George

What type of rubber are you using?

Didn't get to work on the car over the weekend but I did spend some time on some wall art which should prove useful. Alphabetical parts name index on the side and the 101 RHD parts manual diagrams. Looking at getting this printed in one document but I'm not sure if they're covered by some copyright.

Mick, we use them at work. Yes, they are edible. No, I have not sampled them. They also breakdown well with water.

I just spoke with John last week. He was very helpful even though he knew he would not get any direct business out of me. I can also recommend Peter Gillard from Leichhardt. Dealt with him 14 years ago and as per above, he took time to help me last week.

Nice plates. I'm surprised they were available.

I spent some time getting bundy tube plated which looked good but was a total failure. The plater had to leave it in the bath for a long time to get a good finish but that finish ended up being so thick that the nuts wouldn't fit over the line and the flares just cracked the coating. My options were to take it back to him in the hope that he can do the job properly or look into Kunifer which I prefer. The only thing stopping me from using the Kunifer was the legality so I hit up Google and many hours and calls later I am completely satisfied that I can safely and legally use it in NSW. I'm not going to recreate the write up so if you're interested you can check out my research results here... http://twofortyz.com/2018/04/are-copper-nickel-brake-lines-legal-in-australia/

No, you're right, they won't be visible. For the early cars the snap is the triangle one I posted above. I might find some at some stage but it's not a priority now.

Bought a dozen female snaps from Daleys - http://www.daleys.com.au/ They think they're the right ones for a 10mm male. I'll update once I get them.

The male fitting is 10mm at the head.

Does anyone know where to source the female carpet snap kit? Female Male Fore reference, female snaps installed For reference, male snap installed

What price out of interest?

I've decided to use steel lines after all. While the cupro-nickel has many great benefits the issue of legality put a damper on the party. I believe it will pass rego (non-engineered) without issue but should the braking system ever come under scrutiny for insurance/legal purposes it would certainly pose a problem. Apart from legality, which was the deciding factor, when I tried to straighten a long section to use for the front-to-back run of the brake line, the soft nature of the material let it down - literally and figuratively. It is so soft it buckles under its own weight. Over short runs the pliability is fantastic but trying to keep it straight over a longer run will be a nightmare. The 5/16 line was fine but the smaller 3/16 would have been very fiddly.

Paul says it's a 3M.

Also forgot to thank David (KatoKid) for his generousity in providing original firewall and tunnel insulation. While unusable due to age, I sent it to Peter who put it to good use.

Need this gone ASAP. Can't be bothered moving it to my place.

Thanks David. That's an excellent suggestion. I rang a few more laser cutters this afternoon out of curiosity and they all said no. Some cited fumes as the reason and others just plain didn't want to risk it. The guy I used had a 1200 x 900 bed with a lid and outdoor exhaust. Yep, our goal all along was for Gavin to make money from the community... The templates will be made available for everyone in good time. Carpet underfelt templates are also in progress. As far as I know Peter has no plans on making money from them and wants the community to have them for a nominal donation. He's a gentleman of the highest order. Anyway, the real cost is in the materials and cutting.

Thanks for the heads up! It could be an issue if you had to engineer the vehicle. Mine will be going through a blue slip and I doubt anyone will notice or care. The lines pass Euro standards which is good enough for me. I just called a local brake specialist and he confirmed my view. Even so, I think I'll do some more reading. I do have steel bundy tube anyway. Gav, happy to chat. As for making money, not keen on that, the templates are not mine and I doubt there's a big market. I also ran into a fair bit of resistance with laser cutters. Mostly because they didn't want to cut something that could damage their machines. Ideally you want a nitrile sheet that's 3mm thick but the machine I used struggled with that and the results spooked the owner. We then cut a 1.5mm piece which was fine but he didn't want to do more. I'm sure you can find someone willing to do it though. It didn't look like a big deal to me. I watched him cut both materials and the jute cut well.

Collaboration I dabble in a bit of photography and I keep hearing the arty folk liberally throw around the ‘collaborate’ buzzword. At work we recently dealt with a young company and their hip employees couldn’t resist using it in every paragraph of every email they sent. I’m not quite that hip but allow me to use it just this once. I’ve been collaborating with some amazingly generous and passionate people lately. Without their assistance my results would be sub par but I’ve come to realise that, outcomes aside, it’s the relationships built that are far more precious. Progress was elusive in 2017 for reasons I’ve previously mentioned. However, I’m happy to report that this quarter I’ve dug my heels in, pulled my socks AND sleeves up. That’s right, the sleeves are up! My sense of urgency is due to the realisation that with another baby due in June I will have exactly zero hours to spare in the latter half of 2018. I’m also making amends for a quiet 2017. Insulation This is one of the easy jobs. You buy some space-age aluminium foil and go to town… Instead of playing with stickers though I decided to torture myself by recreating all of the insulation pieces with factory-like materials. Finding jute was surprisingly difficult. All of my searching ended up in the UK and shipping on such a bulky item was prohibitive. I finally managed to locate one local supplier and not surprisingly they source their jute from the UK so I had to wait 3 months for the slow boat to bring it in. Patience comes in handy and I’m getting good at practising it. The face of the firewall was another little adventure. Samples I had seen led me to believe it was some pliable but rigid rubber or plastic compound and I spent some time trying to find a similar material. Eventually I realised that it would have been a simple rubber compound with good heat and petroleum resistance and all the samples I had seen were just rigid and brittle from age. I settled on nitrile rubber and ordered a sheet. The next step was to accurately make templates for each panel. This is where the collaboration buzzword makes an appearance. All along I’ve known, and let it be known, that this car will be the product of a group of skilled individuals who do what they do best. Often my job is to simply identify where my weaknesses lie and to connect with professionals, skilled individuals and enthusiasts to fill in my blanks. One Peter gave me this advice in 2014 which led me to another Peter in late 2017. Making templates is a tedious job and drawing them properly on a CAD program even more so when you’ve never used one. Graciously Peter put his hand up and went to work measuring and drawing. Over weeks and many phone and email conversations we refined his drawings until we ended up with a couple of versions; one for early and another for later cars. We tested the templates a few times by printing to size. Finally we were happy and I set out to find someone to cut the material. Not many laser cutters were willing to do the job but I eventually found someone. They were difficult to deal with but came through in the end. We came across a couple of issues and wasted a lot of material between testing and mistakes (e.g. see missing corner in one of the photos) but ultimately the finished product speaks for itself. All sections aligned well and Peter even amended a set of drawings specific to my car to accommodate some wayward tabs. All that’s left to do is glue the pieces together, attach the carpet screws and mount. Suspension I worked my way through all of the suspension components degreasing, debushing and dedenting (they should all be words!). Everything bar the transmission crossmember – which I’m still searching for – has been sent away to be painted. Incidentally, I purchased an eBay bushings/ball joint press and managed to get one sleeve out with a great deal of difficulty. I would not advise anyone to waste their time with crappy eBay junk like this. For a few more dollars I could have bought a proper press. Live and learn. Hardlines Over the past few months I’ve been collecting the required tools and hardware to start on the hardlines. After purchasing some zinc plated steel lines in 3/16 and 5/16, Ian brought Kunifer to my attention. Softer than steel, inherently corrosion resistant and naturally bronze in colour, it serves as an ideal upgrade to the original brake and fuel lines. I have so far only tested the lines with one attempt and a poor one at that… I started with a small piece and not only did I forget to add an insert nut, I also put one of the nuts in backwards… Apparently I still have a lot to learn about nuts and patience.

Very practical. Congrats and welcome Stephen.

Very happy to see these reproductions. They'll get there with the colour and, hopefully, quality of materials and fit.

Restoring Jason.

Bump. Open to offers. Need to get rid of it asap.

Looking for one of these:

We cut the 19 firewall and superglued it to the 100033 chassis Mick. I'm contemplating using the L24-125911 as it's matching numbers.

They look OEM to me. Tell you the true.