How (not) to make your Dauphine Handle

[Steve Swan]

Well as it Happens, I got the square root of bugger all done over the holidays. Apart from beginning to order the list for the Monte box. Paul's 8 awaits the bodyshop (surprise surprise) and I'm off to see the gearcutters on Tuesday to see about a bespoke crownwheel and pinion set. Wish me luck!!
Yesterday I got back onto my own Frankenstien box, first up was to internally screwcut the bearing plate to take the Bespoke manufacture bolt , this has to be because the original set up uses a different shaped main gear case and I am retrofitting it to an earlier design.
All the early type split case boxes are 3 rail, the first 5 speed designs were made into 4 rail, some by hanging 5th onto 3rd/4th rail and the slightly later designs used a 4th rail cast into the case itself, ironically the later versions used the 5th gear hung on the end of reverse, giving a double H pattern on just 3 rails. Funny old world ain't it.



I have drilled the hole to let the 4th rail pass through and relieved the case.



Rather than piss about trying to build up the Ally case, I machine out a relief in the bearing plate and make a steel bush to carry the 4th rail, now it gets a bit tricky..




You need to tack the bush to the plate making sure nothing goes out of shape. I would make a proper jig if I were doing a lot of these, but as they tend to be for my own use I just have to mess about getting it right.



Yo must make sure with the plate on the endcase dowels you can reach through with one finger and work the 5th gear rail back and forth



Happy with that we can put it together. To be honest I had to put an expanding reamer through the hole as welding it altered it's shape a couple of thou.



I also forgot to put the flats on the one off bolt , so I can tighten it up then assemble it.




Clean up the mating faces.



Fit the plate and bolt it in place with the recessed bolts.



Then Fit the swinging shoe for the selector and tighten with plenty of loctite and Voila! one 365 5th gear endcase and guts grafted onto a 330 4 speed case
I'll button up the endcase tomorrow and it's done. Don't try this at home Boys and Girls, well unless you are as daft as me............................

 

[Steve Swan]

Today Monday the 10th has been a busy day
I got all the bits ready for tomorrows visit to the gearcutters



I got back onto the Frankenstein box and reversed the mechanism , so that 1st is where 1st should be and not 2nd easy job to remove the rollpins and turn the shaft 180 degrees and refit the pins. As I am an Eejit I forgot to take a picture of this, but a development today means that I will have to do this on a 395 for a Europa owner, so maybe I will remember to photograph that!!


This is my shiny thing



Pretty isn't it??

On the home straight now just the final shimming of the diff for backlash



Renault's spec is 5.5-12 thou.





7.5 thou near enough for yours truly, It feels slightly tight, so i will put a 5 thou shim under the cup and see how it feels
In other news @paule78 's 8 IS OFF TO THE BODYSHOP ON WED. WOOP WOOP........

 

[Steve Swan]

I await the wisdom....

More soon..

 

[DaveL485]

So - that place is just making gear sets?

 

[Steve Swan]

@DaveL485 .Hopefully they will be making me a crownwheel and Mainshaft pinion, it's a hypoid bevel, so lots of fun to reverse engineer, should know the depth of the water by the end of the week.

 

[Steve Swan]

If you need Balls........

4 cost me just over a Tenner from

Vital Parts

UK based Plastic & Rubber component manufacturer, providing a range of products through custom moulding, dip moulding, overmoulding & extrusions.

www.vital-parts.co.uk

Aluminium Ball Knobs - HK016

Diameter 44mm Thread Hole Size M10 Male Female Female Type Threaded Material Aluminium A Diameter B Thread Hole Size C Male Female D Type E

www.vital-parts.co.uk

They have more Knobs and balls than you can shake a stick at.............

 

[Turbell]

Careful with your browsing history.....I collect knives*.....men's stilettos causes some questions...







*I don't but the joke doesn't work otherwise....I collect guns ...

 

[Steve Swan]

As I sit here and await the day when all the stuff that does not belong to me vacates my workshop, I hope to get back to finishing the Dauphine (remember that? The clue is in the title) The last piece of the puzzle finally arrived yesterday, so naturally I bolted it on to see what it looked like.



I bought a stainless manifold for the 1700. I also tracked down through Jean-Yves in Belgium a set of steel followers and new pushrods. iIt looks like I will have to take the head off and swap out the followers and pushrods then it is ready for the Dyno...........

 

[Steve Swan]

Out of the Frying pan into the Fire
The Frankenstein box ifs finished and leaves the workshop



Oh Wait.. Hang on. It's mine, so Rather than get rid of something, I just have to find space for it in the Garage. Good news is that it has been a collection of bits hanging around for over 10 years, now it's just one bit . Could be handy when I break the box in the Dauph....................

Then a rush job comes in. This is a late 395 5 speed which is nearly an NG3, it is going into a Lotus Europa which means it has to get some modifications made before it will fit.
It's an interesting little project and if I get time (hysterical laughter) I will try to write it up.



That's the Manky bit out of the way. It's all off to get cleaned tomorrow. Think I need to get cleaned now.......

 

[Steve Swan]

The Lotus Position.
Been dying with Manflu here, just when I didn't need it. Still feeling rough, still fighting with @paule78 's 8 , still fighting with the Monte box , but there has been movement on the 395 for the Lotus Europa. The 395 is a Late one with the revised Differential outputs which are no good in a Europa.



Revised Renault on the Left Europa on the right it got swapped out



The Local Engine shop's Ultrasonic cleaner is a cracker. These were some of the dirtiest casings I had taken in



Some difference from above....... All the guts are in the other half case, so we can start the actual assembly process



It is all going to work, but I'm unhappy with the oilseal arrangement, so It's off to the bearing shop tomorrow to use a narrower type seal which will be more like the original style. Lotus is unusual in that the driveshaft is the upper suspension link also, hence the much larger rollpin.
More soon if I'm spared...............

 

[Steve Swan]

The Lotus Position. The final frontier
The original lotus ring nuts are damaged, so not keen to use them
I have a few of the 2nd type assembly in stock, so we go with them



As stated previously the large oilseal causes problems with the spacers peculiar to Lotus, so a narrower seal was obtained



Narrow seals fitted as far inboard as possible

That's more like it. Actually the spacer means that the shaft should be dry to remove just like the revised Renault system on this box I had to get rid of coz it wouldn't work on the Lotus!! Funy old world Aint it..

Set the diff




8 Thou good enough for me.............
More soon..

 

[Steve Swan]

Forgot the last Pic...

Ready to collect..

 

[Mark_L]

Some of the Benefits we have at work is having a hot wash, ultrasonic and now the Aqua Blaster. The Aqua Blaster has to be the most time saving piece of equipment we have. Literally everything that can be gets blasted, saves time and most casings etc come up as new.

 

[Steve Swan]

Some of the Benefits we have at work is having a hot wash, ultrasonic and now the Aqua Blaster. The Aqua Blaster has to be the most time saving piece of equipment we have. Literally everything that can be gets blasted, saves time and most casings etc come up as new.

I have always thought that probably half the work is getting an object clean and ready to work on, whether it is a gear, case, crank, suspension part or bodyshell. I have always daydreamed of a machine you load your stuff into, push the button and walk away. When it comes out it is ready to go, no Dirt, grease, paint or rust. @Mark_L , sounds like you are getting close there, how's the Porsche coming on ???

 

[Mark_L]

I have always thought that probably half the work is getting an object clean and ready to work on, whether it is a gear, case, crank, suspension part or bodyshell. I have always daydreamed of a machine you load your stuff into, push the button and walk away. When it comes out it is ready to go, no Dirt, grease, paint or rust. @Mark_L , sounds like you are getting close there, how's the Porsche coming on ???

Would love a machine like that!!

The Porsche is almost done body wise. Having some serious paint quotes so the Customer is having his own quote by the guy who paints for Car sos. I still reckon it'll be around £10k.
Just have the doors to finish off and gap the bonnet properly then fit all the trims so they're drilled before paint.

Been a long haul many man hours so the paint had better be good!

 

[DaveL485]

I still reckon it'll be around £10k.

Yikes!

 

[Turbell]

10k for paint seems about right to me, with the shell that good it's worth it, with an unknown shell that hasn't been through, I'd be worried blasting that sort of money on it to make it top sound.
Respect for the work done, work of art, total commitment.

 

[ratmangta]

GTA customer had a quote from a Brummie outfit ..famous links...£20k + VAT
He said the place was rammed as well.

 

[Steve Swan]

And now for something completely different......
Since the Lotus Position success. I had gone back to Northern tool to pick up the bits, no joy there. The quote was double the original estimate, so the bits are away to Sovereign gears in Markfield , we wait developments. @paule78 's 8 is at a stage where I'm not needed on it for a few days, so I decided to tackle the rest of the Gr 4 Alp axles, Just need to make the tea first..........
Then I blew the Feckin cooker up ! I knocked the pan of spuds over on the hob and missed myself (luckily) but some water got through the facia and blew the switches on the oven control FFS.
I served my time as a service engineer (gas) with British Gas corporation. Which meant if it used gas I could work on it, from a Bunsen burner to a Crematoria and in my time I did. I was lucky to serve my time when I did as no expense was spared on our training and as well as gas, we were comprehensively trained on domestic and small commercial electrical installations, Plumbing, drainage and even roof leading work.
Therefor instead of working on the axles I had to take the Bastard cooker apart and order the part, it had shorted the power switch to the cooling fan and oven fan, so enough juice to have a good fry up.



You can see the discoloration on the 2 red wires in the centre top of the pic

Every cloud and that, the cooker is out of action till the parts arrive, so it sits half put back together out of action, so that's a job saved for the next couple of days



Just like modern cars it's a dumb design where you have to remove 14 screws from the top around the burners to take it apart, like that's easy it only needed 2 self tappers to hold the facia on......

 

[Steve Swan]

Freed up from domestic duties today on account of having broke the cooker, I started to refurbish the Gr4 Alp Axles. This car will be getting used in anger on the loose, so no point on flashy powdercoating, it will just need to be painted. It saves weight too....


These are pretty much bespoke units, the fittings are reproductions of the originals the inner trunnion end is original, but the tube is thicker than standard, it represents a huge investment in time to make.
The Engine shops Ultrasonic tank did the paint removal for me, so I prepped it and painted it

The Meccano set for assembly. I have modified the spacer, so that the hub nut is accessible from the outside anyone who knows me will know I'm not a centrecap on wheels guy, nothing shouts Psudeo more than centrecaps on wheels..



I also opened out a couple of pockets, so that the spacer can be pulled off the hub and the axle can be dismantled starting from the roadwheel and moving toward the gearbox. This was not how it was originally configured..............
I'm away to watch Bakeoff......................................