Berlinetta build and restoration

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Got the linkage from Rally Design today.

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Unfortunately the gear change was very stiff when I tried it, so I removed it and put the gear lever in the original position and it's the same. The gearbox was donated by a friend who says he got it from a low mileage Sierra, for use in a Mk2 Escort project which he has lost interest in. This is the first time I have tried the gear lever, hopefully some WD40 will sort it. One step forward, one step back.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

The gearbox was easily freed off with WD40. There are two small spring loaded plungers that hold the selectors in position and they were a bit stiff through lack of use.

I have been trying to keep this build diary in a logical sequence, tackling one job at a time, but the reality is very different. You have to keep thinking ahead about what parts will be required and how long it will take to get hold of them. For example right now I am trying to concentrate on the bulkhead area but I have to think about what space parts of the engine may require in this area, so I should really get the engine put together. This in turn means I have to get the clutch sorted out. Another thing that I would like to sort out is the fuel tank.

The original fuel tank had a few niggles. The filler was on the side and required a sharp right angle, this meant spitting back when filling so it was a slow job. The sender was mounted on the side and was very difficult to stop leaking as it was submerged in fuel at anything over half a tank. The tank was also quite rusty so I decided to see about getting a new one made. I have been doing a bit of research, looking at web sites and forums on the internet and magazine articles, so I have a good idea of what I want and a couple of companies with good reviews.

For many years I have made an annual visit to the Autosport show at the NEC. So last weekend at the show I spoke to some companies about getting a tank made and I decided to try OBP. They were enthusiastic when I spoke to them and they also have some good reviews. They asked me to email a sketch of what I wanted. So I had a go on my laptop and this is what I came up with.

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They got back in touch quickly with a price of £200 plus carriage plus VAT. They say it should be ready in ten days from when I pay for it.

Also when I was at the show I spoke to some people about uprating the brakes on the Berli. I am convinced that one of the reasons for the poor brakes on the Marlin is due to the increase in rolling radius of the wheel / tyre combination compared to the standard Sierra. This puts the standard brakes at a mechanical disadvantage. I think the solution is larger diameter discs with uprated calipers. Rally Design do a kit for the Sierra which I am convinced will result in fantastic brakes, although it is a bit pricey. But what price is worth paying when you need to do an emergency stop?

So getting back to the bulkhead, one of the main components to be mounted here is the heater. The Berli is designed to use a Cortina heater but the one in my car had been modified to occupy less space, the matrix was also corroded and if it was not leaking it soon will be, so it had to be replaced. I didn't fancy fitting another Cortina unit, for a start finding one in good condition would be a challenge. I thought a new one would be a much better idea especially from the point of view of reliability and the availability of spares if it does leak or the fan stop working. To cut a long story short I bought one from Car Builder Solutions, here it is sitting in position.

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The plan is to panel the original aperture for the heater with stainless steel and make a section of it box shaped to house the new heater. That way the heater will be in the cabin air space although it sits in the engine bay. This means that if the fresh air feed is not completely sealed there is no chance of drawing in engine fumes, just recirculated cabin air. The heater will draw fresh air from behind the louvered panel in front of the passenger door. This was a modification that some Berlinetta owners, including me, carried out as a solution to the windscreen misting up when the heater just recirculated the air.

Moving to the engine, I decided to take the sump off for a look and I spotted a crack in the cast alloy sump, not good.

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At least there was no other obvious problems.

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I had previously bought two non running engines with the plan to build one good one, so I will use the sump from one of them. The perils of buying from ebay.

[Dane_Rescueman]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Hi Scott, I removed Cortina heater from my Berli when I uprated the engine a while back. I used the similar heater as yours which I obtained from CBS. I fitted mine on the engine side of a new steel firewall. I enclosed the heater in an ally box which connects with a scoop in the bonnet for a fresh air feed. I put the details in various Pitstop issues in 2007 and 2009. I fitted the heater outlet panel, also from CBS, which allows convoluted air trunking to supply air to the footwells and demister vents. I generally drive hood down but I'll need to add exhaust air vents to the hard top before I ever fit it to allow through flow of heated air.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Hi Dane, sounds interesting. It would be good to see what you put in pitstop, do you know which issues? Then I could look in the past issue section of this website. My Cortina heater worked well enough with my hardtop fitted, I left small gaps at the side of the rear seat which allowed the air to flow to the boot where there were gaps around the rear shocks. I had to run the fan all the time though as there was no force feed of air but that is just the same as the standard Berli with the recirculated air system. If you have read my build diary you will know that I never got the interior finished but this time around I hope to get it done and I plan to have vents through to the boot so that the airflow is the same as before.

I also bought the plenum chamber, some ducting, a couple of flap valves and ball vents. The plan is to have the two small outlets connected to the demist vents, and the two large outlets connected to the Y shaped flap valves to split each between feet and dash ball vents. So for maximum demist I will set the flap valves to direct the air to the dash vents and close the ball vents so that all the air goes to the screen. These Y valves will be operated by cables as in a production car, that is the plan anyway we will see if I can make it work!

[dcunn]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Guys, I've just put a Berlinetta Pitstop Tech Articles list on the Berlinetta Section - hope it helps
Rgds DC

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Just had a look, that's a long list! Must have taken a lot of time to sort it out, much appreciated.

Scott

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

The fuel tank arrived today, and it's exactly like the sketch that I supplied. It has two internal baffles which I actually forgot to specify so full marks to OBP. The cost was £200 plus carriage plus VAT, which came to £260. This was at the higher end of the budget for the tank but it is high quality, a one off and was made quickly. There were some universal tanks that were a bit cheaper but each one was compromised in some way from what I really wanted.

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The tank is nice and shiny just now but being bare ally it wont stay that way for long, especially mounted under the boot, so I think I will paint it with some robust paint. Any suggestions what to use? I am also toying with the idea of sticking an extra layer of ally on the base and maybe the sides for extra protection from flying stones. The tank is made from 2mm ally so maybe I am being over cautious, what do you think? For mounting the plan is to cradle it on four straps and two straps over the top. The straps will be made of steel, either stainless or galvanized with rubber stuck on to save any damage to the tank. Any ideas where to get such rubber?

[jon_cox]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

http://www.carbuildersolutions.com/uk/tank-strap-rubber

[stevejgreen]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

A couple of things to mention.
Dissimilar metals can, if in electrical contact with each other be subject to galvanic corrosion, especially if they are wet with salt water, as found on UK roads in winter.
Using the tank strap rubber can electrically insulate the two on much of their length, but worth considering along any fixings. Paint will help with electrical insulation.
I would never double layer any metallic surface especially when water could migrate between the two, unless there is a clear air gap between them and a path for any water to reach a drain hole, or the gap between is fully sealed.

[David]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Nice looking tank. When I had a similar tank made for my Roadster I had a flange welded on all the way round that sat on brackets or a welded on lip (I don't recall which) in the chassis frame. The tank was then bolted to the chassis with insulating rubber between them. Much firmer than straps.

Just need to decide where the flange goes on the vertical face so that you get the correct amount of tank hanging down at the back of the car.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Thanks for the feedback, most of the time I'm in the garage on my own and it's good to bounce some ideas around and see what other people think. I'm a big fan of Car Builder Solutions but I have never noticed the tank strap rubber before so thanks for the tip.

I was just not sure about sticking an extra layer of ally on and I've gone off the idea now. During the original build I got some rubber paint at a car show, after all these years it is still stuck to the ally inner wings so a good coat of something like that should do.

I was going to get a flange put on the tank but I just couldn't decide exactly where to position it without trying the actual tank in the car, so I left it off. I will ask about for someone local that can do that job. I think I would still have a couple of straps for a belts and braces piece of mind.

[Dane_Rescueman]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Hi Scott,
I'm sorry to have taken a while. The saga of Moll (my Berli) starts in Pitstop Aug 07, appears again Dec 08 and finishes in Feb 09.
I hope some of it is useful to you.
Good luck with the build,
Dane.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

Hi Dane, I managed to find the first installment myself but now with your help i have just read the other two. I love reading about how other Berli owners have solved various problems. It's a coincidence that you and I arrived at similar solutions to replacing the Cortina heater, great minds think alike! I'm not sure if I am brave enough to go for the fresh air scoop on the bonnet though, it never crossed my mind until now that I would change from drawing fresh air from the side panel.

The other night I got a visit from a mate who works in a body repair garage. As I plan to rewire the car I was picking his brains about how to fill in the various, now redundant, holes in the fiberglass bulkhead / scuttle. For example the Cortina fuse box fits through the bulkhead with the box on the engine side and a multiplug on the passenger side, there are also two multiplugs where the loom splits at the bulkhead, fitted in two holes. When I explained my plan to panel the gap for the Cortina heater with stainless steel he suggested that I put a sheet right across. He suggested that I remove the return edges on the fiberglass to have a flat surface and then bond a sheet of stainless over the full width, probably with a folded lip on the lower edge to fix to the lower bulkhead. I was concerned about the strength of the fiberglass when the return edges are removed, but he assured me that with the stainless bonded with some modern bonder like Sikaflex it would be stronger.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

I managed to get hold of a handy surplus stainless lid for a good price. It is ideal to panel the bulkhead as was suggested to me, and it already has folded edges, so it would be rude not to go ahead with it.

Here is the bulkhead with various now redundant holes.
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The first job was to remove the return edges.
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Here is the handy lid.
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Cut to shape using one side as the bottom fold.
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Meanwhile I put the sump and head on the engine and sat it in again, to see what parts encroached on the bulkhead.
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With an old battery sitting in position, it looks like space is tight. There are other things that have to go on the bulkhead, a fuel swirl pot, a coolant header tank, a screen wash bottle and a fuse box, so I am thinking that I may put the battery in the boot as it was when the V8 was fitted.

[scott h]

Re: Berlinetta build and restoration

I had a look at how Dane fitted a similar heater and copied some of his ideas, then added some of my ideas and this is the result.

I cut holes in the new stainless panel to match the outlets on the heater.

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The top three holes are where the heater will draw air from when it is covered with this box that I made from off cuts of stainless.

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From inside the car you can see the two holes in the side panel where the fresh air will come in, this is behind the louvered panel in front of the door. This worked well when I had the Cortina heater fitted, although you do need the fan on all the time like most Berlinettas. The plan is to connect the two outer holes above the heater to the fresh air inlets, the middle hole will be blanked off, but is there to give me an easy option to increase the air flow if needed at a later date. The two small outlets will go to the screen and the two large outlets will go to Y flaps to divert between feet and dash vents on each side.

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