shafts are too short by about a quarter inch. I've never run into this problem before so I'm not quite sure what the remedy is. But at any rate, what we have is the infamous "Abingdon Pillow" dashboard, as used at least from '69 to '71. I suspect we have gearboxes for a different year.

JB

My email to SW bounced back to me, so I guess the instruction may not be coming.  According to their tech support website, the wiring diagrams are in the SW Catalog, so if anybody has one. please check to see if they are there for the Wings series.

I am talking about the electronic speedo head, BTW....

SW catalogue in pdf format....... wiring diagrams on p.49
http://www.stewartwarnercanada.com/media/pdf/catalogs/SW-HDCatalog.pdf
...see if it helps any!

OK, there's the problem. We're using the wrong sender. It doesn't work with the one that is in the transmission and I'm guessing that's a GM sender. So what we need is a conventional speedometer drive for the T-5, and install the other sender that came back in the box of parts, then we can rewire the thing and get the right gear to correct the reading for whatever error it has. (The diff uses 3.54 gears btw.)

Anybody got that plug-in?

I got a call today from an apparently well heeled individual in Florida who would like awfully much to be able to buy the car at some point. It sounds like we are starting to get some recognition.

Also I had some extra keys made today. Figured that would be cheap insurance.

JB

Edit: A little too quick on the draw maybe, in looking at the drawing for a magnetic pickup which seems to be what is installed, our connection to the speedo head is incorrect. This can be fixed but may require the dash to come back out. I will have a look.

J

Jim, I'll have to check when I get back home tomorrow.  I think I have some from each of 67, 72, and 74.  Will dig them out and measure the posts.

Thanks Rob, that should help immensely.

JB

The speedo works. It reads about 2/3 scale.

JB

I wonder if SpeedHut would consider donating a GPS unit?

Is the speedo programmable?  If so, there'll be a sequence you follow to put it in programmable mode, then you drive a pre-determined distance (e.g., autometer is 2 miles), then do a couple more steps & the speedo "learns" how many pulses per mile.  If you have the model number I can see if I can find the manual on line.

I don't think it is. It's the Stewart Warner "Wings" series. I don't remember seeing any sort of button or switch anywhere on it.

Rick, you're certainly welcome to try. One thing though that might make it look a little odd is that the gauges all have an obviously convex glass. I doubt SpeedHut would duplicate that. Also it would mean taking the dashboard back out to swap them. Maybe changing the drive gear would work?

JB

Tranny shops have gear adapters you can put between the cable and tranny.

2Well, the sender plugs right into the tranny so I don't know how well that might work. Rick's idea might be the best, and the dash isn't all THAT hard to remove. It would definitely be worth doing if one was donated... no issues with calibration. Might be worth asking them how close they could come to the "Wings" series gauges.

I drove to Milton today and borrowed Edith's GPS for the trip. The speedo is reading right at 60% of road speed so about 45 for 75mph. If there is a way to calibrate it I'm all for that.

So about the drive... First off, the car performed flawlessly. Not one sign of bad manners of any sort. It just keeps getting better and better. I think the car and the engine are beginning to become happy with each other. That's not to say there are no annoyances, but everyone's hard work has certainly paid off, and this is an excellent representative of the British V8 in the form of a GT. It is indeed a master of the road. Good handling, great roadholding, and of course just gobs of completely effortless power. In addition it is getting excellent gas mileage. Regrettably I did not reset the GPS until halfway through the trip, but at 180 or so miles I'm still showing half a tank. I do believe the bottom half to be considerably smaller than the first half but even if I burned 8 gallons that's over 20 MPG. The return trip should tell the tale, but Steve got 20mpg on his last tank and I ran the mixture screws in about 4 turns each and that should be good for a bit. We will see.

Now about those annoyances. The steering needs tightened up a bit, the driveshaft causes some vibration around 60, some exhaust gets in the car, and we have noise from the fuel pump and possibly the ignition module, anyway something is buzzing at engine speed. Despite all that, the car is very happy just loping along in the mid 70s with the engine ticking over somewhere in the neighborhood of 2100-2200 rpm. That's not really in the powerband for this engine but even so it has all the power you need, even for passing.

I got to do a couple short laps "around the block" of the MRRRC (about 4 miles estimated) but at night and with passengers was not going for a real test. The car does really well in the tight sections but the rearview mirror is very much in the way, no real surprise. On the straights I opened it up a couple of times in 2nd and it's really, REALLY quick. I began to get some spin as the engine got happy. With these tires I don't know if it'll do that in 3rd or not but that test can wait.

The car has gotten a lot of attention so far, and people really like it. The hood latch may become one of the most used things on the car. I had a pair of window cards made up and laminated then placed those in the rear quarter windows. That will satisfy many people's curiosity but an unexpected side effect has been questions about the car being for sale. Well, I suppose if you'd rather ask questions than read that is to be expected.

JB

Jim, we all want to know what the maximum speed is. With the GPS on board were you not tempted to find out. The only time I was in the US your country roads were so straight and quiert. There must be one near you where you can max the car and also measure the standing 1/4.

That dripping sound you hear is me drooling with envy! Sounds like a lot of fun. As for all the questions, I was thinking of having a small brochure printed explaining the project and it's purpose that each of us could carry along in the car for car shows etc. Perhaps you could write something and then with a couple of photos and the group logo on the back it would be pretty slick.

David, I suspect the TOP Speed is probably not attainable.  Even with  250 less HP less and comparable gearing, the car may not be controllable at 140-150MPH.  My SBF is 1/2 the power  of the Roadmaster and I do not hope to max it!   If I remember correctly, when the early NAMGBR show was in Lake Tahoe in the 90's, several members (NOT NAMED) with V8's drove back across nothern Nevada and opended up the small Bucik V8's and attained  speeds of near 140MPH. They noted the front-end got light, (wanted to wander)  and backed off.  The aerodynamics was  the limiting factor not HP.  With probably 500 HP and 500 #'s Feet torque,  the BBB,  would get AIRBORNE!   The pucker marks on the driver's seat should indicate the WOW Factor.  LOL   Imagine a 1mile power slide or barrel rolling for a mile.
SAFETY FASTER!

You could probably hit that straight stretch near Culloden....just make sure Merle doesn't have a hot rodder pulled over before you punch it.

I dunno Kelly, that Roadmaster chin spoiler should keep the front end glued down at 150

Kelly, remember that with the air bag front suspension if it starts to get light Jim can always drop it down a bit and get more effect from the front air dam. Maybe we should include a stop at Bonneville on the car's way to California some time. ;-)

Maybe someone with extra large GONADS would try to top-end it??   not me

Wow Kelly, that's way more than I needed to hear about the size of your Gonads!  I agree though, such antics are best left to the young guys who still think they are indestructable. ;-)

Did you get the speedo programmed yet?  They usually program by either an external wire/switch that goes to ground to trip it, or by holding in the trip button when the key is turned on.

Here is an example instruction sheet:
http://www.stewartwarnercanada.com/media/pdf/install_instructions/B-764%20115067%20Speedometer.pdf

And please excuse my ignorance, but what is MRRRC?

Make sure the weather cooperates with that Bonneville stop.

I didn't drive on the salt this June because the salt was wet and sloppy. The Visitors Center even advised not going out on the salt as they had called two trucks for three vehicles that morning.

Also important to go to a car wash to clean the salt from beneath the vehicle ASAP.