finally on the dark side

[Alpine 1789]

Chuck's MG Spoiler

Here are the pictures of Chuck's spoiler. His note to me says:

Not the best pictures of the spoilers but certainly enough to see what I have.

Easy to mount. I made a bracket to fit the center and it is attached to the center of the valance. For the edges I made up some clips that are screwed to the valance and the spoiler. The outer edge is done likewise.There is only a very minor trim needed to make it look perfect. Yes if you remove it you will have a few holes left.

Feel free to contact me

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Hi Jim

Man are you ever fast on the draw

 

[Alpine 1789]

Happy to help.

 

[V6 JOSE]

Hi Jim,

I wasn´t able to open up any of tha last pictures you posted. Is thare another way you can post them?

Jose

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Hi Jim,

I wasn´t able to open up any of tha last pictures you posted. Is thare another way you can post them?

Jose

Jose.I just sent them to you

 

[Alpine 1789]

That is really a beautiful car. I hope to get to see it one day. Chuck also sent me an article that he'd written for the club in 2001. I can't post that online, so I used the miracle of the Internet Archive (also known as "The Way Back Machine") to find the original. All of the old website formatting doesn't come through, but you can still read the article and see the photos Chuck posted at the time. Just click through to the Story Archive and scroll down to February 2001.
http://web.archive.org/web/20040806052531/http://sunbeamalpine.org/content.html

The Way Back Machine is great fun some time when you have a couple of hours to kill. This link will take you to the SAOCA archives, where you can click around and even read old Forum discussions! Here is a good place to start: http://wayback.archive.org/web/20010715000000*/http://www.sunbeamalpine.org

 

[Chuck Ingram]

Wait til somebody says "I thought they only made toasters and mixers..."

They made vacuum cleaners as well and you can tell them it sucks up other cars right up the pipes

 

[socorob]

Finally got my seat swap done. I added a piece on the rollbar for the shoulder mounting point for the seat belts. The seats and seat belts came from a 2001 miata. I have new covers for the seats yet to be installed as im contemplating seat heaters and headrest speakers and only want to take them all apart once.

 

[socorob]

Rear Disc Redo

I got to get a little accomplished on my rear disc redo this weekend. I used 2000 Cougar rotors with 1989 Mazda calipers. I got the bracket figured out in wood, now I just need to cut it out in metal. I only had to open up the lug holes in the cougar disc slightly as its the same bolt pattern and open the center hole up slightly too.

 

[260Alpine]

Robbie, Brakes look good! You'll have to post over on BritishV8 too.

 

[Bill Blue]

Robbie, how much of a gap do you have to fill between the calipers and the Alpine mounting surface? When I did my brakes, I could not find a caliper that was a reasonable fit when using lug mounted rotors. Always ended up with a horrible offset.

Would sure like to see photos of the finished job.

Bill

Edit: All this got my pea sized brain to finally kick in gear. I remember someone playing with the idea of using a rotor that used the same mounting style of the Alpine, but was about 1" thick. A spacer would be used in the caliper to accommodate the thicker rotor. Anyone know what that rotor would have been from? Also, is there a rotor of that style that is of a larger diameter?

 

[socorob]

The Mazda rotor and cougar rotor are almost the same thickness. they are .01 difference in thickness if i recall correctly. The cougar rotor is about 9-7/8 diameter The Mazda calipers emergency brake pulls towards the center of the car so I should be able to adapt the alpine cable easily. I have an 8 inch ford rear end and the bracket looks like it is just going to be a flat piece of steel 3/8" thick. I hadto grind the outer edge of the caliper bracket down to the same thickness as the cougar caliper bracket so itwould not hit the back of my wheel. I grinded the edge at a 45 degree angle to match the back of my wheel. I don't know if this will work on any alpine with a ford 8 inch or not. I have the caliper in the 9:00 position on the drivers side (centered in height towards the front of the car). I have a 4 link so leaf spri gs aren't in my way right there. They may work on others if they just clock the bracket differently by drilling the 4 holes that it mounts to the axle housing with a little more turned. I'll post a picture of the bracket on here once I get it finalized in steel.

 

[Bill Blue]

Robbie, looks like I missed a little detail, like your working at the rear of the car! Sorry 'bout that. Still, I'm interested as I'm not entirely thrilled with the Saturn parking brake that is on my car.

Bill

 

[socorob]

I originally had gm metric calipers on the rear and didnt like those, thats why im doing this. After this ill go to the front. Ill try to use the mazda alumminum 4 piston front calipers up there.

 

[Bill Blue]

I originally had gm metric calipers on the rear and didnt like those, thats why im doing this. After this ill go to the front. Ill try to use the mazda alumminum 4 piston front calipers up there.

GM metric? The only caliper I know of that is referred to in that terminology is the second generation front caliper (that's what I'm using on the front). Is that what you used?

Bill

 

[socorob]

Yes but the rear ones with built in parking brake. Typical crappy 80s GM stuff, but it came in a kit an got me off drums easily an quickly. If I had more time back then, this is what I would have done.

 

[socorob]

Ford 8 inch Mustang II disc brake upgrade

Got my brackets cut out of 3/8 steel, and the test fit was good. I took it all apart to paint everything up. Ill try to get out there this weekend and put it all together. Here was the final on my caliper adapter bracket. I dont know if this will work with leaf springs, it may need to be reclocked to a different position. I have mine towards the front of the car, drivers at 9:00, passenger at 3:00. I have a Ford Mustang II 8 inch with mazda calipers on cougar rotors.

 

[socorob]

Today i removed the old fan and test fit the flex a lite scirrocco fan. It fits pperfectly. It exactly coers the finne part of my radiator, and there is about 1/4-3/8" clearance between the shroud and the pulley. I still have to mount it and wire it up. Does anyone know how the thermostat for the fan should work?If my thermostat on the engine is 190 degress,, do I want the fan to come on lower or higher? I would think the fan shouldnt run if the water isnt circulating?

 

[Bill Blue]

I'll pretend I'm my wife and answer your question with a question.

Where is the temp switch located? If it is located at the bottom of the rad, a lower temp would be best. If at the top of the rad or on the engine, a higher temp.

Bill

 

[socorob]

Ha, I'm used to answers in question form, I have one of those too. I haven't got any of the switches yet because the measurements were so close, I wasn't sure if it was going to fit. I'm trying to find info on what type of switch and where to put it and when to have it come on would be best. I have an inline coupling for the top radiator hose from a Saab that has a switch in it. I'm not sure what temp the switch is, or if it's the same size as my hose.