TagoraSX

A turntable would have been useful when I was trying to turn the Corniche around, with all the windows completely steamed up because the aircon fan decided to go awol just as the Cote d'azure had its biggest thunder storm in 20 years. I'm not sure how many scooter pilotes I wiped out in Nice , because I couldn't see them. Luckily they had the good grace not to scratch the paintwork.
Might have gassed the villa staff though as their quarters were underground next to the garage and the door was open...
 
Oh, did I mention the wiper fuse blew as well!?
Apparentlly it's the first time it's been out in the rain since at least 2008, not surprising it didn't like it.

Better late than never, or so they say.
Here is my giant head driving towards a massive storm , proving Cavcrafts theory.
This is the romantic idea we all have a of French road trips.

Don't know what's happening with the light, but the hood is up because of just having driven through a massive storm.

The reality of trying to find food in France on a Sunday evening, possibly made worse by them having just won the World Cup.
French idiots are pretty similar to English ones, whilst waiting for our kebabs(!!) we saw retards at this bar jump on two passing Peugeots, needless to say we went out of town the other way- even though it was a one way system.
Which was good because we found this: which would have been the perfect Autoshite Hotel. Pity the savages had bulldozed the R6 , the Nevada, C15, 505 and the Miriafori looked savable.
Our hotel wasn't quite as interesting

The Corniche has had a FTP. It was getting warm in traffic on the way down .
 
This happened on the way back on Monday as my brother was taking a leisurely tour back with his wife.
Waterpump.

Le Flics had it towed here, where nothing happened at all for a whole day- because French.
A specialist was found in Roanne, a local car transport guy was found and off it goes- Transport man is from Trimsaron near Llanelli , where FathaN lived in the 90's- his cousin is married to our ex-stepmother !!

 
Best bit is the courtesy car he was give n - if Autoshite did courtesy cars etc etc.
 
Anyway , the owner called me from Italy( he's driving back in the Bentayga, himself)
To see if I'd be free to take a waterpump down from Hillier Hill in Olney along with some tools so that my brother and I can do it ourselves as French specialist is being all French and talkin about next week.
Best bit is he said if it's a go , just go to the house and use one of his cars, if I need to, I'm insured on all of them- Now, DB11, Golf R . Or my Passat... Mmmm

Evening all
 
i didnt realise how long its been since i last updated this progress is continuing, i managed to get a good amount done when i had a week off last month. i finished up repairing the passange side sill end but somehow forgot to take a picture of it. further up the inner wing was a seam that had blown out that was replaced.
 




 
with that sorted one small job was to the wiring grommet hole, someone in the past wanted an electric arieal so just hacked the hole open and pushed the jagged metal back up when they were done, it cut me so many times when working in that footwell it was time to fix it.
 



 
much bettter, next up was to start rebuliding the scuttle panel upper and lower section, the lower piece had sufferd quite badly in one corner and had rust holes were the water drain in the center is .
 







 
with that done i moved on to the upper section this had surface rust all over the underside with some holes in a few places, i fixed the few holes that were in it and gave a good coat of por-15 with a good coat of wax aswell it sould be good. 
 







 
with that done it was time it put it all back togeather on the car
 



 
its nice to see it back on the car it was alot of work to rebuild it,but that isnt the end of the bulkhead work next was to rebuild the inner wing to bulhead joins on both sides, sd1s really like to rot the bulkheads out.  this was the state of the passage side.
 

 
inevitably i had to replace quite alot.
 






 
i was hoping the end of the inner wing would be salvageable but it was too far gone so i made up a replacement
 



 
i hope this post isnt too long ,next up will be the other side.
 
many thanks
 
Ryan
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

A further update. Not having many tools in France (something I need to address) I needed a test meter. A visit to the supermarket yielded some wire, but nothing else. A trip to the local car parts shop yielded a boarded up shop! Next nearest was 30 miles away, so time for an epic bodge. I removed a light unit off the trailer board for my dinghy and wired that up as a test lamp! After several very hot days chasing things in between bank, solicitor and builders appointments, I managed to rule out everything I thought it was, apart from it being the ghost of course. My best guess is it is one of the inhibitor switches playing up in the heat, so decided that was as far as I can go without proper test equipment, so re-assembled the dash etc and tried it again. Definitely dead. Kept trying at random over the next 2 days, and it remained dead, so I came to terms of another long distance AA recovery, only a few weeks after the Cobra was recovered from Crawley. Friday night gave it one more try, and it started. Bastard! Must be the ghost. Decided to leave it to sulk until I was ready to go home on Sunday, if it started I would see how far I could get and if it FTPed time for the AA.
 
Sunday, 6am and of course it started fine! Lovely drive across France to Yvetot where there is a supermarket with pay at the pumps I knew would be unmanned, so I could fill up and leave it running. Continued to Calais where I was lucky and got an earlier train and went straight through. I needed a pee at this point, so left the car running and locked it with the spare key! I was working on the theory that getting on the train was my problem, getting it off was Eurotunnels!  Of course, when we got to Folkstone, it started nae bother, and has behaved perfectly since.
 
Today I left Crawley at 7am and headed north. The car coped with the record temperatures and awful traffic with aplomb, and by 530pm I was at the local co-op for bread and milk.Went to open the drivers door, and the central locking had tripped so the door was locked. Pressing the unlock button made no difference, so I slid across and out the front passenger door, where I discovered the key would not unlock it either. Five minutes later, with bread and milk, I discovered the gost had been playing and now the only door that will open is the rear nearside, so I made a dignified* entrance and climbed over the front seats to get home where I had to climb over again to get out. Pressing the button or turning the key in either door moved the door lock buttons, but refuses to unlock the doors. Tomorrow I will speak to my tame electrician and arrange an exorcism with the local vicar!
 
Over the last 3 weeks it has covered 2500 miles at an average of 24mpg and used just over half a litre of oil. Not bad for a 40 year old, 6750cc V8 Turbo. Just need to get rid of the ghost!

Time for an update. Had been avoiding it until home in case I jinxed it, but too late now! Left Aberdeen nearly two weeks ago in glorious sunshine, with the Bentley fully loaded for the Le Mans Classic. Half way over the A66 doing the speed limit(ish) and suddenly the engine just stops. As I was on a dual section I coasted to a halt on the verge. Tried to restart, turned over but dead. A look under the bonnet had its usual affect on me, ie depression, so complicated and cramped. Nothing obviously wrong, so shut the bonnet and tried again. Still dead. Left it for 10 minutes, still dead. Reached for my phone, called up the AA app, entered the car details but before pressing the help button, gave the car one last try. Of course it started! It then ran perfectly to Worksop, then down to Crawley where I met up with the rest of the party.
 
Our party of Gordon Keeble, Mk2 Jag, Bentley and Landrover 110 made it down to my place south of LM with the alternator on the Jag the only casualty by overcharging. A new control pack sorted that and after a great but hot weekend the rest left on Monday and all made it home without incident. I have stayed on for a couple of weeks as I have a lot to sort out so the Bentley has become the daily and has coped fine, despite the mid 30s heat.
 
Today, I had an appointment with my solicitors about 10 miles away, so spent the morning sorting paperwork. I planned on leaving early so I could get some shopping on the way, went to the Bentley, ignition but no turn! Aaargh! Tried many, many times but nothing. Decided it had to be the inhibitor switch on the box of the ignition switch. In the hope it was a wire off the back of the switch I pulled the dash, but all looked OK, at least what little I could see with my eyes full of sweat! Gave up and left everything dangling and uncovered my friends Spitfire which was untouched since last summer!
 
It only started first try and my appointment was kept! On my return I sat in the shade of my Linden tree with a beer and glowered at the Bentley until it cooled down Eventually I went back to it, and just for fun put the key in the dangling ignition lock and tried it. Started first try! Tried it several times, all fine, so I put the dash back together and it is now working fine.
 
Conclusion? It is haunted.

Little update for July.
 
I’ve barely touched the car tbh this month. I’ve been busy on other things and the hot weather has seen me lazing around instead of working on cars!
But, I’ve been doing a few bits and bobs including finishing the front brake pipes. The one across the bulkhead, side to side, was a right pig. It’s quite a length and it’s anything but straight so it’s taken a lot of trial fitting and modifying to get it looking right. I’ve degreased them all and the brass 3 way union, and sprayed them with some heat proof clear engine lacquer. That should see them retain their lovely copper colour. Once dried they are now bolted permanently in place.
I’ve also been cleaning up and painting various little clips etc etc ready for them to go back on.
 
I’m off work next week so I’ll try to get more done. I’m aiming to have all the brakes - front and rear, reassembled and the original calipers painted. New flexi hoses on and the final front to rear brake pipe made up and fitted. Then I can fill the system with the new silicone brake fluid and bleed it all up.
If I’ve got time I’ll at least start on the cavity waxing and sound deadening.
 
Another bit of good news,
I’ve managed to jump the queue with the interior!
I was booked in during October for the retrim but someone else has had to get more metal work done to their car so it couldn’t be trimmed now so I’ve got their space.
I’ve paid the deposit. Materials are being ordered in as close to the original as they can find. Seats should be getting stripped down very soon.
Work on the door and quarter trims has started already.
 

 

 
Brand new back boards made up in ply. Should be much longer lasting than the original hardboard.
They are saving and reusing the original vinyl on these trims. It’s being separated from the hardboard, new foam padding added and stuck onto the new ply boards.
Reason being - these trims have that plastic oval shaped trim in the middle which is completely unavailable now. It’s also heat welded onto the rest of the vinyl so it’s never going to come off again without damage. Also the stitching on the vinyl isn’t actually stitching, it’s all done on a press using heat to imprint the stitch detail so it would be very very difficult to replicate now.
I was sceptical tbh that the old vinyl could ever be removed and brought back to life again but they’ve managed it! Shows what I know and why experts like these trimmers are experts! The door card above will just be getting some chrome effect plastic trim paint added to that oval shaped bit in the middle.
They’ve done a very nice job so far.
 
This now means the brown interior is no longer needed so I’ll probably sell that on soon.

Slow progress again today, mostly caused by my own poor prep!
 
The metal brake pipe clips that I’d left soaking in rust remover overnight are now rust free. Dried them off, gave them a coat of etch primer and intended to give them a quick spray with some satin black... which I’ve run out of! Back up plan then. Use the black engine enamel I’ve got left over. This looks nice but it takes hours to dry! Last coat is drying now but I’m not likely to get them fitted today which means I can’t finish the front under bonnet brake pipe.
To fit the rear brake pipes will need the flexi hose fitting, I’ve looked everywhere for the old one just to use temporarily so I can bend the pipe properly but I can’t find that, or the front ones either. So that’s that out the window too! I’ve ordered a set of 3 flexi hoses off eBay now so fingers crossed for next weekend.
Also ordered some satin black aerosol, always comes in handy. And a can of engine bay heat proof lacquer and a can of brake calliper paint (satin black). So with any luck next weekend I can get everything done and permanently assembled.
 
I’ve found the old front pads. These have loads of meat left on them and hadn’t seen much action as they were fitted not long before the car came off the road. I’ll reuse these after a clean up.
Same goes for the rear shoes. They’re clean and in very good condition with no wear at all. Even the factory applied paint and part number is still in place and legible so they can go back on too. These are EBC shoes I fitted a while back but still good. Saves me a few quid.
Rear cylinders are fucked but I’ve got new ones already.
 
 
So today I’ve spent prepping and painting various things, one of which was the steel panel that bolts to the rear floor and covers the fuel filler pipe.
I’ve ground it down and got rid of any rust, then it’s had a coat of etch primer, then normal primer. It’s drying now ready for the Miami blue to go on. It’ll be covered by trim afterwards so it’s not visible but I’ll do it as good as I can with rattle cans. Shame really, I’d forgotten about it when the car went for paint so it got missed.
 

 

 
I’ve also re-foamed my flaps!
I found some thin foam in my model making box. I think it was a cutting mat or similar but this is a much better use for it! I’ve cut it to size and stuck it onto the heater box flaps for the sound deadening that was all disintegrated and missing. Evostick impact worked a treat on that.
 

 

 
This is now finished and can be put back together and back into the car at some stage.
 
I’ve been in touch with a trimmer too. Got a quote now and I’ve been down to see them too. I’ve booked them in to do a full retrim of my original black interior.
The prices for a retrim seem to vary a bit tbh, but I’ve been told it’s something that does tend to cost a bit!
My choice of trimmer is towards to upper end cost wise but their work is superb.
The seats will be stripped and completely refurbished with replacement foam and new handmade vinyl and cloth covers.
Door cards and rear quarter cards will be getting new backing boards in ply (instead of hardboard) and should be like new afterwards.
Down side though is that they can’t do them until October, so a bit of a wait unfortunately.
 
 
Things are going much slower than I’d like but progress is progress I suppose.

Your dad sure gets upset about a lot of things.
 
Has he ever thought about building his own P6 using your various part stashes?
 
That'd give him something to get properly upset about.

Made a start on the brake lines today.
I’ll be honest, I’ve been dreading doing these! I’ve sorted the new kit in order of what pipe does what and labelled the original pipes with numbers to match the new ones. There’s five short lengths in the new kit so I did it that way to avoid bending the wrong pipe.
 
Here’s the old ones.
 

 

 

 
These ones are mostly original steel ones. There’s one short one connected to the T piece for the RH front flexi hose that is a hand made MOT type replacement.
So far I’ve started with the short RHF pipe, that bent up very nicely and seems fine. Then the master cylinder to T piece pipe. Again, easy and went nicely.
Then the long pipe from T piece to LHF wheel. This was an epic twat! Once the long rolls are uncoiled it becomes a right pain in the arse to keep bending it and moving it as your going along copying the original. In the end I decided to use masking tape to tape the new and old pipes together so I could get the profile about right off the car. Bend up about a foot long section then tape it down and so on.
I did try straightening the new pipe before bending everything to shape but it doesn’t work very well in this case as there’s shit loads of kinks, bends, direction changes etc. Its just pointless really.
The big pipe actually looks pretty good so far but one end is not finished. It’s got to simply bend 90 degrees and go into the T piece on the inner wing. But to get the bend in the right place I needed to clips that hold the pipes in place onto the bulkhead. These were in a bag somewhere!
Took an hour to find them, they were minging so the plastic ones have been scrubbed clean with soapy water and refitted to the bulkhead. The three steel ones were cleaned and are soaking in some rust remover overnight before getting a coat or paint tomorrow.
For now then I’ve cleaned the original T piece, this was filthy but now it’s shiny brass. Bolted that to the inner wing loosely and screwed the two short new pipes into it and the master cylinder. They fit very well if I do say so!
The master cylinder pipe needed a slight tweek as it was fouling the servo to start with. It’d likely have started rattling if I’d left it but so far so good.
I’ll still need to straighten a couple of sections once everything is in place permanently but I’m happy so far.
 

 
I do like the bare copper and brass look tbh! I think painting the pipes green would look a bit shit on a blue car so my plan is to loosely assemble everything to prove it fits then remove it all again, tape over the unions and threads then spray them all with clear lacquer to preserve the copper colour! I like the colour against the blue paint. Then reassemble more permanently.
 
So far I’ve found the kit to be pretty good. Only difficulty comes if your original pipes are missing (my rear most pipe across the rear axle is) or if someone has replaced an original pipe. It means the original profile can’t be simply copied to the new pipe and the MOT style pipe replacements are rarely done to a high standard! The shape only basically resembles the original.
It’s taking a hell of a lot longer to do all this than I thought it would too. You’ve got to be so careful with the new paint. Keep everything clean and of course find all the little clips and fittings.

... and I’m home.
 
Which I celebrated in the customary fashion by going to Tesco.
 
It drives like a new car! Ridiculous! I’m worried it’s a bit too nice for me to use really.

This could be brilliant fun - an S1 Elite converted to plug-in electric power.  Remember the Elise-based Tesla Roadster?  Ludicrous ModeTM, anyone?
 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/lotus-elite-project-electric-vehicle-EV-on-the-road/283056448701
 
 
 
Oh.
 
 
Wonder if it's the same seller as that DIY flying saucer a couple of pages back.

Coming along slowly.... outer arch and front bumper mount getting sorted
 

 

 

 

 

 

Right, time for a long overdue update!.
Just a quick one for now showing some of the progress last year on the fashion pieces and the aluminium hatch project.
 
The fashion pieces have been bolted in and I've made up the crossbeam which goes between them to stiffen the transom although this hasn't been bolted in as yet...
 
Fashion pieces installed and Cross beam dry fitted:

 
 
 
I modified some handrails which came off the spares boat and fitted them to the wheelhouse (I think these probably started life as a pair of vertical double door handles on a cinema or similar)
Originally the boat would have had a set of straight brass handrails fitted hear rather than the L shape of these but as I had them it seemed silly not to reuse them
 
Handrails fitted to wheelhouse:

 
 
 
Then lots of time got eaten up manufacturing parts for the new aluminium hatches. Other than reusing the original hinges all the other parts will be new and made of stainless
 
Lugs cut out of stainless bar awaiting shaping in the mill:

 
Ready for welding:

 
Finished handle:

 
I Turned up some punches out of scrap stainless:

 
Finished rubber gaskets to go between hatch and fittings:

 
Bit of scrap bronze shaft turned down in the lathe:

 

 
Finished bronze washers:

 
Completed handle assembly:

 
Fully assembled hatch dry-fitted:

 
Ill try to get some more photo updates done over the next week or so as time permits!
 
Cheers,
Dave

I can see your issue right away, too many wimmins.

How's it going shidders?
 
Not a lot to report on the horsebo11ox other than to say it's off down to Al Bundys at the end of next week to start having some serious tin worn repairs!!!
 
The welding is gonna cost well into four figures but I like the Dodge so much that I'm gonna pay it. Here I am rumbling along at 48mph

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mercedes-Vario-612-Campervan-Conversion-Motorhome-Luton-Unique-Bespoke-Tiny-Home/163124647944?hash=item25fafc9808:g:HLcAAOSw9CVbNKKV

A few weeks ago I went over to my friend Ray's house to oversee a photo shoot with one of his cars. Ray is something of a character, in the best possible way. He is an expert in conservation, and used to work at the Brighton Pavilion in that capacity. He lives in fabulous, semi-rural location in an old cottage surrounded by 'ancient' outbuildings which he has mostly constructed himself over the last 30-odd years out of scraps of building material. He also has a great little collection of scruffy old cars - a Riley Nine, a 1930 Standard Nine, a Vintage Humber, an Edwardian electric car and this fantastic 1922 Albert G3 Sports Model, which is the car I was interested in that day. Ray is quite a private chap so no photos of his set-up, but trust me, it's totally idyllic. The cars are all tucked away in rickety wooden sheds covered in ivy and they all look pretty much ready to expire, except in fact they are fastidiously maintained but kept very much Oily Rag cosmetically.

 
Ray spent the first 30 or so years of his life driving exclusively prewar cars. Eventually, with two young children in tow, he capitulated and splashed out on a modern car - a Morris Minor Van. This was replaced shortly thereafter by a Traveller - this was the late 1970s, I'd guess. The Traveller was never replaced, and has been his 'modern' car ever since. Him and his wife use it almost daily for all duties. They've never really seen the point in 'upgrading' when it does everything they need. 
 
When Ray's Daughter was 17 she was learning to drive, and wanted a car. Quite by chance Ray heard of a Morris Minor four-door for sale locally and went to investigate. It was being sold by its first owner, an elderly lady who had been William Morris's secretary. The Minor had been her daily driver since 1965, but on her retirement she had been giftted a brand new Minor, one of the last made, which had been in dry storage ever since. She was about to start using her 'new' Minor after some years and no longer had any use for her '65 car. Ray bought it, took it home and it became his daughter's first car. She used it every day, going all over the place and racking up the miles. Once a year, Ray undertook a program of preservation on the car - pouring oil into all the box sections and chassis legs, into the sills etc, greasing the trunions, cleaning the underside and generally making sure it was in fine, safe fettle. Like with his Vintage cars, he didn't much bother with the non-structural or cosmetic side, preferring to let things mature naturally and patching up when it was needed.
 
Flash forward several years, and Ray's daughter is starting a family of her own. She can't put car seats in the Minor so, like her dad did, she gives in and buys a 'modern'. The Minor is put on blocks on Ray's drive and covered over with a tarp. Where it sat for five years until I noticed its familiar bulbous shape on my visit. Oh dear.
 
I didn't want a Morris Minor. I didn't actually want any car, especially not one that would need a load of recomissioning work. I've actually been enjoying driving round in the 404, which is now functioning as 'a car' for the first time, and there is a big queue of projects waiting in the wings. Then again, I really missed having a scruffy old car for daily-driver duties in good weather. I really don't need a modern car for commuting duties, but I've gone a bit soft over the last couple of years because blasting up the A23 instead of travelling the back lanes means I can stay in bed an extra 15 minutes or whatever. Not really the sort of image I should be projecting.
 
I couldn't, however, get the idea of this Minor out of my mind, so yesterday I popped over to have an actual look. I'd already decided to buy it, assuming I could afford it, but I thought I should poke about a bit first. This is the scene which greeted me - Ray's daily driver on the right

 
Underneath, as one might expect, it is remarkably sound. Ray put in a new cross member a few years ago and the spring hangars have been welded up to a very good standard. I couldn't honestly find anything seriously wrong with it underneath. He fired it up - running off a slave can as the tank has been empty for a while - and it sounded sweet and lively. Ray reckons it'll need new rings soon as it eats a lot of oil, but it's not smoky in the slightest. Over a very civilised cup of tea and bit of shortbread in the garden (temp was in the high 20s yesterday) we shook on the deal. He's happy for it to go to a good home and he knows I won't bugger about with the way it looks too much, and let it go for a reasonable price - especially considering what totally rotten 'project' cars go for on ebay. I think we were both quite chuffed.
 
Anyway, today we popped over with the trailer and loaded it up. The whole process took all flippin' day because we were just standing around nattering about nothing in particular. It's so much nicer to buy a car from a friend! We eventually got back to the Big Shed and unloaded it. The car was absolutely filthy and has no brakes, plus all the tyres are toast. I spent ages giving it a scrub and hoovering out the interior, which was full of mouse droppings and whatnot. Here it is post-wash. Edison is unsure what to make of it.

 
So, what now? I haven't had an old British car for ages and tbh I am totally clueless about these things. I'll order a set of tyres tomorrow and then a mate is coming over on Thursday to help me investigate the brakes. Hopefully it'll be a couple of new cylinders at worst, but even a brand new master cylinder on these things is only like £100. Although it had a big service just before it was laid-up (including a new clutch) It's probably prudent to do oil/filter and air filter etc before going out in it. Lots of odds and sods don't want to work - one sidelight, one indicator, and the bonnet won't stay shut. I'm sure problems will become evident with a bit of use, but I am hoping for a 'lightest possible touch' deal here. The body it utterly disreputable - it's the nastiest looking Minor I've seen for a long time. The door bottoms - and several other bits - are sculpted out of pure wob. I feel like it would be a shame to change any of this too much. When we were looking at it yesterday I realised it looked just like the Minors I remember from childhood, back in the '80s when there was still one on every street being driven daily. That was when I was first discovering cars, even before I could talk, and I loved anything obviously 'old' - these would have been the most common old car around and, I suppose, quite formative in their own way. Ray said he felt just the same about the Vintage cars he would see in his childhood in the '40s and '50s, which is why he drives a scruffy old Riley Nine.
 


 
The extent of the pog is evident in that mirror! I have carefully cleaned around the larger of the snails and will attempt to preserve it for as long as I can.
 
I'm really looking forward to blezzing about in this old heap. Hopefully I'll be able to get it up and running before summer is over. I suspect my opinion might change after the fourth or fifth inevitable breakdown, but even a thicko like me can (hopefully) get his head around how a Morris Minor works. I just hope I can do its previous owners justice. As we were leaving, with the car strapped down on the trailer ready to start its new life, Ray looked a bit wistful. "If you ever decide to sell it," he said, "Please can I have first refusal? This is the first car I've sold since 1983..."
 

Hey Gang
 
Has anyone on here done a cambelt on a ZS180 or 45 V6? I have been tackling this job today. I have been on it 8 HOURS and its still only half done!!!
 
 

 
3 belts on these. A big one on the front of the engine and 2 little ones on the back. You have to remove half of everything in the friggin engine bay - inlet manifold, throttle body, PAS pump, god knows how many pipes and wires, crank pulley, dipstick, mounts, engine front plate and so on. Its taken me all flippin day to get to the stage where I have all the new belts on but I have not even started the 'reassembly' yet.
 
The bit that usually takes ages - cracking the crank pulley bolt - took no time at all as I had spent £70 on one of these impact drivers from machine mart:
 

 
I had my doubts about this but it did the biz and rattled the crank bolt out in no time!!! fair play to it. Good tool.
 

 
Heres the second rear belt going on. Check this out for dickheadery. I did the rear belt on the forward bank, that went fairly smoothly. Then I repeated the job on the rear bank. Took about half an hour. for each one once it was accessible. Then i looked at it and saw that I had fitted the old belt off the front bank, onto the rear bank and I still had one new belt sat on the bench. FFS!!! SO i had to do the rear bank twice, putting the right belt on the second time. Had a right set-up with spanners cable-tied into place holding the pulleys as I ddint have the locking tools etc. Anyway I got them both on eventually.
 

 
Heres the front belt going on. It did need doing as the old belt was marked 'Rover' and had lots of little microcracks in the (somewhat shiny) rubber - I bet it was the original one. The Rover has done 105k now and is getting on for 20 years old!!
 
Now then the problem is this:
 

 

 
The enigne has this massive aluminium front plate covering the timing belt. It doesnt just slot on, as it fastens on both vertical and horizontal surfaces. You have to 'hook it on' over the belts at the top and then swing it down vertical against the enigne. Of course there is no fucking room at all to do this. I managed to wrestle it out but I spent a good hour this evening trying to get it back in and I'm damned if I can do it. Its just too big and unwieldy, and theres fuck all room. Looking at it I can't see why they didnt make it in 2 bits, the design is such that you could easily secure it with no extra bolts and it would be a million times easier to dismantle and reassemble. In fact if I cant get it back together I am probably gonna find another end plate and make my own 2-piece design out of them both.
 
I have to say, this is probably the fucking worst job I have ever tackled on a car. Its an absolute bastard. Even the Maserati is easier to work on. Absolutley everything is awkward and needs 2 or 3 other things taken off just to give you access. I was looking at it this evening and wondering about whether I should take the aircon compressor off to ease access. The problem with that is, the aircon compressor is completely inaccessible. I mean really completely and utterly inaccessible. To remove it I think you would probably have to remove the oil cooler, front bumper and radiator. Just to remove a compressor that I dont even want to remove anyway.
 
Has anyone got any tips? I can hardly face going out in the morning and looking at it again!!!
 
 
 
 

Headlining Replacement.

Ever since I've had the GTE Its had a horrible rip in the headlining around the base of the rear view mirror, Its always annoyed me a bit but for 7 years I put up with it. I struggled to find a photo showing the rip as I tended to frame any photos I took of the interior to deliberately leave it out.

This picture sort of shows it:



I'd always intended to make up a patch in a period fabric and somehow cover it up. Possibly stitching it to the existing headliner in situ, and relying on the rear view mirror screw holes to hold it up.

With the windscreen out for the respray I finally decided to have a go at making a patch:



After some experimenting i found it was surprisingly hard to get a patch that looked any good, there were problems with the contours of the roof, attachment to the existing headlining and generally how it worked aesthetically. The final versions involved backing vinyl onto wire a mesh backing and mounting it via the mirror mount with an additional mount point with a bracket created below the radio aerial.





After staring at it for a while I eventually reached the conclusion that the entire 'patch' idea was a bit shit and I then took the old headliner down... Committed now!



I"d seen a Scimitar headliner on eBay which was either new, or new old stock. I put a decent bid on it and was pretty sure I'd win it...

Inevitably someone else came along and outbid me, which left me with a problem. Do I buy an new headliner from a Scimitar specialist? Attempt a repair of the old headliner or try and make my own from scratch...?

The original headlining is an uncommon ribbed fabric in my 5a, I suspect its a nylon based synthetic fabric, woven to give the an interesting ribbed pattern. I'm pretty sure later cars had plain headlining straight from the factory, Probably a wool blend (nylon / wool without the ribbing) and were available in black on tan depending on the interior trim.

Close inspection of the old headliner showed it was thinner, more threadbare, faded and and moth eaten than expected, now it was off the car it was probably better to replace it completely.

I spent ages looking for a supplier who could offer a nylon / wool fabric that was a good match to the original (with woven ribbing naturally) and after many sample swatches I eventually concluded that it was very difficult to get something that closely matched the original.

Heres another look at that ribbed pattern;



In the end I gave up on finding a suitable ribbed fabric and ordered the most premium 80% wool fabric sold by Martrim.

My mum is a professional seamstress ( though she's more used to working on costumes for the biggest names in film and television than making car headlining.) Fortunately for me she had a quiet spell between jobs and was able to help make and fit the new headlining. the old headlining became the template closely replicating the dimensions and construction method of the original.



Supporting bars/ Rods



Dry fitting:



The headliner was left for a few days under tension to allow the wool to relax into position and and then it could be trimmed to size:



It was then glued and re-tensioned,



The critical part of tensioning a fabric headliner is to have a person each side to maintain tension as its glued and plenty of suitable pegs, The final result looks pretty good.



After the headlining had gone in I was able to move onto sorting the a-pillar trims and the end result looks pretty good.





There were also some small jobs to do like retirimming the interior light base so it matched the headliner:

Original:



Cover peeled off the fibreglass moulding the gelcoat is black, its actually bare in this photo:



Recovering:



Fitted:



After the headliner was finally in it was at last possible to refit the side windows. The seals were new in 2011 they are not perished but have distorted a bit, The chrome though is quite pitted and so I'm on the lookout for a set of clear side windows with decent frames.









Cheers

Joe
 

Cheers, like any other manufacturer Reliant had to build to a cost and there are compromises there, unlike British Leyland they actually had to make a profit too!
 
The cars have certainly survived far better than their competitors. Tamworth were still offering a a very traditional coach-built product well beyond the point when it had been diched by virtually every other car maker and it shows in the numbers of cars that survived. The production method / longevity were always a big selling point for both their economy and premium cars.
 
That they survived so well has doubtless helped keep prices low, The Scimitar marque remained quite desirable through the 80's and early 90's The cars were very capable and people bought them and used them intensively as their principal transport. The owners club was at its peak at this point and there were a large number of marque specialists, dealers, restorers and parts specialists. Values remained stable and cars particularly the early models were being restored. (people were even paying specialists to restore their Scimitar!) I once broke a car that had had a £20,000 restoration in the early 90's.
 
While some cars were well cared for a sizable chunk were run into the ground, often worn out cosmetically with scabby paintwork and tired interiors. Mechanically they are straightforward but like any car of their era they need more maintaining than a modern, a few years of neglect to the front trunnion grease nipples could easily ruin a set of vertical links and fail an MOT. As they were fibreglass and harder to scrap neglected cars tended to be parked up out the way somewhere and forgotten about. I think by the late 90's there was already a glut of old Scimitars festering on driveways and barns and fields.
 
I think by then the number of people who ran a 60's or 70's car as a daily had declined, the typical classic car owner was now after something for the weekend, convertible and something to drive to a show on a Sunday. The niche for people who take their car continental touring isn’t nearly as big. I'm sure the number of ropey looking cars around subconsciously cast a bit of a negative image among prospective owners too.
 
As a result its generally only as the numbers of cars have thinned a bit have prices started to rise, particularly for cars in good condition. A 1972 GTE in good condition sold in a Brightewells sale on the 16th of May for more than £9000 so perhaps things are changing. There has definitely been an increase in interest in the marque from the continent. Where scimitars are seen as more exotic and perhaps a brisk continental tourer makes more sense? The Continental buyers are generally looking for cars close to factory standard, in good condition which again is not all that common.
 
I've long since stopped counting what I've spent on this one!

Of Batteries and Airboxes Part 2:
 
I knew before I ordered it that i still did not have quite enough space in the box to get the lid on ( it was about 10mm away from the lid being an interference fit with the terminals. ) This was close enough lower the bottom of the cubby box by about 35mm and still have a good amount of air room between the box and the silencer.
 
Fibreglass time (again.) I had to cut out a section of the wheelarch liner in order to gain a bit of working room.
 

 

 
Better make sure there’s room for the silencer still,
 

 
Wheel arch liner goes back on:
 

 

 
With a bit of black primer you can hardly tell its been changed...
 

 

 
I still needed to drill a hole for the grommet (theres no room for a drill from outside the box as the chassis is in the way, and there’s not enough clearance to get a drill inside the box from inside. So I resorted to using the hole saw by hand which took ages!
 

 
I really need to get a Makita Right angle drill for jobs like this. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Makita-DDA350Z-18V-LXT-10mm-Angle-Drill-Body-Only/231673958298?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649
 
Inevitably I had to buy a load of cable too, I've gone for Oceanflex as its tinned and designed to resist corrosion. 35mm² would probably have been acceptable in this application, but because of the long cable run and to mitigate against voltage drop in the end I've gone for 50mm² cable and a dedicated battery earth too, instead of having a short run of earth cable between the chassis and battery.
 

 
I've bought some Terminals to go at the engine bay end which will link the battery in to the wiring loom(s) connect to the starter / alternator / amplifier and all of the existing earths from the chassis / engine. Not totally sure where they will be mounted yet!
 

 

 
I've also got some plastic mounts to secure the cable as it runs under the car.
 

 
I'm going for an under car routing as there’s not much room along the chassis rails for 2 massive cables. Instead the new battery wires run along the top of the gearbox tunnel, there’s a decent amount of space to do this, but access is hindered a bit by the drivetrain.
 

 

 

 

 
I've created a few custom aluminium brackets to route the cable round diffiult spots. The bolt is going through 3mm ally flatbar tapped at 1/4" unf with a dab of locktite to hold it captive.
 

 
Here it is fitted:
 

 
Heres where the cable enters the new battery box, I've added a main battery fuse too as a bit of extra protection against the cable running under the car being damaged and causing a major short.

 
For the time being the battery wires are sticking up through this grommet until I can work out a neat mounting point for the junction boxes.
 

 
Final photo showing the space I've now got which I can use to create an air box.
 

 
There may be the option to take in cool air from the radiator ducting or the wheel arch area. A future project. The car will go back on the road with the current filter (probably)
 
Cheers
 
Joe

Of Batteries and Airboxes... (Part 1.)

In this post I'm going to put the battery in the boot (YO.) Why? I hear you asking!

The short answer is its the first step towards improving the airbox / air filter setup. Anyone with a good memory may remember that back when the EFI engine went in I had some difficulty get an off the shelf air filter housing to actually fit ( the post is on page 3.) Since then I came up with several alternative ideas all of which turned out not to be straight forward. The big problem is that there is only really clearance around the top of the throttle bodies for a filter or Air horns, not both. I experimented with the idea of moving the air filter to a remote location and then making a separate plenum to cover the throttle bodies but I struggled to find a location big enough for an air filter housing.

Here’s a couple of pictures for last year, the first is a mock-up of an aftermarket air filter housing which turned out to be too big to fit anywhere.



In the second I was experimenting with the idea of putting a cone filter of some sort down by the radiator and piping it to the top of the engine. I went off the idea as the lengths were too long and it did not seem like an ideal mounting place; being too close to road grime and liable to choking from puddles, fords and flood water.



I was quite keen on the Middlebridge Scimitar setup which has a nice direct run:



But to do this on a 5a I was going to have to relocate the battery...

The second cubby hole in the boot seemed like the ideal spot, I had kept a tool bag in here but I can probably find room for that with the jack at the front of the car... The current battery is a Varta B34 a 057 /049 size battery which is about as big as you can put in the standard 5a battery shelf. Its been a pretty good battery and there was nothing wrong with it... Except that it doesn’t actually fit in the cubby hole...



Ideally I needed to get the battery down low enough to give me about 25- 30mm of clearance, room for some battery clamps and terminals. and a bit of breathing space. Which led to the end conclusion that I was going to need to modify the box (yes more fibreglass work!)



A look underneath shows that there’s not actually masses of space between the box and the rear exhaust silencer...



Around 3" actually,



Which mean't that to fit my existing Varta battery in the cubby hole with clearance I'd need to take the rear silencer off completely! This is presumably why quite a few other people just put a box or a cover over the top of the battery and forget about it! The only other option was to fit a smaller battery which with all the extra demands on the electrical system on my car was bound to be problematic.

After a bit of research online and I came across a company called Odyssey who produce a thin plate lead acid Car battery which uses a more efficient plate design to pack an equivalent power into a smaller space. Interestingly their batteries are of a Valve Regulated Lead acid (VRLA) type in which which the acid is impregnated into strips of fibreglass. This means they are able to be fitted on their sides without risk of leaking acid!

The technology to make batteries of this kind has been around for about 40-50 years, They are commonly used in industrial applications, aviation and telecoms. They haven’t really taken off with car makers possibly due to their higher costs, though they are often used in motorsport.

The best size that suited my available space was the PC950 Which offers 400 CCA and 34 amp hours. in a battery that only measures measures 250mm long, 97mm wide and 156mm high!

They are pretty pricey compared to a standard Car battery as they cost roughly twice as much!

It turns out that the factory that makes them (for the European market) is in Newport, Wales so at least you can buy safe in the knowledge that your supporting British / Welsh Jobs and Industry!

There’s a video of them being made in their USA plant Here:




And a bit more on VRLA's development here:
http://www.batteriesinternational.com/2016/09/21/half-century-of-the-vrla-battery/

So inevitably I bought one...

Its quite small really,



Specs:






(Part two will have to wait as its getting late and this post is getting quite long)

Project Exhaustion?

I've had the car up on axle stands more or less since it came back from the painters, Its made access better for jobs under the car and the working height is a bit better for attaching bumpers and working inside the car.

While spending some *quality time under the car routing a new braided dashboard earth (the one that runs from the roof ariel to the radio and continues all the way down to the chassis.) I couldnt help notice that the exhaust midboxes were still more or less untouched from the Head gasket failiure last year.
 
At the time I noticed both sides had blown at the point where the input pipe enters the midbox. I made a somewhat half hearted attempt to repair the drivers side with a firegum / aluminum strip kit you get at Halfords... Theory being that I would come back to the issue at some point when the car was on the road, (maybe even using it as an excuse to get a custom stainless system built.)
 
As it turned out  car never really covered any distance and I got distracted by all of the bodywork repairs.

Here’s a reminder photo of the blow on the drivers side:



And an identical one on the passenger side:




Shortly before the car came off the road due to OMGHGF I had an issue with hot running:
 
Heres the description from page 3:
 

You may also remember these pictures of the carbon build-up on the pistons:



And The strange carbon deposit beneath the inlet valves:



I never entirely found a cause for the HGF and the state of the midboxes nagged at me until I eventually went online and tried to find a set of replacements. Scimitar midboxes as far as I can tell seem to be unique to the car, my set were stainless, produced by double SS (who made the entire exhaust system.)

Here’s a couple of overview shots of the DoubleS System On the car.





I needed an exhaust silencer with input and output of 1" 3/4 bore, the pipe configuration needed to be offset - centre in order to get the midbox to line up with the existing system. It also needed to be around 14" in length. There’s actually a fairly limited amount of choice once you consider all these requirements... There’s more choice at 2" and 2.25" but I did not want the hassle of altering the entire system and I'm not sure a 2" system would be optimal in terms of Exhaust gas velocity.

In the end I found a website which offered a silencer which seemed pretty close:

https://www.304stainlessexhaustparts.com/o7x436044-45c-off.html

A tab with it sat open for several weeks while I waited for payday. a speculative £125 later and I had 2 new silencers....

Here’s a side by side comparison new with old...





The current plan is to reuse the input and outlet pipes from the existing midboxes and weld them to the new ones.



I then got a bit keen and cut the old midboxes open....



First glance there seems to be more going on in here than expected, anecdotally GTE Midboxes have a reputation for being a bit restrictive but I had no idea they were this bad. I had expected 2 baffles creating 3 chambers which gas passed through from front to rear.

Instead this is what was inside:



Ok That last picture is a bit unclear, so heres one with arrow to show the flow of gas through the system...



The gas enters at the bottom right hand side and passes all the way through to the back of the silencer and enters chamber 1, the exhaust then enters the perforated pipe pressurising chamber 2, presumably the pressure and direction change slow the gas and dampen the sound as the gas bounces around this chamber, Gas then gets pushed into chamber 3, From here it exits via the middle pipe. However the weld around the lower (input pipe) is the joint that has failed this suggests that the entire silencer has been under far too much pressure.

I've done a bit of reading online and it seems that good exhaust design is all about achieving the best flow possible while maintaining a scavenging effect and gas velocity. There is a sweet spot that achieves a decent balance between all of these factors. Generally, any form or direction change or excess pressure in the system is viewed as a major negative.

Its hard to believe that the restriction on the exhaust did not have and affect on the carbon build up in the engine. Whether its the major factor in the HGF failure is less clear...

I'll finish with a photo looking through the new silencer...




That should be a bit less restrictive. Fingers crossed there’s enough clearance for it!

Stainless Bumpers and other shiny things...

This post is far more straightforward... I bought some shiny stainless (Harrington) bumpers and fitted them to the car!
 
https://groupharrington.com/
 
They have actually been sat round for about 2 years, as it did not seem worthwhile fitting them while the paintwork was rough. All the bumpers that were on the car were showing their age and in places had rusted all the way through. The only really nice bits were the overiders which were nos parts when fitted in 2011. ( Scimitar overiders are shared in common with the Ford escort mk1.)
Heres an old photo from 2015 showing the drivers side front quarter, That side of the car took the brunt of last years deer strke and the bumper was bent even further out of position....



The original GTE bumpers are similar to the Coupé bumpers (1964-70) Which in turn based its bumper design on the Ford Consul Capri / Consul Classic front bumper profile!
 
Bumper Origins:
 


They were probably made by the same supplier Ford used, Pressed out on Fords tooling before being cut down and rewelded to suit Reliant’s revised designs and then chromed.

The end result was Reliant probably received a fairly consistent bumper design until 5a production ended in 1975.

My new Harrington stainless bumpers are not mass produced they are handmade, each one is effectively a close reproduction of the original made with traditional panel beating. This saves on the cost of tooling which would be prohibitively high. As a result of this production method the bumpers are slightly thinner than the originals and are a bit less rigid. As they are handmade one offs rather than a mass produced product they require a bit of trimming and adaption to get them to fit.

Here’s a picture of the new front quarter:



This required careful sanding with a flap disc where the bumper meets the overider. I probably took 3mm off The driver’s side and about 8mm off the passenger side, in both cases altering a square end profile to suit the shape of the overider.

I went for some overider rubber to offer a bit of extra protection to the overider from any movement or scratches.






The gapping is reasonably consistent both sides.



Front bumpers on I finished the nose with a new set of SCIMITAR lettering for the nose.



Overview:



The rear bumper was a bit more difficult to fit, It looks ok from a distance....



but up close it was clear there was a big problem with the positioning on the passenger side. Which had too big a gap



Compared to the drivers side which was too tight...



I spent an entire afternoon adjusting the bumper irons and tightening order and eventually managed to get a reasonable fit, I'm not entirely happy with it and I think it could be further improved but will wait until I'm back on the road...



While I was there I refitted the fuel filler and boot lock, The Fuel filler cap is brand new from Ceandees who were the original suppliers. (https://ceandess.online/presto-75-caps-accesories)

The Original filler cap was ventilated to allow the tank to breathe but as my car now breathes through a valve I went for a non ventilated cap.




Maybe the new seal and non venting cap will help stop the fuel spilling out the back under acceleration...



When playing with the Fuel filler I noticed the cap was a bit close to the body when open



I ordered some O rings to space it away from the body. Its amazing how many different sizes you can get!



Fitted:



Final picture which gives a bit more of an idea of how the bumper gapping currently looks.






Cheers,

Joe