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Cimbria SS

sector

Active member
Thank you for the feedback. I will probably make my own as well.

Small progress today. Mounted shifter box and installed axles.

Someone asked me earlier how well the dashboard lines up with the seat, so I took a straight shot to show the alignment. Looks good to me.
 

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Brett Proctor

Well-known member
Don't know if this will help any but what I did was to take the intermediate shaft of the steering column (collapsible)

Pictures are from the web not mine.
ford fiesta intermediant shaft.jpg

Cut the end off on the rack and pinion side and weld on a spline shaft that fit the universal joint on the rack and pinion (I cut that off of the universal joint that I found in the junk yard)
spline steering shaft.jpeg

It fit pretty good in the tubing of the intermediate shaft so alignment wasn't an issue
 

sector

Active member
Took a while to get all the steering components. So, I ended up purchasing two stainless couplers and a stainless Double-D shaft. One coupler has splines that matches Subaru steering column, and the other coupler has splines that matches Ford steering rack. The output end of both couplers is for 3/4" DD. The only mod I had to do to fit this into the chassis is to cut the shaft to the right length and bolt all the pieces together.
I also installed the shifter and started routing the wiring harness. The next step will be making brackets for mounting fuse boxes and the radiator.
 

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sector

Active member
Refurbished rear brakes with all new hardware.
 

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sector

Active member
What type of tubing or hoses to use to connect condenser to the compressor and to heater core. I have subaru oem compressor, evaporator and all hvac cotrolls. The condenser will be located in front of the radiator, which is at the front of the car. This means that I need to run plumbing from the back of the car to the front? Not ideal but not sure how else to make it work. Any suggestions on parts to use is greatly appreciated.
 

farfegnubbin

Site Owner
Staff member
Boy is it cool to see that coming together! I really do admire the work you’ve done either that chassis and engine. The stance looks mean and lean. Love it. 😍
 

sector

Active member
I played a bit with AI to help visualize different color options. Here are the three color combinations I am considering, silver, copper and bronze. Let me know what you think.
 

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farfegnubbin

Site Owner
Staff member
Ooooo! Nice!

I know you were using AI for colors but is that your actual body?? I like the fender flares and skirting. It’s tasteful. 👍

As for the colors, I think the silver and the bronze look great. The copper simply looks orange. You can never go wrong with silver. Some people out there feel that silver is overdone in production cars. Maybe, but that’s ’cause it always looks great. And there actually aren’t many Sterlings or Cimbrias that are silver so, within the breed, it’s unique. I also like the bronze and I don’t think I’ve seen a bronze one. I’ve considered doing one.
 

nbb350

Active member
love, Love, LOVE the Copper! :D (not surprising that I would like it though, considering the color of my Sterling...and my Jeep is Mango Tango Orange! LOL)
 

farfegnubbin

Site Owner
Staff member
I love it! I’m gonna go out on a (fairly strong) limb and say that your body tweaks make for probably the nicest modified Cimbrias I’ve ever seen. Very, very tasteful. Yeah… that’s just excellent. 👍👍
 

sector

Active member
As per Brett's lesson learned page, I created air duct to help direct cooling air into the radiator. I end up using Jeep Willys three row aluminum radiator rated for 450hp. The AC condenser will be located on the bottom of the radiator and fan on the top. The radiator has sligh incline to help purging air bubbles.
 

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farfegnubbin

Site Owner
Staff member
Your fabrications look great, per usual. 👍👍

*IF* you find that you’re having a problem with your AC once it’s all together it could be because the condenser isn’t tilted enough. Many years ago someone wrote that a condenser is different than a radiator in that the contents of the condenser go through a phase change; what enters is a gas and what exits is a liquid. The author said that the practical consequence of this is that a condenser won’t work if it’s laid flat. You actually need gravity (and a tilt) to allow the liquid refrigerant collect at the exit port or else there is just frothy bubbly useless fluid throughout the system. A water (or oil) radiator is different because the fluid inside is always a liquid. As long as such a system has a decent pump, a radiator could be mounted upright, flat, or even upside down and it’s likely to still work fine.

Anyway, the 100 dollar question for a condenser is “what amount of inclination is ‘enough?’”

Apparently you don’t need much. I didn’t do a search but I feel like I gave these same words of warning to Brett pretty long ago and he had already committed to just like 10 or 15 degrees of inclination already and just went with that. And now years have passed and he has recently shared that his car is running great and apparently blowing ice cold AC.

So… apparently whatever the inclination of Brett’s condenser is is enough. (I was worried that it wouldn’t be.) But just kind of file this discussion away in the back of your head in case you have trouble with your AC. And/or maybe we can measure and learn exactly what inclination Brett used and make sure you have at least that.

And that’s about the limit of what I know on that topic. 🙂
 

sector

Active member
Thanks for that info. I'll look into this. The other option is to mount condenser behind the engine like in DeTomaso Pantera. I do have sufficient space behind the engine so that might just work out. This way it will be right next to the engine just like in the Subaru and will allow me to use existing condenser tubing.
 

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Brett Proctor

Well-known member
Many years ago someone wrote that a condenser is different than a radiator in that the contents of the condenser go through a phase change; what enters is a gas and what exits is a liquid. The author said that the practical consequence of this is that a condenser won’t work if it’s laid flat.

You peaked my curiosity Warren
Did some searching and you are 100% right
Apparently if the condenser is laid flat, the condensed freon and pag oil will puddle in the condenser and not make it to the evaporator or the AC compressor.

On my system the condenser is angled and the outlet is at the bottom/underneath side of the condenser.

On another topic
I've read (somewhere) that the cooling fan is only good till about 35mph. After that driving down the road at a higher speed will produce more air to the radiator and condenser
 

peter22

New member
Thanks for that info. I'll look into this. The other option is to mount condenser behind the engine like in DeTomaso Pantera. I do have sufficient space behind the engine so that might just work out. This way it will be right next to the engine just like in the Subaru and will allow me to use existing condenser tubing.
Great idea! Fewer modifications to bodywork.
 
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