shite cars Retroshite

[brownnova]

On 2/13/2020 at 7:11 PM, DodgyBastard said:

With just a few hours sleep after a 12 hour night shift welding inside a nuclear submarine I set off to buy a car I'd never owned before, a Triumph Acclaim.

This is possibly one of the best opening paragraphs to a collection I have read!

 Don’t know how I missed this in the week, but what a lovely lovely looking car... once you’ve de-modified it of course! Well purchased! 

[DodgyBastard]

RJC_3755 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3760 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3762 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

I killed the Acclaim a couple of times on the way home from Perth earlier after driving through some big puddles, the first time it died straight after the puddle but restarted a short time later after drying out, the next time it died halfway through the puddle and took ages to dry out and it kept stalling/cutting out for the majority of the journey home. We got there in the end but what should have been a casual 40 minute journey turned into a 2.5 hour ordeal with having to stop, letting the car dry out then continuing before finding out it wasn't quite right and stopping again.

[barrett]

My Allegro used to do that when you went through a big puddle (I remember one winter when this seemed to happen a lot). Usually you'd splash through and it would chug on for a few yards before the distributor realised it was full of water and stop producing sparks. All you could do was sit and wait for a few minutes until it was ready to go again. Probably should have started carrying a can of contact cleaner or whatever after the first time, but sitting on the side of the road with the radio on smoking a fag for five minutes seemed to fit well with the general vibe of Allegro ownership.

[captain_70s]

I've heard tale of Acclaims not liking water.

Mine seems to have no problems but I do have the dizzy and fuse boxes tightened to fuck...

[DodgyBastard]

RJC_3769 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3777 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3778 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

Broken already.

[captain_70s]

Alternator or timing belt?

 

[DodgyBastard]

5 minutes ago, captain_70s said:

Alternator or timing belt?

 

Alternator but it also runs the water pump. I think I caught it in time to not do any major damage but it did overheat a little.

[DodgyBastard]

On 2/14/2020 at 10:24 PM, rainagain said:

I’d happily re-home the light bar if you don’t want it. Did I mention I have some 2kg boxes of Sol Gryn  

 

Cool, the lightbar is off so I'd be happy to trade for some porridge.

[DodgyBastard]

Some more progress on the Chevette, wing removed and a start made on the A-pillar repairs, a repair panel was made up for the battery tray then an outer panel was fabricated, after that another panel was welded in position, there's still a few more bits to be sorted before the wing goes back on.

 

 

RJC_3764 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3765 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3766 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3817 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3801 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3803 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3810 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3811 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3813 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3819 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3836 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3853 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3855 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

[rainagain]

30 minutes ago, DodgyBastard said:

 

Cool, the lightbar is off so I'd be happy to trade for some porridge.

Perfect, I’ve got your touchscreen pc built for you as well, I managed to find you a power supply for it. Are you still around the workshop most Fridays ~3-4? 

[DodgyBastard]

49 minutes ago, rainagain said:

Perfect, I’ve got your touchscreen pc built for you as well, I managed to find you a power supply for it. Are you still around the workshop most Fridays ~3-4? 

Excellent, I'm usually there on Sundays but I can be there on a Friday if it's easier?

[rainagain]

Let me sort out getting the pc home and I’ll drop you a pm? 

[somewhatfoolish]

Crikey, that inner wing looks like it's been in the sea; is there much to weld onto?

[DodgyBastard]

2 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

Crikey, that inner wing looks like it's been in the sea; is there much to weld onto?

 

Rust by srblythe, on Flickr

[Mrs6C]

@DodgyBastard - incoming PM for you!

In other news, once upon a time I was the proud owner of two Opel Kadett Cs... a 1200 Coupe and a 1200 Caravan automatic... alas both have been gone for many years, but I do like them and their similar but not identical Chevette siblings...

[DodgyBastard]

1 hour ago, Mrs6C said:

@DodgyBastard - incoming PM for you!

In other news, once upon a time I was the proud owner of two Opel Kadett Cs... a 1200 Coupe and a 1200 Caravan automatic... alas both have been gone for many years, but I do like them and their similar but not identical Chevette siblings...

PM replied.

[DodgyBastard]

DSC_0104 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

I think this might be making its way back to me for a short time...

[BL Bloke]

Good to see the Chevette getting some attention. I owned a 1976 Chevette E back in 1982 and I remember it being a nice car to drive.

[DodgyBastard]

I'm fed up with this shitheap! Going to either sell it cheap or smash fuck out of it.

Sent from my G3121 using Tapatalk

[wuvvum]

What's wrong with it?

[anonymous user]

As someone who once felt the same about a vehicle (and had the lump hammer forcibly taken off me), what has it done?

I was lucky as after ignoring the heap for a while, managed to swap it for something slightly less worse.

[Skizzer]

Don’t smash it. What’s up with the little fella?

[garellikatia]

12 hours ago, DodgyBastard said:

I'm fed up with this shitheap! Going to either sell it cheap or smash fuck out of it.

Sent from my G3121 using Tapatalk
 

Isn't that most classic cars haha I completely mirror your sentiment. Especially having worked on minis in the past ! That been said the Acclaim looks a beautiful example! 

[HillmanImp]

 

1 hour ago, Skizzer said:

Don’t smash it. What’s up with the little fella?

Carb issue apparently. 

[DodgyBastard]

13 hours ago, wuvvum said:

What's wrong with it?

Mostly, I hate it.

[DodgyBastard]

Acclaim now seems to be running fine, blasted some carb cleaner into it and changed the rotor arm and it's better than it was when I bought it.

Sent from my G3121 using Tapatalk

[DodgyBastard]

 

[DodgyBastard]

Chevette Weldathon week 3...

 

RJC_3983 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3986 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3991 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_3997 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4002 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4007 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4011 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4014 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4015 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4017 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4018 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4029 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4030 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4036 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4042 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4048 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4051 by srblythe, on Flickr

RJC_4069 by srblythe, on Flickr

 

 

The funny thing is, all that time spent making the panels similar to how it came out of the factory and nobody will ever see it when the wing goes back on...

[Zelandeth]

Some bloody good progress there.

 

Don't these Acclaims have a really strange (and generally impossible to find rebuild kits for) carb on them?

[captain_70s]

45 minutes ago, Zelandeth said:

Some bloody good progress there.

 

Don't these Acclaims have a really strange (and generally impossible to find rebuild kits for) carb on them?

Rebuild kits are essentially unobtainable, some bits can be cobbled together from Honda motorcycle kits, NOS carbs are often more expensive than the cars and suffer the same perished rubber. I'm going to stick a weber on mine if the stock twins become un-serviceable...

Yours looks like it runs smoother than mine, which bogs down a bit north of 5,000rpm + it has a sunroof and a dipping rear view mirror - because posh.