RobSA project Bella

[RobSA]

Still using the stock mechanical pump.
Carburetor is the Weber 34ADM.
A lot of the forums I've read mention the need for low pressure, I didn't think the std Bellett pump would be a problem !? Wrong.

I was thinking the return line, just because that's what the XE/XF Falcons had to cure the problem.

Will check out what the local speed shops have in the way of regulators.

When I used a Holley Blue on a 318 (750 vac) with a pressure regulator (Holley) and gauge, I found that with the fuel cycling through the internal pump bypass it picked up a lot of heat. It was modified with an external bypass (fuel injection pill) back to the tank to keep the fuel temperature down. This was for drag racing and street use in Adelaide in Summer so it probably less important in sunny Melbourne

Thanks mate, sometimes I get so caught up trying to get this think sorted without having to drive into town, I miss the obvious simple fix.
Do you think a Holley Blue would be a little too much for the 1500 ? ....

Cheers
Rob

[PR91]

no probs mate.

and come on, a blue...............ffffft!
do it properly and the the pro-comp black!

[oz_toffa]

Rob

How is the car looking for the run tomorrow??

should be a good turn out.

[RobSA]

All is good
Oil and filter changed, toe-in close.
Steering wheel bolted up (not with the fancy boss, but the generic one).

Quick clean and I'll be off (tomorrow morning that is, though if you are reading this tomorrow it was this morning and if youa re reading it any other time i was saturday, make sense now !? )
LOL

Cheers
Rob

[oz_toffa]

It was a great winter day for a run up thru the fantastic Adelaide Hills.
a full range of sedans and one GT. Nicely presented as usual. Well done Mr B

Met up at the Swim Center in Nth Adelaide and plenty of greeting and car chat as everyone arrived. Also camera’s came out and should hope some good shots will get posted soon.

RobSA car looked cool as usual and it now has a very nice Sports Steering Wheel.
But it seemed a little off the pace as the 3 lost cars brought up the rear of the pack into Lobethal

Had a great lunch in the local Pub and lots of varied subjects spoken of before most of us headed back across the Freeway and down South of the city

The Grey Shadow still has a 1/4 turn of freeplay in the steering but it managed to stay on the road and set a good pace for the first group of cars heading home
We lost one car as he peeled of to the right and the remaining 3 headed down Pigot Range Rd into Noarlunga area.

To finish off the day I was changing a front tyre at 10pm on South rd at Darlington
Very glad I had a boot full of tools and a spare with some air still in it.

Now that’s what you call a Bellett’s Day Out !!!

[RobSA]

Bella's first day out was it ha to be a little stressful at first.
A fuel leak and oil leak early on didn't help. The fuel leak was fixed, however the oil leak will need more attention than topping up after several hours

While she got up the hills and was able to drive well enough to keep up with some of the other more experienced Belletier's (first time drives are always a bit nervous for me, how will the car handle, brake, turn, etc).

The lack of any discernible mechanical advance and a needle and seat that is causing some interesting fuel metering didn't seem to hold her back to much.
Tyres were maybe a bit old or pressure to high. And maybe the roads were a bit wet in the corners, though it didn't seem to deter one red Bellett from having quite a lot of fun

My passenger enjoyed the whole experience and enjoyed being scared s********s a couple of times when we ended up in a corner too fast and she just took the corner, quite amazing these Belletts.
I'm looking forward to fixing some of the engine issues and a rear spring and front stabilizer bar it will be unbelievable.

Anyhow will post some pictures in due course, until then ...

Cheers
Rob

Note: the electronic points conversion works brilliantly.

[RobSA]

Thought I'd post a picture from the August cruise of Bella next to a standard 69 Deluxe.





She doesn't really look that low !?

Cheers
Rob

[GTtoo]

No Rob, not low Just looks...well....."BELLA". Nothing standard about the deluxe either. Unasumingly standard appearance, but emaculately presented (as always).

B

[Farmer]

Nice to see Bella out & about Rob. Looking sweet & low - amazing the handling difference it makes.
I've had fun (not so much) with Betty's carburetion(?) lately - wouldn't run smooth on about 1/2 throttle on the first stage, but went hard on full throttle. Turns out I had a 5 bearing motor carb on her 3 bearing motor, which I didn't think would matter, but they are jetted differently as the cams are different. The 3 bearing had bigger jets, so I wasn't getting enough fuel. I had to go through a lot of carbs to find a correct set (people have put in all sorts, apparently) but now she pulls smooth & progressive now.
Getting the jetting right matters aparently!
Cheers & glad you had a good cruise,
Matt.

[RobSA]

Thanks Matt and Bruno.
Yes getting the carb jetted just right seems to open up a whole world of difference for these motors.
The fact that when Bella was accelerating well (as much as a stationary engine will, fixed mechanical advance) she was really nice, tells me that the jetting is probably pretty close.
Will be good when I get a new needle and seat. I will probably get a whole gasket set and do all the pumps and diaphragms as it is still basically a carb that was sitting on the shelf for 10 years.
It is good to hear Betty is going so well.
Mr B's tail pipe on the GT looks really nice and has a really nice sound to it as well.
If fact if the reaction of my passenger (who keep his window down the whole day to hear the bella sounds) and the passersby a whole squadron for Belletts is quite a audio treat

Cheers
Rob

[RobSA]

Here we go the latest Bella update.

Put a gasket kit through the carburetor. Should have done this earlier. Obviously you shouldn't expect a carburetor that has been sitting in the shed for 5 years to be okay !!
Needle and seat - crap and several o-rings fell apart into crumbly carbon, hmmm, wonder it ran at all !

It runs much better, though after talking to a few people who have done these conversions before, I may have gone a bit lean on the mains and idle jet, definitely need a smaller air corrector jet -145 (bit hard to find at the moment).

Oil leak, hmmm .... seems the plastic or whatever it is made out of the spacer between the block and the fuel pump was cracked, how? got no idea, previous owner(s) ?
Made a new one out of some aluminum stock and made up some new gaskets to fit it, will see next time I get to drive if the oil leak gone.

Probably the next thing to do is pull the radiator and have it recored (a lot of the fins are perished and falling off, plus it gets hot when doing 100kph for 10mins).
So that is about where I'm up to at the moment, so until later keep the Spirit of Isuzu

Cheers
Rob

[RobSA]

Got a can of paint mixed to the sort of recipe that is under "exterior".
It's a very close match to the paint on Bella.
However it is not a good match to what appears to be the original "foam white" under the plate that blocks off the original mirror holes
Bella has been repainted and the original colour does show up in a few spots.

So close yet so far.

Cheers
Rob

[pearcesnr]

Rob, your persistance to revive this once thrown out car is what having a Bellett is all about, great work keep going.
Geoff.

[Farmer]

Hi Rob, Sorry the Foam White didn't come out right. It seems that Isuzu changed the tint from the original ('65) that the recipe suits. It didn't match 'Doris' ('66 teardrop) but is spot on for 'Barn Find' ('65). Gary Carter's '67 is lighter again. He has had a litre mixed using a spectrometer and after we spray it I'll post it's composition, if it's a match.
I assume your paint is a bit dark?
Cheers mate, Matt.

[RobSA]

Here we go again ... i tried to do this post once before and got bounced by fb.

Anyhow ... Foam White ... hmmm ... Bella turns out isn't Foam White, don't know why I thought it was
Paint Code (005) reveals it to be "Pale Yellow" !!!! Can this be right it must be an awfully pale yellow if so.

Bella has been repainted but in a whiter colour than is visible in a few spots (under the fender mirror block-off plate).

Dilemma do I spend the next sixty years trying to match the original colour ? Paint it a close matching colour (Warwick Yellow or Pale Primrose; I can get the paint recipe for these) or paint it a white I can live with

Got to think about that, so instead drilled the holes in the radiator support panel to match up with the cold air intake , modified a plastic snorkel to fit the radiator support panel ...
going run it up to work on Monday to see how the jetting changes work.

I'm looking forward to Coona so everyone can see Bella in the flesh.
The drive over should be good fun (I hope, wish, pray !!)

I guess that's all for now.

Many thanks for the words of encouragement guys sometimes it's needed to see some things through.

Cheers
Rob

[mrflibbles]

i think you paint her what ever colour you are happy with, if that is a similar colour to what she is now all good, as long as you are happy with it! having said that i suggest pink!

[GTtoo]

Rob, great to hear you're taking her to "coona", I'm sure the journey will be ok. As paul said, a Rob shade of white is just fine !! GTtoo can't do the journey with you this year though would like to.

AC radiators at 93 regency Rd. will completely rebuild you're radiator for about $300 AUS. Had mine cleaned out and the pin hole fixed for $95 recently.

btw. Thanks for alerting us to seniora Iglio. Replaced engine mounts/rubbers the other day. This is the reason I pulled the radiator. Replaced hoses, fixed some leaks and general degriming. Also painted the fan high gloss red and admired what an amazing piece of engineering it was.

New rubbers were as nard as nails to begin with. Lots of vibro at idle, but a couple of hard fangs and things were bedding in. At speed/revs the motor is like on a static mount in a test room !! GT suddenly becomes "Giant go karT".
B.

[RobSA]

btw. Thanks for alerting us to seniora Iglio. Replaced engine mounts/rubbers the other day. This is the reason I pulled the radiator. Replaced hoses, fixed some leaks and general degriming. Also painted the fan high gloss red and admired what an amazing piece of engineering it was.

New rubbers were as nard as nails to begin with. Lots of vibro at idle, but a couple of hard fangs and things were bedding in. At speed/revs the motor is like on a static mount in a test room !! GT suddenly becomes "Giant go karT".
B.

Not a problem mate, these mounts are awesome aren't they. Mine is the same, feels and looks beautiful sitting stationary in the engine bay.
Same effect with the rack, sloppy wobbly pray you go in the right direction to go-kart steering (Paul's rebuild on the rack helped as well).

For the moment I'm going to just use the can of "not quite right white" to cover the rust spots so they don't get too much worse until the bodywork gets done.
I had been getting a bit stressed about getting everything sorted out until I reread a story from the Dry Lakes Racing group, IT IS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN !!!!!
Took a deep breath and relaxed, do what is needed the rest will come in time and I will enjoy the trip.

Cheers
Rob

Ursula is coming ;D ... though not to Coona

[Farmer]

That's the go, mate, it's GOTTA be fun! Bella will LOVE the trip - How long did she wait for you to save her?
I'm with Mrflib, if you're going to all the trouble of painting the whole car, make it a colour you LIKE! Matching is just for touch-up I reckon. The shade darker patch on Doris doesn't worry me - better than the biff that was there.

B, no Coona?? Thats a shame! We'll miss you, you're allright!
Oh well, Next year......
Cheers mates, Matt.

[GTtoo]

And if it's in timbucktoo, I'll miss yus all as well.

Not before too long and we'll catch yus...

B.