Thread: My first series 2a project

Well, this engine is full of surprises! This time it aint a positive one... torquing up the head bolts and managed to snap two at the 90 ft/lb. No I think it may be also related to my torque wrench as I was thinking that I was applying a lot of force even for 90ft/lb. However, luckily the block threads and the head where not damaged. I cleaned then up, measured surface flatness.

So now I am after a set of head bolts and a composite gasket (I think ill go this way instead of copper). Where are these available in Australia?

I finished my brake pipe install. Got a kit from uk, kunifer type and was pretty well priced too! Did have 1 line that was a little long but ok to use but another was too short (front left pipe). The vendor provided another pipe free of charge which i was super impressed with.

Here is the seller store.

Originally Posted by Cap

I finished my brake pipe install. Got a kit from uk, kunifer type and was pretty well priced too! Did have 1 line that was a little long but ok to use but another was too short (front left pipe). The vendor provided another pipe free of charge which i was super impressed with.

Here is the seller store.

I make my own but looked at the ebay listing.
It lists them as copper which could be a problem when it comes to a 'roadworthy'. Were they actually Kunifer rather than copper ?


Colin

Colin, yes he sells both types and I specifically told him that copper isnt legal in Australia and I needed the kunifer one. The kunifer is a different colour to the copper one. One of the guys I know (not on AULRO) bought a kunifer set from UK and had no issues with rego.

Originally Posted by Cap

Colin, yes he sells both types and I specifically told him that copper isnt legal in Australia and I needed the kunifer one. The kunifer is a different colour to the copper one. One of the guys I know (not on AULRO) bought a kunifer set from UK and had no issues with rego.

I was a bit concerned when the link only listed copper.
Was there an increase in price for Kunifer ?

Colin

Honestly cant remember as i asked only about the kunifer.

Whilst I wait for the engine parts to arrive, I decided to tackle the bulkhead. Aside from floors, the bulkhead is great. However, the wiring aint! One wire got so much heat it melted the insulation and was burned all the way through the loom. See vid:



So, I decided to make my own wiring. I have very little experience with wiring, only the basic stuff so this will be a learning curve. I plan to put a fuse junction in and fuse almost (if not all) +tive supply and also add relays where I can (headlights, possibly starter button etc).

As this is not a nut and bolt restoration, I dont think ill be using the OEM style bullet connectors given their price! However, yet to price this all. One question tho, are all wires aside from starter related wires the same size? On my current loom they look pretty much the same, some are slightly smaller but im thinking of using a couple of sizes only, if that makes sense.

Anyway, any advice appreciated and I have already read here ideas on using an old door / nails to copy the original one too. I also plan to solder and shrink wrap every join.

Cheers,

Hey Carlos,

I too am doing my own wiring, so I bought correct colour wire from autosparks.co.uk. Mostly I bought 8.75A wire, for lights like indicators / parkers / stop lights etc as well as all the instrumentation. I went a bit higher current (17 amp) for a few things, like 12V cigarette lighter socket I plan to put in the rear, and as I plan to upgrade headlights to halogen, I bought some 25 amp for the relay to headlight wires. I figured that's the heaviest gauge wire you'd need apart from the starter, where I'm just going to recycle the old wires. With autosparks, up to 25 amp at least, you can get pretty much any colour / trace colour combo to match the original wiring colours.

My wiring will be based on 2a military with some s3 upgrades like reversing lights, and a few upgrades of my own for reversing camera (so I can see out the back !!) and spot/fog lights. I plan to use a 4 fuse (or maybe 6 fuse) blade fuse box.

I did buy bullets (2 different sizes), but yet to try soldering them. and I drilled holes in left chassis rail at same location as holes in right side as I'l run the rev camera etc down the left chassis rail.

I plan to make the harnesses pretty much as per the original, i.e. body harness( I'll have two instead of one with the extra left side), left / right headlight harness, and main harness etc. I plan to start with the body harness first, and I'm going to sit the tub on the chassis to get the length right, as I did cut the body harness. I'll heat shrink the wires for all except the main harness, as I suspect I won't get the main harness right the first time, so some spiral cable wrap is the go there I reckon.

I hope that helps.

Cheers,
John