1984 Ford Laser KB - Rover 3.5L V8

[accomotors]

Thanks for the encouragement guys, we are definitely keen to get it out and about. Looking forward to reading about your car there Stevedat.

Got it out of the shed for the first time in months today. It is finally at the stage where we can roll it back and forth (only goes straight forward and backward because there is no steering wheel) so we thought it would be good for us to get it out and have a look at it. Had to push my HQ outta the way up the driveway which was surprisingly easy to push up the hill. Must be getting stronger!

First step was to grind away some of the brake calipers because the nuts on the inside of the wheel centers were binding on them. We guessed it was something to do with them being Falcon brakes with Commodore wheels and the differences in the offset. Either way it was only like a 1/4" and it was spinning freely. The front wheel wells also needed some relieving for wheel clearance when on full lock. Had to use a trolley jack to get it up and over the hump of the hoist and also had to jack the motor up some because the sump was hanging lower than the frame rails. After all this had been completed we were able to roll it out of the shed into the sunlight for the first time in months!



Overall we were very happy with it and it got us keen for the next step which is to fabricate the engine and gearbox mounts. We have figured out what to do and it seems it should be pretty straight forward so the next step is purchasing materials and doing some more welding. Hopefully next weekend but probably not until the weekend after.

[Stevedat]

Looking really good. I like the way you just use what you already have. Because once you get it to a point where you can drive it, it will reveal areas you need to upgrade. So it becomes a long work in progress. Those rovers make over 500 hp with the right heads, plus the low weight.!

[drewowner13]

im interested in seeing what you guys do with the flares?..
i like how low the car sits, makes it look tough

[accomotors]

As always, thanks for the support guys.

Well our task this weekend was to get the motor and gearbox mounted and it seems we acheived that quite simply and easily. We spent about an hour a couple weeks ago working out the best way to mount the whole thing. We started with complex cross-members with multiple welded sections for the gearbox and factory engine mounts onto reinforced floorpan for the engine but settled on what you see below.

First we placed pivots under the midpoint of the front and rear of the car to determine engine offset. We put a fully suited driver in a seat in position with a steering wheel, dashboard and pedals. We then put some oil in the back to simulate fuel along with an electric fuel pump, alternator and battery. We also put the equivalent of an exhaust on the left hand side and an intake and carby on the motor. Turns out we had to offset the motor nearly 4 inches to achieve correct balance. That worked out nicely as it sits as far to the left as the lower rails would allow anyway.



The gearbox crossmember was the easiest. We noticed that the seat mount bolt holes for the rear of the original front seats lined up perfectly across the car. In the end it was a simple cut and drill for a piece of box tube and it was done. Gearbox sat nicely atop the bar and a piece of flat was welded to take the bolts.



Front end was originally destined to be the original mounts bolted to the motor with custom adapters to affix it to the floorpan. This would mean not only making up the adapters but reinforcing the floorpan to accept them and take the force. They would also be squarely in the way of header fabrication and give us less foot room. In the end after much deliberation we came up with the solution of making plates to bolt on to the front of the cylinder heads and then affixing them straight to the outside of the engine bay. There are strong box sections directly out from the heads so we felt a bit silly not noticing before.



We started with a couple cardboard templates which we then turned into steel plates. The plates were bolted to the front of the motor and the box section was cut to length. We decided on using the same 'C' sections as the suspension but putting the tube for the bushes through the box and welding it in. No adjustment was necessary so it was a simple matter of welding the whole lot together and re-drilling the hole though the box. We also welded the nut on the 'C' so removal was more simple.



We will finish the upper diff mount crossmember and cut the tailshaft tunnel as the next step. After that we can do one of many things. We will either put the rear coil-overs in (they turned up from the States a couple weeks ago), put the front springs in (using Commodore King brand springs most likely) or fabricate floorpan and engine covers. Most likely rear suspension.

[Nadz44]

Really gotta appreciate what you guys are doing, in one way when you think about it, this would prob be harder then building a space frame car, when you consider a space frame car is built around the engine, box and diff.... Where as you guys have to cut and shut to try make everything fit....

[accomotors]

Started on the rear suspension this weekend. We put a coilover together and stuck it up in the car between the brake caliper and the body. BARELY fit up in there and the body needed cutting for the top to fit in.



After locating them up in the relieved wheel well it was obvious the lower control arm mounts would have to go. On the upside, the coil over mounts were quite long and the lower hole lined up with our trailing arm. Perfect, we would just enlarge the hole and use it to locate.



We then welded the lower pickups on the diff in the right place and stuck the coilovers back on. Looked to be pretty good so far.



Next step is to work out the upper mounts. We would like to use the factory mounts for the MacPherson struts so will have to figure a way of attaching it all. Just have to spend a couple hours looking at it and it should come to us! Will be a couple weeks until then, next weekend is the All Historics at Wakefield.

[accomotors]

Back in the shed again this week working on the Laser. Been spending more and more time on the Kingswood trying to get it running (it's a hell of a lot closer than the Laser, haha) but I'm waiting on more parts from the USA so it's back to the Laser for now.

Decided that we would get the thing rolling without having to use a trolley jack to get it to clear the hoist so that meant finishing what we started on the coil overs. After spending some time here and there looking and keeping in mind we wanted to use as much factory mounting as possible we decided on a pretty simple solution.



We settled on welding a bar between the upper factory MacPherson strut tower mounting and the rear 'chassis' rail and picking up off of them. We started by making up plates for the bar to weld to on each end; one on the top of the tower and one on the rail. we then made a bar to go between the two.



We made up a couple triangle mounts to pick up the top of the shock. We had measured in the past that the springs had 2" of compression under the weight of the car as it is and figured on about another 1/2" with the rest of the weight, so we simply measured it as it sat, added 2.5" and welded them on.



We then ground away the top of the tower as it had a raised edge for strength. We took the edge off so the plate mounted flush and tacked the whole lot on.



The other side got the same treatment. We had to adjust the height where they bolted through the mounts on the diff (see previous post) as the LHS was heavier with the motor offset and everything. Will probably have to change it again when it's all done and might even need some stronger springs. When I ordered the springs I used their little table to estimate the spring rate based on the weight of the finished vehicle but it seems they may be a little soft. But we'll see when it's all said and done.



Next step is to get the springs in the front end. Going to be a bit of a struggle from what we can see; the spring length will be VERY short. We are looking at a couple different arrangements but we'll see once we get the struts back out.

[accomotors]

Been a couple weeks since the last update mainly because I couldn't get the new, stupid Photobucket to work. It seems it's working sorta now so I've been able to upload the photo.

About all we did lately was get the front suspension happening. We decided to start with just to cut some standard Laser front springs to get the correct height. We had contemplated getting the springs reset real low and then chopping them up but decided finally on a less dodgy route and am now getting our hands on a set of 'Super Low' springs and chopping them. Hopefully once we chop them down to the right height the rate without half the coils will be strong enough.



We also put a set of bigger sway bars on. We got a set of bars off of a VB Commodore from a mate who had them wasting away under his house with a set of Super Low springs for the same. They fit great in place of our current, standard ones being that they are out of a VL.

We are now able to roll the car out of the shed without it scraping on the ground and having to use a jack. Looking forward to getting some more done on it in between getting the HQ going too.

[drewowner13]

How is the laser going lads?

[accomotors]

Hey Drew, thanks for the interest.

Been on the backburner of late unfortunately as we ready my HQ Kingswood for the Easter historic meeting at Wakefield. The bad thing about working on two cars at once is that even though there is good progress to be made each day, work seems slow on each individual car. After this meeting though, we've got some work to do on the tow vehicle ('76 F100), then it's back into the Laser. Next step is to get the steering sorted so we can at least push it in and out of the garage with relative control, haha.

Will keep you posted there but.