Berlinetta build and restoration

[greyV8pete]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

brilliant! has anyone else got some fantastic piece of home made toolery?

Hey this is brilliant! How about a seperate section on the forum? Perhaps called "Special Tools nah!" ???

Could save people a fortune and a potential mine of ingenuity, which is what owning a kit car entails. Peter.

[Mike]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

brilliant! has anyone else got some fantastic piece of home made toolery?

Hi Cameron

I was not going to post a picture of this, but it is a classic example of what you're looking for!

The BMW M50 Vanos engine has variable valve timing, and is well documented as needing its hydraulic seals replacing - they are not expensive at £30 for the set- except:
To remove the vanos unit requires 3 specialist tools - and cost around £100:




............so I made my own for nothing:

A cam locking plate, and crank shaft locking pin, to hold the cam and crankshaft in exactly the right position whilst the timing chain connection is removed.


[/url]Special Vanos Repair Tools by Mikes Marlin BMW Cabrio, on Flickr[/IMG]

..........and the crude Sprocket Rotating tool that is used for all of 10 seconds!
It was not easy to find the right bits to make this work as the main ring was 66mm diameter. In the end I found a thick washer the right size and welded it to a piece of 60mm tube, then welded a handle, and a plate with a 5mm bolt to act as cog locator. Worked perfectly!

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[cameronfurnival]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

brilliant! has anyone else got some fantastic piece of home made toolery?

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Ha ha! give that man a prize, it is indeed a hospital bed lift. Years ago when I did oval racing engine removal was a frequent occurrence, at first I used a block and tackle slung from the rafters then one day someone offered me the hospital hoist very cheap. It was just up to the job of lifting the Ford Pinto. When I retired from racing the hoist sat in the garage for a few years until someone asked to borrow it, this was when I discovered the ram was not working, so with me being a hoarder it was put back in the garage.

Fast forward to a few months ago when I had the bare chassis and thought the bottom half of the hoist with the wheels on would be ideal to sit the chassis on. Here you can see it supporting the front of the chassis with help from a couple of planks and spare wheels.

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Then last week I thought it could easily be converted to an engine stand. The most difficult bit was finding two sturdy tubes that would fit one inside the other, after an hour searching around the farm I found two tubes that were a slack fit but good enough. It does the job although it's a bit rough but sometimes it's better to get on than spend time making a masterpiece.

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[h_m_cumming]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Recognise the stand-hospital bed lift, lol. I use one, modified, as an engine hoist.

[cameronfurnival]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

looks lovely! You ought to show how you made the engine stand too

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

What to do about the engine has been rising up the to do list. To recap, when I first decided to try to fit the Vauxhall unit I just wanted something cheap to see if it was possible and I got hold of one that had broken the timing belt. I have been looking on ebay etc for a good engine for a while but to no avail. So last week I knocked up an engine stand with a view to taking the head off my engine to see what damage had been done when the belt broke. But guess what? An engine appeared last week and was just what I have been looking for! So to cut a long story short I now have a fully recon vauxhall engine, rebored, new pistons and con rods, crank reground, new cams, new valves, new oil pump and water pump. The engine was supplied with the head off to show the work that had been done.

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[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Thanks DC. I'm very much a novice with computers. When I had the problem of the picture files being too large I just googled resize pics and eventually found a way which seems to work.

[dcunn]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Microsoft Office Picture Manager is my choice, quite an old programme but does all (and more) than I want for my pics, and a simple single click resize to 15% for this site

Keep it going Scott !

Rgds DC

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Thanks Dan, I quite enjoy doing the build diary and I would encourage others to have a go, it's surprising the number of views you get. It also gives me a bit more motivation when I know people are waiting on the next instalment, I myself can't wait to see what happens next! Now that the diary is in real time rather than a historical account of the original build I find that pictures speak a thousand words and so it's fairly easy to just take photos and upload them here.

On a technical note about posting pics, this is what I do. My phone has a 13mp camera which is great quality but takes a lot of time to upload so I have set the camera to 8mp which seems just as good. I then send the pics to my laptop by bluetooth, once on my laptop I use a program called Paint which has a feature to resize pics. Here I choose 50% then save the pic which I then upload. I bought this laptop a few months before starting the build diary and doing the diary really pushed me to learn about computers.

[dgacampbell]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

These build threads have got to be addictive lol.

Look forward to reading more updates!!

Top Job!

Dan.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

As I have decided to make a new bulkhead I thought I may as well take the chance to reposition the steering column, the slight mounting angle to clear the V8 no longer required.

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Here you can see the original hole in the bulkhead and the new straight position.

I was also keen to try to fit the standard Sierra brake servo, this was one of the reasons for changing from V8 to 4cyl. The pedal box required an extension as it is slightly shorter than the bulkhead.

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[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Rolling chassis

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[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

How often have you read the phrase refitting is the reversal of removal? Makes it sound too easy. I spent 3 hours the other evening trying to fit the large poly bushes to the rear beam, threaded rod and angle steel, G clamps, heat gun, vice, were all tried and all I've got to show for it are skinned knuckles! Today it was time to get tough. Using a bottle jack and a forklift saw both bushes fitted in 10 mins, you live and learn!

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The rest of the bushes should be easier as they are split in two and are much smaller anyway.

P.S. regular readers will notice that I have worked out how to resize the pics which should make it quicker to load, I got a new phone the other week and it has a 16mp camera but it takes ages to load to here so biggest is not always best.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

I had to bite the bullet and spend a chunk of the budget on suspension parts.

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Most of the rubber bushes were perished so I decided on a full set of uprated polybushes. I went for black coloured ones which are the same material but more in keeping with the Marlin than bright yellow. The original steering rack seemed ok but needed new gators and when I priced them I found out that a complete recon rack was only £25 exchange so I went for that. The original rear springs are ok but they are special order and I can't remember what they are! So I got a pair of standard Sierra saloon springs and hope to make them fit, which would make things easy if I ever need replacements.

At the risk of sounding like an old fogey it struck me how much easier the internet has made the task of sourcing parts compared to the first time I built the Berly. Back then in the early 90's, when everything was black and white, it was a case of searching through car magazines looking at adverts, or word of mouth, and then numerous phone calls. They only need to crack an easy way to find the money to pay for the stuff now!