Pauls Project Dax Thread - Here we go!

[KevinW]

Pics?

[CobraPaul]

So - She's now legally on the road!

Very much needs a proper run in as we tbink the piston rings need to be coaxed back into sealing properly after a long time sitting. She's had fresh VR1 oil and filter, got a clean bill of health and MOT and is at home ready for a few gentle journeys out whilst the engine breaks in.

I do, however, need to do a few things soon ish. There is no vent on the fuel tank and I need some suggestions for adding something to the filler neck. I've seen a post or two online about this but curious to see what others have done before committing to a solution. One thing is for sure, I don't want fuel shooting out of the filler cap and onto a hot exhaust!

[Chris]

I am presuming that you have considered that the engine bores  / camshaft etc etc will be dry if you haven't
already attended to such items ?
Good luck with you start up and mot test .

Chris.

[CobraPaul]

There has been a lot of progress on this, but not many posts or updates - so I apologise there!

Anyway, I think today is the first day in about 22 years that this car has been considered "complete" in that every part is fitted to the car.
I'm hoping for a start up next weekend and to check for any running issues before moving the car out of the garage and down the end of the road and back.

Nervous to say the least, but if I can have a small "shakedown" and make sure there's nothing new to be concerned with, and to check all gauges are reading a signal ok, then I can consider it ready to ship to Thunder Road for a checkover and (hopefully) its first MOT since 2003!

Still a long list of jobs to do after that; but mostly cosmetic (ie paintwork, interior trim) that I don't want to consider doing until I know that mechanically and safety are all ok.

[CobraPaul]

Months 5-7: June-Aug 2024

So I've been really lazy and not updated this thread for a few months. That doesn't mean things haven't progressed though. I'll keep it brief, and bullet point the updates with some photos of the work. Progress is slower than I'd like, but I don't think there is too much left to do to get her back on the road now, which is a relief.

June:
- Installed new throttle return springs and custom bracket
- Installed the heater/demister hoses
- Installed new throttle cable end
- Fitted a new coolant expansion tank drain hose (to ground, saving a mess in the engine bay)
- Fixed the intermittent wiper circuit, replacing with a VW relay
- Installed rear reflectors for MOT (easily removable)
- Replaced the blown horn
- Installed bonnet gas struts / lifters
Total Spend in June: £168.67


July

- Purchased new wheel nuts
- Installed new wind wings and slightly larger sunvisors (to replace broken items)
- Added door strikers reinforcement panels in wheel arches (as per Dax recommendations)
- Fixed door strikers (drilling and tapping for new threads)
- Installed shorter (more appropriate) stainless bolts on rollbar echelons

Total Spend in July: £298.89


Aug:
- Reattached fuel pump
- Installed new custom gearknob (still need to sort the gaiter)
- Created 3D printed templates for the side vents
- Started the engine for the first time since purchase!
- Removed wheels in preparation for wheel refurb & new tyres

Total Spend in August: £0

Throttle Return Springs



Side grill 3D printing prototype:


Rear of vent, showing mounting brackets


New Gearknob


Door Striker reinforcement plates


Wiper relay


Throttle cable (before)


Throttle cable (after)


New Sunvisors


3D printed belt clips prototype

[CobraPaul]

Month 4: May 2024


A random month of slow-progress, with family holidays that left me with less time on the car than I'd like.
I've done so many odds-and-sods on the car this month, but haven't achieved a whole lot if I'm honest, but I've tried to detail the bigger bits below.
There have been some nagging/frustrating jobs and in a lot of cases I'm unlikely to be able to confirm if they've been successful or not until
I get the engine running again. This won't be long, but I want to be sure that everything is in good order before proceeding further.
A few setbacks too - after finally fixing the horn circuit, one of the 2 horn units blew, so I now need to replace this. (And may as well replace both)

Completed:
- Fitted "Glovebox" to the dash via removable brackets
- Installed and wired in new slim fog/reverse light
- Fixed Horn circuit for ground-switched rather than positive-switched to allow for horn to be relocated to the steering wheel
- Investigated and rerouted the carb vacuum-advance configuration (not yet tested)
- Installed seats and harnesses (additional short spacers needed on the seats to allow rails to move properly)
- Installed chrome door sill trim (replaced self-tappers with rivnuts)
- Bled the brakes
- Updated the v5 for the correct engine capacity and engine number
- Replaced corroded chrome rings on rear Lucas lights
- Investigated Intermittent Wiper wiring - relay missing (and now believe I understand the wiring changes needed!)
- Started work on the door strikers which were poorly fitted
- Started work on the demister hose routing from the heater


Total Spend this month:
£87.47

Photos

Dash constructed, pending covering:



Seats and belts fitted:


Fresh brake fluid:


Rear combined fog/reverse light fitted:


New light rings:

[Chris]

Just my opinion as time served engineer for the last 40years plus, using sealant like Hylomar on rubber is not a good idea.  And sure isn't best practice.

I have used a smear of  blue Hylomar without any issues on things like water way / inlet manifold gaskets
but not on things to do with fuel tanks etc .
Definatly not used when sub assembling fuel tanks for production, gasket only .

[CobraPaul]

I've now switched to a cork gasket with a small amount of Hymolar blue as per your Facebook post - thanks Mike!

[CobraPaul]

Just my opinion as time served engineer for the last 40years plus, using sealant like Hylomar on rubber is not a good idea.  And sure isn't best practice.

I acted solely based on what ETB themselves advised me!

[Mike Hamblin]

I checked with ETB when I ordered and they said it would be ok as long as it's used with a fuel resistant sealant - hence the Hymolar Blue

And I doubt I'll be using E10 in this.. E5 mostly.

It does frustrate me that they don't provide a gasket that's compatibility with fuel is questionable though!

Just my opinion as time served engineer for the last 40years plus, using sealant like Hylomar on rubber is not a good idea.  And sure isn't best practice.

[CobraPaul]

Might be worth checking the fuel gauge sender gasket, to see if its suitable or E10 compatible, as some of the rubber gaskets just wont last with the ethanol mix. Hence I changed over to cork and rubber mix. As the rubber gasket which was used originally used total disintegrated.

You've got me worried now though. Maybe I ignore what ETB told me and just replace it with a cork gasket anyway

[CobraPaul]

Might be worth checking the fuel gauge sender gasket, to see if its suitable or E10 compatible, as some of the rubber gaskets just wont last with the ethanol mix. Hence I changed over to cork and rubber mix. As the rubber gasket which was used originally used total disintegrated.

I checked with ETB when I ordered and they said it would be ok as long as it's used with a fuel resistant sealant - hence the Hymolar Blue

And I doubt I'll be using E10 in this.. E5 mostly.

It does frustrate me that they don't provide a gasket that's compatibility with fuel is questionable though!

[Mike Hamblin]

Might be worth checking the fuel gauge sender gasket, to see if its suitable or E10 compatible, as some of the rubber gaskets just wont last with the ethanol mix. Hence I changed over to cork and rubber mix. As the rubber gasket which was used originally used total disintegrated.

[CobraPaul]

Month 3: April 2024
A mixed month of progress and some disheartening times if I'm honest.
The more I investigate, the more work I identify and more jobs I add to my list. Jobs that you think would be simple turn out to be a nightmare. Several big ticket items ticked off though, so I shouldn't complain.
First off was fitting the fibreglass tunnel. This required considerable modification to get it to sit right and plenty of on-off-on-off fitting to get rivnuts installed, a foam seal to prevent air/water/noise from getting into the cabin. I also added a couple of access hatches to allow for gearbox oil and clutch bleeding to take place without removing of the tunnel.
I also decided to check/replace some of the fluids. First up, the diff oil. Had a nightmare working out how to remove the fill/drain plugs due to the square drive, but found a very useful tip online regarding the use of a 17mm allen head socket back-to-front and a 17mm socket on the other end. Worked a charm and the job was well worth doing as the old oil was clearly >25years old. Checking with Opie Oils and purchased some Castrol Transmax to replace.
Then came the brake fluid. On the Dax at least, the brake and clutch share a reservoir and so I figured I'd get this done as the old fluid was a bit brown... Before I could do this though, I had to relocate the reservoir slightly because the lid was situated underneath the fibreglass body. A rivnut later and we were back in business. Bleeding the clutch was a piece of cake, but for some reason the brakes refuse to give much fluid out, giving only a couple of inches of fluid before seemingly getting a bit stuck. My vacuum pump just created lots of air bubbles (a common issue when it sucks the air through the bleed nipple gaps) so I need to try either a pressure bleed or maybe get the car tilted and use a bit of gravity to assist. A bit of a pain as access to the rear calipers is a bit limited with a spanner.

When I viewed the car originally, the fuel gauge didn't seem to register. Checking the resistance across the sender suggested some bizarre readings so it was removed from the tank and, after testing, replaced with a brand new unit from ETB. The old gasket/sealant was a mess so this was all cleaned off and, whilst the tank was empty, I vacuumed out the small amount of sediment that was visible in the bottom of the tank.

More progress on the Quick Jacks, too. Bars cut to length, position fettled etc. And lots of cleaning of chrome, harnesses and a bit of painting here and there too. 

- Extended some wiring behind the dash which was restricting a tidy wiring job
- Made a reverse switch / light wiring harness
- Weatherproofed the connectors to electronic speedo sensor
- Cleaned and test-fitted the Tonneau cover
- Willians harnesses washed and dried to clean
- Fuel tank sediment removed
- Installed new fuel tank level sender
- Installed front and rear quick jacks - nearly done!
- Installed grommet for choke cable into cabin
- Further modifications to the dash to prepare for covering
- Painted the rear calipers silver
- Checked/topped up gearbox oil
- Cut down the door eschelon bolts
- Repositioned the brake/clutch fluid reservoir to enable cap to be accessed more easily
- Bled the clutch
- Attempted to bleed the brakes
- Changed the Diff oil
- Temporarily fitted the front numberplate
- Fitted harness top mount spacers
- Removed exhaust heatshields & polished exhausts
- Installed the fiberglass tunnel cover front and rear

Total Spent this month:
£199.68 on parts
£57 on tools

Photos

[CobraPaul]

Month 2: March 2024

Things are into full swing now. I've been working on the car most evenings and occasional weekends and the number of jobs to do have snowballed as these projects do.
Writing this all down really makes me appreciate quite how much I've done in the last 4 weeks! It's been challenging but I've made some really good progress.
Unfortunately April won't be as busy as it's Easter and a couple of weeks away means I'll be hankering after getting back into the project when I get home.


Job updates:
- Battery clamp made and fitted (Used one from CBS but needed modification)
- Chrome windscreen surround fully polished and restored, removing all pitting (looks like new)
- Cleaned the windscreen itself. Sounds easy, but had LOADS of tiny, solid lumps on the inside face. Involved using a bare Stanley blade and lubrication to remove
- Removed boot and bonnet handles/locks, to get keys cut. Unfortunately 1 lock is dead, another cannot be picked. So I will be replacing the set.
- Found 2 pinholes in the lower coolant solid pipework. A frustrating issue (esp after I've replaced the water pump and refilled with fresh coolant!) Had to drain again,
remove the pipe and get the holes welded by a local welder.
- Finished replacing the fuel hoses.
- Painted the front brake calipers silver (in situ, but easy to access)
- Started painting the rear calipers silver (in situ, so not the best job but much better than they were!)
- Stripped the dash right down, filled the poorly cut hole in the fibreglass and flush-mounted the headlight control mount
- Ftted a USB charging socket in the glovebox for phone charging. (I'll be using the clock wiring harness to power this, with an extra in-line fuse)
- Fitted 2 Rocker switches to the dash
- Relocated the Fog light warning light to the location of the other warning lights
- Fitted clear front indicator lenses
- Purchased (and started to fit) the Cobra Quick jacks front and rear. (Need to cut down the mounting bars for a better fit
- Cleaned the underside front chassis, treated and painted the unpainted metal
- Cleaned the Power-lok diff and painted black. Removed the diff vent, gave it a good clean out, and reinstalled
- Replaced the rear numberplate light with a Black Wipac LED unit (all hardware will be black on this car when I've finished)
- Removed the rear fog light in preparation for a slim line unit to be fitted
- Removed the fuel level sensor after finding some very inconsistent resistance readings. Identified a lack of proper gasket and ordered a replacement sensor
- Minor soldering jobs to connect the horn to the wiring harness
- Replaced the coolant overflow hose with a red hose to match the other hoses
- Installed brand new windscreen washer hose and jets as existing fitted hose was not adequate
- Fitted several firewall grommets as existing grommets were poorly fitted or too big for the holes
- Installed the side markers - bulb holder was missing but now these should be fully working
- Fitted heater grommets into the spare heater outputs to maximise the redirection of airflow to the windscreens and footwells
- Installed additional earth strap from engine head to chassis to scuttle bar, ensuring a much better earthing in the car (I believe this is critical to good car operation)
- Fitted a proper blanking cap to the carb vac port - again, ensuring proper engine operation without a vac leak)
- Fitted extra heat shielding to the spark plug / HT leads.
- Stripped down the seats, cleaned, painted and regreased the sliders for better seat operation
- Purchased some longer bolts for the seat-to-chassis mounting - none were supplied with the car and this wasn't as straightforward as expected!
- Purchased a load of other misc parts (connectors, crimping tools, extra fuel hose clamps etc)

Total Spent this month:
£413.38 on parts
£36 on tools

Photos

Battery Fitted


Brake Calipers looking sorry for themselves


Better!


Rear LED Light unit


Dash stripped, awful "square" hole cut by PO


Dash redesigned, new fog light warning & flush-fitted headlight control unit, plus 2 rocker switches for heater/demister & brake test switch


Orange vs Clear front indicator lenses


Windscreen chrome polishing - can see where I've polished and where I haven't


Coolant pipe with 2 pinholes now rewelded


USB Socket mounted on glovebox


Underside cleaned, treated and painted to tidy up


Fuel sender found to be faulty and float full of fuel