Cutting Silicon Hose

Thought I would share this brill way of ensuring neatly cut silicone rubber pipe.

Firstly DO NOT use a junior hack saw or any other saw blade , it does not work and will fray the hose.

The best method is to use a very sharp knife and a jubilee clip.

• Position the jubilee clip where you want to cut the hose.
• Tighten the clip so it grips the pipe
• The clip now provides a clean straight edge against which you can run the knife round.
• Pierce the pipe with the knife and using a sawing motion run the knife round against the jubilee clip.
• You wont be able to get all the way round in one cutting movement, when you get closer to the bolt which tightens the clip you will have to loosen, twist the clip round and re-tighten before continuing to cut the pipe

Doing the above, will ensure cleanly cut silicone hose each and every time - so simple!

oh, and be careful, the knife is very sharp :-)

Water rail kit

Following the recent open day at GBS I acquired the GBS in-house water rail kit which is a full kit of all the parts required to install the water rail to the engine

Whilst visiting I also acquired the Hose-kit and overflow header tank so basically everything needed to connect the cooling system together between radiator, engine and overflow.

First task is fitting the thermostat housing elbow which is a simple bolt onto the engine job, however it is extremely important the external surfaces are flat and smooth to avoid pressure loss and leaks. This was achieved using some sandpaper and rubbing the elbow on a flat surface to remove the powder coat and achieve a smooth flat finish.

A gasket also fits between the housing and engine block which was held in place with a dab of gasket seal. 

This is then all bolted to the engine with three bolts...however on reflection i would recommend this is fitted BEFORE the engine is installed, getting to a couple of the bolts with the engine installed whilst not impossible does require some spanner dexterity plus the distributor will need loosening and moving away in order to get the top right hand bolt in:

So with the elbow secured to the engine, I added the alloy thermostat housing onto the top, again using a gasket as a seal between to the two parts, two Allen bolts hold the housing place, followed by the thermostat and cap - all straight forward.

Next, the water rail is fixed to the side of the engine. Before that can be done, you will need to remove some surplus to requirements heat shield from the engine block, this will expose some holes which the water rail bolts through:

Like the other parts, the water rail is held in with a couple of hex head bolts and washers, again all straightforward.

Last piece of the water rail jigsaw is fitting the 90 deg blue pipe to connect the thermostat to the water rail - as you can see from the the pictures this will need cutting to size which is a simple task using a very sharp knife (see my next post on a dead easy way to achieve a clean cut). Once cut to size its all held in place with jubilee clips.

So part one done - next step is to fit the "plumbing" between the water rail and engine.

Gearstick hole, tunnel top

Still some time left in the afternoon, another quick job worth doing is cutting a hole in the tunnel top to enable the gearstick to be fitted.

Spent quite a while marking up where the hole needs to be cut and no doubt there is an easier way to do it then what i did, however my method worked!

Using masking tape I marked out the area where the gearstick is at its furthest point forward and furthest point backwards. This created a square which represents the area in which the gearstick will operate as it moves through the gears.

Measuring that square, I transferred those dimensions onto the tunnel top, working out the centre point.

Time to drill a hole.... Using a 60mm hole saw attachment i drilled the hole out, filed away the swarf, cleaned up the hole and test fitted to the tunnel / gearstick

Further filing was then need to open up the hole further to ensure maximum movement for the gearstick as it moved through the gears. 

All done and ready to accept the gaiter later down the build process.

Alternator

Now the engine is in situ in the chassis, I can turn my attention to start fitting the ancillary components such as alternator, water rail / cooling circuit, plenum etc. First job on the list, alternator.

GBS do a nice kit with all the parts needed to fit the alternator, all to the very usual high standard of manufacture although it did prove to be a bit of jigsaw to work out what goes where when you open the box up!

I spent approx half an hour sorting out out all the bits and working out what goes with what and where each bracket fits to the engine and cross referencing other builds as a guide, hopefully the photos show what goes where...

I also took off the powder coat on the alternator brackets where the alternator mounts into the brackets in order to provide a solid earthing point

Once the components have been identified its a simple case of bolting to the engine.

There is no right or wrong way to fitment however I fitted the top alternator brackets first (will need the engine lifting lug removing) followed by the bottom bracket, which includes a spacer bracket which goes between the engine and bracket. (Note the lower bracket utilizes an existing bolt mounting point on the engine).

 

The final bracket to fit is the tensioner pulley bracket which again uses an existing bolt/mounting point on the engine block, together with a spacer for the side mounting position.

The tensioner pulley was also fitted at this stage and kept slack ready to take the belt.

Once all the brackets are installed it is a simple case of 

mounting the alternator onto the upper/lower brackets and taking a straight edger between the alternator pulley and the tensioner pulley to check the belt will run square, several space washers were need on the lower bracket to get the two pulleys square with one another.

All good, the final fit is the belt which is held in position by adjusting the tensioner pulley to apply sufficient tension to the belt to prevent it slipping and coming off.

 

Overall a relatively quick job. Main time is spent working out where the various bits go!