Panther Kallista Restoration: Fitting Exhaust & Carb

The last couple of days have been very productive and the end of the second stage is finally in sight.

Yesterday was spent getting the underside mostly complete. I started with getting the exhaust prepped and was pleasantly surprised at how good the steel was under the surface rust, I had not really looked at them since removal I had just put the pieces in the shed. The wire brush on my angle grinder soon removed the surface rust

Before and after

then a coat of the same high temp paint I used on the manifolds.

While waiting for the paint to dry I cut a blank to cover the hole I cut from the gearbox rear blanking plate, which I glued in place and fitted. The prop shaft was next, this just popped in then bolted up.

The stainless steel silencer looked a little worse for wear as it had made contact with quite a few speed bumps over the years but came up quite well with the rotary wire brush and this got hung on its hangers.

This really is quick drying paint, after only half an hour the pipes were ready to fit, I used Holts exhaust paste for the connections and tapped the pipes into the tube connectors.

You can also see in this photo the clutch cable is fitted, I had altered the connection to take the Granada clutch cable I had bought but it was easy enough to change it back. I ordered the new cable from Bruno spares and it arrived the next day, only a 5 minute job to fit now that I know how its done.

The paint needs touching up but all done, I shall keep the old one as the emergency spare as there is still a good few miles in it.

Now for the bit I have been waiting for the carburetor, this is my new one from John who has set it up for the Cologne.

I started with the emissions plate and heat spacer then the gaskets and hoses.

The far right top stud had to be cut which was done after this shot was taken as it impedes on part of the carb. The throttle mech was removed and the carb fitted in position

then the throttle mech replaced and the arm mech was positioned in its slot.

Once happy it was in the correct position I bolted everything down then got to the fuel pipes.

The original carb had no return fuel line and this one does, there is a tee piece supplied with the carb for this eventuality. There was also a fuel filter supplied, a large ugly plastic one which I did not fit, I already have a good quality glass filter fitted which should do the job if 2 are required I shall get a better inline one only 2 minutes to fit. The tee piece was fitted after the

pressure return valve. You can see the tee at the back of the photo and the fuel lines in and out of the carb.
That was the carb fitted and just the manual choke to do.

While working on the choke under the dash I decided to also get the oil pressure gauge fitted, this proved to be far easier than I thought it would be. The gauge and the choke were to be fitted to the left of the steering wheel the gauge in the clock hole and the choke beside it, unfortunately this side was very flimsy as no bracket was fitted unlike the right hand side so a bracket was made first out of a piece of steel and riveted it in place

The power for the gauge came from the water temp gauge fitted just above which made it very convenient, I first removed the clock and replugged the wires in so I don't forget where they go, this will be fitted elsewhere. The bracket for the temp gauge was removed then I pulled it out to reveal the wires, it was a simple job then of fitting branch connectors from the temp power and earth to the oil pressure sensor and light then a wire from the sender to the gauge.

I taped up all of the bare connectors and put everything back.

A view from under the dash.

And a view from the front, I shall be fitting chrome bezels when I get around to sorting out the cabin. It was very disappointing that the gearbox extension did not fit as this throws my whole plans for the center console radio space out of the window. Re-design needed.

Next came the choke cable.

I had removed a grommet and punched out a hole for the oil pressure sender cable to go through (you can see this on the clutch cable photo) and used this to take the choke cable, a hole was drilled through the dash and the cable threaded through and the pull handle nut tightened with a backing plate fitted.

I could have fitted it a bit higher but on testing I found it impeded the indicator stalk if pulled out and switched on at the same time so I fitted it a little lower than center.

The cable was all clipped underneath then along the heater pipes to the carb connection, I have tightened where I think it should be positioned which does not mean it is correct so it may have to be tweaked a little.

That I think is that for the carb just one more vac pipe to fit to the air intake, I have tried the original air intake but I think not. I have seen a large black one from Euro spares but it is around £100 so I may wait till next month for that.

I have also replaced the rubber fuel pipes on the fuel tank which I had forgotten about.

A while ago I mentioned that I would like to fit a snow plow spoiler but they are as rare as gearbox extensions that work, well not quite as Terry B came up trumps and found one for me. I picked it up from the post office on Thursday but unfortunately the royal mail didn't treat it with the respect it was due and broke it a little. Not a problem as its all part of the fun.

Just a crack in this one.

This one had the corner fully broken off so down to Bills autoparts and I bought a repair kit.

It was not a clean break off but a bit more damage into the middle which had to be cut out, the area was sanded and tapered down then ready for the repair. I first stuck the two pieces together on one side with the glue gun just to hold it together then mixed the resin.

The only time I have used this resin system is on pipework at sea mostly thistlebond, very much the same as this. I cut the fibreglass first and a bit of steel plate then wet the area and laid on the fibreglass then the steel plate and another coat of fibreglass. I waited till it dried then did the other side.