Panko

Yeh i just came to the same conclusion running my brain over it all. i wonder if there were custom arms that have a curve in them to go under the chassis rail. maybe air bag suspension instead of coils Im super keen to watch the progress.

thats bonkers. Your conversion looks a little more extreme compared to my photo of the conversion i posted early on in this thread. I have 1 main question for you... Is there a way to run the springs without tubbing and building turrets? Ever since i found the pic that i posted previously, years ago, i have thought how much id love to do this to my XF Ghia wagon. Id love to see more underside pics

I just hope its a bit smoother and quieter when I grease it haha. Its currently dry. These shifters are renown for being rattly when not under load, as in cruising in gear. Someone from the car club said to fit it, use an old steering rack boot, cut it down, it fits perfect over the stick, and cable tie both ends. You can see at the bottom of the shifter housing there is a recess for a cable tie. just needs the boot.

Seeing as I have a fancy camera now that can do high quality video, I figured id set this up and put this little clip together. Gives you guys an idea how "short" the shifter makes the gear changes on the Type 9..

I win! On Tuesday, I met with a club member from RSCOV who had a "dead" Type9 in his workshop, out of his rally car. He gave me the parts I needed to get mine fixed. Ive ordered a new set from Germany, and have offered to give him them when they arrive, in exchange for the ones he gave me. The funny part is, he was also having an issue with his recently rebuilt Type9, not getting into 5th gear, and was going from his meeting with me, back to the workshop that rebuilt the box to have his looked at. Turned out he ALSO was having issues with exploding synchros. they pulled it down, and similar deal, part of the synchro had failed, and the blocker bars had gone walking. Right after he gave me his spare ones. Thankfully they were found inside his extension housing, and were all useable, so he didn't need the spares he just gave me. Once I got the synchro mechanism back together, it took me probably half an hour to get the gearbox back together. I worked out what caused me to have issues last week. basically the selector rod was rotated off his home position, so it didn't locate in the extension housing properly. that is why i pulled it apart again last week, that is why i accidentally popped the synchro apart, that is why it broke. The engine and box are now together. The gearbox shifts like a dream, although like i said the other day, very close gear changes, but I am super excited about this. Still waiting on the head to come back though... I just have a few small things to do on the box to finish it off... - replace the temporary shifter bolts with proper length units with washers (and grease the shifter mechanism inside) - transfer the reverse light switch from the 4 speed box over - pull the speedo cogs out of the two 4 speeds i have and count the teeth and decide which to run in the 5 speed.

Sure did haha. other than the wagon breaking down on me, it was good to drive it lol

woo. precision

Look, the Type 9, is an extremely simple gearbox. it really had me surprised really how simple they are. Initially I was scared to pull it down, but once I had, and working on it, they are so easy. As long as you have some equipment. You need a shop press, and thats really about it. otherwise basic hand tools you can strip and build one of these

Yeah thats it

Well the last few days since the last update, have been a pretty wild ride emotionally. I had the gearbox together, but couldn't get it to change gears. I realised the selector rod was still too long. We modified it, got the gearbox together in a dry run, had it changing gears and working really well with the new short shifter. Pulled the extension housing off again to fit a new gasket and sealant and put it back together for good. Something didn't feel right with the mechanism, so before i bolted it together pulled it apart again, and in doing so accidentally popped 5th gear synchro to bits. I didn't want to have to pull the darn thing off the output shaft, because that isn't a simple task, so i tried to put it back together, working against the two spring clips that hold the synchro mechanism together, and I fucked up big time, snapping one of the synchro blocker bars. I did some asking around the club, and suppliers both here in Aus, and overseas, with everyone coming back with, "no we dont have them as a seperate item". I was so angry at myself, and so worried that id be without a working gearbox until i could get an entire synchro. Eventually I managed to T something up with a fellow car club, who had a spare 5 speed in bits in his workshop, he met me at work today and gave me the 3 blocker bars that I need. I did manage to also order some from Germany, (along with a new reproduction washer bottle), and have told Gerry who gave me the blocker bars, I will give him the new ones when they arrive from Germany. The blue tape is how much I had to cut off the selector rod, approximately 13mm. Gearbox together and being tested. I love this shifter, and am super excited to drive it. I can guarantee im going to miss a few gear changes though. The distance between 1st and 3rd, is only a matter of mm apart, with the new short shifter. Same with 2nd and 4th. 5th, has a bit more a jump sideways, but im sure there will be a few 1st to 4th changes, or attempts to take off in 3rd haha. This is what happens when I try to force the synchro rings back together against the spring clips. These little blocks are the things that locate the inner and outer synchro rings, and the things you hear "click" as you change gears So the gearbox is half pulled apart again. I also delivered the new front windscreen and seals ready to be installed. from the body work point of view, the car is finished. I just have to install the driveline and suspension to get it rolling, bring it home, and assembly can begin.

Haha s***. I knew id forget. you’ll have to wait until monday or tuesday now

Challenge accepted i reckon i could bend the gear lever a bit more, give it a 90 degree bend. She’ll be right

After a small drama with the bush replacement, i got the extension housing back today, and used the afternoon sun to spray it. Im letting the paint sit for the weekend, and ill assemble the gearbox once the paint is set hard.

Yep. that was the Masport rally team. While i was researching the bell housing yesterday, someone here in Australia, in fact a member of the car club, has an alloy Masport bell housing that was produced for that rally team.

Yep ill do that tomorrow or whenever i start working on it again. this freezing weather is far from motivating

OK gearbox time The extension housing has been done by Rod. So now its just a matter of assembling the gearbox. The welding process did melt the extension housing bush that the yoke runs on, so currently its at the local transmission place getting the bush replaced. In the mean time, I spent a solid day with degreaser and a brush cleaning all the components of the gearbox, getting them ready to be put back together. Doesn't look too complex, right? I also primed and painted the gearbox case and bell housing...love fresh paint It turns out, the bell housing is made by a lawn mower company haha. Yep I was totally confused when i saw Masport branding in the cast of the bell housing. Doing some research, I initially thought it was a motorsport alloy housing. That would have been awesome and rare, but nope, definitely cast iron lol. Turns out Masport, as in Masport mowers, were casting a number of parts for Ford UK back in the day. The bottom end is now mostly complete. Im just waiting on the head to be freshened up at the engine builders. Thats about where I am up to for now. Hopefully ill get started on assembly of the gearbox on Monday at this stage, as I have give the extension housing a clean up and a coat of silver before I can assemble it.

Hi guys, just out of interest, what does everyone run in the way of plugs for their crossflows?

Bingo. thats what I was getting at. You flip them upside down, and put them on the opposite front corner to use on the front. they are identical. and its rare to find a panel van with them still because people take them to use on the front of their cars

Oh you have corner bumpers on that van i see. they happen to be the same as the front.

yeah look i hope with the black suspension bits, that the colour inner arches looks ok. Its a big thing in the UK to have the top side and bottom side all body colour.

I went and visited the car yesterday to confirm we definitely need to black out behind the grill. We held the grill up to the car, and it looked odd seeing the green behind it. for the trainspotters, you may have also noticed there was no provisions for the reverse lights. this was something that Mark and myself completely missed until we saw it in paint the new rear panel did not come with holes for the reverse lights, because early cars didn’t have them (the new panel is technically from an early Mk1 not a late Mk1 like mine). Thankfully there is a twin to my car in the workshop at the moment, so they will make a template off that to then drill the holes in the correct locations for my reverse lights. Mark also had a little surprise for me. He asked his painter to paint the underside side of the car body colour over the stone guard. I was expecting black, and the colour took me by surprise to say the least. He isn’t charging me for the extra paint because he made the call without asking me. he did raise a great point. The stone guard itself would be a turd to keep clean, but now it has paint on it, it will be easy to clean and wash under its belly. Am I disappointed about this? Not really. It definitely took me by surprise, and its not what i was expecting, but im definitely going to enjoy the extra detail and cleanliness underneath. I also got the 1600 down off the workbench and bolted it to the subframe. Looks a little better than the dirty old 1300 in the background

hmm maybe we'll set up the drill press next time

haha yeah.... i dont know what the s*** happened there. i thought it was just me, but then you too...on the same bit of steel. something up with that bit of steel

yeah its funny because its in my subscription list, but i havent sat down to watch it

One day I will watch Project Binky haha