Post by mistersocks on Jun 6, 2016 12:38:27 GMT
Hi All,
Its been a busy few months on the landcrab front, after a couple of years of inactivity, so I thought I'd post what I've been up to!
First of all a bit of background to the car. In March 2008 I bought a Mk3 Austin 1800 auto from Penzance (a journey of about 80 miles). It was reasonably cheap, reasonably good condition and almost made it home, getting as far as Camelford before spitting the dummy out. I limped home, put it in the barn and had a ponder on what to do. Then I bought several other landcrabs, and the Mk3 had bits and pieces robbed to fix the others. It got put into long term storage which didnt do it any favours (it wasnt as dry and secure as I'd been led to believe).About 2 years ago I spent a few days trying to get it running with no joy, then it got put back into storage again. By the end of December 2015 it was a pretty sorry sight, no headlamps, front bumper, grille, alternator and carb gone, suspension down on both sides and a rather damaged o/s/r door thanks to an argument with a tractor.
My mate whose shed it was in was fed up of looking at it and gave me an ultimatum, either get on and fix it or the scrap man would be taking it away! So there then followed a flurry of activity the like of which I'd never seen before, culminating in its first MOT for 8 years successfully achieved last week! For anybody whose interested , heres a condensed version of what went on...
How it looked after 8 years of neglect, non running, missing parts, collapsed suspension, a gem!
A compression test came up with results between 45 and 80psi. No wonder it wouldnt run!
Engine and autobox out and seperated, engine bay steam cleaned and painted. Thats enough for one night.
The handy thing about working on an industrial estate is easy access to local machine shops. I ordered a new set of +20 pistons, stripped the block and had it rebored and the new pistons fitted to the rods, stripped the head and gave it a 15 thou skim, all for £230 (including the pistons), all done inside a week! Luckily mrs socks is very understanding (or she's realised that moaning wont make any difference), so the block and head were reassembled in the comfort and warmth of the kitchen!
Crank was measured and found to be ok, so it went back in with a fresh set of standard size shells
Attention then turned to the bodywork. A pair of s/h interconnecting pipes got the old girl sitting level again, and a few localised repairs on the body saw it sanded and primed. Windows came out (putting them back in again proved to be a mammoth test of strength and patience, not to mention two windscreens...)
A search for a useable o/s/r door proved fruitless, so my fabrication skills were put to the test.
The underneath proved to be very solid, thanks to the original owners regular waxoyling, and just needed localised repairs to the o/s sill and o/s/r quarter. Then it was time for paint!
Before the paint was dry, the fit up began. I've been fortunate enough over the years to build up a stockpile of parts, so some nos sidelights and tail lights went on, halogen headlights and new side repeaters.
Engine back together with the auto box, which was treated to a steam clean and fresh oil.
A couple more weeks saw the engine and ancillaries installed, fitted with electronic ignition, timed up and running! I'd managed to lose the bolt that holds the air filter housing onto the carb, so had to make do with a pancake type one. Special tuning sticker is more than a little tongue in cheek....
And that was about it really. Rebuilt the front calipers and fitted new rear wheel cylinders and four new tyres. A good steam cleaning underneath and a thorough waxoyling, then it was ready for MOT, which it passed with no advisories! Looking forward to putting some miles on it now, hopefully the sun will keep shining. Its never going to be a show winner, and I didnt want to go for a full on restoration, but I'm pleased with the results. Its good enough to turn heads but not so shiney I'd be afraid to leave it in a car park! Mrs Socks was relieved it was done as I've been out in the workshop most evenings and weekends for five months. But then I accidentally bought a project Wolseley Six. A story for another day...
Cheers!
Its been a busy few months on the landcrab front, after a couple of years of inactivity, so I thought I'd post what I've been up to!
First of all a bit of background to the car. In March 2008 I bought a Mk3 Austin 1800 auto from Penzance (a journey of about 80 miles). It was reasonably cheap, reasonably good condition and almost made it home, getting as far as Camelford before spitting the dummy out. I limped home, put it in the barn and had a ponder on what to do. Then I bought several other landcrabs, and the Mk3 had bits and pieces robbed to fix the others. It got put into long term storage which didnt do it any favours (it wasnt as dry and secure as I'd been led to believe).About 2 years ago I spent a few days trying to get it running with no joy, then it got put back into storage again. By the end of December 2015 it was a pretty sorry sight, no headlamps, front bumper, grille, alternator and carb gone, suspension down on both sides and a rather damaged o/s/r door thanks to an argument with a tractor.
My mate whose shed it was in was fed up of looking at it and gave me an ultimatum, either get on and fix it or the scrap man would be taking it away! So there then followed a flurry of activity the like of which I'd never seen before, culminating in its first MOT for 8 years successfully achieved last week! For anybody whose interested , heres a condensed version of what went on...
How it looked after 8 years of neglect, non running, missing parts, collapsed suspension, a gem!
A compression test came up with results between 45 and 80psi. No wonder it wouldnt run!
Engine and autobox out and seperated, engine bay steam cleaned and painted. Thats enough for one night.
The handy thing about working on an industrial estate is easy access to local machine shops. I ordered a new set of +20 pistons, stripped the block and had it rebored and the new pistons fitted to the rods, stripped the head and gave it a 15 thou skim, all for £230 (including the pistons), all done inside a week! Luckily mrs socks is very understanding (or she's realised that moaning wont make any difference), so the block and head were reassembled in the comfort and warmth of the kitchen!
Crank was measured and found to be ok, so it went back in with a fresh set of standard size shells
Attention then turned to the bodywork. A pair of s/h interconnecting pipes got the old girl sitting level again, and a few localised repairs on the body saw it sanded and primed. Windows came out (putting them back in again proved to be a mammoth test of strength and patience, not to mention two windscreens...)
A search for a useable o/s/r door proved fruitless, so my fabrication skills were put to the test.
The underneath proved to be very solid, thanks to the original owners regular waxoyling, and just needed localised repairs to the o/s sill and o/s/r quarter. Then it was time for paint!
Before the paint was dry, the fit up began. I've been fortunate enough over the years to build up a stockpile of parts, so some nos sidelights and tail lights went on, halogen headlights and new side repeaters.
Engine back together with the auto box, which was treated to a steam clean and fresh oil.
A couple more weeks saw the engine and ancillaries installed, fitted with electronic ignition, timed up and running! I'd managed to lose the bolt that holds the air filter housing onto the carb, so had to make do with a pancake type one. Special tuning sticker is more than a little tongue in cheek....
And that was about it really. Rebuilt the front calipers and fitted new rear wheel cylinders and four new tyres. A good steam cleaning underneath and a thorough waxoyling, then it was ready for MOT, which it passed with no advisories! Looking forward to putting some miles on it now, hopefully the sun will keep shining. Its never going to be a show winner, and I didnt want to go for a full on restoration, but I'm pleased with the results. Its good enough to turn heads but not so shiney I'd be afraid to leave it in a car park! Mrs Socks was relieved it was done as I've been out in the workshop most evenings and weekends for five months. But then I accidentally bought a project Wolseley Six. A story for another day...
Cheers!
