Jake's Story

July 2015-07-06
The car currently sits up on axle stands, stripped almost bare. The hack engine is still in, along with the LT77 box. My gearbox crossmemeber looks like it’s going to work.
The rover gearbox remote sits further back than I’d wanted, so will probably shorten the remote to fetch the stick forward. Holes are cut for the RV8 type manifolds, but need tidying up & reinforcing once the engine is out of the way. The front crossmember & suspension with it’s coil over conversion is on a bench ready to go.
I have a set of princess 4 pot callipers to overhaul, planning to use ½” thick V8 rotors.
The rear axle came out, to take a look at the clunky backlash. One of the phenolic thrust washers was paper thin, the other missing. I’ve fitted new thrust washers on the planetry gears and side gears, backlash is no under control. I’d like to change the final drive ratio, but not sure if I need to go as high as the V8 3.08 ratio, and heard horrible things about some of the aftermarket gearsets. Planning to run the car at 3.9 ratio initially. The axle is back together, but have a couple of wheel cylinder kits to put in yet.

The body is in remarkably good condition. I’ve chipped out the majority of the sound deadening material without finding too much to stress over. The biggest rust repair is going to be on the top of the drivers side sill. I’m guessing the carpet on the sill has been wet & initiated the rust. The sill appear to be solid & rust free. I’m in the process of making up a rotisseries stand so I can flip the body on it’s side & do any ‘underneath’ jobs in comfort. I’ll post a couple of pics once the bodies up.

With to coilover set-up up front, the rear suspension needs some love. To locate the axle under V8 power, some sort of torque rods are going to be needed. I’m hoping to ditch the lever arms shocks & leaf springs, and fit one of classic conversion 4 link kits. Looks like a nice solution to me?