Almost on the road!!

[jimfoo]

Well, I'm getting down to the last little bits on my rebuild. I actually drove the Rover out of the garage yestarday, although I had to stand on the frame rail to do it as it had no tub or seat box on it yet. The plan is to het the remaining body bits on today, get the rest of the lights on and hooked up, and get it on the road. I'm going to try to get it to the dyno asap this time in case some idiot totals me again. BETTER NOT!!! It will be interesting to see how it drives this time with advanced timing, variable vane turbo and an intercooler. I don't have the latest pics up, but I have some fairly recent ones up. http://www.66rover.com/rover%20rebuild/index.html The newest pics are at the bottom. Looks like the 11th was the last update.

[jimfoo]

I finally got the car legal enough to be on the road. I had a meeting to go to in Denver, about 35 miles away. Driving along and everything seems good, other than a slightly slipping clutch at fairly heavy pedal. I notice the temp is a little high, but am thinking it is due to the Evans coolant I'm running. As I get closer to downtown, the temp is going up more and more. Also, but unrelated, by brake pedal is getting harder and harder, so I'm having to step harder on the gas to go. I am close to my meeting, and figure my friends have tools, so I continue. As I hit those few remaining blocks, the temp skyrockets. The brakes are also getting so bad that I have to use first. A guy at a light looks over at the smoke coming off my wheels, hot brake smell permeating the air. I get to the lot as fast as I can and get out to take a look. The f-ing fan relay is screwed up, so the fan hasn't been on at all. I touch it and it kicks on, so I let it run to cool down. It takes a while as it is now well over 250 degrees!!! After it cools, and the meeting is over, the brakes have released their extra pressure, so I carefully drive home. using the brakes as little as possible. The engine seems to be running ok, and the temp is better, but I wired the fan to the battery, so it would stay on. When I got home, the radiator was still full and had no pressure, so I think the Evans saved my ass since it doesn't boil, and it seems my head gasket is still ok since there was no pressure buildup. Still, that isn't the way to brake in a new engine. I was pissed for a while, until it appeared that no damage had been done.
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[braganjackson11]

i did that once in our kit car that we built...it was before we had it running automatically on the thermostat and i didn't turn the switch on ...

[Thor]

Details are a b---- when re-re-building a rig from scratch!

Nice work Jim!

[KevinNY]

What was up with the brakes?

[jimfoo]

Well, I have a Mits. Gallant MC installed as it is the only dual circuit MC that I have found that is short enough to fit on a non-power brake tower. It is however made for power brakes, so has no provision for the rod retaining washer. So spacing it out after replacing my leaking master, I didn't shave a bit off the piston for the washer thickness. Guess I know what I'm doing today, amongst other things.

[KevinNY]

Boy, thats more of Frankenrover than mine!

[jimfoo]

Hehe, yeah. But for the most part, all the mods can be easily undone to turn it back to stock, not that I'd ever want to.....

[jimfoo]

I went for another failed drive yesterday. Temp was up a little, but it was almost 90 degrees out, so that didn't help. I was driving, just getting on the highway, when I couldn't shift. I started pulling off, got in a gear (2nd), then the shifter broke off right at the ball. So I had to drive back in 2nd and 2nd OD. Then the vane linkage unscrewed on the way back, so I had full boost all the time. I stopped to get water to cool things down so I could hook it back up. 3rd time's a charm right? I'll see what fun I have in store for me today.

[jimfoo]

I still have a little overheating problem on big/long hills, but I think a fan I bought will cure that. In the meantime, I went on a 500ish mile trip to scout out rally trails. Power wise it did great, being able to do at least the speed limit up the passes as long as it wasn't getting too hot. Off-road, it seemed to have better low end torque than it did last time. Doing a half day of trails, then 200 or so highway miles, I got 24 mpg even with a slightly leaky tank. Overall I am very pleased with the whole project. there are some pics of the trail runs up at http://picasaweb.google.com/NRGEyeCa...CanyonPreRally and at http://forum.solihullsociety.org/cphoto/ under Colorado Trails, and Rattlesnake Canyon, Bangs Canyon and Coal Canyon. I have also updated the rebuild pics at http://www.66rover.com/rover%20rebuild/index.html

[braganjackson11]

final product looks great! i was wondering, what kind of wheels are those? i'm looking at doing the rocky mountain disc brake conversion, it calls for 16" wheels and i really like the way yours look

[jimfoo]

American Racing. Unfortunately there might not be any left, but I can check if you want. They don't sell them here in the US for some stupid reason, but a warehouse here had some.

[braganjackson11]

oh i see, no wonder i can't ever find the ones i like... what's the backspacing? is it a wider offset than the wheels that come on most series?

[jimfoo]

If I remember right, the backspacing is 3.5". The tires are barely outside the wheel wells. Here is what my friend said about the wheels.
"I checked a month or so ago and they were waiting for some new production.

I'll check in later today and let you know what I find out.'

When I got them, they were $45 a piece, plus shipping, so a decent price. I no longer rub the frame when turning, and it seems more stable on the road. I don't think I've rubbed the body yet in case you are wondering.

[braganjackson11]

that would be awesome...and for that price , what a deal. are they the AR black nuggets by chance? i started looking around the internet and saw that gulf coast rovers has some of them but they're not 45 apiece. it'd probably be worth it to have em shipped from colorado