Last of the V8 Interceptors.. my XB Falcon Coupe

Daved_XB

Out in the shed tonight I realised that I've been dumber than usual, I now have 4 full blown projects on the go at once. Now right off the bat we can probably discount the Bumblebee Camaro getting any work done this year. But I now have a solid deadline for each of the other 3 cars in the shed. I really want to do the Adelaide Rally again this November, this time in the GT-Four & in Match next year there is a huge Ford Falcon XA/XB/XC Coupe event happening down in Tasmania... I have already booked & paid for the ferry trip down & the accommodation so now the XB must be finished & fully run in this year. There is also a huge Mopar event in March too that I always wanted to go to so now I really need to have the challenger finished off & run in by the end of the year too.

I'm still not 100% sure that the standard bonnet will close fully with an air filter on the cab on the high rise intake manifold... given this it's pretty important to get the bonnet on the car I guess so I can see if it does & if it doesn't then I still have time to work out a solution... so time to fit the fancy billet hinges I got for her.

Whilst the passenger side bolts up nicely the drivers side fouls on the brake hardlines now that the new brake booster has altered the height of the master a bit, but brake hardlines are easy enough to bend so it's not a big issue.

I also need to find the gas struts for these hinges, I know that I put them away in a safe secure spot a while ago to... well you know to keep them safe, but they are in such a safe space that right now I have no fecking idea where they are.... so I guess means I have to go through every bloody box in the shed again till I find them

Daved_XB

I went out to the shed this weekend with one job in mind, I've been putting the wiring job off for weeks & today was the day... no more messing about lets get this done

First step was getting the oil breather can out of it's box & working out what AN fittings are best for it given where I want to try & mount it in the engine bay

I had taken a guess at the right bend style of AN connector that I'd need out of the top of the rocker covers & it looks like I got that right thankfully as these puppies are not cheap

For location of the can, I'm thinking here just below the bonnet hinge is the best spot where it won't be in the way & can be easily accessed if needed

I've just made up a temp bracket for now so I can work out how much of the braided line I'll need to make up the plumbing for this. Not sure what I want to make the bracket out of just yet, who knows it may end up just being as simple as this but painted or polished up, you can't really see it anyway. 

I think that that looks good there, just need to run some of the lines & wires out of the firewall first before I can fully commit to the final bracket shape to be sure to be sure it doesn't foul on anything

Daved_XB

Then I turned my attention to installing the aftermarket collapsible steering column... this was sold as a "bolt" in so of course there will be several hours of fuckery involved here to make it work. 

The steering rack that I installed came with a pre-assembled U-joint setup, I'm not 100% if this is the perfect length or if I need to trim the bar a little but lets find out

The column came with a firewall mounting bracket but that doesn't even come close to fitting the holes for the OEM bracket that's on the original column... so yep, bolt in kit for the win. I figured it would actually be easier to modify the original bracket that to try & rework this one 

The kit didn't even come with a top mount bracket at all, again bolt in kit my arse....  so I managed to find one that would work with this 

I'll need to trim a little here & there & do some welding on the firewall bracket but it looks like this is going to work just fine in the end

Now the more eagle eyed of you will have noticed that there is no padding on my steering wheel, well that's because the steering wheel I've always wanted to run in this car is made from 100% pure unobtainium... the wheel I want is an old 70's wheel called a Maxx Rob wheel, it's the wheel that was fitted to the Mad Max Interceptor in the movies. The last real one I saw sell went for more that I paid for this car when I bought it... & that wheel needed to be restored.. madness. Anyway a mate of mine made a run of reproduction allow wheels that are identical, now I just need to get that trimmed up & it'll be perfect.  

What's next on the list of jobs to continue ignoring the wiring installation I hear you ask, well I removed the exhaust headers a while back as they foul on the transmission & I need to borrow a mates oxy set so I can heat them up & use some gentle percussive persuasion to reshape them. The steering rack has to be dropped to allow the installation/removal of the drivers side header, so before I finalise the brackets for this steering column install I need to rework the headers & install them for the final time.