After all the work bringing the ‘36 up to scratch I hadn’t done anything with it since the end of July and it was now the end of September!
The opportunity arose to venture south of the River and attend the Detonator’s CC breakfast meet so this was as good excuse as any to give it a run out.
What I finally realised was how much I hated driving this thing!
If I’m being brutally honest this feeling has been brewing inside me for a while and is probably why I’ve used it so little in the past couple of years.
To add insult to injury I managed to thump the rear light stalk on a wooden post parking up which trashed the lens, bezel and bulb in the process.
Great having no bumpers!
If that was the only damage I’d got off lightly but of course it’s only ever the tip of the iceberg.
After another look the rear wing looked odd.
It had bowed out in the centre where the light stalk had pushed the wing back and it had no where to go. Some brute force managed to get it back into shape without anymore damage.
I thought I was out the woods but every time I’d walk past the back of the car the light stalk still looked out, like it’s pointing downwards.
I think I’ve distorted the stalk as well. 😩
Looking for a lens, bezel and maybe a stalk. 👍
Why all the hate towards the driving experience?
Brakes: The car brakes well but the pedal has little movement and is fairly hard. This was by design as I used to like a short, firm pedal but now my tastes have changed and I prefer the opposite.
Nothing that a master cylinder resize wouldn’t sort, if it wasn’t for the pedal assembly.
Pedal Assembly: I fitted a Tilton bias-box many years ago which is a cool piece and functionally fine.
I’ve come to the conclusion that bias boxes are a waste of time on the road because you never adjust them. I’ve never moved this one since I got it where I wanted it when it was first fitted.
They are over complicated for something you don’t use, a pain to bleed the brakes on and in the case of mine meant it ended up in a weird position under the floor board which many holes and slots had to be cut in the floorboard for clearance resulting in heat and fumes from the engine bay.
Fumes: This is a weird one as the car was never fumey but in recent years had become so.
Clutch: The clutch has been a disaster since day one.
The problem is it’s half mechanical and half hydraulic. The throw out bearing, release fork and the release arm on the side of the bellhousing are original factory Ford. An unknown external slave cylinder has been adapted to the original arm and then up to the clutch master connected to the Tilton pedal.
No amount of cylinder size changes or pivot point changes has ever really helped the situation. I think the problem is that there are just too many ratio changes happening and none of them are compatible with each other.
The clutch has always been very heavy and like an on/off switch which makes it very tiresome to drive, not helped by the flywheel.
Flywheel: I’ve had a lightweight aluminium flywheel forever in this car. Great on track but on the road it’s kangaroo city at low speeds. The flywheel is fine it’s just badly matched to a full bodied street car.
Gearbox: It has a Tremec TKO 5-speed fitted. These were the stronger, replacement ‘box to the T-5. They were very popular in the aftermarket for awhile but fell out of favour because, well, they’re a bit sh*t.
I don’t think they even make them anymore? They have a few design flaws which I will expand on later.
When I had the front sheet metal off for paint it became apparent that the chassis and mechanics, especially around the front of the car, weren’t looking to healthy.
Rust was taking hold in many places, a situation I believe greatly sped up by many years of running at Pendine sands.
And the final issue was that if I was to ever finish the turbo motor it needed to fitted to the car which meant engine out giving access to everything else mentioned above, sooo….
The opportunity arose to venture south of the River and attend the Detonator’s CC breakfast meet so this was as good excuse as any to give it a run out.
What I finally realised was how much I hated driving this thing!
If I’m being brutally honest this feeling has been brewing inside me for a while and is probably why I’ve used it so little in the past couple of years.
To add insult to injury I managed to thump the rear light stalk on a wooden post parking up which trashed the lens, bezel and bulb in the process.
Great having no bumpers!
If that was the only damage I’d got off lightly but of course it’s only ever the tip of the iceberg.
After another look the rear wing looked odd.
It had bowed out in the centre where the light stalk had pushed the wing back and it had no where to go. Some brute force managed to get it back into shape without anymore damage.
I thought I was out the woods but every time I’d walk past the back of the car the light stalk still looked out, like it’s pointing downwards.
I think I’ve distorted the stalk as well. 😩
Looking for a lens, bezel and maybe a stalk. 👍
Why all the hate towards the driving experience?
Brakes: The car brakes well but the pedal has little movement and is fairly hard. This was by design as I used to like a short, firm pedal but now my tastes have changed and I prefer the opposite.
Nothing that a master cylinder resize wouldn’t sort, if it wasn’t for the pedal assembly.
Pedal Assembly: I fitted a Tilton bias-box many years ago which is a cool piece and functionally fine.
I’ve come to the conclusion that bias boxes are a waste of time on the road because you never adjust them. I’ve never moved this one since I got it where I wanted it when it was first fitted.
They are over complicated for something you don’t use, a pain to bleed the brakes on and in the case of mine meant it ended up in a weird position under the floor board which many holes and slots had to be cut in the floorboard for clearance resulting in heat and fumes from the engine bay.
Fumes: This is a weird one as the car was never fumey but in recent years had become so.
Clutch: The clutch has been a disaster since day one.
The problem is it’s half mechanical and half hydraulic. The throw out bearing, release fork and the release arm on the side of the bellhousing are original factory Ford. An unknown external slave cylinder has been adapted to the original arm and then up to the clutch master connected to the Tilton pedal.
No amount of cylinder size changes or pivot point changes has ever really helped the situation. I think the problem is that there are just too many ratio changes happening and none of them are compatible with each other.
The clutch has always been very heavy and like an on/off switch which makes it very tiresome to drive, not helped by the flywheel.
Flywheel: I’ve had a lightweight aluminium flywheel forever in this car. Great on track but on the road it’s kangaroo city at low speeds. The flywheel is fine it’s just badly matched to a full bodied street car.
Gearbox: It has a Tremec TKO 5-speed fitted. These were the stronger, replacement ‘box to the T-5. They were very popular in the aftermarket for awhile but fell out of favour because, well, they’re a bit sh*t.
I don’t think they even make them anymore? They have a few design flaws which I will expand on later.
When I had the front sheet metal off for paint it became apparent that the chassis and mechanics, especially around the front of the car, weren’t looking to healthy.
Rust was taking hold in many places, a situation I believe greatly sped up by many years of running at Pendine sands.
And the final issue was that if I was to ever finish the turbo motor it needed to fitted to the car which meant engine out giving access to everything else mentioned above, sooo….
