Karls V8 Mklll,
Part 5 Update June 2010
By Karl Schluter.
Well Have I started on the darn thing yet? well
sorta……Since the last story we moved house. That meant packing the car and
parts up in boxes, renting a car trailer etc and towing it to the new house via
a good friends 4WD and a rented trailer. I have a garage under the house now,
wider than before and with a work shop off the side (which can be closed
off) plus a carpeted room for my car parts and the wife's horse tack gear
at the back too. Sandra (the same mentioned wife) and I plastered the rough
stone chip walls around the car over a 2 month time frame and then using
rollers painted them white (including the floor-it makes sweeping up so
easy!).This really brightens a work area.
I added my fluoro lights and moved a power point to where
it would be more useful plus removed the huge power garage door opener that sat
loosely over the roof of the car…Here I have added two double doors instead
of the curtain which was there, much better as a fire break too.
In my workshop area I have two worktables, one with a
vice and 770mm long sheet metal bender and the other topped with alloy sheeting
as seen below. In the wall unit here are 3 welders I have collected over the
years, 100A Arc, 100A Gasless Mig, and 160A Tig with Pulse.
Right, now lots of my plans and items I had for the end
build (my last for the car) as written up before have now changed. Notably the
cylinder heads for the Windsor 302 in the car, I was going to use early 351w V8
heads redone for unleaded etc. However as my health has not kept up, I worked
out the hours of porting I wanted to do was now beyond me. As luck would have
it I located two late model 5.0 Ford Falcon Tickford heads for sale. These are
GT40P heads with larger valves installed and some port work (done by Yella
Terra in Oz). They out flow even a few alloy heads. Plus they are unleaded. I
have US made Scorpion roller rockers for them too. I had the heads
converted to stronger ARP screw in rocker studs and guide plates plus an
Edelbrock Torker spring/retainer kit was installed that better matched my
cam.
The next change was my ignition plans. I was going to run
a Ford factory electronic distributor called a Duraspark 2 and wire it to a
Mallory Hyfire 6AL box. Now I have since sold that distributor after I
won at auction a new Holley magnetic billet distributor. Pictured with it
below is a 60's made Lucas Hazard light system that plugs directly into
the harness with no cutting. Also below the Distributor is a Taylor/Vertex
fused switch panel, this runs the starter, fuel pumps and ignition etc, I have
brought new fuse holders to clip into the empty slots in it. The grey object to
the right of it is a DYMO label maker! why? well these are perfect to label a
new wiring harness , stick the label lengthways on the cable and then cover
with clear heat shrink! You see I plan, while I have the dash out, to create a
separate harness from the stock Mklll harness to link up the extra gauges etc.
The ignition will copy a Nascar ignition set up ie:
the single distributor gets power from a choice of any of two Mallory 6A
boxes matched to two Mallory Pro master coils via a MSD coil selector
(the 3 pronged object). Why, because : )
Actually Nascar have it so you can switch via a toggle
switch from one ignition to another if there’s a failure. The blue cylinder is
a big 16 volt capacitor, it keeps any voltage surges and spikes from shorting
or damaging anything connected to the cars wiring. Often turning off a
incorrectly wired battery switch will create a surge or spike.
I will also be running a twin fuel pump set up
along the same thinking of the dual ignition system, below
are two Facet fuel pumps, both are electronic and have in built
filters you can service. The black cube in the light blue packet is a Fuelflow
NZ made collusion switch, it turns the ignition and fuel pumps off in a crash,
and could save the lives of those in the car and also those attending the
smash. For less than $50NZ there is no excuse not to run one if your car has an
electric fuel pump. Any injected car will most likely be factory fitted with
one in the rear boot/trunk area. With the switch is a Hurst gearstick boot,
lever and the correct gear stick knob (thanks Duncan) I will top my alloy case
top loader off with these for a late 60's look..
Below are a few repro stickers from years ago, the top
are from the Kelford cam company that still grinds many cams today, they do
everything from Zephyr engines, Subaru's engines, to V8's. The Castrol sticker
is the same as fitted to the rally Mklll Zodiacs in the 60;s. And the Yellow
Bendix sticker is one of two that will go on the Facet fuel pumps, why? well
years ago Bendix made these pumps (in the days of GT40's and other race cars)
so the decals will help give the pumps the "correct" period look.
And the last major change is the seats, instead of the
Momo seats I had (fixed back) I have chosen the early type NZ made
Autosport seats.
Why the changes? Well I decided to build it more to what
I really wanted, I had done the street machine thing and the car show scene and
I more wanted to build it to how I, meaning me,wanted it. The car is slightly
impractical as it is, the engine is too lumpy (you have to slip the clutch to
drive quietly through town) plus the ride is very firm and not much fun until
you hit the open road. I have also always loved the 50’s to 70's classic
race cars, whether Monte Carlo or the US Trans Am/Nascar type. So I decided to
build my Mklll as a NZ weekend track type car using a lot of
60’s-70's period parts, with made in NZ parts where I could (ie the seats and
the NZ made Cheviot mags). The car won’t be gutted of carpet and interior. I
may get back into the odd event again, the local sports car club host hill
climbs etc so who knows.
I want the car to stay as it always has been: No major
cut up sheet metal etc so that the car couldn’t be returned to a standard Mklll
Zephyr one day. That’s just me. I won’t be covering the car in race numbers and
stickers, I noted back then the cars did not have many sponsor stickers. I had
a few old company stickers made, like the Cheviot mag wheel logo, and I found a
guy making the 60’s Repco type stickers. Plus friends have kindly donated a few
(thanks Dave).
I have sold some of the items I was going to put into the
car, mainly to fund other parts of the build, plus to keep the car simple. I
have used Auction sites for most of the parts. The NZ Trade me site is
handy but I have been burnt a few times. However the US E-bay site has been a
great help, traders have been a lot more honest and helpful. Also if buying new
I priced here in NZ first, then did a google search for an overseas supplier.
It pays off. Often in NZ I never heard back from companies here. Yet one US
company got me two fuel pumps with postage included at the price of one in NZ?
I would like to support local companies but often some make it very difficult.
Below are photos with captions of some more of the main points
of the cars planned build.
Above to the left is the Moroso oil accumulator I use to
run, you can pre oil the engine, after months or minutes without firing the car
up. Plus they work better than any gated sump. Often referred to as a
"Poor man's dry sump"! The bigger one on the right has a piston
inside, it's the one I will be running now on.
Below is the Denso 115A alternator I am replacing the
30-40A lucas with, both are internal regulated so a easy swap on our
cars, including the inline 6's. The Moroso 5" Vee pulley saves
HP at hi rpm and similar was factory fitted to many Fords like the 271HP
289's and the GT HO Falcons.
Following on below is the 14" x 3" Moroso
dropped base air cleaner with the Australian made Unifilter element. I have had
negative results with the K&N brand of Air Filter as have others.
Below are the two 5" main gauges going in
my redesigned dash, I plan to remove the factory outer sheet metal, keep
the padded top and make a new lower section in alloy to mount these, I will
store the factory dash. The speedo is ex Jag and the VDO Tacho also
records over a set distance/run and tells you of any clutch slip or wheel
spin etc.
I have chosen to run an Air/fuel Meter, this model below
is of the New Zealand made Link Brand, really just a narrow brand meter with
colored lights, these were a big thing years ago! Today they are hard to
come by, why I don't know? should be heaps of them sitting on shelves now that
affordable wide band meters are sold.
I did at first have a 120L fuel cell, it was going
to be hard to mount nicely in the boot with the battery and fuel pumps so I
downsized to this 40L Jaz cell, its new and foam filled. Why foam? two reasons,
one to act as a fuel baffle and two, to slow an explosion in the event of a
fire etc.
Here is the front apron with bib spoiler in one-piece
fiberglass. Its modeled off one made by a Mklll owner in Wellington who made
his in sheet metal. I have yet to see a front dam on a Mklll I like so will try
this. When I was first going through my car, it had a bad habit of lifting the
nose at speed, so lowering the car helped which lead me to believe air was
building up under the front, hopefully this spoiler will also help, I plan to
extend it with something flexi as well so its lower to the road.
Lastly, above is the Lifeline (U.K.) twin nozzle fire
extinguisher system I won still unused. Its designed to have one nozzle on the
driver and one over the engine, it can be set to go automatically or from
an inside or an outside mounted pull cable. A lot of these items were
very lucky finds on the auction sites, I know when I first did the car over 20
years ago, no such auction sites existed. They sure do make builds more
affordable and what better way to meet fellow minded Z car people!?.
Karl (Low
Zep)