Tanks

Session 19: Sunday 21st February

The first job of this session was to restore to position the various things that had to be removed from the engine and the chassis in order to fit the engine and gearbox. What became immediately clear is that there was no way that the engine could possibly have been installed with them in place. The starter motor wedges right up against the firewall and the alternator sits between the chassis struts.

Fitting the starter motor was a simple task, requiring two bolts and five minutes. The alternator was a little fiddlier but returned to its location simply enough. I hadn't spotted during disassembly, but the upper pulley (water[?] pump) also serves as a belt tensioner, which made the refitting of the belt somewhat easier.

Alternator to the left, starter motor to the right.

The alternator belt threads its way through the chassis struts.

Another drawing trying to sell me a dummy. Note that the p-clips are on completely different struts to that illustrated.

Next on the list was the installation of the dry sump tank. This relocates the oil that would normally be held at the bottom of the engine higher up, improving the ground clearance at the expense of a little weight (more infrastructure and more oil). As it turns out, the tank's quite large. It sits directly in front of the engine, occupying all remaining space between the engine and the chassis.

The tank mounts on two p-clips at the bottom and a single bolt at the top. After some brief confusion due to a problem with the manual, it went on without protest.

The dry sump tank in position.

I think it's probably possible to change the belt without removing the tank. I certainly hope so, because once it's plumbed in, getting the tank out again will be a long and messy job.

To close out the session, I refitted the radiator, which had been removed to allow access for the hoist. Four bolts, done. There was then the usual scouting round for components for next time, the inevitable Amazon order, and home.

Not quite there yet. Still more things to add before I can start to run pipes.

Session 20: Saturday 27th February

There were a couple more tanks that needed to be fitted too. The round one is a header tank for the water system and the semi-circular one is a catch-tank for overflowing oil. Both sit high and forward in the engine, both on plates that require drilling the chassis to accept the plates on which the tanks are mounted. Only wanting to drill the chassis once, I thought I'd have a go at fitting the nosecone, to get a sense of what might work, how much clearance there might be, and so on.

This was one of those moments that showed that the design is from an age before computers. The nosecone sits around 10mm above the top of the engine and, apart from a simple radius, runs horizontally to the edge before turning and dropping vertically to the main body.

Very simple. Very predictable.

The view into the nosecone from the passenger side. Not much room there.

And the view from the driver's side. Not much room here either.

The catch tank bracket rivets to the box section on the side, drilling out and replacing an existing rivet and making a new hole for the second.

The header tank is fiddlier. Four holes are needed, drilled into the tubular bracing cross-struts and not helped by the plate having the holes in the wrong place (so two of the holes it was supplied with needed slotting). The whole thing is a bodge anyway, as the original home for the tank is central, but the bolt that it used to be attached to has since been taken by the dry sump tank. As a result, all of this bit is to provide a place, vaguely to the front of the engine (where things are cooler) for a single bolt to be positioned, on which to attach the tank. Sheesh.

he catch tank needs to be periodically emptied of excess oil, so its bracket is wedge-shaped to hold it securely, but allow for easy removal.

The header tank mount plate bridges across two struts.

Creating the holes and modifying the plate were no great job for the Dremel, and the rivets dropped in easily.

For the catch-tank, that was it (for now...). The header tank is classic overdesign (or possibly engineering additional parts that ultimately cost more than re-engineering the original part from scratch would have), with four rivets holding a plate, to hold a bolt, to hold a plate, to hold the bolt that the tank attaches to. Which, especially when the result is a tank whose ports BOTH point in silly directions because it's not located where it was designed to be.

However, finally, all the bits that need pipes (heater, radiator(s) and now tanks) are in place and ready to be connected. A sucessful day.

Catch-tank in place, with the breather hose yet to be mounted.

Header tank in place.

Not the most flattering of shots, with eyes crossed and nose (cone) crooked!

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