Mk 111 Zephyr V8
My Mklll V8 Part 3
By Karl Schluter -Low
Zep
Hello,
Some of you have wondered what I have been up to on my own car since Part 2.
Well my health has slipped some more and that put pressure to get some
important jobs around the home done. Lots of you have to do the same balancing
I bet! Over this time I researched parts on the net (google is my friend!) and
shopped wisely. This write up is not a how to, (they will hopefully follow)
rather its about what parts I have been putting aside.
I
sold a lot of parts and favourite car books but it was a choice I had to make
with a limited budget first up, I was after better front seats. My car has
either Datsun 180B or Mklll Cortina low buckets already fitted with the mostly
black interior. These seats had no side support and with the suspension fully
worked as per the sites sidebar articles (also see Part 1 My Mklll V8), you
were moving around too much in the seats. I always wanted nice seats and
thought why not go all out and get fixed back race seats? I found a set on our
local NZ E-bay like site and won them with extra back/leg supports and
mountings.
Freight
was free and James (Zephyrheaven) even helped out with the purchase as a
Christmas prezzie Thanks Bud! I then brought a black mesh seat cover for the
rear bench and a Momo Corse badge to centre mount on it to match the Momo Corse
front seats.
I
also decided a Steering wheel change was needed, I won a Suede Momo wheel cheap
and James brought me a new mounting kit for a swap with my previous Wheel and
Boss kit! ( Check FAQ for Boss kit).
Now
for the Dash, I have a Smiths vacuum gauge to go in with the other Smiths dials
and a Mallory recall Tacho as well, I also won a Ford Motorsport recall tacho
(made by Autometer) to maybe use instead. Below in the pictures of the rev
counters is the Momo carbon fibre and leather gear knob I have got for the top
loader transmission.
I
wanted a tacho that can recall highest rpm and these both do it. The
reason I got two is some rev counters do not work well with the aftermarket
ignitions I plan to run. I got a great deal on an Air/fuel ratio meter (the
small black box next to the Mallory rev counter) with sender-$30NZ only to
find it’s a K&N US made one that goes for $190US! James located me a great
set of Taylor spiral leads (DON’T run solid wire leads with Electronic
boxes!)
Instead
of the Ford Motorsport alloy post distributor cap, I got a better lasting MSD
brass terminal cap, which is cheaper?! The Duraspark distributor takes a
two-part cap, The adapter and rotor are Wells brand parts. This Distributor has
the added bonus of a vented cap and wider spaced terminals too compared to the
previous Mallory small cap part. The Blue can in the picture is a big capacitor
that saves the main ignition module from surges and spikes, MSD sells them too.
I
had planned to run a Mallory twin point distributor converted to no points with
an E - Spark conversion (a Mallory new design Unilite) But decided to go to a
plainer system that’s proven like the factory Ford Duraspark Magnetic
Distributor with the Hyfire 6AL firing it though a matching Mallory coil.
Another trick is a fuse in the main Battery feed to the spark box. (I will be
covering ignitions in more detail in another article on site). I am running a
new battery system with a boot (trunk) mounted starter solenoid and a
full-length earth cable (welding cable-BIG!).
The
2-post Battery switch is being updated to a UK FIA 6 post one, it stops the
alternator spiking the electronics if the master switch is turned off while the
engine is running. This can damage the alternator too. Lots of battery switches
will NOT shut a car down when running! Also in the below Battery switch picture
is a device by an Australian company called Matson which also protects
electronics.
I
am installing a Maxi fuse and other fuses in the MkIII while updating too. I
have researched some wiring tools and have sourced these above crimpers in
various qualities. I may solder some fittings but have problems with my hands.
The
cylinder heads I have been working on from time to time are not going far right
now, however on the internet I met up with a talented fellow from way back (a
Salt racer) who shared a few pages of Ford porting secrets with me, so waiting
a bit has paid off. Below are some tools and bits I use, (the work can be seen
in My Mklll V8 part 2).
Above
are the carbine ($$$) bits I use first, then stones and then I finish with the
sanding rolls. The below 18V cordless drills are very handy.
Good
quality eye protection (I also wear a hood), wrist straps and gloves for cold
air tools and vibration protection. Missing is ear protection for the air tools
!!!
Here
is the Edelbrock Torker spring kit to better match my SVO Motorsport cam.
I
am going with screw in studs this time too. The machining cost for new guides
and unleaded seats are the main costs this year yet to meet. I now have two
steel billet flywheels, I wish to replace the cast iron one I run (they crack I
find) but I don’t know which size I have in the car now! (Ford Windsor V8’s
have a few, but mainly two sizes, 157 tooth and 164 tooth but there are 160 and
142 or so as well. Plus 50oz and 28oz off balance! I know mine in 28oz so one
of the two will fit and I will sell the other.
Drivetrain.com
in the US sent me 2 new internal gear stick bushes (only needed the one!) for
the overdrive alloy case Top loader I run, I plan to install a new rear tail
housing bush then too. Outside the car I have a front pan made of glass fibre
with a mild air dam to go on, years ago the car use to rise at speed, lowering it
helped and any front air dam has to be a good thing! I have decided to make my
remote sump/engine oiler useable from the front seat so have brought a good
quality choke cable to operate the ball valve.
I
now have a Transit 4 spider carrier plus some other tricks to beefing the
trusty mkIII diff to do! (Article to follow) So as you can see I have been
chipping away at things, as mentioned I have had to sell a few things and save
as much as possible from what little I get like all of us. Friends like James
(Zephyrheaven) and Brent as the Holden dealership in my home town of Dunedin
have helped me too. The site, members stories and messages here keep me going
too as does my family.
As
I install these items I hope to photo and describe the installs that will help
others.
DO
YOU HAVE A STORY ON THE CONTINUING BUILD UP OF YOUR CAR? CAN YOU SEND US A FEW
WORDS AND PIC'S ON THE CAR YOU'RE DRIVING AND THE PLANS OR STORIES OF IT? AVOCALEA@XTRA.CO.NZ