Indoor shows and outdoor work

Last week, I went to the Autosport International show at the NEC. There's precious little else to do in January, so it seemed like a good idea, and despite coughing up a tenner just to park your car, it's a good day out. 

There's always some cool stuff to see, things you wouldn't see anywhere else, and some people really put the effort into their displays.

This Fiat took me back a bit, to the days of watching the RAC Rally in Sutton Park when I was a kid. Another hot rally machine was a GM Dealer Sport '83 Manta 400 that raced in Group B in the 1984-85 seasons with Jimmy McRae and Russell Brooked that sold for £70,000 to a Czech collector.

There was other good stuff, like the Bloodhound land speed record car, Andy Robinson's Pro Mod, Chris Andrews' Lucas Oil Top Fueller, Ronnie Petersen's old March-Ford with the front spoiler on top of the nosecone... There was also some cack, like this thing. And yes, those wheels are metalflake pink. 

I'm all for "dare to be different" but walking around with your dick out and a Sooty puppet stuck on it is different; that doesn't make it good. It was in the Pistonheads Performance Car Show end of the show, where there was a lot of "more money than sense" on display but some damn good stuff in there too. 

On the other hand, last year's Autosport was a reall buzz and an absolute blinder. I really enjoyed it. This year ... I just wasn't "feeling" it. The atmos wasn't there. It's still the best thing January has to offer, but I'm wondering whether the organisers have suddenly realised this...

Back in the workshop, my "Arse About Face" Mustang project - converting a Fox V8 to a four-pot - is continuing apace. The biggest buggerance so far has been the PAS pump, and realising that in the 11 years between the date of manufacture of the engine and that of the car, Ford had the bastardly temerity to change the PAS fittings. Changing the PAS pump is a piece of cake, but changing the pulley on the front requires a Ford special tool. Terrific.

I also had to change the shifter, from the cable-shift four-speed shifter the car came with to the rod-shift three-speed shifter that came with the donor engine/box. The rod-shift one comes away from the floor in 10 seconds, but the cable shifter needs you to remove the damn console. That was life-affirming.

The throttle pedal is the same between both cars, but actually releasing the cable from the top of the pedal requires you to have the size and dexterity of a midget gynaecologist with three elbows in each arm. I also discovered that if you're sitting in the driver's seat with the door open and your legs sticking out while you have your head in the driver's footwell dicking about with the throttle pedal, and it's raining, the rain runs directly off the roof into your crotch. Good old ragtops, there's nothing like a dose of cold rainwater to the love-spuds to really add an extra dimension of enjoyment to a tricky task. 

With the engine on the crane the other day, I thought I'd best drain the oil. It's been in there at least 20 years so it's probably due a change. I opened the sump plug and some ancient oil drained out. After the first half a gallon, it started to get a bit thicker, and by the end it was as thick as a Big Brother reunion. It looked like my engine was having a cack. Ben, across the way, suggested launching a load of diesel into the filler cap, and that would flush the crap out. Top tip - apparently, you can use petrol to do this, but if it comes into contact with any rubber seals it'll cause them to swell up and get soft. Diesel won't, but it's just as good at flushing the crap out. Is this common knowledge, or was it just me that didn't think of this? Anyway, neither of us actually had any diesel so it was a bit academic, but at least I know now.

Anyway, I still need a PAS pump with the correct fitting on it, or possibly just the fitting. I checked both my pockets and didn't find one, so I went and bought another Mustang for spares. Well, I say I bought it, I haven't paid for it yet. I haven't finished paying for the last one yet.

Eugene

Happy New Year!

Happy 2014! This Hot Rod Gazette blog got its maiden posting exactly a year ago today. Since then, it's had over 5500 hits. I reckon that's pretty good going, especially as around 20% of those hits have come from abroad - mostly from America and Canada, but a lot from Germany and eastern Europe. So that's either a lot of people remembering the Hot Rod Gazette as was and a few people just surfing the net, or a lot of people have tried to search for a website called Hot Red Gusset and predictive text has taken over... *

So, over Christmas I've had a bit of holiday time to use up, so I've spent a lot of it wisely, down at the workshop with the latest Fox Mustang project. Over in the States, where the old Fox is a formidable tool on the drag strip, especially in the drag radial and restricted tyre-width classes, many racers are snapping up clean four-pot Foxes and bunging them full of V8. As ever, because I often end up doing things arse about face, I have bought a 1992 Ford Mustang 5.0 convertible that's been relieved of its running gear, and I'm converting it to a four-pot...

Allow me to explain. Mark bought this Fox for its engine, auto 'box and back axle which will end up in a pick-up project he's doing. As it turns out, he bought the Fox from about eight miles down the road from me, but I didn't know about this until later. Anyway, he drove it home and said it was the nicest-driving Fox he'd ever been in, and far too good to break, but as he'd paid less for the whole car than he could but the component bits for, it was getting broken. I said I'd have the rest. Why? Because, a week or two previously, I'd bought and broken a completely rotten early Fox that had yielded a 2.3 Pinto and C3 auto. This is it:

As you can see, the thing was the basest of base models, though it did have the hugest air-con compressor I've ever seen - it was almost as big as the 2.3, and looked as if you could switch on the A/C and stall the engine.

It was also victim to the "de-smogging" pixie, who thinks that the way to "de-smog" a car is to just remove all the vacuum pipes. Except that one, to the huge air filter element, which, it seems, is the one they could have safely thrown away. Anyway, with the engine out and on the deck, I've had a quick go-through, and everything seems to be in order. I've changed the plugs, leads, cap and rotor, fitted a new timing belt, rebuilt the carb (which is a Weber built under licence by Holley!) and other bits and bats. The timing belt turned out to be a really easy job, requiring no special tools or techniques ... though I suppose I should get the engine running again before I declare how easy it was. I've also dashed a rattle-can over some of the rustier bits like the rocker box and timing belt cover.

I think it looks a bit more business-like now. The car is still sat on its 8.8" axle, which Mark wants back, sadly, so I also salvaged the 7.5" axle from the four-pot. I wazzed a pint of chassis black over that, too, prior to rebuilding the drum brakes with new shoes, cylinders and springs etc.

All I have to do now (notice how saying "all I have to do now" makes the job sound tiny and insignificant with no chance of error) is to drop the engine and 'box in, change the axle, fit the prop and exhaust, hook up the brakes, change the shifter, and try to marry up the wiring ... What could go wrong?

Answers on a postcard, please...

Eugene

* - I just looked, incidentally, and found no website called Hot Red Gusset (thankfully), but you probably don't want to type it into Google Images...