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Eddie W · Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:25 am Post subject: A couple of tweeks

Just briefly: I added an extra vacuum take off as one choke per cylinder with one takeoff are notorious for variable vacuum. A small but detectable improvement. To get the vacuum from the other pair of carbs, I had to use a banjo fitting to clear the radiator hose fitting.
The other tweek was to duplicate the series three chassis brace from the firewall to the rails. Now having a series two the brackets were not on the rails( although my mule has them being a very late two) After going to some trouble to duplicate the rail brackets,I realised that welding them on would only be really satisfactory with the motor out. Being old and lazy I redesigned the braces to pick up the tops of the mounting bolts for the suspension xmember. This involved machining some shouldered nuts to pass through the brace and utilise the full depth of thread available. Seems to work fine and again I feel that there is a detectable difference. This is all pretty subjective of course but at the very least should help the cracking problem that haunts the earlier 33s.
Regards Eddie
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Ben_nz · Posted: Thu Sep 29, 2005 10:05 pm Post subject:

We want photos!

Eddie W · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:11 am Post subject:

Will do.
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Ken McCarthy · Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:22 am Post subject:

Eddie

I had to do something like that with my Sprint. The bulkhead is about 20mm lower than the 33 so the tube braces had to be shortened anyway. I welded a drilled plate on the end (after careful fitting - with the engine out) and put an extra nut on top of the sub-frame bolts. I had to get extra long bolts. The 16V bolts are already the longest standard made available here and the subframe is thicker on the 16V than earlier 33's.

Regards
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Ken McCarthy - 16V Sprint

Eddie W · Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 11:15 am Post subject:

Hi Ken, sounds similar to the solution I arrived at. Instead of the longer bolts I made shouldered nuts to go through the brace and pick up the remaining thread on the existing bolts.
Tweek three was as somebody else mentioned on here a while back. Because the self adjusting on the rear brakes is haphazard at best, leading to longer and longer pedal travel I have milled a 20mm hole in each drum so that I can manually adjust. This saves a lot of time removing the drums and adjusting a bit at a time and also saves on locking nuts. On the inside of the drum is a sloping shoulder from a thicker section at the centre of the drum, the centre of the hole is halfway down that shoulder and equidistant between the stud threads. I had to mill because you can't drill successfully on a sloping surface. Works fine so long as you remember that the adjuster rotates downward on the lh side and upward on the rh side to expand.
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Ben_nz · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 6:03 am Post subject:

A hole like that could also be used to spray in brake cleaner. My rear drum brakes squeal like an actress in a classic horror film and all I can do is try to keep them hot or apply them heavily so they won't make noise.

Eddie W · Posted: Wed Oct 05, 2005 11:09 am Post subject:

Ben, I'll give you a ring and drop in and show you the braces. Are you still at home?
Eddie
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A LITTLE FURTHER A LITTLE FASTER

Ben_nz · Posted: Thu Oct 06, 2005 9:12 am Post subject:

Nope, I now live way over on the North Shore in Waiake so I can be nearer work. I'm now close enough that my 33 builds up milky oil in the oil filler tube from too many short trips combined with winter weather.
I'm driving a company car to work now though - RWD, 2500cc, manual, turbo, intercooled...
..and diesel. And it's a ute. Wink

Whereabouts do you live? South Auckland?

My spare parts 33 will be entered in the next demolition derby, with any luck. The guys at work are gonna help me strip out the interior on the next sunny Friday evening we get.