54 Chevy 3100

enjenjo · April 23, 2020, 11:16:56 PM

I have some pictures of some of the stuff I have been doing. The spindle assemblies have been done for a while, but I didn't post any pictures. The caliper brackets are Speedway universal weld on brackets, modified for my use. At $9.99 each they make a good start. The caliper and rotor are both for a 1976 Chevy Malibu, the spindle is Series III XJ6 Jaguar. The Jag bearings fit the GM rotor in and out. I had to shorten the Jag spindle ,300" on the end, thread it about the same distance in, and drill a new cotter pin hole. I needed a spacer for the steering arm, and everything bolted up. The lower ball joint is a XJF style ball joint. It is a bolt in replacement for the original and sold as a service part for the XJ6

I needed a lower steering column bearing. So I have a 3/4" wheelbarrow bearing pressed into a plastic sleeve that presses in the bottom of the column.

The Fuel cell is a RCI 17 gallon It's mounted with 1" by 1/8" steel straps under it, and 1" by 1" tubing on the top, all insulated with 1/16" Buna N rubber insulators. I modified the fill neck so it can be fueled with a cap in the bed floor.. Fuel line and vent are both 3/8" tubing with a S10 fuel filter.

This column is only 1 3/4" diameter, and the wires would not fit inside it. So I needed a chase that would hid the wires under the column. There are several pictures of designing and bending a chase out of 22ga. steel. The first bends were done in a sheet metal brake, but the second bends were too close to the first to do on the brake, so I used some pieces of strap to clamp it in place for the second bend, Then used a piece of curved brass to bend a curve into the top of the chase to match the column. A little paint and I can install it.

416Ford · April 24, 2020, 07:43:49 AM

Nice work as always Frank. Your sheet metal brake looks like mine.

or at least the one that gets used the most.

kb426 · April 24, 2020, 08:45:19 AM

All the new makes the old look just that.

What was the reason to not use the jag brake setup? Did you use the jag crossmember? If you said, I forgot, again?

enjenjo · April 24, 2020, 10:54:28 AM

Quote from: "kb426"All the new makes the old look just that. What was the reason to not use the jag brake setup? Did you use the jag crossmember? If you said, I forgot, again?

The Chevy rotors move the wheels in an inch on each side. This allowed me to reduce the scrub radius to near zero with the wheels I am using.

chimp koose · April 24, 2020, 11:34:37 AM

Frank I have read that there needs to be some scrub radius or the vehicle can be 'twitchy' as far as steering . I have also read that 2" scrub is about right . This seems to be a pretty 'ballpark' number to me with no basis in actual geometry . I currently have less than 2" scrub and am running 4 degrees caster(right in the range henry had it). I would think the more scrub you have , the more positive caster you need to offset it . Reading any HAMB post on death wobble is like wading through folklore to find the facts . I would like your opinion .

enjenjo · July 02, 2020, 08:04:40 PM

Quote from: "chimp koose"Frank I have read that there needs to be some scrub radius or the vehicle can be 'twitchy' as far as steering . I have also read that 2" scrub is about right . This seems to be a pretty 'ballpark' number to me with no basis in actual geometry . I currently have less than 2" scrub and am running 4 degrees caster(right in the range henry had it). I would think the more scrub you have , the more positive caster you need to offset it . Reading any HAMB post on death wobble is like wading through folklore to find the facts . I would like your opinion .

Somehow I missed this, so I am happy to give my opinion now. In general the newer the car, the more scrub it has. Several reasons for this. One is front wheel drive which moves the CV joint into the steering axis. Another is wider tires that would encroach on the strut centerline. A third is the minimal caster used because there is a higher percentage of the weight on the front axle.

In this particular case I wanted to move the tires in to match the original track because I did not what to have to deal with it. I expect to need more caster and less toe in than a stock Jag front end.

enjenjo · July 02, 2020, 08:48:05 PM

Here are some pictures of the Jag front end in place. Since the owner wanted to keep it near stock height there is about 2 1/2" between the bottom of the frame, and the top of the Jag crossmember. The front motor mount in the truck interfered with the Jag steering rack so this will need new mounts. I bolted a plate to the stock Jag motor mount position and I will build the new mounts off of those plates. I made a cardboard mockup of the mounting plates, and traced the holes in the frame on the template. I transferred the shape to my 3/16" steel plate along with hole position on the frame. Next step will be to finish shape the plates and fit them to both the frame and the front suspension before tacking them in place.

They will be welded to the crossmember and bolted to the frame along with several gussets to keep the plates from bending. More as I figure it out.

jaybee · July 02, 2020, 09:53:33 PM

Very nice. Modern tires loves them some caster. The Jag front end gives a nice look, an OEM with the the tubular control arm look that's so trick. It's easy to forget that because Jag front ends don't seem to be done all that often these days. Before I moved from Kansas City I did spend some time at a show talking to a guy who had a Jag rear under a 1970 Ford Galaxie.

enjenjo · July 28, 2020, 10:33:40 PM

Update on the front end. After taking way too much time figuring things out and waiting for parts the front suspension mounting is all tacked together, so I pulled it out and disassembled it down to the basic crossmember. Now it has to be finished welded before sandblasting and paint. The upper shock brackets came from a friend in Australia, they are Laser cut, and self aligning. It uses VW bug front shocks, since the Jag upper shock bracket is part of the body. Those shock were also the only parts I could get locally.
The upper control arm bushings I bought from England since even with shipping they were about 1/3 the price of any I could find in the US. The rest of the parts came from Jag Bits up by Detroit.

While the crossmember is off I will clean the frame and do a little painting before I reinstall it. I am also taking care of other things that are easier to do now.

chimp koose · July 28, 2020, 11:12:10 PM

nice work

kb426 · July 29, 2020, 12:06:23 PM

Does the Jag have more travel than a mustang 2? I'd like to know if there are benefits from this swap versus the mustang. Looks good.

enjenjo · July 29, 2020, 04:06:13 PM

The Jag is designed for a much bigger car. A stock Jag weighs a bit over 4000 lbs. It's also has a rear steer rack that is more friendly in a lot of applications. The control arms are Modular and made of forged steel.

They are much more popular in GB and Australia than they are here, mostly because they never had an analog to the Mustang II. Stock width varies a bit from model to model but they are between 58 and 61 inches wide. There is a lot of commonality in parts among the various models, even into recent models. The XJ6, XJ12, and XJS are the most common models found and are functional the same.

enjenjo · August 04, 2020, 10:31:45 PM

I started on the wiring today. Most of the stuff was working but there were problems with the way it worked. So the first thing I found was 6 ga. battery cables. The second thing was a 12 ga wire to the alternator, a 100 amp alternator.

And of course the 60 amp ammeter is now junk, it reads 30 amps disconnected. HEI with a 16 ga power wire. No grounds to the body. It looks like I can save most of the harness, but it all needs redone.

enjenjo · October 01, 2020, 07:44:54 PM

I have the power steering all installed and hooked up. I was able to find all the correct fittings so no adapters were needed. The brakes are all hooked up and bled, I was able to gravity bleed them. Still working on the wiring, I haven't addressed that lately, but everything under the hood, the front clip, and the rear of the truck is done.

I pulled apart the rear end as the axle seals were leaking on both sides. When I got it apart, both axles had "repair" bearings and seals, and they were both bad, along with both axles. So I had to get the bearings out. I bought a special tool on Amazon, that had good reviews. It broke on the first bearing. :evil: So using parts from the tool, and stuff from around the shop, I made a much stronger tool, and it still took an hour and a half per side to get them out.

So, new axles. I determined that it was a late 70s Nova rear axle, and the first set of axles they sent were late 70s Camaro axles. So they got sent back and exchanged for the right ones. I still have to put it back together.

kb426 · October 01, 2020, 08:37:47 PM

The never ending saga of "why did it take so long"?