Sterling #130 (aka American V8 ~ Chapter 2)
- Thread starter nbb350
- Start date
Brett Proctor
Well-known member
Well the lesser of the evils from looking at the pictures to me would be to move the battery forward out of that pocket and make a battery tray like what I did so it mounts lower and clears the fan.
That would lower your battery enough so it would clear the hood.
That would also eliminate any cutting and modifying what you have now. It would require drilling some holes to mount the tray
OK thats it for me, I'm out of ideas. Your on your own.
That would lower your battery enough so it would clear the hood.
That would also eliminate any cutting and modifying what you have now. It would require drilling some holes to mount the tray
OK thats it for me, I'm out of ideas. Your on your own.
nbb350
Active member
not-so-virgin "firewall"
chop-chop!
L x W of an Ulta box is the same as an Interstate 78S battery! And the box is 1/4" TALLER, so if IT will fit, the Battery will fit!
4 tagboard iterations...changing the drop and the angle a little bit each time...
final tray made out of aluminum
Why Interstate? Because it's GREEN! lol
Turnbuckle rods transfer weight to the sturdy firewall (and I had to wait 2.5 weeks for those damn rods to be delivered!)
There is about 1/4" clear from the aluminum tray to the fan cage.
hard to see, but there is 1/2" (middle) to 3/4" (sides) clear between the bottom of the hood and top of the battery
(I also like how you can see how the hood hinges look when they lay flat)
Next step is to rewire the battery cables. The Interstate battery has opposite poles than the Braille battery it replaces, so of course the Negative battery cable doesn't reach far enough...
chop-chop!
L x W of an Ulta box is the same as an Interstate 78S battery! And the box is 1/4" TALLER, so if IT will fit, the Battery will fit!
4 tagboard iterations...changing the drop and the angle a little bit each time...
final tray made out of aluminum
Why Interstate? Because it's GREEN! lol
Turnbuckle rods transfer weight to the sturdy firewall (and I had to wait 2.5 weeks for those damn rods to be delivered!)
There is about 1/4" clear from the aluminum tray to the fan cage.
hard to see, but there is 1/2" (middle) to 3/4" (sides) clear between the bottom of the hood and top of the battery
(I also like how you can see how the hood hinges look when they lay flat)
Next step is to rewire the battery cables. The Interstate battery has opposite poles than the Braille battery it replaces, so of course the Negative battery cable doesn't reach far enough...
Brett Proctor
Well-known member
That should solve your battery issues.
Huge difference in CCA and Reserve Capacity compared to what you had.
Once installed and wired in, I would do a voltage check to make sure the alternator is charging it at the required voltage.
Huge difference in CCA and Reserve Capacity compared to what you had.
Once installed and wired in, I would do a voltage check to make sure the alternator is charging it at the required voltage.
I like your metal work. How were those panels cut?
nbb350
Active member
Thanks.
For the already-installed-and-painted aluminum panels in the car, I drilled starting holes with a stepped drill bit (so I didn't go thru too far and hit something critical on the other side that I couldn't see). Then I used a small air-powered reciprocating saw to make the straight cuts. ( like this: https://www.harborfreight.com/air-reciprocating-saw-58910.html )
For the new aluminum plate tray, it was a combination of using a metal bandsaw for big straight cuts and then a handheld jigsaw for the tight final cuts. Then files on the edges to remove saw blade marks and ease the edges. Then sanding with 320 grit to give it a uniform sheen.
nbb350
Active member
I ended up having to rotate the battery so the cables would reach - I didn't have any more 4 ga Black wire, so had to use what was already there. I like it better this way though - the cables are out of sight, away from the fan, and that pocket behind the battery wasn't being used for anything anyways.
Brett Proctor
Well-known member
Looks Good but 4ga wire seems small
Brett Proctor
Well-known member
Disregard previous comment on 4 gauge wire.
After some research one site says a starter pulls a minimum of 100 amps, so I did a search for how many amps 4 gauge wire is good for and that site says 30 amps. Then another site says 4 gauge wire will work for a starter.
I give up, to much conflicting information
After some research one site says a starter pulls a minimum of 100 amps, so I did a search for how many amps 4 gauge wire is good for and that site says 30 amps. Then another site says 4 gauge wire will work for a starter.
I give up, to much conflicting information
nbb350
Active member
Next project is done! Disc brake upgrade on the front wheels!
Before/After:
I bought the kit from Cip1 - it was a mix of EMPI-branded and un-branded parts. New rotors, calipers, bearings, nuts, plus hoses. Everything bolted right up - I didn't even need the shim washers to align the calipers to the rotors.
The only problem (*) I encountered was that the center dust caps wouldn't stay on. I'd pound them on, then as soon as I turned the rotor, they would POP off! Turned out the new spindle nuts were too big, so I had to re-use the old (smaller) nuts with the new caps.
Also, Yes, I kept the VW-4 > Chevy-5 adapters since they work nicely with my wheel offset and since the kit doesn't change the "standard offset", I needed to keep that extra 1" to keep the tires from rubbing.
* = Well, not the ONLY problem... This project would have easily been completed in an afternoon if I hadn't tweaked my back halfway thru it. THAT caused a 2 week pause while I recovered. I hate getting old...
One other slight delay I had was due to the fact that the bearing races weren't already pressed into the new rotors, so I had to "borrow" a bearing press tool from my local Auto-Zone store. Then I had to "modify" my Harbor Freight bench press to accept my slightly-too-big rotors. Since I haven't used the press in years (can't remember what project I even bought it for...), I had no qualms taking a sawzall to it! lol
Before/After:
I bought the kit from Cip1 - it was a mix of EMPI-branded and un-branded parts. New rotors, calipers, bearings, nuts, plus hoses. Everything bolted right up - I didn't even need the shim washers to align the calipers to the rotors.
The only problem (*) I encountered was that the center dust caps wouldn't stay on. I'd pound them on, then as soon as I turned the rotor, they would POP off! Turned out the new spindle nuts were too big, so I had to re-use the old (smaller) nuts with the new caps.
Also, Yes, I kept the VW-4 > Chevy-5 adapters since they work nicely with my wheel offset and since the kit doesn't change the "standard offset", I needed to keep that extra 1" to keep the tires from rubbing.
* = Well, not the ONLY problem... This project would have easily been completed in an afternoon if I hadn't tweaked my back halfway thru it. THAT caused a 2 week pause while I recovered. I hate getting old...
One other slight delay I had was due to the fact that the bearing races weren't already pressed into the new rotors, so I had to "borrow" a bearing press tool from my local Auto-Zone store. Then I had to "modify" my Harbor Freight bench press to accept my slightly-too-big rotors. Since I haven't used the press in years (can't remember what project I even bought it for...), I had no qualms taking a sawzall to it! lol
nbb350
Active member
While I had the front tires off, I also took the time to diagnose my "crazy bouncing speedometer" issue.
My system is Spindle/dust cap > Speedo cable > electronic pulse sender > electric speedometer.
I hooked a drill up to the speedo cable (pulled from the left front spindle) and had my wife watch the speedo. It bounced like usual.
Next step was to disconnect the speedo and connect a DMM to the sender to measure the AC voltage output. Low speed on the drill (still attached to speedo cable) was 0.8 VAC. High speed was 2.4 VAC. Maybe +/- 0.02 VAC total. Rock steady output.
OK, so the problem isn't with the cable binding or the electronic sender - either of those would have caused varying AC voltage readings. That means the problem is internal to the Auto Meter electronic Speedometer gauge. That compliments the problems with the fuel gauge - it "forgot" it's settings over the first winter when the battery was disconnected. Design flaw! Any aftermarket product intended/designed/marketed for occasional-use vehicles should be able to retain it's settings either Permanently or at least for 6 months!! Maybe there's a reason Auto Meter stopped making the MCX line of gauges after a few years....
Well, at least I didn't already spend hundreds of dollars on a GPS sender just to hook it up to a faulty speedometer! I'll just keep using the GPS speedo app on my phone...
My system is Spindle/dust cap > Speedo cable > electronic pulse sender > electric speedometer.
I hooked a drill up to the speedo cable (pulled from the left front spindle) and had my wife watch the speedo. It bounced like usual.
Next step was to disconnect the speedo and connect a DMM to the sender to measure the AC voltage output. Low speed on the drill (still attached to speedo cable) was 0.8 VAC. High speed was 2.4 VAC. Maybe +/- 0.02 VAC total. Rock steady output.
OK, so the problem isn't with the cable binding or the electronic sender - either of those would have caused varying AC voltage readings. That means the problem is internal to the Auto Meter electronic Speedometer gauge. That compliments the problems with the fuel gauge - it "forgot" it's settings over the first winter when the battery was disconnected. Design flaw! Any aftermarket product intended/designed/marketed for occasional-use vehicles should be able to retain it's settings either Permanently or at least for 6 months!! Maybe there's a reason Auto Meter stopped making the MCX line of gauges after a few years....
Well, at least I didn't already spend hundreds of dollars on a GPS sender just to hook it up to a faulty speedometer! I'll just keep using the GPS speedo app on my phone...