We recently came across a site that has some good tid-bits of information on ways to save on your insurance premium and info on where to find the best deals when shopping for insurance.

If you are keen to save a few dollars or are currently looking around for car insurance (or have a red Ferrari lying around that needs some insurance) please have a read of Motor Insurance News. You might just be surprised with how much you can save.

It actually has nothing at all to do with the subject of this blog but the Minister for War and Finance in this household has been working so tirelessly on this new project of hers that I thought I should at least give it a mention.

Here is a little promo video that I just finished putting together for her and if you think it might interest your ’significant other one’ please let her know about Belinda’s Plus Size Ladies Clothing website so I can at least say that I have done my bit. Thanks!

And no, I won’t be giving up my day job (if I had a real one) to go into creating videos, as you can see it’s just not my thing.

The first step is to remove the upper part of the air filter housing and the air intake to the throttle body. There are four clips joining the top and bottom sections of the air filter housing.

The rest of the air intake is secured to the inlet manifold with two 10mm bolts and there is also a hose to the tappet cover that has to be taken off.

Once the bolts and the hose are removed it is simply a matter of pulling the air intake away from the throttle body and placing the complete unit out of the way. It is a good idea to stuff a clean rag into the throat of the throttle body to prevent any foreign objects entering.

The next step is to remove the top cover plate. There are eight 5mm allen key bolts securing it to the tappet cover. These bolts have a small fibre washer that often falls off when the bolts are removed.

As well as the allen key bolts you will have to temporarily remove the oil filler cap and carefully remove the PCV valve from the tappet cover. You might find it easier to remove the hose from the PCV valve first and then gently ‘rock’ the valve backwards and forwards while lifting it up to remove it.

Once we have that done we can remove the top engine cover.

At this stage it is a good idea to refit the oil filler cap and block the PCV valve hole with a clean rag. Better to be safe than sorry!

Now we have to remove the ignition coils to gain access to the spark plugs. You can move the coils out of the way enough with the wiring still connected, just be careful not to place too much pressure on the wires though.

It is a good idea to make a mental note of where the coils sit in relation to the tapper cover surface so when refitting them you know that they are all the way home.

To remove the coils we need to twist them while pulling upwards.

Lay each coil near it’s corresponding cylinder. If you have access to compressed air blow out any grit or foreign objects in the spark plug tubes. A small length of garden hose and a lung-full of air can be substituted if compressed air is not available. 

Grab your 5/8 Spark Plug socket, extension bar and ratchet. When loosening the spark plugs be sure to use two hands on the ratchet to keep the extension bar and socket straight in the spark plug hole.

If any of the spark plugs are tight to a point where you struggle to undo them, STOP and have a mechanic do the job for you. You don’t want to have to remove the cylinder head just because of a broken spark plug!

If the rubber in your socket that grips the spark plug is worn out as mine is you can either use a magnetic probe to get the spark plugs out…

Or a length of suitably sized hose…

Once you have all six plugs out refitting is the reverse of these steps with attention to the following points -

• Be sure to visually check the spark plug gap of the new plugs before fitting. They should be gapped right out of the box but they can get dropped etc etc. Use your socket, magnetic probe or piece of hose to lower the new plugs into position.
• A smear of engine oil or an anti-seize compound on the threads of the new plugs will ensure that they are easily removed next time.
• Be sure to check that the coils are seated correctly on the spark plugs and have all gone down to their original sitting position.
• Be sure to remove any pieces of rag you have used to cover the throttle body etc!
• Fitting the air intake to the throttle body can be a bit troublesome and may require a bit of twisting and turning of the air intake before you get it seated all the way around the throttle body housing. Persistence is the key here!

I think that covers everything. If you have any questions or concerns please leave a post on the Advice Forum. Best of luck!

The correct way to adjust the handbrake on these model Falcons is to adjust them at the handbrake shoes inside the rear disc rotor. There is a cable adjustment underneath the car in the area of the transmission tunnel that can be used to ‘nip’ the adjustment up quickly (see diagrams below for locations) but to achieve the best result the rear wheels, brake calipers and rotors need to be removed.

Ok, so starting off with the wheel/s removed and looking from the inside of the wheel arch we can see the two 15mm bolts that need to be removed so that we can get the brake caliper out of the way.

Once the bolts are removed it is simply a matter of sliding the complete caliper backwards and off the disc. DO NOT leave the brake caliper hanging by the flexible brake hose though, sit it up on the upper control arm or tie it up so there is no stress on the rubber hose.

The next step is to remove the brake disc. For this step the handbrake must be in the OFF position and it may take a bit of ‘gentle persuasion’ to separate the disc from the hub.

The best way to do this is to strike the disc with a hammer on the hub part of the disc, turn it 180 degrees and strike it again and keep doing this until the disc is able to be ‘rocked’ back and forwards on the hub. DO NOT STRIKE THE DISC IN ANY OTHER AREA OTHER THAN THE AREA SHOWN – YOU DON’T WANT AN OUT-OF-ROUND DISC!

Once the disc (or rotor, depending on which school you went to!) has been removed we can see the handbrake shoe and the adjusting mechanism.

The adjustment is carried out by turning the ‘knurled’ nut clockwise which pushes the shoes closer to the inside of the disc.  Now here is the interesting part, the diameter of the handbrake shoe needs to be set to specification for correct operation/adjustment of the handbrake. Ford lists this diameter as between 189.6mm and 189.8mm measured at the middle of the shoe contact area (see diagram below).

This measuring is relatively easy if you have access to a pair of vernier calipers, however with a bit of mucking around I’m sure it could be measured with a conventional measuring tape or ruler.

Once you have the shoe diameter to specs it is time to refit the disc, brake caliper and wheel, ensuring that both the brake caliper bolts and wheel nuts are done up nice and tight.

If you find that the handbrake is still not holding the car with the lever coming up a long way we then need to adjust the cable.

With the rear of the car jacked up and both wheels off the ground proceed as follows -

• Adjust the handbrake shoes to specification (done that!)
• Fully release the Handbrake lever and apply to the first ‘click’ only
•  Tighten cable adjuster nut (see diagrams at top of article) until a very small amount of drag is felt when rotating the rear wheels by hand
• Apply the Handbrake lever a further three ‘clicks’
• Check that the rear wheels cannot be rotated by hand
• Fully release the Handbrake lever and check that the rear wheels turn freely by hand
• Go and have a beer!

A Few Observations – We have come across the occasional BA and BF Falcon that proves very hard to get the handbrake to operate in what would normally be considered a satisfactory way and if you find that after following these steps the lever still comes up a long way before the handbrake is effective you might be tempted to keep winding on the adjustment. Be careful! Winding on the cable or shoe adjustment increases the chance of the shoes continually contacting the inside of the disc causing drag AND prematurely wearing the handbrake shoes.

Good luck and if you have any questions feel free to leave a post on the Advice Forum.

Ok, the first step when replacing c.v. shafts is to park the car on a flat hard surface with it either in gear or park and with the handbrake applied. Before jacking up the vehicle, unless you have access to a compressor and impact gun, we need to loosen the wheel nuts slightly and also remove the ‘hub nut’ or c.v. shaft nut.

The hub nuts typically need a socket of around 30-32 mm in size although there are some variations on this and it will pay to read this article through first to work out if you have all the tools required.

Typically these hub nuts are also very tight and may have a split pin fitted to the shaft (best removed with a set of side cutting pliers but don’t squeeze too hard!). If you have access to an impact gun you should be right but otherwise the minimum you will need is a 1/2 inch drive breaker bar and possibly a length of pipe that fits over the breaker bar handle. 

The next step is to either lock the steering wheel with the ignition lock (remove the keys and turn the steering wheel slightly in either direction and the steering wheel will lock) or have a helper hold the steering wheel straight while you undo the hub nut with the breaker bar.

Once you have the nut loose, wind it out until it is almost at the end of the shaft. Now we can check to see if the c.v. shaft spline is loose in the hub or whether it will require some persuasion to come out. Often times the shaft will be loose enough to move by hand and what we are looking for is a centimeter or two of movement in and out of the shaft in the hub. If the shaft is not moving by hand it is time to arm yourself with a punch and a hammer and start knocking the shaft through the hub.

What we don’t want to happen here is ‘mushrooming’ of the end of the shaft from hitting it with the punch and the hammer and that is the reason why we don’t completely remove the nut. Also a punch of smaller diameter than the shaft is important.

Once we have the shaft relatively loose in the hub it is time to jack up the car. There are two ways that we can attack this job. We can do one side at a time (if you are doing both shafts) and jack up the car as far as possible on the one side or we can drain the gearbox/transmission of oil before removing any of the shafts to avoid loosing fluid. On the majority of vehicles jacking up one side as far as possible is enough to stop any fluid from draining from the transmission once the shaft is removed however if you use this method it is a good idea to be prepared with a drain tray just in case. Obviously the methods for draining the transmission vary considerably between makes and models so check your owners manual for info on this if needed.

USE CHASSIS STANDS ONCE THE CAR IS JACKED UP AND DO NOT WORK ON THE CAR SUPPORTED BY THE JACK ALONE!!!

Now that we have the vehicle jacked up we can remove the road wheel. The next step is to remove the lower control arm from the hub assembly. With the case of our guinea pig Camry you can see from the pic below that it is a matter of releasing the ball joint from the hub assy. This can be achieved in two ways, the first is to ’shock’ the tapered stud of the ball joint from the hub or remove the three bolts securing the bottom of the ball joint to the control arm.

From my experience, removing the three bolts while being the easiest in theory can be a pain in the neck when it comes time for reassembly but if you are not comfortable swinging a block hammer around go the easiest way. Obviously there are many different variations to this setup, some vehicles such as early Laser’s and Mazda’s have a 14mm bolt and nut that has to be removed to allow the control arm to separate from the strut/hub assembly and although we can’t cover every setup here if you get stuck shoot an email to autofix@aapt.net.au and I’ll see what I can do for you.

Ok, back to the job at hand. The first thing to do is remove any split pins fitted and loosen the ball joint nut. Once again don’t completely remove the nut until after the hammer work is finished.

If the ball joint has not been separated for a while chances are it will take some doing to get things moving. The first thing to do is to arm yourself with a ‘block’ hammer like the one below. 

The next step is to give a few decent hits with the block hammer directly to the area where the tapered stud of the ball joint passes through the strut assembly (red arrow).

After a few decent hits it’s time to lever the control arm down to see if you have been successful at separating the ball joint.

It may take a few goes to get it done, but once the ball joint stud is separated from the hub we can completely remove the nut and lever the control arm down as far as possible and pull the strut/ hub assembly out and away from the ball joint stud.

The next step is to centre the steering and prepare to remove the c.v. shaft from the hub. The idea is to grab the brake caliper and pull the strut/hub assembly out with one hand and push on the c.v. shaft through the hub with the other.

Now we move on to the inner of the c.v. shaft. Before we proceed it is a good idea to remove any plastic covers that might get in the way when removing the shaft.

Next we need to lever the inner c.v. joint out from the transmission. Before removing the inner part of the shaft make a mental note of how far in the joint sits so that you know when the new shaft is all the way home. The shaft of the inner joint typically has a circlip that located the shaft into the differential and the shaft can often be difficult to remove for this reason. Also, care must be taken when levering on the case of the gearbox/transmission as they are predominantly alloy and very easily broken. If possible place the lever bar against a bolt or substantial part of the case to avoid breaking anything.

The best method I have found for removing the shafts from the transmission is to locate the lever bar and then hit the handle of the bar with the palm of your hand. This usually gives enough force to compress the circlip on the end of the shaft without giving too much force to make a mess of the transmission!

If the lever bar doesn’t locate one way, try turning it around and levering off another part of the shaft.

If the shaft refuses to budge and you are able to apply reasonable force to it, try rotating the shaft 180 degrees, levering again, rotating again etc etc. It may also be possible to lever the shaft from the top (i.e. in the engine bay) which may prove successful also.

Once the inner of the shaft is removed support the shaft at either end with your hands to avoid damaging the seal in the transmission and remove the shaft from the vehicle.

Fitting the new shaft is the reverse of these procedures with attention the following points -

• Ensure that the splines of the new shaft/s are of identical diameter and length of the old ones.
• When fitting the inner joint to the transmission be sure to support it as it goes in to avoid damaging the seal.
• Once the inner joint is located on the splines in the transmission (you may have to rotate the shaft until it ’seats’) use a slide hammer type action to drive the shaft all the way home. Pull back slightly on the shaft and then push the shaft in with a bit of force. Once it is home you should hear a solid ‘clunk’ and the joint should be held in the transmission quite firmly and be in the same position as the old one before it was levered out.
• Be sure to top up any transmission fluid lost.
• Ensure that the ‘hub nut’ is done up tight to avoid movement and wear of the splines.

Just one other thing that you may notice with some vehicles, on the drivers side it may have a shaft that is basically in two parts. This setup is used to avoid ‘torque steer’ when accelerating which is common where two different length shafts are used. As you can see from the pictures there is a bracket that is bolted to the block that houses a bearing and the inner joint of the shaft is located to the outside of this bracket.

The way to remove these is to remove the bolt and circlip shown in the picture and then either lever the shaft at the transmission end as normal or use a punch and hammer against the outer of the bearing housed in the ‘bracket’ to slide the shaft out.

I think that just about wraps it up, if you have any questions I can be contacted at autofix@aapt.net.au or alternatively you can leave a post on the Advice Forum.

Take Care.

For the historians amongst us (according to Wikipedia) the Wolseley 6/80’s were the Wolseley Motor Company’s first post-war vehicles (as were the similar 4/50 model). They were rushed into production in 1948 and the 6/80 was based on the Morris Six MS. The 6/80 used a 2215 cc 72 hp (54kw) straight six single overhead cam.

The cars were well equipped and looked impressive with a round Morris rear end and upright Wolseley grille and were used extensively by the Police at the time.

These models were built at Morris’s Cowley factory alongside the ‘Oxford’. They were replaced in 1953 and 1954 by the Wolseley 4/44 and 6/90.

Back to Anthony’s car, of which he has three I believe, a 2480 and another 680, he has put a lot of time and effort into the panel and paint in a shed at his farm and I think the results speak for themselves. Enjoy!

A job well done, wouldn’t you agree?

We finally have our new cam gear that we were waiting for from PART ONE of this tutorial, so now it is time to put it all back together.

This job can be done with just the basic spanner, socket and screwdriver sets, however here are some tools and supplies that although mostly not essential did make the job easier -

• Single Sided Razor Blade and Fine Grade Wet and Dry Sandpaper for removing the old waterpump gasket.
• Wire Brush Attachment for bench grinder for cleaning up waterpump bolts.
• Compressed Air for cleaning out bolt holes etc.
• Non-Hardening Gasket Sealant such as Loctite Aviation Form-A-Gasket No.3
• Loctite Thread Lock.
• 1/2 inch drive Torque Wrench.
• Tool for ‘locking’ the crankshaft such as my homemade Pajero Balancer Tool

Our first mission is to make sure that all traces of the old waterpump gasket are removed. This is a very important step (obviously!) because you don’t want to be doing the job again because of a water leak. I prefer to use a single sided razor blade followed by a light sanding with 800 wet and dry paper. The housing that the waterpump bolts to is only alloy so I suggest air sanders and the like be kept away as any low spots can be the cause of a leak.

Also if you have access to compressed air I suggest blowing out the bolt holes to remove any water and crap that may have built up there. The waterpump bolts should also be cleaned and if possible the threads wire-brushed, just makes things easier as it goes together.

Once you are happy that the surface is nice and clean it’s time to check the waterpump against the old one (yes parts suppliers can get it wrong sometimes!) and I suggest using a non-hardening sealant on both sides of the gasket, such as Loctite Aviation Form A Gasket No.3. Repco, Supercheap etc should have this on the shelf.

The new waterpump should come with new cooling fan studs and it is best to leave these out until you have the timing cover on. The waterpump should also have two locating dowels that will hold the gasket in place as you fit it up to the block and with everything positioned correctly it is simply a matter of running the bolts in by hand until the surfaces meet. Don’t forget that the bracket for the timing belt tensioner needs to be fitted to the right hand lower waterpump mounting bolt and the spring attached to the tensioner. Now we can do the bolts up evenly with a 12mm socket and ratchet.

Now is a good time to push the belt tensioner to it’s fully released position. Loosen the 14mm bolt holding it in place and either push or lever against the spring tension until it is at it’s full travel towards the drivers side of the engine and re-tighten the 14mm bolt to keep it in this position until we fit the belt.

The next job is to refit the top cam gear if you removed it to replace the seal (or replace the gear as in our case). With the woodruff key correctly located in the key you should be able to slide the gear on nice and easy. I suggest then using some Loctite on the cam gear bolt BUT just hand tighten the bolt at this stage. We will torque the bolt once the timing belt is fitted. To be certain that you don’t skip the step of tightening the cam gear bolt I suggest writing “cam gear bolt” in large writing on a foolscap piece of paper and putting it under one of the wiper blades. Don’t laugh, it is very easy to get side tracked and forget about it, and you don’t want to go down that path!

The next step is to fit the new timing belt. If you can grab another set of hands for this operation I suggest you do as it can be a tad difficult by yourself. I suggest starting with the crankshaft gear and work your way around anti-clockwise with the belt. Most belts will have arrows on them indicating the intended direction of rotation – clockwise in this case.

Remember also that the injector pump pulley has more than likely moved from it’s lined up position so you need to correct this as you go.

The main objective is to have the belt reasonably tight on the right hand side (with the crank, injector pump and camshaft timing marks all lined up) and the ’slack’ of the belt on the left hand (tensioner) side.

Once you are satisfied that the belt is ‘taught’ on the right hand side and all three marks are lined up, loosen the 14mm bolt holding the timing belt tensioner against it’s spring and re-tighten the bolt once the tensioner has moved across and holds tension on the left hand side of the belt also.

VERY IMPORTANT STEPS – first item on the agenda is to tighten the bolt securing the camshaft gear if you have removed this. The correct tension is 98 Nm and this can be achieved easily enough without ‘locking up’ the engine at all. The next important step is to temporarily fit the crankshaft balancer bolt (19mm) and rotate the engine clockwise for two revolutions of the crankshaft. If all is well the belt will be tensioned evenly and all three marks will line up once again. If you find that one or two of the timing marks are not lined up you will need to release the tensioner again, remove the belt (only partially if possible) and re-align the timing marks and carry out this step again.

It is important to do this step as it will identify any potential timing problems BEFORE assembling the rest of the engine.

Once you have established that the timing is aligned correctly and the engine can be rotated with the timing marks lining up again it is time to double check that the 14mm bolt securing the tensioner is tight. There is no need to go ape on the bolt but it does need to be nipped up nicely so the tensioner can’t move while the engine is running. We can then remove the crankshaft balancer bolt to make fitting the timing cover a little easier.

The next job is to fit the ‘disc’ that sits in front of the crankshaft timing belt gear. There is a slot in it which lines up with the keyway to push it all the way on and the marks on it usually indicate which way it goes (belt/gear side and balancer side), although I believe it doesn’t matter too much which way it goes, as long as it is there!

The next really fun job is to refit the timing cover. The job is made easier without the cooling fan studs fitted but it is still a matter of man/woman-handling it into place behind the bracket for the A/C belt idler. Also be careful to ensure that the rubber seal around the outside of the cover and around the waterpump opening is still in position once the cover is in place.

Once you have the cover in position I suggest just ’starting’ all the bolts before tightening any up as it can take some maneuvering of the cover to get all the bolts started. The two ’stude and nut’ arrangements go in the top two holes to secure the vacuum pipes.

Once all the bolts are in position and tight, and don’t forget the ‘pain in the butt’ one behind the A/C belt bracket, it is time to fit the crankshaft balancer. The correct torque for the balancer bolt is 235Nm and I suggest using Loctite on the thread for piece of mind. The specified torque setting can be achieved by a couple of methods -

• You can try chocking all four wheels, selecting a high gear (manual only of course!), firmly applying the handbrake and try your luck at getting it tight enough. I have done this myself previously but it does put a fair bit of stress on the driveline.
• The other option is to make a tool similar to the one that I made for TIGHTENING PAJERO BALANCERS to the correct torque. Rather than welding two ‘lugs’ into the end of the tool you can simply drill two holes that will accept a 12mm bolt and bolt the tool to the balancer. With the dimensions of the tool used in the PAJERO ARTICLE the end of the tool sits just on top of the power steer pump and this is solid enough to hold the crankshaft in place to tighten the bolt to 235Nm.
• Completely removing the radiator and using a rattle gun is another option if you are so inclined!

Once the balancer bolt is tight we can fit the A/C and P/Steer ‘rings’ to the balancer using the four 12mm bolts and fit the waterpump pulley and fanbelts. What I suggest you do is fit the waterpump pulley with two nuts holding it on, adjust your alternator to where you can easily fit the belts and then tighten the alternator adjustment up. By not fitting the fan at this stage it is alot easier for fitting the other belts and the vacuum and water pipes that run across the front of the engine. At this stage we can also fit the A/C idler to the ‘pain in the bum’ bracket – 14mm nut at the rear of the idler.

Loosen bottom alternator bolt – 14mm

Top alternator adjustment – loosen 12mm bolt and undo long bolt anti-clockwise – also 12mm

Fit the water pump pulley and secure it with two nuts and fit the belts. Tighten the belts using the top alternator adjuster, tighten the bottom 14mm alternator bolt and move on to the A/C belt.

The A/C belt is tightened by the 14mm bolt that runs through the adjuster setup and secured by the 14mm nut on the ‘face’ of the tensioner. There are pictures explaining this in PART ONE.

The power steering belt is adjusted by levering against the body of the pump and the bracket that it sits in and tightening the 14mm bolt at the back of the pump. There is also a 14mm nut that has to be tightened at the bottom of the pump. Once again there are pictures better explaining this in PART ONE.

Now that we have that under control we can fit the vacuum pipes that are attached to the two very top timing cover studs and one 12mm bolt on top of the thermostat housing. The hoses should just push on and should already be marked from part one of the article.

We can then also fit the water pipes that run across the front of the engine and attach via a 12mm bolt to the thermostat housing and the A/C hose also fits onto this bracket with a 10mm bolt.

Now we can start to fit the cooling fan by removing the two nuts holding the pulley in place – yes, the pulley will more than likely move out under the pressure of the belts but you should be able to keep it in place enough to fit the fan. Progressively do up the four nuts holding fan so that it goes on as evenly as possible and be sure to nip them up nice and tight.

We can now fit the top part of the radiator shroud, two 10mm bolts each side, the bottom ones can be a bit painful but with a socket and small extension bar they shouldn’t be too hard. The bottom section of the shroud is best sat in place from underneath and then the clips fitted on either side from above.

Next step is to refit the starter motor positive cable to the battery terminal, fit the radiator overflow hose to the radiator neck and refit the top radiator hose.

Almost there! Next we need to fill the radiator and check for any obvious leaks and then it’s time to start the engine. Turn the heater control to ‘hot’ to get the coolant flowing, check for any noises, leaks etc before taking it for a drive and after idling for a while re-check the radiator level. If all looks and sounds good take it for a drive until it reaches normal operating temperature.

Come back to your garage or wherever, another check for leaks etc and more than likely the radiator will need to be topped up after the thermostat has opened when it reached normal operating temperature, and then you’re done!

Although this article has been quite lengthy and involved, the job itself is not that difficult but the most important aspect is getting the timing marks right and ensuring that everything BEHIND the timing cover is tight and properly fitted, not the sort of job that you would want to do twice!

If you do run into trouble you can always post a question on the ADVICE FORUM and I’ll do my best to answer it in a timely manner.

Good Luck!

Craig