Projects My GN Cycle Car tribute build

Turned out better than I thought it would. Was looking at it suspended under my deck where I painted it when the bungee cord end pulled away. Dropped to the ground. Got a bit scratched, then decided to add a bit more epoxy.

 

Just finished sanding the collector again. Will paint after lunch. Much cooler out. Was only 48F this morning. High will only be 66F. Want to get 3 coats on the thing today. Have to start cleaning up my shop in the ba*****t. Got to find those T5 parts today.

 

Had to just mock it up. Third coat was uneven as it’s really hard to see under my deck. Third flex tube is too short. Also missing a clamp. Hope it turns up.
I would say a majority of the character of Richard’s original JN JAP creation is the engine (of course), and the exhaust aside from the cyclops headlight. It was that important at least to me to have a V8 when I decided to build my meager tribute to his masterful build. I couldn’t find anything close to his 5.0L air-cooled V8, so I settled with the engine of choice in my opinion for a vintage hot-rod. This is why I went to so much effort to mimic his exhaust system. This meant splitting the siamese centre exh ports and fabbing up that crazy collector which has taken me countless hours to build. I must say, that in the end (still a lot of work ahead), it is worth all the blood, sweat, and tears and as Jeremy Clarkson would say; “Look, I built a thing”. lol!

 

A pic as a reminder of his GN JAP creation.

 

And Petro Shekhter’s creation which is what I will shoot for (single seat vs the dual seat design of Richard’s).

My collector tube is quite a bit longer because I had to stretch the ch***is/body to accomodate my 6’-6” frame.

 

Likely the first attempt before building the flex tubes and collector. Looks naked. Haha!

 

Just picked up all these “vintage”? stickers. Guy was only 5 mins from the airport, so worked out as I had to get my daughter.

 

Found my stash of T5 parts. Was in plain sight under a bunch of other boxes. Damn I need more space, or less stuff…

 

Not much to report in terms of progress. Will be helping my youngest move into her new apartment tomorrow in Montreal. Starts her third year in mech Eng on Mon. Will drop off my T5 bits on the way the there. Oldest is moving back home at the end of the month. Life is full of curve balls.

 

T5 is rebuilt! Holy Hell! Just dropped off the parts yesterday.

 

Will pick it up in two weeks. I asked he install a Ford yoke.

 

Posted this on the Barn about how to measure engine rpm during cam break-in. Will start work again on the exh today.

https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showthread.php?p=2408519#post2408519

 

New flex pipe for #7 cylinder. Was about 1.25” too short. Found the bracketry to mount the PS collector. Next is to find the hardware.

 

#7 flex pipe installed. DS exh system is complete and ****oned up.



Collector mtg plates tacked to crossmembers. Now to weld the angle brkts to the PS collector.

 

PS collector angle brkts tacked on, and collector mocked up with the flex tubes. For some reason, cyl #2 flex pipe is too short! Not sure how the hell this happens as it was all mocked up previously. Luckily, I have enough flex pipe for maybe two more sections. Will cut a new piece tomorrow morning. Also, missing the correct thread pitch for one of the castle nuts to secure the collector to the crossmembers. Did find the “missing” flex pipe clamp though. lol! Hoping to have the PS collector and sanded and painted by Friday, but have to help the kiddo move back home, and now thinking of picking up the T5 this Sunday vs next weekend. We’ll see…

 

Forgot to mention that I would like to re-position the clamps on the flex pipes so that the bolt/nut are out of view. Easy to do at the joints at the manifolds, maybe not so easy on the collector sides.

 

Miraculously, the flex pipe that was too short for #7 cyl fits #2 cyl. Will give a re-paint though as it is a bit scratched. Finally, getting a good long rain after what seems like two months without one. Temps have also really dropped. Can’t even get into the 70s now. Now comes the joy of sanding the collector.

 

After 3 - 4 hrs of sanding still not done. Figured this would go quicker as I had already started sanding it before working on the DS collector. Probably, another 1 - 1.5 hrs left. Also, freaking cold out. Only 61F, and still raining. Think it’s too cold out to paint. Coat on flex pipe looks dull.

 

E

Either that or you need gl***es. Hehe.

 

Haha! Just had my eyes tested yesterday. To my huge surprise, she said I had 20/20 vision which I hadn’t had since a teenager. Noticed that I could see better at distance over the last 5 yrs or so, but didn’t expect that no more gl***es required for driving. She said I could use some reading gl***es though (225), but I still see fine unless print is really small.

Will be going to pick up the T5 on Sunday.

 

Eyesight doesn't normally get better!

The car is coming along well, thanks for the updates

 

Haha! Thanks!

Finished the sanding. Only 59F. Seems like it’s freezing out after two months of very warm weather for us. Will paint tomorrow. Might have to heat up the garage for that. Crazy!

 

Cool weather is now here to stay. Only a high of 18C (60F) today, so will have to heat up the garage to paint the collector tube and re-paint the flex tube. Temps have literally dropped 30F overnight. Crazy! Only 55F out now. On the verge of having to start a fire ti heat up the house.

 

Painted. The areas around the tubes on the collector are looking good, but there are a few other areas where I applied some epoxy that will need a bit more blending.
Will start on cleaning up thd can’t after lunch, and then I think I’m going to fiddle around with my Allen Syncrograph to see if I can actually get it working to test my helmet distributor.

 

Cleaned up the base of the carb with a soft sponge sanding block. Tried to remove the corrosion on the throttle plates, but only with Q-tip swaps. Wasn’t going to tear into the carb to remove the corrosion.

 

After tightening down the carb to the manifold, I went to re-install the fuel line between the pump and the carb. Then noticed the tube was loose on the inlet to the pump. Turned out the ferrule wasn’t all the way past the end of the tube. Had to replace it with a new one. Now tightened up nicely with no loose tube. Next was fitting the spun br*** inlet to the carb. Came with no screw. After tightening it up with one of my br*** 8-32 screws, it was still loose. So, had to drill and tap a hole on the opposite side. Now it sits tight on the carb.

 

Next was the inlet screen/filter. Just noticed that the damn thing won’t sit down inside the carb opening. There is a flat area at the rear of the carb, so the screen won’t slide down. Don’t want to force it. Wonder if the Stromberg’s are different?

 

On the fence if I should try to smooth out these few spots of epoxy. I have a feeling it would turn out like this even though I sanded it as much as I could to blend it in. This area is quite warped from all the welding, so trying to get it 100% isn’t so easy with hills and valleys. Will likely give it a try with some 400 grit. I last used 220 grit on the whole thing.




The areas around the tubes came out ok.

 

Sanded and painted. Didn’t have any 400 grit, but tons of 600 grit. Took out the epoxy “humps” with the 600 grit and sponge sanding block. Worked out nicely. Also is the block are the tubes a bit. Out of paint, so it is what it is now.




Will now read up on the Syncrograph manual and see if I can get it going tomorrow and maybe test the helmet distributor if everything works.

 

PS exh system is now complete and ****oned up. Thank God! I think I’ve been working on the exhaust for over two years. Now missing two of the castle nuts to secure the collector to the crossmembers. Found more, but they’re also not the correct pitch. I think I used M10 bolts. Will need to buy more this weekend.

Now onto the Allen Syncrograph. My 6 VDC battery is fully charged. Watched some vids last night on YT, but nothing specific on the Allen machine I have. Wired Customs swears you need the machine to correctly adjust the timing on the helmet style distributors. Will start a separate thread on getting the Allen going.