Traveller '68 - Left Hand drive conversion

[Nickol]

From what Roy says about the brake servo making for the bleeding of the brakes difficult, it makes perhaps sense that this reservoir was installed because of this. I have never had any problem before in bleeding the brakes but probably the lines were reasonably full - now that they are empty, it could be another matter. WE shall see.

[chesney]

Just finished a '71 Traveller (converted to LHD) that had all the holes in the l/h chassis leg for the pedal shaft/master cylinder.
Perhaps the chassis leg on yours has been replaced in the past?

[Nickol]

Perfectly possible of course although some holes are there. I will have a good check tomorrow. To drill out should not be too great a task provided I get them in the right place and reasonably true.

Perhaps you can help me with the query I have on teh clutch/brake pedal arrangement. It is the sequencing of the pedal and spacer pieces.

Referring to the manual page FF6 , the clutch pedal has two bushes (nr 176) described as being "in frame" and a spacer. The brake pedal also has two bushes - where do they fit - inside the the pedal "hole" ??

[martin418]

yes the bushes fit inside the pedal

[Nickol]

Topic - Clutch / Brake pedal assembly

Having checked just now, the chassis rail on the LHS does not look like to me it has been re-welded / repaired. Conversely, the RHS does ! It has a plate riveted to the underside. Notwithstanding, the walls of the chassis rail seem to be a bit thin. I notice from the RHS that stepped bushes have been welded/brazed/ rusted into the rail. These bushes, I do not have and need to order.

Can someone advise me whether they do need to be welded on , or left free to rotate???

Topic - wiring

The cabling for the indicator switch as well as the dip switch will need extending. I have ordered the coloured cable in the appropriate size. Nine lengths in total. I intend to cut each existing wire and solder the new cable in between to extend it. Thence wrap it is insulating tape as per original.

[martin418]

THE BUSHES IN THE CHASSIS RAIL ARE THE SAME AS THE BRAKE PEDAL ONES , THE CHASSIS HAVE A TUBE WELDED ON TO FORM A BEARING HOUSING AND THE BUSHES PRESS INTO THEM , I GUESS THE ONLY OPTION YOU HAVE IS TO FIND A TUBE WHICH TAKES THE BUSHES AND ACCURATELY WELD IT TO THE RAILS

[Nickol]

Now I am getting confused. I can of course do this and source a tube/pipe of correct size - not a problem. It is however not what seems to be the designed method an dI would prefer to install what has been designed already, rather than improvise a solution.

For example, The existing bush on the RHS is brass and is stepped, i.e it has a flange on it. This is welded/brazed to the chassis rail- the shaft on the clutch pedal is a loose without being too loose a fit.

Now the diagrams I have show the bits for the clutch pedal comprising i.a. a spacer and a bush, presumably that which I mentioned above. The brake pedal diagram also shows the bush ( ok just a duplication) and a spacer.

Thus when put together we have two bushes - each welded to the chassis rail sides.
two spacers
brake pedal
clutch pedal and shaft

Added to this would be the clutch lever and securing bolt.

Now I do not have the bushes yet but have provisionally placed the spacers and the pedals on the shaft over the chassis rail just to see what it looks like - see pic. By inspection there is no room left for the bushes. Equally on the Bull motif website, there is a "clutch relay rubber (or poly) bush to be fitted. Where? there is no space for it ????[frame][/frame]

[Nickol]

Just for the record, here is a pic of the inside of the chassis rail. As already surmised, this has been welded in the past - and quite well done too I would add. To quote Morecombe and Wise - you can hardly see the join. However the original mountig holes are gone. In the pic you can see the firs thole I have drilled for the brake Master Cylinder and lower down the pilot hole ( presently 10mm dia to be enlarged to 16mm) for the brake union connection.[frame][/frame]

[martin418]

the bushes are pressed into the tubes which are welded to the chassis rail , the idea is you can renew the bushes , the clutch relay rubber bush goes at the end of the relay shaft which is bolted to the chassis rail and sits in the side of the gearbox , the clutch linkage which came of will give you a clue , be aware the clutch pedal and linkage to the relay shaft was modified on earlier cars to alter the pedal spacing so it might be worth making sure all part no's and diagrams are for the latter parts as they look quite similar

[Nickol]

Thank you for that, it makes it clearer but for one thing.

As this is the LHD version, unlike the RHD, there is no relay shaft and hence no retainer bearing, for example bolted to the gearbox. Leastways up to now, that is what Ihave been assuming based on the diagrams. In my perhaps, naivity, I have been thinking that the "rod relay to engine lever" is connected directly from the clutch lever which bolts onto the end of the pedal shaft and thence to the clutch fork.
.
I think I will just have to have a look at the mechanics of it all.

Isn' t this fun ?

[martin418]

on the left side of the gearbox there should be a hole with two bolt holes each side this is the location for the relay lever inner end and the chassis side would have had trap nuts welded inside the rail , i am not 100% but looking at my parts diagram it looks like the RHD relay lever is the same for LHD cars

[bmcecosse]

You will need the relay lever etc - unless you convert to hydraulic clutch - which has a whole load of problems of it's own....

[Nickol]

Nah! No hydraulic clutch for me, no elektronic ignition either - I like the original flair.........but I do have an alternator fitted though

I am away now for about 2 weeks , so no more updates for a while.

[Nickol]

Back in the swing.....

I have mentioned before the need to replace the oil seal at the rear of the gearbox due to the fact that it obviously has spewed out oil all over the place. But to get it off ?????

I have read in the forum here that it needs to be carefully "chiselled off" - is that right? Thence the new one is placed in the freezer and fitted in position. I would surmise, that it should be warmed to make it loose fitting, not cooled. ?????

Advice welcome.

[bmcecosse]

If renewing the worn inner bush (the real cause of oil leakage) - that would need freezing. The outer fitting seal should just press/tap on - heating is unlikely to help.

[Nickol]

More than a month has gone by since my lost post. Notwithstanding that I have been away a lot, what time has been spent on the car has been somewhat frustrating.

As mentioned before, there were no holes readily available of the LHS so with the new Clutch shaft These had to be drilled and two bushes installed.

Mistake 1 : I drilled the holes too large. This meant having to make two bronze bushings of 24mm external dia and 16 internal.
Mistake 2 .: The holes were marginally too high (looking towards the floor). This meant that once the bushes were brazed into Position the Insertion of the clutch shaft through the bushings slightly fouled the underside of the floor and made Insertion more problematical - some hammering and turning to get in in.
Mistake 3 . going back in time now, with my normal gas torch I could not get the metal hot enough to allow the brazing process for the bushes. In the process, some of the underseal caught fire - easily extinguished but the smell is not nice. Eventuall got hold of a Rothenburg industrial gas torch which promised greater heat and then it worked. It took only 3 or 4 minutes to reach temperature and the flux rod easily melted and flowed.
Mistake 4 : The exhaust System goes along the LHS of the car - it itself does not get in the way but the heat shield underneath the Expansion box does. And it is well and truly rusted . Lying on your back underneath a car and hacking off a rusty horrible crumbly pices is not my idea of fun and my neigbours have been treated to some German expletives ( not to mention some anglo-saxon ones ) as bits somehow get in my eyes, in my hair , down the collar.

Anyway the complete assembly is in now, see pic. Also the master brake cylinder is installed and the whole area treated with black Hammerite.

Progress at last.[frame][/frame]

[Nickol]

Actually more progress than this picture shows.

I had Problems getting the cross member positioned with the gearbox in place. This must have been a Problem in the past as the upper bolt holes on the (then) Drivers side had been cut off. This was probably due to having to negotiate around the brake master cylinder bolts.
The only way I managed to get it positioned was to first remove the gearbox mounting rubbers. This meant that the cross member could be wiggled about, hammered and sworn at, until it was in the correct Position. Thence the rubbers remounted.

Fixing the clutch layshaft was also a struggle in that it is very very tight. It would have been better to have done this Prior to putting the gearbox rubber Mounts back to allow more flexibility.[frame][/frame]

[SteveClem]

Hindsight is wonderful! The real world is slightly different! Looks like you are getting there.

[Nickol]

It is coming along - Der Weg ist das Ziel .

From the pic you can see the clutch mechanism in Position and now adjusted up. From a previous query thread of mine I surmised that the clutch was very stiff.In doing this conversion I discovered why. The rubber bush on the relay shaft was so worn that the bronze bush pressed into it was being distorted. Have now fitted the Nylon update Version - hopefully it will be much better. The fule line, brake pipe and feed from the Reservoir are all flapping about and need to be fixed/supported. The main concern here is that the operation of the clutch does not rub on any of these lines.

When I came to match the marks on the flange to the diff for the prop shaft, there were so many marks on it, did not know which was correct - still, you have a 50% Chance of being right!

Only Jobs left to do now are the rust protection to the Chassis rails and the electrics. Here I have to Extended the flasher cable and dip Switch. Thence the floor can go back and the seats put in again.

Forgot, there is one bolt to the bellhousing that wont go in - you can see the missing one in the pic. Sort that out later.[frame][/frame]

[Nickol]

From the Picture above, where would be the best place to relocate the foot operated dip Switch?