|
|
Post by tommydp on Apr 1, 2015 8:53:09 GMT
Congratulations! Well done, Chris!
I agree with Dave. Check the thermostat/ cooling. Perhaps a good idea to flush the heater and radiator.
What a feeling it must have been, to take it for a trip!
Regards, Tommy
|
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 2, 2015 23:56:11 GMT
Well, she ain't going to get painted at college. Steve (our paint tutor) had a good look and was pretty complimentary, but doesn't think we can get it prepped and painted in the time left available. Mikey who is our fabrication tutor had a good look at her and finally announced that it was "mint" and there is no higher accolade available! His suggestion is to get the car properly cleaned and then just blow it over clear coat and preserve her as she is! It would then be "interesting". As for the teething troubles revealed, I swapped over the thermostat for a new one with the "uber" gasket (£4.41 for both - how can you not do it?) and the heater came on, but the gauge stayed stubbornly low. Getting the housing off was (as usual!) a complete s@d. I squirted the studs with Plus Gas and ten minutes later a couple of taps and a bit of levering got it moving.  Uuugh. Horrid.  Shiny. Replaced the sender. Note to all for next time - do this with a cold engine.  That's better.  The issue with the lights turned into an interesting little puzzle. Did the obvious stuff - stripped back all the bullet connectors and cleaned them, replaced a few and replaced some of the sleeves to no avail. I finally arrived at the column switch gear.  Looks all right........  Poke that blue wire - aha! the natural spring in the cable is holding it against the terminal. As soon as the indicator is activated, it just pushes away and breaks the circuit. Unpeel the crimped connector, a quick poke with the drill and a small bit cleared out the remains and the wire could be re-crimped into place.  So, we have heat, temperature gauge and lights which are reliable. Just the running on bit to sort, until the next hiccup is revealed. I have clocked a couple of minor things to be dealt with. The car is not level; she's kipping over to the right. To be expected, I suppose as she couldn't be run until after the test and a few miles. The nearside suspension hose is hanging too low and catches the boot on the sliding joint. It will have to be raised and secured. Chris. |
|
|
|
Post by dave1800 on Apr 3, 2015 0:51:32 GMT
Excellent! Shame about the time running out for painting. No chance of signing up to do the course again to give access to the equipment and expertise? What sort of money does a course like this run to? A clear coat would be interesting to show off your work.
Your electrical fault remined me of one I had on my Mk111 car one night. Every time I put full beam using the column switch the headlights went out. Leaving the column switch in the full beam position and then turning the dash light switch on the full beam headlights worked. That turned out to be a broken wire on the column switch that was disrupted by the movement. Strange it was either 100% or nothing, no flickering or dim light.
regards
David
|
|
|
|
Post by tommydp on Apr 3, 2015 8:16:28 GMT
Great! Hope you can arrange for a repaint. It's a lovely colour. I bet a new thermostat and a flush was good for it. It's important to watch the temperature, so a working gauge is a good thing. It seems the transmitters are quite fragile. Don't know how accurate the gauges are, but on my cars the needle is in the lower part of the N on the gauge. Working hard, pulling a trailer etc it is straight down, in the middle part of the N area. I've never had any overheating or underheating issues luckily.
About the running on, I would have checked to see if it's something electrical causing it. For example the ignition switch. Perhaps you could start and stop it with only a wire and switch directly from battery to coil just to see if it goes away? Also, try removing the fuses to see if something in the wiring plays up? Remember, my cars run on if I have the blower motor running while I switch off. What about the dynamo? I've installed all new wires between coil, solenoid and ignition switch on both cars. Not a bad idea.
Keep up the good work! Must be great to have her on the road! Bet Eugenie is jealous:-)
Tommy
|
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 4, 2015 20:53:35 GMT
I've done two year when we finish this course - that'll be enough. I've actuallly learnt little new this year but the application of what we learnt last year on practical, supervised projects has been excellent. I can't see what a third year would offer me, to be honest. I'll have an IMI Level 2 in Paint, to go with last years' IMI Level 2 in Body Repair, so hopefully I'll be able to paint it properly myself - the question is when and where. Odd, the switch business - exactly as David describes. As for the running-on, I will deal with it eventually. It doesn't do it every time and more often than not it doesn't. I'm planning on getting about 500 miles on it, then doing a full service and set-up from scatch, so hopefully I'll nail it then. Today I got the new (to me - thanks Nick!) carpet set down and it looks excellent.   Note that none of the vinyl has been cleaned yet. I spent the rest of the day making battle upon the rear window winders. I think I'm winning. Got them both moving, now I have to sort out travel and "parallel" operation. Hateful job. Chris. |
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 5, 2015 17:52:02 GMT
It's taken most of the day, but the window problem is resolved. For once, the workshop manual solved a problem.  You can see the bottom rail of the mechanism inside the door.  So, that bar shouldn't be there. And then the penny dropped - the car has been resprayed in the past, so the doors would have been stripped and the winders have been put back in the wrong doors. Moved the n/s mechanism into the o/s door - success. Did the reverse and the glass kept collapsing back into the door.  Broken winding cog on the right. Pinched a decent one from a spare unit and both windows now go up and down nicely. Chris. |
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 6, 2015 20:40:44 GMT
Nice sunny day, so she's had a bath.    Looks much better - an air of disreputable elegance, I think. Chris. |
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 9, 2015 17:10:40 GMT
It begins...... Had a run down to Leeds and back this afternoon to visit Maplins then go for a beard trim and haircut. She ran rather nicely. I then found out that Moss do numbered FS keys off the shelf for £2.34 and as I've only got one set, I thought I'd nip down there and get a couple. She wouldn't start, despite being still warm. Eugenie on the other hand fired up first turn of the key as if to prove a point to the upstart. So, bought a pair of keys and a couple of points and condensers. I've fitted them, a new dizzy cap and rotor arm and replaced a couple of connectors. She fired up first turn of the key. Chris. |
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 10, 2015 18:46:20 GMT
Pottered around a bit today - she's behaving very well now. Suspension has settled with some use, so I've levelled the car and raised it to exactly 378mm. Looks like it's on stilts. I've added an auxilliary socket so that I can plug the satnav in. As it's a positive earth car, this has had to be done the "wrong way round", so I've inserted a 3 amp line fuse just in case......
Chris.
|
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 11, 2015 17:19:13 GMT
Details - fiddly little details.  Rustoleum do a chrome paint which actually looks like chrome.   Those look pretty good.  Tinkered with the interior light and got that going with an LED festoon bulb. Virtually no current usage and no heat. Sorted out the heater box. Heater was jammed on full. Stripped out the cables and bellcranks, lubricated everything and its all working again. Chris. |
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 15, 2015 17:29:44 GMT
Bit of a smell of petrol getting her out of the garage this morning. Took Wife Bus over to Shipley to deliver No. 3 son to piano lesson, which gave me enough time to pop back to Moss and pick up a nice Grose valve and float chamber gasket. Collected No. 3 son and then headed back to the garage. You can't plan for everything:  My float's sunk! You can see the petrol through the plastic. Robbed a float from a spare HS6, fitted the nice shiny Grose cut-off valve and gasket and off she went again. Chris. |
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 18, 2015 23:38:59 GMT
And - Saturday saw us going down to Birmingham for the Pride of Longbridge gathering. The car has run faultlessly there and back, a trip of some 310 miles, which was very pleasing. Good day out, met up with a few members of the forum - Hello Nick! - AndrewA, sorry I missed you - and some of the usual LOCI crowd.
I think the o/s front wheel bearing is not very happy. Seems fine driving under load, but a grating noise appears when you lift off. In some ways, I'm not surprised. The wheel nut on that side was loose, and presumably had been for 10 years, before I cranked it back up to 150 lb/ft. It seemed to be OK. Problem no. 2 is that the n/s front caliper is leaking from the outer piston. Bit surprised by that - new stainless pistons and new seals were fitted. I'll strip it and do it again on Sunday.
Otherwise, she's done the 310 miles on one tank of fuel, although the needle is now hovering on "E". Not bad, first time out - must be a bit over 30 MPG and appears to have used less than ½ a pint of oil. She ran at a nice and steady 60-65mph and was really rather pleasant to potter along in.
Chris.
|
|
|
|
Post by tommydp on Apr 19, 2015 7:12:18 GMT
Great news Chris!
It's lovely when they behave well, even on longer journeys. Just a matter of sorting the wheel bearing now, and the brake piston of course. They are quite economical on the petrol, when adjusted correctly. On my long journey this Easter, I had to stop and fill it up as I thought the gauge had stuck. It seemed to use alarmingly little fuel:-) But no the gauge was fine, it was almost down to 8 litres/ 100 km.
I had a go on the front bearings on my white one earlier this winter. I had not touched them, so guess they were crying for some fresh grease as it had been standing for 26 yrs. Cleaned everything in diesel and packed them with new grease, put it all together with the drive shaft in a vice, and tightened the hub nut again when it was back on the car. They have worked well ever since.
Regards, Tommy
|
|
|
|
Post by Penguin45 on Apr 19, 2015 19:26:24 GMT
Very true, Tommy. She ran well, even allowing for the problems. Sorted out the leaking caliper this morning. I didn't think that the pistons would be at fault, as they are brand new and stainless steel.  Removed seal and found that it had a bite out of it. No idea what that's about - it was a brand new seal. Anyway, fitted another new one, bled it all off and no more leak. Sorting out the wheel bearing brought up a couple of interesting points. There wasn't that much play, but definitely noise. Demolished the hub and found the drive cone looking rather worn. Hopefully Tony will post me another one. The other one was the driving flange.  Groove worn on the inside surface, so presumably the inner race has been turning against it.  Spare flange - same surface completely smooth. Cleaned that up and used it. Finally, getting the inboard bearing off the shaft proved to be a bit of a cow. Previous bearing jobs have seen that slide off after a bit of a pull and a wiggle. This one needed the gear-puller to drag it off.  Anyway, it's all back together again with new bearings and seals and it's all nice and quiet again. I'm taking her into college tomorrow and we're going to get the doors hung and lined up properly and see if we can get the body of the distributor unstuck from the engine block. Then I can re-time her and see if that stops the running on problem. Oh - refuelled and have worked out the consumption at 31 mpg. Not bad. Cheers, Chris. |
|
|
|
Post by andrewa on Apr 20, 2015 8:13:44 GMT
Not bad at all! Mine runs on a bit if I forget to let it idle for a few seconds before switching off - doesn't do it all on Optimax.
Yes - sorry I missed you - POL was a bit of a flying visit for me. Had plans to do Cowley convoy etc etc but various dramas on home front put paid to that which was a shame.
Cheers
A
|
|
