Hi my name is Steve.
I am sure this car needs no introduction, I bought Scarlet from Ross late July
Some tidying up on Scarlet , the heater had leaked at some stage and caused surface rust with some pitting.
It was disconnected when I bought it
I also had the seat mount holes reinforced as there was a crack around one bolt hole.
The rear also had minor surface rust.
I had to remove all the sound deadener (2.8 kg) to clean it up properly.
Door cards and back seat scrubbed up well, the door handles had faded grey, I used black vinyl dye to make them look new again.
Gave these bits a fresh coat of paint as well as the painting the numbers on the gear knob, I also sanded and polished all the scratches out of the aluminium trim around the brake leaver.
The heater was not working when I bought Scarlet.
I had the radiator core repaired, there is a steel elbow bend and the ends of the radiator core are blocked off by steel plugs, both had rusted out, I had them redone in copper, the water flow control valve was also leaking, you can see the new one in the photo.
The fan motor was also not working, years of grime had built up in the bearings as the motor is not encased, a good clean up was all that was needed
I bought a set of superpro bushes for the rear suspension, they are also fitted to the diff
When I was removing the lower arms, I noticed one was wider by 15mm, after getting a good replacement I had them strengthened to stop them bending in future, they were strengthened like this at the factory in the Sunbeam Lotus and Ti models
I am not exactly sure why these strengthening plates were added in the later cars, but whatever the reason I added them. simple to fit
These are factory "Heavy duty" springs, (identified by a single orange stripe according to the workshop manual) for the scrapyard hunter, they were also fitted as standard to the 1977 Wagon models, the wire is about 1.5 mm thicker than the standard spring wire gauge.
I saw some photos of a gp4 tarmac cross member for sale, so I took mine out and copied it.
I did not do the neg camber mod, I only strengthened it as per the photos.
In this photo the steering rack mounts have additional strengthening gussets.
In this photo you can see the additional stitch welding by the mounting holes and the plate to box in the lower control mount
The total cost for all this was only $30.
I finally got around to adding and wiring up the radiator fan switch. The radiator fan was wired into the heater fan switch when I bought Scarlet, but as I got the heater working I had to use another switch.
I have always liked the look of these military style safety switches, they became popular after WW2 with the hot rod scene when surplus aircraft parts flooded the market.
Lift the cover, flip the toggle switch up for on, closing the cover automatically knocks the toggle switch down turning it off, very cool
I completed this project today, fitted the Avenger TC Volt and Oil pressure gauges, the factory accessory kits come with all fittings, nuts, bolts and oil line.
I polished the clear plastic with cutting compound, it came up like brand new.
I bought these upgraded pads today.
They are EBC GreenStuff DP2106, they are a fast road-entry level race pad, with a Kevlar based compound.
The Avengers use two types of pad depending on the model, I went for the larger pad, as it gives a slightly larger friction area, as seen in the photos.
The red brake in coating on top is like a coarse sandpaper
New pads are in place, I had to file a skim off the sides so they would fit into the calliper.
While I was at it I also cleaned and repacked the wheel bearings, I also elected to leave the guard cover off
You can see the area the old brake pad covers, the new ones go right to the edge.
As part of my ongoing plans to get Scarlet to handle to my liking, I will install these later model Chrysler front lower control arms.
As you can see in the photo, they are longer by half an inch, giving an extra one inch wider track at the front.
They also give (in theory) a bit more Camber.
I say in theory because my manual lists the same Camber settings for the later models.
The factory Camber settings are 1 degree positive (+ 45')
Only when I take the car to get set up at a wheel alignment shop will I know how much different they are.
When the longer TCA's were fitted the Brake reaction rods and mountings also changed which would have been done to keep the camber angle.
However I have used the longer TCA's with the early Brake reaction rods, but swapped the mountings right to left and then reversed them which reduces the camber change.
Or on my rally car I still use the early BRR and mounting in std position as this increases the camber angle which is good for gravel.
BUT more important is you need to change the steering rack to the Chrysler rack as the arms are longer, the early racks do not have enough thread on the ends to set the toe in with the longer TCA's
Thanks for that )
The dash was in quite a sad condition when I bought Scarlet, which was typical for a 40 year old dash.
There were two major cracks at each corner where the speaker grill goes on top and a major crack on the drivers side end, along with a number of other minor cracks.
I wanted to keep the dash as it did not have a hole cut out for the radio or any other switch cut-outs, so my only option was to have a go at repairing it.
There was no information on the net on how to do a home repair on the dash so it was a lot of experimenting to see what worked and what did not
The best results was fibreglass and a skim of filler putty then sprayed with flat black vinyl spray.
The only trick is to dig out the foam from under the good vinyl so the fibreglass fills it to give the vinyl a firm base to stop it from flexing, otherwise the join will expand and crack as soon as the sun hits it.
This was the worst area and the hardest to get right as the dash had bowed up where the two splits were
The engine will be last on the list of things to do, but in the meantime I have gathered the bits and pieces necessary to build a fast road spec engine. as well I am still gathering information written by David Vizard on how to build one.
Scarlet has done about 75000 kilometres and is fitted with the original 1600 single carb engine, but it appears to be a hybrid Alpine/Super engine, and as best as I can tell it has never been apart.
It has the duel valve springs and the Lucas 43D distributor fitted, it also has the wider duplex timing cover but is fitted with simplex gears (Ross took the sump off to have a look when he owned it) I am hoping it is fitted with the Alpine spec camshaft as David Vizard says they are the weapon of choice.
In the photo are the compulsory twin carbs, exhaust and fuel line T piece, duplex gears and chain, new old stock connecting rod bolts.
Of interest are the new old stock 1.55" inlet and 1.34" exhaust valves as fitted to the Tiger models.
I am installing the front suspension Superpro poly busk kit, after reading NZTiger advice I decided to keep the original brake reaction rod in the original set up position, in theory to give more caster for straight line stability.
Mum cat checks it out.
Photo of Scarlets TC style dash and rev-counter, I once thought these rev-counters were specifically made for the TC/Tiger models and would be almost impossible to find one.
But they were just an after market rev-counter made by Smiths in 1969, there were three on eBay when I bought mine and judging by the bidding, are still highly sought after.
The oil pressure and volt meter gauges were only made for the earlier Smiths panel not the later Veglia panel that was originally fitted.
Other addition is the ribbed handbrake cover that some models were fitted with.
The parts manual calls this a "transmission guard" ,they were not fitted to every model-including Scarlet.
The bolt holes were already there, so it was simple to fit
The reason I fitted this item was to tie the two underfloor chassis rails together, my theory was to add a bit more strength to the chassis?
I found some factory "heavy duty" Avenger front springs.
Heavy duty spring is on the left next to the standard spring, both are for the right hand side, if the paint code were still visible it would be Green.
Heavy duty spring is 100 lb/inch ,standard spring is 80 lb/inch.
For the scrap yard hunter ,as the paint code will probably be long gone and you probably cant measure the free length as it will be compressed in the strut ,this is what you are looking for (R/H spring) number of turns is 7, standard is 7.6, wire gauge = 12.3 mm, standard is 11.5.
After a lot of thought on what style wheel I should put on Scarlet, I chose to go the sleeper look and decided to use the standard 5J x 13 steel rims and standard hubcaps. They came up quite nice with a coat of silver wheel paint.
Tyres are Toyo Proxes RA1 185/60/13
The front suspension is fitted with the superpro poly bush kit.
One thing I changed since I posted the photo of the brake reaction arm with the poly bush fitted (has cat in photo), I changed the mounting block to the later Chrysler item. I do not know if the bush was made specifically for the later mounting block, but the bush fits a lot better, they look the same on the outside but are different internally.
Another thing I did not realise is that if you retro fit the cross-member reinforcing bracket you also need to add the spacer between the sway bar and the bracket as seen in the photo,you will also need the longer bolts that are used.
With the longer Chrysler lower arms the camber worked out at, Left +0.36 degrees ,Right +0.38 degrees, accurate set up is made possible by the factory slotted cross-member bolt holes.
I still have a lot more work to do to the front and rear suspension, but as it stands Scarlet has come a long way in the handling department, the front end is now quite sharp and accurate.
The biggest difference to the front suspension I noticed came from reinforcing the engine cross-member and fitting the heavy duty springs.
The biggest difference to the rear suspension came from fitting the superpro bush kit.
At this stage front and rear shocks are still standard.
That rust coloured tie rod end is brand new, it was silver when I installed it
The late model Chrysler steering rack, also necessary if the longer Chrysler lower track control arms are used.
My little stash I scored off an Avenger GLS that was being broken down for parts.
Twin carb air-filter and fittings.
Twin carb throttle cable and fittings and the Twin carb choke cable.
Sport steering wheel that was fitted to some Avenger models. (I have given it a freshen up.)
Gingerbread Man posing with the parts.
The Sport wheel fitted to Scarlet.
I think this wheel suits the strip panel better than the round gauge panel that it was originally in.
Although you cannot see it in this photo, but since the last interior photo, I have replaced the passengers door pocket with one that had a better chrome strip.
Hey cool mods on scarlet! Where abouts did you buy all your replacement suspension bushes? Cheers
Thanks, The rear bush kit I bought from a NZ supplier on Trademe with a six week wait time, I have since found out you can get them from Australia at half the price which includes freight and you pay for them on Monday and you install them on the weekend, it is where I bought the front kit from.
The eBay seller is keven0469
I could also give you tips on installing every bush if you have never done them before
Thanks for that Steve I gonna do the same mods as you to suspension. When you replaced front bottom arms did you get the ball joints replaced? Ive got some Chrysler arms but ball joints all flogged out.
The arms and ball joints are one unit so the whole thing is replaced, Graeme (Avengerparts) has them.
These finally arrived yesterday after buying them about two months ago, Rear GAZ adjustable shocks, these are made for the Avenger/Sunbeam range, each shock also comes with its own dynamo meter printout, although the figures mean very little to me.
The add and the seller both stated the lower bushes are heavy duty rubber and not poly. so as a bonus mine came supplied with lower poly bushes.
Because of the beefier top bush and washer, I will need to modify the original shock mount slightly in the boot floor, for clearance
Cool
Gaz shocks installed, I just did the simple bounce test to find the base setting, five clicks from softest setting and have left it at that.
The rear end is totally transformed after fitting these, I am really impressed.
I went around all the corners that I knew upset Scarlets rear in the past, and after fitting the Gaz shocks the twitchy rear has virtually gone and the rear end steering has also virtually gone.
I also used the tyre pressures David Vizard recommended for road use. Front 31 psi ,rear 25 psi
Recently added these gearbox bell-housing to engine reinforcement brackets, another item that is not fitted to every model....every bit helps.
Just remember when removing them from a parts car that you take the longer bolts with you. studs were used in the sump, but were to difficult to remove ,so I used longer bolts.
In this photo are a Hillman brake reaction arm and mounting block and the later Chrysler brake reaction arm and mounting block
The painted Hillman brake reaction arm and Chrysler brake reaction arm are dimensionally identical.
The differences are in the mounting blocks, the Hillman one uses a one piece bush and in its racing heyday the arm and bush would pull through, the then cure was to use an oversized washer.
The later Chrysler mounting block on the left uses a two piece bush design as shown in the photo.
Bushes in the photo are Superpro poly bushes
The Chrysler mounting block is a bolt in straight swap.
I haven't worked on Scarlet for about Six weeks now ,but in the mean time I bought this solid steering rack mount, I was surprised at the size of it (and weight), next to it is half of the original puny mount I had lying around.
The only thing I have to do is to drill and tap the original mounting bolt to 3/8 unf. I may as well do the other side to match, In one of the technical articles I posted they recommend that the rack bolts be increased to 3/8 as the original bolts are a week point.
The solid rack mount is a copy of the works type mount.
Here is the solid steering rack mount in place. I drilled and re-taped both sides to accept 3/8 UNF bolts.
It was a simple afternoon job to remove the sway bar and lift the engine to get the drill in there.
The steering feels noticeably more precise and sharper now, also the steering wheel feels more solid in your hand.
One thing I was expecting with the solid clamp was to feel more vibration and kickback, in fact the opposite is true, the other thing I also noticed when I strengthened the cross-member and installed the solid rack mount is all the clunking from the front suspension has stopped.
New brake shoes for the rear brakes, the ones I took off were probably original from new given the reasonably low kilometres of Scarlet, these new shoes are just a standard TRW shoe but brake shoe material has come a long way in 40 years.
There is only so much you can do to get the best from the standard brake system.
Nice work! im liking your mods!
At least the braking area will be greater with bonded shoes Steve. Fitting Cortina rear brakes is an option, but a bit of modding required. Pretty easy to fit 3/4" Alpine wheel cylinders to replace the standard 5/8" ones for a little more stopping power. As Scarlet is a bit of a hybrid...may have them already...lol
Thanks azza. I used an "improved" production race car regulations as a guideline when I planed out what I was going to do.
I went for a drive yesterday to put some miles on the brake shoes and Scarlet is starting to be quite a pleasant car to drive ,there is still a lot more to do to the chassis, suspension and brakes before I even touch the engine.
Hi Ross, yes I checked the rear cylinders out way back when I did the rear
suspension bushes and Scarlet was already fitted out with Alpine spec brakes.
Scarlet got a new WOF yesterday, no questions asked (relief). They just commented on how tidy it was underneath.
Another area you can improve on the standard brakes is to try and reduce the mechanical slop in the pedal box. I am not sure if all Avengers have this problem, what was happening is that when you are pressing on the brake pedal and then press the clutch pedal in you can feel the brake pedal moving around. on Scarlet it was quite noticeable.
I removed the pedal shaft and because of the diameter difference between the shaft and the hole that it goes through you will not eliminate the sloppy movement but you can reduce it quite a bit.
First make sure the shaft is not worn, I had a spare pedal box so was able to get a good one, what I did was insert an extra wavy spring washer from the spare pedal box between the large washer and pedal box bracket assembly, this extra wavy washer went on the brake pedal side to take up the slop, the pin that connects the pedal to the booster was also fitted with a washer before the split pin to take up the slack.
Grease up the shaft ,pedal bushes ,brake booster pin and clutch pivot and put it all back together again.
Another thing is to set up the bracket with the brake light switch on as per the workshop manual, you can adjust the brake light switch in or out to give you a greater range of adjustment.
Both pedals now feel smoother and the brake pedal feels more direct with only a minimum amount of movement felt in the brake pedal when pressing in the clutch pedal.
It wasn't in the easiest of places to get at but I think it was worth the effort.
Another good mod is to put in a wagon master cylinder, has a 20.6mm bore compared to 19mm for a sedan one...and the bigger Chrysler booster of course.
Hi Ross, I believe the 20.6 mm master cylinder is dual circuit?, I will probably leave that side of things as they are but the larger booster will eventually find its way in there.
I think at the end of the day whatever I do the the stock brakes they will still only be "adequate" but better that before.
Hi Steve, is that a recon rack that you fitted?
Hi ,no it is just a used but good condition later model Chrysler rack that has longer rack arms to suit the longer Chrysler track control arms, it just has new gaiters which Ross gave me, fresh oil and new tie rod ends. I painted it Royal blue which was a good match for the original colour.
I did enquire about what is still available new but they never did sell any new rack parts separately back in the day, you could only buy a reconditioned rack which stocks have long ago dried up.
Hey - where did you get the steering rack mount from?
Hi ,I bought mine off e-bay ,none are listed at the moment. Mal Stuart Motorsport and OKane Cars Motorsport also list them.
I got a WOF after I installed it, they had no problem with it
I bought the larger brake booster, I think only the later Chrysler wagons with dual circuit have them (not 100% sure on this)
They are a 1" larger and are a straight bolt in swap ,picture shows size difference with the original booster.
And here it is installed in Scarlet.
The one snag is that the accelerator linkage now hits the larger booster limiting revs to about 2300rpm, I have not had a look at trying to sort things out at this stage.
The larger booster and dual circuit brakes came with all Chrysler Avengers.
I did the same conversion on my '75 Avenger except I used the Chrysler dual circuit master cylinder also. (See here for photos http://www.avenger.co.nz/forum/index.php?topic=13.msg5557#msg5557 (http://www.avenger.co.nz/forum/index.php?topic=13.msg5557#msg5557) )
The throttle linkage pivot pin was loose, the reason why the control rods were hitting the booster. Once I tightened that up it pulled the linkage back far enough to clear the booster. It must have also been the reason for an annoying rattle in that area as I haven't heard it since I tightened it up.
While on the subject of annoying rattles, I spent some time trying to locate and fix them by driving around trying to listen out for them and by thumping every panel on the car. Some rattles you will never fix because its just the way they are on old cars.
The biggest culprits were the horn rattling against the front panel, bending the horn bracket cured that one.
The other rattle came from the back which was caused by the hand brake cable slapping on the floor as the diff went up and down, I just re-routed the cable to go over the diff and not under it, that took care of that problem.
And then we have the wind noise caused by the shrunken door seal rubbers, I did not want to spend money on new and expensive door rubber seals as its not a rare or show car so I just cut the seal in the middle as shown in the photo and pushed them into the corners properly.
All up these simple improvements have made quite a noticeable difference to the driving comfort at open road speeds
Reid and Twiname have door and boot seals Steve, about 1/2 the price of Para Rubber.
http://www.retwine.co.nz/products/450-door-boot-seals (http://www.retwine.co.nz/products/450-door-boot-seals)
I picked up this gearbox from Ross last Saturday.
It is a very early Avenger gearbox which means it has semi close ratios, the later gearbox has wider ratios. I do not know at what point they changed the ratios.
They also recommend to use the later gearbox tail housing as they are slightly stronger, the early ones supposedly cracked from drive-shaft vibration at high rpm.
Early ratios Later ratios
1st 3.317 to 1 1st 3.538 to 1
2nd 2.029 to 1 2nd 2.165 to 1
3rd 1.366 to 1 3rd 1.307 to 1
4th 1.000 to 1 4th 1.000 to 1
Very interesting Steve. I just found out there's 3rd type of gearbox after reading through my Chrysler Handbook!
I think the gearboxes went as follows:
1970-72 First semi-close ratio in the 1250/1500 Sedans until the Wagon was introduced in 1972
1972-77 Second wider-ratio in the 1250/1300 and 1500/1600 Hillman models
1977-81 Second wider-ratio also used in the Chrysler 1600 models
1977-81 Third wider-ratio used in the Chrysler 1300 and had these ratios:
1st 3.894:1
2nd 2.382:1
3rd 1.527:1
4th 1.000:1
It looks like they widened the ratios for a lower first gear, to compensate for the change from 4.11 to 3.89 diffs in the Chrysler 1300 models, while leaving the Chrysler 1600 ratios unchanged, going from a 3.89 to a 3.7 diff in the sedan and a 4.11 to a 3.89 in the wagon.
Cheers for the above gearbox information Ross.
The weekend project ,paint and install this strut brace
Scarlet is looking very good after a good polish.
I have gone for a standard look on both the interior and exterior, the only upgrades are original higher model spec Avenger parts.
I don't think the bullet mirror is original, but you cant beat the bullet mirror, so it stays.
Another view from the front
Very good detailing (polishing) job (http://www.oldschoolhr.com/forum/Smileys/Oldschool/thmbup.gif)
Still plenty more work to do on the suspension, bought these beauties, some works type upper rear suspension arms.
They are supposedly stiffer than the production arms and the front bush is the same as the rear suspension, lower front arms.
The factory upper front bushes are a lot thicker so I guess there would be a lot less flex in that area also.
The boxes in the front are engine mount restraints, basically to stop the engine from moving around.
Probably overkill for a road car like Scarlet but I saw them for sale at a price a lot cheaper than what it would cost to get them made so I bought them.
They are made exactly to the dimensions as described in Dawsons Dodges in the tech articles (another reason why I bought them)
I haven't worked on Scarlet for a few weeks, but in the meantime I bought this.
It is the timing chain tensioner for the duplex timing chain with the wider tensioner pad.
Scarlet already came fitted with the wider timing chain cover but was fitted with the single chain and sprocket and some time age I scored the duplex chain and sprockets.
I removed the diff to paint and to fit the works type top arms. The diff was simply unbolted as you see it and rolled out the back of the car
I removed all the fittings as I am not a fan of painting the bolts and pipes all the same colour.
The original top arms are very flimsy in comparison to these ones, I can twist the original top arms quite easily, these ones are very sturdy to help eliminate the axle hop.
The front bushes are the same as the lower front but need to be trimmed to suit
I removed the front struts to rebuild them, while they are out I also wedged them as shown in the photo. (the plate welded down by the hub) It is how they strengthened them back in the day.
Very good (http://www.oldschoolhr.com/forum/Smileys/Oldschool/thmbup.gif) ... Do you know which car have a same front shock absorber like avenger ??
These struts are the originals from my car, I believe Talbot Sunbeam use the same as well.
The shocks I am using are KYB 363005, and as far as I could tell these are the only modern replacement shocks that fit without modifying the strut housing. Other brands do a coil-over conversion.
These are made for the later Chrysler/Talbot models so you will need to use the later strut tops.
There are NOS shocks still available but I would recommend to steer clear of them, shock technology and quality has come a long way in 40 years.
And the assembled strut
Thanks mate for a quick answer, I just got a information that front shock absorbers on Avenger has same a Audi 80 (1990) .. tomorrow I'll check that :D
I noticed on that last picture you don't have rubber buffers, and shock protectors on shock ?? With reason you did not put, or ??
Sorry mate I do not know anything about Audi, but the shocks I used were only listed for Hillman Avenger/Talbot Sunbeam.
The workshop manual dose not show rubber buffers fitted and none were fitted, although the workshop manual dose show shock protectors they were either removed by a previous owner or they were never fitted. No new ones came with the shocks.
In the past I have used inserts from S1 RX7 which need a little machining on the top retainer nut and also earlier Toyota Camry? which needed a spacer in the bottom of the strut, somewhere I have the receipt so will post the details if I can find it.. both also needed either a spacer sleeve or machining the top to suit the avenger bearing strut top.
Thanks for the above information, in the meantime while the front suspension is out (for the fifth and hopefully last time) I scraped all the sound deadener off. A time consuming job but eventually the whole underneath will get done.
It looks a lot tidier and is easier to keep an eye on potential rust issues rather that hiding rust like the sound deadener dose.
Sources say that the total weight of sound deadener on a small car is about 15kg
Hi I see you are doing a lot of work on your suspension. I have a GLS and I plan to beef up the suspension on my car too. I have purchased the same rear GAZ shocks as you and plan to fit bilstein inserts on the front with lowered springs all round. I also want to fit poly bushes to stiffen everything up. What bushes would you recommend changes on the front and back?
I believe with the bilstein inserts, they are not a bolt in fit? the struts need modifying some-how? Bilstein modified and sold the struts back in the day and the inserts are for those struts. GAZ only do a coil-over conversion for the front.
I used superpro bushes which are advertised on trade-me right now.
For the brake reaction arm bush you will need to use the later Chrysler chassis mount as they only make the later two piece bush
I also fitted two big original washers on the bolt end as I felt the fit was not tight enough.
The only bush you need to trim to fit is the anti roll bar bush, it is probably a generic fit for a number of models.
For the front track control arm you will need to G-clamp the bushes in and use a jack to squeeze the arm into the cross member, it was a tight fit, the rest fit really well and are easy to fit.
For the springs I used Avenger Heavy duty option ,you might find some in a wagon model, your GLS may already have them fitted as standard?
I also fitted the later Chrysler wider front track control suspension arm, you will also need to source the Chrysler steering rack to suit or you will have little thread left on your tie rods and setting the correct toe may not be possible.
Buy a cheap propane burner to heat up the old rubber steel bush insert, then you can just push it out, then heat up the outside of the suspension arm, then you can just leaver the old rubber bush out.
I think your right about the Bilstein inserts and think you may have to change the top mounts to the roller bearing type in order to get them to fit? Someone told me some of the GLS were fitted with the roller top mounts but I am not sure about that? I like the idea of the GAZ coil over conversion but it seems a lot of work to change the whole suspension leg which is why I am looking at the Bilstein option. I am also fitting a quick rack conversion to the car and am going to invest in one of the same alloy mounting bracket like you have on your car. Not cheap for a bracket but I think it will be worth it.
Hi ,from photos I have seen the struts have a thicker tube and the shock was mounted upside down with the shaft attached at the bottom of the hub and the insert part attaches to the top roller mount? So it seems the only original part of the strut is the hub casting and the spring platform. I think the bilsteins were there grp 4 strut back in the day? it is why they are a lot beefier than the originals.
I also believe a bit of machining is required to make those quick racks fit and the same with the solid clamp you will to tap out the existing mount bolt holes to 3/8 unf ,I did all four just to make the other side a bit stronger.
I would also recommend that you strengthen the cross member as I have, there is little point in having all these trick gadgets if they are all bolted to the standard floppy cross member, it was the first mod I did and it made a big difference in stopping the front end flopping around, even when the rest of the front suspension was standard.
I forgot to mention that for the rear suspension upper arm bushes ,you will need to build some sort of gadget to get the poly bushes in, much like the workshop manual shows, both of these are one piece bushes, the ones on the diff were very difficult as the outer bush is steel and was a tight fit
I decided against coilovers as I am trying to build the car period correct and without being to obvious at wof time
Yes maybe I need to investigate the Bilsteins a little further with regard to fit?
With regard to the quick-rack there is a guy on the ASOC in the UK who offers a conversion kit on an exchange basis http://r.ebay.com/9s9vn1 (http://r.ebay.com/9s9vn1)
He is converting my existing rack to a 2.5 quick rack so it should go straight back on the car without any mods. Can you send me a picture of how you have strengthened your cross member where the new alloy bracket is mounted?
Hi, I once read on a quick rack kit for sale that the inside of the housing needs maching to make it fit but the outside housing stays the same. I had a look on his facebook page and you will see a photo of bilstein inserts he has for sale, you will also notice both ends are threaded, one end is bolted down by the spindle. In the photo of the bilstein strut you will see which way up the insert goes.
I could be wrong but it is how it looks to me in the photo and from picking up on what scant information I have read about them
I have put photos on page one of my cross-member. The steering mount has the extra triangular gusset welded to stop left to right movement. The other addition is the square plate in the cross-member channel behind the lower suspension arm and also the stitch welding around the mounting bolt holes to keep things nice and tight.
Yeah I think I am going to reconsider the Bilstein route and maybe look again at converting the front to coil overs? I am going to concentrate on the rear suspension first anyway. The steering rack is being sent off for quick-rack conversion on Monday. When I get it back I will let you know how it works out.
yeah let us know what you think of the quick rack.
You could always look at upgrading your original struts.
Any plans for your rear end set up?
Rear end is going to be the same as your car. GAZ Gold ride adjustable shocks with uprated 2" lowered springs and Super Pro bushing to front and rear of upper and lower suspension arms. I like the look of the tubular upper rear arms you fitted to your car so may also invest in a set of those as well.
The modified bushes for the top front suspension arms. They are the same bush as the lower front suspension arm but the outer lip has been machined down and the inner end was also machined down to make it all fit.
Be generous when coating the bushes with grease as poly bushes have a reputation for squeaking if not done properly.
Part of my engine upgrade plans are going to include a Multi Spark CDI ignition, some time ago I looked at commercial units and decided they were to expensive, I sort of know enough about electronics to have a go at building my own and I found a circuit on-line ,it was originally published in Silicon Chip 1997 and was also sold as a kit-set.
I gathered all the parts together but had not started on the project when my dad told me there was a Multi Spark CDI in the Dec 2014 Silicon Chip magazine, it is an upgrade of the 1997 version as some of the semiconductors in the original circuit are obsolete now. (18 years ago)
My dad had to make up the circuit board for the 1997 version as the kit-sets were no longer available, but they made a limited number of circuit boards available for anybody who wishes to have a go at making the latest project.
Pictured is the later circuit board and the semiconductors available from Silicon Chip Australia.
Wow! respect! Building your own MSD.
I wouldn't know where to start?
Hey Steve is this the grp4 steering coupling you got with your Q/rack you were telling me about?
Hi Gary, no that is a poly version of the original rubber coupling, the grp4 coupling replaces that set up and has a universal joint at both ends
Quick rack 2.5 kit, some machining is required on the spacers just before the shims to allow for correct play.
Hey Steve did you get the U/J coupling yet? He told me they are coming in this week.
I have completed scraping off the old under seal at the rear. It is now ready to put the diff back in.
The fuel tank and tank guard also had a freshen up and the fuel vent pipe has new grommets, it was probably the cause of one of the many rattles.
The hole in the boot floor at the shock mount was cut out to give clearance to the GAZ shocks.
The paint is black underbody spray available in spray cans from Repco, it has a textured finish and is great for hiding any imperfections, it actually looks really good.
The fuel tank and all suspension parts are painted in enamel satin black chassis paint also from Repco in spray cans.
Diff is in place, picture shows the top arms.
Because I had dismantled the suspenion a few times I no longer had any grease left that was supplied with the bushes.
I tried four brands of lithium grease that people recommended on Google search but I found they all squeaked pretty much straight away as they were not thick enough and all the grease squished out when I tighten the bolts up.
I went to BNT and asked I could sample there grease range and ended up using Fuchs Polyplex Polymar lithium grease, good water resistant qualities and super super sticky, and no squeaks.
I also put a washer in between the arm and bush at the diff end to stop the fingers on the arm from bending in and pinching the bush when tightened to the correct torque numbers.
Everything now works as it is supposed to.
I felt the original brakes were not up to scratch no matter how hard you tried to get the best from them.
Upgrade shown in photo is Lotus sunbeam set up. The beauty of this set up is it is a direct bolt on fit and is period correct.
M16 Callipers are easy to find as Mk 3,4 Cortina, Capri, Escorts all had them, the disc on the other hand are listed only for the Lotus Sunbeam. Some say you can substitute Ford discs if you re drill them?
Shown in the photo on one calliper is Scarlets original inlet pipe so that is also a bolt on fit
Discs are slightly larger and thicker 248mm diameter, 13mm thick, 24mm height verses 242mm diameter, 10mm thick, 25mm height.
The M16 calliper has a 54mm piston verses 48mm ,and there is also a better range of fast road brake pads.
The callipers will return to there natural metal colour finish once rebuilt.
Disc bolted to the original hub, so far so good.
When I first enquired about these discs they were no longer available. Speedy Spares have only just had a batch re-manufactured.
I had some concerns on how well the disc lined up in the centre of the calliper as I am only guessing on the whole conversion, photo shows the disc and calliper mounted on the strut and you can see it is pretty much spot on.
And the final alignment check is the original brake line needed a couple of gentle bends so it was sitting naturally so that it is not being forced into place by doing up the bolts.
Calliper will get a rebuild before it is fit for service as well as removing the non original blue paint.
If anyone's interested Wilwood make an aluminium four piston M16 calliper.
Another thing to keep in mind when replacing the tie rod ends or the lower control arm with new "old stock" items is the rubber boots are just as old as the ones you took off. Even though they look good in the wrapper they will all have split before the year is out necessitating another complete disassembly of the entire suspension to replace all four boots.
Photo shows the alignment issues you would have to sort out first if you just wanted to bolt the calliper on using the original Avenger disc.
I believe there is a metric M16 and imperial P16 calliper. I do not know what the difference is, I just bought the first pair I saw and everything fitted.
The steering rack with the quick rack fitted, a simple job once you are told how, the main points is to get the clearances correct.
The easiest way was to machine the white plunger flush with the housing and the pinion side had a thick spacer which was also machined flush with the housing, then I just selected the correct size shim, both covers were fitted with several shims of different thickness's but not enough to set the correct clearances hence the reason for machining the spacers down
Originally the racks were filled with oil but I used grease.
Behind the rack is what's called a grp4 steering coupling, it is a bolt on replacement which dose away with the rubber coupling
Starting to tinker around with the engine now which I will do in progressive stages much like how I have done with the suspension, (which there is still more to do).
First job is fitting the twin Strombergs, photo shows the manifold is matched to the gasket size using a course 40 grit flap-wheel.
Manifold was cleaned using Meguairs mag wheel cleaner, worked great
Big Bore. A David Vizard tip is to open the exhaust manifold up to match the gasket, worth a couple of HP.
I used a drill extension to get right in there
Rebuilding the carbs at the moment but playing around with them as I go, I smoothed the piston using 1200 grit. Piston was turning slowly in a drill using 1200 grit-wet. The piston had machine marks which felt notchy when test sliding the piston up and down. The difference in smoothness is quite noticeable.
At this stage the carbs will use the original jets
A bit more work on the sliding piston, I also polished the piston shaft that slides up and down the top cover.
On the left is a wad of steel wool that I screwed a wood screw into so I could polish the top cover internal shaft and the internal shaft on the piston, to polish the outside of the piston shaft I used 1200 grit wrapped around it. It now slides very very smoothly
The brass jet adjuster show a needle file that I used to clean the sharp edges on the inside where the holes were drilled into them.
The throttle shafts had a bit of wear in them while the carburettor body seemed OK.
A Google search showed building up the wear with silver solder was a common method of repair
Took me a few goes to work out how to spread the solder without it falling off, I will then file and test fit for finish.
I am quite happy with the fit of the repaired shafts, although there is still some movement caused by wear in the body housing, A Google search suggests using grease on the shaft to seal any air leaks.
While it is all apart I thinned down the throttle shaft and knife-edged the throttle valve plate, the difference can be compared to the shaft ends, there no screws are in the shaft as yet but I am thinking of using countersink heads to get them down lower, the threaded end can also be filed flush with the shaft.
I just hope all this will work?
Photo shows countersink screws, top of the screw head is a little less than the height of the original shaft height.
You can also see the knife edged butterfly on the bottom, the top is done on the opposite side.
I used Fuchs Polyplex Polymar lithium grease on the shafts going through the body housing to act as a seal as it is a very sticky grease designed to resist squeeze out.
The rest of the carburettor will now be assembled using a new rebuild kit
Back to the brakes, these are the same blue callipers that have been rebuilt using new pistons and seals, I bought the rebuild kit off eBay, the cost including freight from UK was about $98.
I had to relieve a bit of metal on the calliper on both sides to clear my wheels as the original steel wheels overlap where they join together ,I filed the casting marks back into the smooth areas so it didn't look so obvious.
These are OEM +030" pistons, which will give a capacity of 1626 cc.
Something I learnt since I bought these.....they are made by IPMC which stands for Iran Piston Manufacturing Company.
As best as I can understand according to Google ,Iran produced a Paykan (Hillman Hunter) which used the Hunter or Avenger engine and later on a Peugeot 504 engine, production ended in 2005 , manufacture of these engines was also done in Iran.
These weigh 40 grams less than the original design pistons including pins, the pins will also be lightened further.
I bought the mini scale to balance the weights once I get the pins lightened, they weigh as little as 0.1 gram and have a maximum weight of 2kg and are very cheap.
Magnecor Competition 8.5mm spark plug leads, only available in red and are not available for a Hillman Avenger, however they are available for a Sunbeam Ti which has the same engine, also comes in a very impressive gift quality box which will get thrown in the bin
I fitted a set of the Magnecor leads on my car Steve. Expensive but worth the money I think, especially if your running electron ignition.
Cheers Gary yes I have read good reviews, I compared the price with other quality leads in NZ and they are competitive even with freight from the UK. The plan is to use them with the multi spark I made.
What is the deal and the plans for your engine?
I bought three sets of new double valve springs as it will give me the option to bin the three weakest springs when I do my rebuild, although it is only a 1600 Super Scarlet left the factory with twin valve springs.
Paint code on the springs is a blue/purple if anyone is wondering
Hi Gary engine will be twin Stromberg fast road spec.
Given the hybrid nature of Scarlets mechanical specifications it is quite possible that the engine left the factory with a TC camshaft but in case it is not I bought this nos TC camshaft, part number 71268712 and it is still covered in 40 year old grease, the box also had not previously been opened. The green paint on the right just visible under the grease was to identify the cam as a TC camshaft to the assembly workers
These cams are still regarded as the best choice for fast road. I have seen David Vizard dyno specs of a 1500 Tiger spec engine (using Dellortos) giving 97 bhp "at the rear wheels" using these cams.
Duration is 302 deg ,valve lift is 0.430"
Mum cat partly photobombing again as seen in several other photos
When I started to work on the twin carb conversion I overlooked the fuel inlet were fed in from the opposite sides, I had two early adjustable carbs that were fed in from the right side, although it is simple enough to re-route a fuel line. I then tried to convert the later model twin carbs to take the earlier adjustable jets only to discover the later carbs were machined differently inside.
I managed to score this nos early carb set up, it also means the throttle shafts have zero wear and none of the screws are chewed out, for now I will just clean and rebuild them just to get then running
Spent the evening sorting through four rocker sets or thirty two rocker arms, I measured the distance from the hole to the adjustment screw, of the ones I had the variation was between 18.48-19.04 mm from this lot I was able to select four between 18.95-18.98 mm for the IN and four between 18.95-19.04 for the EX.
All four rocker shafts had some wear on the bottom but the one with the least wear was one that was sitting on the front seat of an Avenger at Smash Palace.
A few posts back I said the IPMC pistons weigh 40 grams less than the original design pistons, I got that information from the sellers site, since then I have acquired an original Heoplite set with a set of rods I bought, they are actually 65 grams less which is even better.
Comparing them side by side shows where the weight saving is made ,a big saving is also made from the shorter heavy steel pin in the newer piston.
Oh and an extra benefit ,I gain 26cc
Spent a few hours lightening the rocker arms, the weight was only removed from the pad end which consisted of rounding the squarish ends.
I sorted through my stash of forty one push rods and picked out nineteen that I was happy with, of that nineteen I weighed them to get the final eight. The variation was between 54.0-55.9 grams, the eight were between 54.0-55.5 grams.
I have started to rebuild the twin carbs, even though these are n.o.s there is a lot of this white powdery substance inside them, possibly some sort of aluminium oxidization? a Google search to see what the best "do it yourself" way to deal with them, they say to soak them in white vinegar, so I buy a 2lt of white vinegar and fill an ice cream container and put the parts in,they cleaned up well but you will notice it turns the aluminium grey
These are the inlet manifolds, both are DD1 manifolds but you can see the casting differences in the ports, top one has a 2mm step just after the machining where as the bottom one never had the step. since I had already matched the bottom one to the gasket some time ago I will use that one
Of the four sets of rocker shafts I had they all had wear on the bottom of the shaft, one was minor which I was going to use but I decided to get a n.o.s as they are quite cheap, here it still has the forty year old protective grease on it.
I rebuilt a second one as a good spare using the best old shaft and the remaining second best rockers, of the sixteen rockers that I put aside to build the two rocker assemblies, five did not have blocked oil galleries. The crud was hard and dry I had to twist a drill bit with my fingers to clean them out. The workshop manual says the shaft will only wear if the oil galleries are blocked!
These arrived today, 2 mm fuel needle valves, necessary to avoid fuel starvation, standard needle valves are 1.5 mm. Float level will be set at 9 mm
The rocker arms with the tips resurfaced.
One carburettor finally finished, I bought a rebuild kit, the diagram was the correct shape and size, but it was of a thicker rubber material and it did not allow the piston to slide back down if I pushed it up, so I put the the original back in.
I also polished the piston sliding surfaces the same as I had done to the other carburettors I originally started out with a few posts back. it made a noticeably smother sliding piston and I also modified the throttle shaft and butterfly the same as I did to the other carburettors a few posts back. The jets are stock setting
Here I matched the inlet manifold ports to the head, it is port matched not gasket matched. I made up a template of the cylinder head face and matched it to the inlet manifold and made small adjustments by visual checks, it only needed about 1mm to come off on the right side only, and as the pros say do not polish it, here it is just finished with a 80 grit flap wheel.
This is Scarlets original head that will be rebuilt at the same time, On the left are genuine Tiger inlet and exhaust valves compared to the original valves on the right, apart from the different size head diameters, everything else is exactly the same which makes things easier to set up
The original purpose of these strut top plates was for rust repair but they were also used on rally Avengers to strengthen that area by simply welding them on top making that area nice and strong, I believe they used to bend at the base of the windscreen pillar area. RS Escorts also had similar plating fitted at the factory, maybe one day I will fit these. extremely rare item these days as they stopped making these panels years ago.