Weekend 22-04-2011

After another Month away from the strip down I returned to remove the bolt on covers for Battery tray and the surrounding units for the Adjustable Pedal assembly box.
I mentioned in my previous update that the bolts connecting the cylinders to the clutch and brake lines were totally shot and this meant that I couldn't remove them with spanners because they had seized. I took drastic action with the hose lines by cutting them (Don't worry, I will be changing the whole system as a modification on safety grounds!!).

Below are some more pictures of what I have accomplished:

As it is at the moment, (I had removed the rivets and screws when I took care of the fuel pump that was anchored to this panel)

Gentle persuasion!! (I mean gentle!) by careful levering of this plastic section lifted it off the chassis rails and clear of the bay.

The cover removed exposing the floor of the footwell. you would see my feet if I had been sat in here at the time.

This was the easy part, so feeling confident I moved to the otherside. now the pedal box is the first part I intend to modify quite considerably. After the failure of the brakes on my dad's V6 returning from Stoneleigh Car show in 2010 (where a brake cable line got cut by the rim of the new alloy wheels) I have decided to use a double brake master cylinder setup so that if any of the front or rear brake hoses got cut, I can still stop in addition to having to use the handbrake.
As I have explained above, the bolts are rusted and have decided to press on and just cut the hoses connected to the aforementioned rusty bolts! Thankfully, I was prepared for a splash back of residual fluid from the system, so safety goggles were worn!

Where the pedal box would have sat before the hoses were cut. (Note: rusted bolts toward the bottom left of the image)

There is still a fair bit of fluid left in the system, as expected, so care is advised when dealing with it as these chemicals are corrosive (I found out) as I managed to have some of the bulkhead paint start to transfer onto my palms!

Looking more sparse in there everytime I turn up now!

As the Covers were now removed from the bay, I could now get access to the chassis screws that are located in the bulkead between footwells and the engine bay. I managed to remove two as the rest are also (surprise surprise) rusted solid! On good advice from a fellow V6 restorer, I can remove these with an impact driver this I will try on friday 29th when I hit this again.

Chassis screws are the round washered screws present in three places (this is the same on the other footwell) I have removed the fourth in both instances. The daylight is where the clutch,brake, and accelerator pedals would previously have come through.

So, that concluded what I managed to remove for this weekend. I have another session planned for April 29th, given the extra Bank holiday, I can make progress on the final set of irritatingly stubborn parts that refuse to move and I should have some assistance on this too. who knows...I may be able to think about getting the body off at the next stage!!

Until next time!