Or perpendicular? That can be done I think but it will take some accurate angle measurement and tricky milling set ups. Hopefully I will get a chance to do the final polishing of the arms this weekend and possibly some of the buffing also, then I'll look at the angles. The thing is, the upper hinge probably does not move more than about 30 degrees. It might tolerate some misalignment. But no doubt it would be best to avoid that. I'd also like to make the hinge a good bit beefier than last time around, and would prefer to be at 5/16" or larger on the hinge pin. But that will mean building up the ends of the arms. Perhaps the TIG is the way to go on that, as it will let me build up a more organic shape.

Jim

I need to make a pair of very small leaf springs. Their purpose is to bias the upper hinge downwards towards the cowl which will make the hinge mechanism articulate properly and I should be able to clamp the end in the hinge mount on the hood assembly. I'm sort of hoping someone has run across a suitable material somewhere along the line. It needs to be extra flexy since a short segment of just a couple or three inches needs to cover around 30° or more of movement and it needs to be corrosion resistant and stainless preferred. Thickness can be about 1/16" to 1/8" and width about 3/4".

Anybody have any ideas? I'm guessing somewhere in the range of 10-20° per inch of flex might work. Maybe there is a stainless grade, or maybe there is a place where I can get some of that nickel-titanium alloy that they make eyeglasses frames out of. Any leads would be great.

Jim

Just had a quick look on the net - just have to find the right supplier of SS spring steel product. Here's one product....
http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/423859852/stainless_steel_springs.html

Thanks Graham but I need a small quantity. Alibaba wants to sell 3000 pieces/20Kg,etc. A few ft would be plenty.

Jim

Could you use some other material like a plastic or carbon fiber strip?

McMaster has some spring stock  http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-spring-steel-sheets/=j4ecqw

I guess I'll try the. 031" thick full hard 301SS strip from McMasterCarr and about a 3 leaf spring pack. That should allow enough flex at about the right spring loading to get the upper hinge to articulate properly. Haven't seen a source yet for NiTi strip or for that matter any alloy of titanium in a hardened condition. I just hope I won't be overflexing the stainless. Probably will be pretty close to the yeild point.

Jim

Calling all Racoon Brothers! Shiny bits coming right up!

The hinges are done and mounted. Of course this just means more tasks but it's one more done.









The operation is smooth and correct. Standing in front of the car I can grab the front of the cutout and by pulling forward and a little upward the front first comes up and then the entire unit swings forward. No springs as of yet, I may not need them, but I'm working on a plan to open and close it remotely.

Jim

Driveshaft is in and the fuel rails are done except for a throttle linkage pivot, hold downs,  and buffing. I plan to order the MegaShift later this week.

Jim

Looks great Jim, more bling. All the racoons are envious!

My brother racoons, I think you are really going to like the throttle linkage that I'm working on. I have a few more parts to make and some buffing and polishing to do but I will have some photos soon.

Jim

Got some pictures finally. They aren't great but at least it's something. Here is the linkage as it attaches to the throttle body. The arm is polished stainless billet:



Next is the forwrd pivot it attaches to. This translates the up/down motion to fore/aft and also modifies the arc-motion to give finer control to the off idle transition. The TPS is mounted on this shaft:



Then the rear pivot further modifies the arc-motion in the same direction and gives attachment to the throttle cable, also accommodating the pivot motion of the cable sheath:



And finally, the barrel nuts secure the fuel rail down to the intake manifold, providing a secure mounting for the linkages and regulator. Note that the barrel nut is not assembled in this shot, sitting alongside the threaded boss it attaches to:



I had quite a bit of fun with the anodizing of the parts you see in these shots, as I had never done it before, but as you can see the results came out quite good, and the camera really does poor justice to the colors. Some of the challenges were pretty significant ones. The bracket which holds the throttle cable is cast aluminum for instance, always a challenge in any anodizing attempt. The barrel nuts too, as they are hard anodized using a one-off composition and process, giving a greenish tint to the natural color.

Which brings up the last point. As you can see I have gone to great lengths to insure that my car has the utmost in eco-friendly features. The fueling system is about as green as I could make it, considering it is in a red car. Green fittings from Parker, green fuel pressure regulator as modified by Blackwood Labs, green brackets and hold down nuts for the fuel rails, and I even have a set of green injectors to go in it once I flush and flow them. So I just want everyone to know that I am doing my part for the planet.

Jim

Jim, We are just green with envy. Long live Mother Earth.  Nice work, roverman.

I had no idea the environmentalists just meant the COLOR green! Now, it makes so much more sense.  

Well then, that makes this car, Super Eco-friendly:
http://www.britishv8.org/Triumph/BruceWood.htm

The list of really sweet TR6s is getting quite long!

Glad y'all like the custom anodizing, I think it really adds something to the appearance of the engine whether the green eco does anything or not. Now that I've figured out how to do it there is quite a temptation to go back and anodize a lot of the smaller parts that were custom made for this upgrade but there are limitations. Cast parts do not generally take well to anodizing. Different alloys take the dyes differently, and welds are very likely to become more visible rather than less. So something like anodizing the body of the scoop would most likely be problematical because of the welds, yet with a large enough tank and power supply even the wheels could be anodized and dyed. (I could handle both of those limitations but am not eager to dismount the tires.) But it is more important to get the car back on the road. The apple polishing can wait until next winter. However, if for any reason I have to remove any of those parts, they are very likely to get anodized before they go back on.

Now some may ask, "why anodize?". I find people are not that familiar with it. Anodizing creates a fine layer of extremely hard oxide known as corundum which is just below diamond in terms of hardness and which seals and protects the aluminum beneath. It can be grown in thickness up to about 0.003" and with the right conditions can either be thick and hard or thin, transparent, and capable of holding colored dyes while still providing excellent corrosion resistance and good abrasion resistance. It is generally far superior to any available paint or coating. So for those who didn't know, now you do.

The process is simple. Hook a battery charger to the part and hang it in a bucket of battery acid for an hour, dip it in dye, then dunk it in boiling water to seal the dye in. But in reality, this is electrochemistry in application and the details will make or break the job. If anyone wants to try it I can set you on the right path, I have around a hundred bucks in it so far not counting the battery charger. There are better, easier and more expensive ways to do it but this does work.

But as much as I like the anodized bits I am far more happy with the metal shaping which got me to this point. Take note of the compound curves and organic shapes of the throttle linkage arms and the bracket that holds the TPS. These are billet pieces that show off the hand shaping that brought them to their finished condition. Small pieces of artwork in their own right, they are the jewelry pieces that put the finishing touches on the engine.

Jim

Here is the oil pump drive:





You can't really see it but the blade at the top is brass on one end and steel on the other. That lets there only be one blade that the sensor can see but gives balanced contact on the brass washer below and also doesn't throw off the balance. The sensor is a Ford part used on most engines between '96 and '08 so it is pretty common. It costs $25 but it doubles as a sensor and a cap which I thought was pretty slick, so I used it. Soon as I get an o-ring for it I can install that part and seal up the thermostat neck.

It has become necessary to recreate my injector test bench so that will take me off task for awhile but the new bench will be a vast improvement on the old cobbled together affair and will be capable of testing from one to eight injectors simultaneously with an easy set up in both full flow (saturated) and cycling mode with commercial grade graduated cylinders for measurement. Then I suspect I will get to negotiate with the guy I bought my injectors from but in the end I expect to have a balanced set of injectors one way or another and button up the fuel system.

In the meantime I have ordered a radiator filler neck to weld to the surge tank that is yet to be made. However I have at least decided on the design. It will be a not-so-simple rectangular box with radiused corners. Luckily I have a source somewhere for the pieces where the corners come together. Digging for that source is the next assignment. It very likely is in this thread where I made the air scoop, but if not maybe I can find it in my bookmarks.

Jim

A ratty looking MGB with a 340 in it in this issue of Hot Rod.















Just kidding about the Ratty part!

Sorry it was just an MG with a Buick engine.

Rumors, rumors.

Jim

Jim, there is a picture of the Roadmaster in the latest Hot Rod I got yesterday! Check it out.  Mike

Cool! We're famous!
Funny though, you'd think from Longmont I' be able to see mountains.

Jim

At least they got the "sickos" part right.

Haven't received my copy but will be looking for it now.