Long weekends RULE!

Ah the long weekend.....time to get stuff done!  Unfortunately a giant hunk of our big crab-apple tree broke off earlier in the week so I had to start Day 1 cleaning that up with the chainsaw (arrgh!).

Luck for me (?) I had the "help" of my 2  kids....  So after getting that all cleaned up I was ready to get into the shop as the temps around these parts had dropped to near freezing in a week! Alas, when I got into the shop and tried to fire up the big heater.... I got nothing but a blast of cold air down my back - just like the times when I inadvertently say the wrong thing to Mrs E-tek..

Anyways, with a sore back in a cold shop, I still managed to get a few things accomplished on the 40 Ford Rod while waiting for a furnace repairman to come look at my REZNOR.

You'll recall the template I had started on to mount the tensioner for the AC pump side of the serp-belt system:

After transferring the shape onto some 1/8" plate, I cut a rough shape with my Makita 4 1/2" angle grinder:

Next up was drilling the required mounting holes, as well as holes to make the slot for the tensioners swing-bolt to ride in. To get the slot located correctly, I mounted the top pivot bolt, then scribed the arc with a bent dental pick. I then drilled 3/16" holes along the arc's center-line, then re-drilled every second hole with a 7/16" drill. Once all the holes where drilled, I cleaned it all up with a die grinder, then finished it by hand with half-round and round files.

 

Test fitting the slot:

Once I was satisfied, I smoothed the edges, sanded it down and sprayed some fast-etch primer on it.



Next up was the brake pedal. Earlier I had done the skinny pedal and cable set-up and when doing so I noticed the original brake pedal dangling from the floor board. Apparently there was a rod that went though the after-market booster/master cylinder set-up to locate the pedal, but it had disappeared somewhere along the line.

Interestingly, I was at my local metal recyclers Thursday (man I love that place!) and picked up various lengths and diameters of rods and bolts, along with some other interesting items. This task required a 0.800" rod to go through the pivot housing to attach the pedal on one side and the master cylinder's push rod on the other. Oneof the pieces I scrounged was an exact fit (did I mention how much I love that place?) :)

First up was to cut the rod stock to length - note the cadmium coating....

 Then, I cut another piece from the same 1/8" stock as the tensioner bracket and drilled a couple holes in it  to give me a crude starting point. The small hole is to attach it to the rod joint and I also cut a larger hole at the other end, which I then cut in half to give me an area that would "wrap around" the rod for maximum welding surface contact.



After a little shaping with the grinder....

...and it'll be attached to one end of the rod like this. The other end will have a flat-spot ground into it for the brake pedal's set screw to bottom on. The housing it inserts into has a grease nipple to keep it all moving smoothly.

As I was finishing up these pieces the furnace was coaxed back to life (by my next best friend, Jason, from Entrust Heating), giving the shop some much-needed warmth, which aslo allowed me to put some paint on these items so that tomorrow I can get right to their installation! For those interested, the heating issue was nothing more than a blocked tube leading from the pressure valve to the intake fan....still, not my area of expertise so I was almost happy to part with some cash to get the heat back on!

Don't forget to check out my website at 

www.E-tekRestorations.com !