costin Costin Walker F3/F4/FJ Imp Rebuild

[Richard (OldStager)]

Found a pic, its looks remarkably the same as yours. Listed as Mk1 Escort ( early)

 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

1 hour ago, OldStager said:

Found a pic, its looks remarkably the same as yours. Listed as Mk1 Escort ( early)

 

Brilliant thanks.  That does look remarkably similar.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

With not much else happening in the garage right now while I wait for the welding on the chassis to be completed I’ve made a start on a few engine jobs getting it loosely built up.

 

 

 

 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

The good news is the chassis is back again 

 

after close to 25 hours of welding we’re fairly confident that every last hole and crack has been filled and welded.

 

 

there were a few surprises along the way. This small tube was one of the worst by far for rust and in the end the only one that was cut out and replaced.

 

But what surprised us most was what we found inside it once removed.

 

 

Yes someone has tried to hide all the holes with body filler !

 

I need to phone the powdercoaters to see how busy they are but I’m hoping to get it into paint sometime in the next couple of weeks.

[DIY-Si]

Wow, that's nasty! 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

The chassis is back home having been collected from paint earlier today. An absolutely superb quality job from the team at Maldon Shotblasting & Powdercoarting.

 

Aftet much deliberation and not knowing the original colour of the chassis I opted for RAL7024 which is BS381C 671 Middle graphite grey; it’s the same colour used on many of the early Lotus chassis which Frank Costin had a hand in designing so I thought quite appropriate.

 

 

 

 

[Glen_I]

That does look good!!!

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Looks "right" and a very suitable colour/logical thought path!

[Mark (smokey mow)]

This is a little project I’ve had on the go for a while now.  The original dashboard was very tired and the gauges verging on irreparable. I came to the conclusion that I wanted to preserve the original dashboard and instruments as they were since this was part of the cars history and recreate a new dash for the car.  The obvious move would have been to choose a modern set of instruments but I wanted to retain the look of the car so set about finding exact replacements for the gauges.  

Early conversations were had with Smiths/CAI who were quite helpful in the beginning and suggested that replicas could be produced at a reasonable cost but when it eventually came to ordering I was fobbed off with a string of excuses.  This left me trying to find for myself what cars the gauges originated from. After many hours spent on eBay and google images I found the tacho was from a Mini Cooper S whilst the minor gauges were Morris Minor. 

 

I’m still yet to buy the oil pressure and water temp gauges but nevertheless I couldn’t resist the temptation to bolt the dash into position.  I will be changing the three odd bolts, I hadn’t quite got enough so need to order a few more.

 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

Today’s other big job was fitting the fuel tank and making the straps.  The originals for these were lost in time and I only had a few clues and broken parts to suggest what they might have looked like.

 

I opted for a 25x0.5mm stainless steel strap with a T-bolt for tensioning and brass rivets to secure the wrapped ends.

 

 

 

 

 

there’s still a third strap to make for the middle but I didn’t quite have enough stainless steel.

 

[Glen_I]

Hadn't really thought about the fuel tank position on a car of this size and shape.....Health and safety would have a field day now!!

Love it, a time when men were men👍

[Mark (smokey mow)]

32 minutes ago, Glen_I said:

Hadn't really thought about the fuel tank position on a car of this size and shape.....Health and safety would have a field day now!!

Love it, a time when men were men👍

It’s much safer than my other car that has the fuel tank in the front of the nose just ahead of your feet. 😀

[Mark (smokey mow)]

Catching up on the last couple of weeks work.

 

the extra stainless steel arrived so I was able to make the last of the fuel tank straps. 

 

I've also got most of the pedal box in and the brake lines plumbed in but I’m just waiting for a bias valve to fit the the rear circuit. 
 

 

 

 

the two missing gauges have now also been fitted to the new dash.

 

[Mark (smokey mow)]

This weekend I’ve mainly been looking at the wiring loom. After spending half of yesterday buzzing through the old loom with the multimeter to trace all the wires I realised originally it was wired positive earth.  
 

I’m planning for a negative earth for the rebuild so off to the drawing board  to sketch out the replacement.

 

surprisingly the original loom had no fuses or relays. I’m not sure at the moment if I should incorporate some or not but I’m thinking it would be a good idea to fit a relay for the ignition feed since the switch is only rated at 11A.

 

Any thoughts and do let me know if I’ve screwed up the layout anywhere!

 

[DIY-Si]

It's looking good, and about as safe in a side impact as an XI!

 

For the wiring, do you need any lights at all? Would it be worth allowing for a rain light or something like it?