Project The Austin 2dr 1100 story - Part IV - Now in sharleys hands

[SiC]

dont cap it completely sealed, it needs to have a drain hole at the bottom, from factory it was a 1/2 inch square that was around 1 1/2 long. Otherwise the wing will have no where to drain too.

Yeah ... I forgot about that. Well I didn't and I left bits pulled out between the membrane and sill for draining. Except I did that a couple of weeks ago and when I welded it up, I forgot what they were there for. So I flattened those bits up and welded them.

 

Oops!

 

I'll just have to drill some holes in the sill for drainage purposes. I was planning to do that anyway so I can get Dynax tubes or similar to line the insides with protection.

[PhilA]

from factory it was a 1/2 inch square that was around 1 1/2 long.

When did BMC employ Escher?

 

Phil

[Remspoor]

RE painting. Personally I would hand paint rather than leave it to hope. yes there will be brush marks but these can be rubbed down when the weather is better then sprayed.

Tips for warming up spray cans.

A bowl of very hot water and dip the spray can in for a short while never over heat. Or use a thermal belt from a beer making kit to gently warm the can.

[sharley17194]

lost on me!

 

When did BMC employ Escher?

Phil

[Remspoor]

lost on me!

The interweb here.

 

[DodgeRover]

lost on me!

The 1/2" square hole that's an inch and a half long bit.

[sharley17194]

Sic understood me, only a ADO16 nut will get it! Theres a random shaped hole from the factory at the end of the sill. Its to help rot them out faster in future or let the water out that will def get in....one or the other.

[Eddie Honda]

The front end of the sill tapers in behind the wing and is open-ended originally, I would sketch it out as I can't find a photo, but if you look at the top ends of these..

 

[SiC]

Yeah mine is aftermarket sills and don't have that stepped section.

 

So the front of the sill was always open to the elements? I guess there was a reasonably good reason they did that? (Apart from making it likely to rust and thus planned obsolescence - an Issigonis specialty)

[PhilA]

I think it was to let the balmy summer breeze through and dry out the inside of the sill.

 

Haha

 

 

 

Phil

[purplebargeken]

More like barmy tbh but hey ho.

[purplebargeken]

Anyone remember that rectangular recess at the front of XJ40 sills, rear of the inner wheel arch, covered by a plastic shield that kept the damp mud all nicely damp and aided rotting?

[SiC]

I was supposed to be tidying the garage tonight. Instead I cleaned up my clutch cover with degreaser, a scraper, sandpaper and wirewool.

 

Any recommendations on paint that is suitable for painting engines and the like with? I think I'll go Morris Green with this. Like everyone else does in this world when painting an A-Series...

[Eddie Honda]

Keep buffing to a mirror finish?

 

Por15 do engine enamel in black, if you really have to go out-of-period then mibbie Austin Healey Green would be BMC-enough?

 

I don't recall the ally parts being painted, just the block/head??? Isn't ally a bit of an arse to get paint to stick to anyway?

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

The entire engine was green with the coil and distributor being added after. Land Rover Bronze green is very close.

[Eddie Honda]

Might have been in BMC days, but this is a 1971/2 BL one.

 

BLACK.

 

[SiC]

Might have been in BMC days, but this is a 1971/2 BL one.

 

BLACK.

 

Yes the aluminium parts are likely not painted and the block is painted black when it came out of the factory - like it is now.

 

 

But I want it Green.

 

 

Or failing that, purple to upset the purists and a nod to this cars history.

[sharley17194]

Paint it what ever colour you like. I find if you paint engine enamel then heat proof clear coat it last much longer. The VHT pruple paint in a spray tin is good stuff, i did an engine that colour once.

 

Factory would have been black and just the block only, earlier cars seemed to be painted all over. 

Yes the aluminium parts are likely not painted and the block is painted black when it came out of the factory - like it is now.


But I want it Green.


Or failing that, purple to upset the purists and a nod to this cars history.

[holbeck]

I'm ashamed to say I painted my 1300GT engine 'plant machinery' Yellow. Although the rocker cover remained black.

 

T'was 1988 mind.

[Parky]

If you paint it red it will go faster

[panhard65]

Paint it gold and pretend it had a new engine back in the 80's

[DSdriver]

A good dose of acid alloy wheel cleaner first gets all the grime out of the alumimium pores. Do it outdoors though as the acid vapour will rust all the mild steel surfaces in your garage/workshop.

[SiC]

I'm actually pondering about painting the aluminium bits silver now. Then doing the block a different colour. Probably end up something like John Deere green as its cheap to get from a farm type place.

[SiC]

Paint it gold and pretend it had a new engine back in the 80's

The engine cover is/was gold at some point!

 

 

Hmm ... Maybe a gold rocker cover with a black block might look quite nice?

[Eddie Honda]

If you paint it red it will go faster

Indeed it does

 

 

PHACT!

[Eddie Honda]

The giffer that owned mine painted everything duck egg blue.

 

 

 

It wasn't fast.

[PhilA]

I always liked the light-ish green used on Austin-Healey engines.

 

 

Phil

[busmansholiday]

Go for a real 70's psychedelic look and paint each individual part (ie block, head, sump etc) a different colour. That would seriously piss off the boring old farts.

[Mally]

No, I'd quite like that.

[SiC]

Mrs SiC was puking her guts out this morning, so any thoughts of us going out together were quickly eradicated. But it does mean that this afternoon I've had a chance to crack on with more 1100 stuff.

 

Didn't start great as pulling my welding cart out of the garage did this.

 

There is a two inch lip at the edge of my garage and I don't think the cart is especially designed to be kept being dropped down like this. Luckily I can now weld, so in theory I should be able to fix it. Reality is that I cba, so it'll carry on getting worse until it can't be dragged out anymore.

 

First order of the day was capping off the sill. So according to Sharley above, this was never capped off out of the factory. I could leave it like that as the factory must had a reason for doing this. But then these things rust like buggery, so probably no bad thing to seal off bits that are open directly to the elements.

 

Cut a bit up to fit.

 

Tacked and then run a couple of beads on. This went on remarkably easy. I filled the corner up with several runs of beads on top of each other. I'm getting pretty good at this as some of this metal is so thin, I'm always blowing holes in it!

 

Then wizzed over with a flap disc to finish off. I'm quite happy how this has gone.

 

Now I keep getting people panicking that I'm not protecting the metal after welding. I usually do put paint on, but it's after I've taken photos. Also I keep using zinc rich primer which doesn't photograph too well. This time I decided to use red oxide.

 

Also sprayed a bit further a long too.

 

Put the subframe mount back on finally. This was damn fiddly and ended up taking longer than that end plate!

 

I'm now at quite a big point. The drivers side floor is in, drivers side membrane & sill is now replaced, subframe mounting plate repaired + replaced and the rear wing attached together in a vague fashion. So after at least 3-4 months cocked on her side, Penelope finally now has all four wheels back on the floor.

 

Remarkably the hydrolastic suspension is still keeping it reasonably level and doesn't appear to lost any fluid. I have new valves to go on at some point which I'm hoping will cure the leak it had. For now it'll stay as is.

 

Under the bonnet I started cleaning off the bulkhead of old paint and filler 3+ months ago. Unfortunately some of the welds from where the bulkhead was reattached after previous work in the heater box area haven't held up to my poking and prodding. As I just shut the bonnet after cleaning the metal up and didn't protect it, it's inevitably gone rusty. My bad.

 

 

I did hope that I could just run a few beads along to just reattach the bits of bulkhead metal. However after cleaning up the rust that has developed I don't think I'll be able to do that anymore.

 

So I ended up going a bit vicious with the flap discs and grinding discs until I had broken off a lot of the bulkhead metal.

 

It doesn't look too difficult a shape to just put some new plates on, so that's likely what I'll just do. The old bulkhead metal is pretty buggered and wonky. I think it'll end up just a big mess if I try welding those bits back on again.

 

After nearly 2 hours grinding, sanding and cleaning that bulkhead I'm fooked. Time to pack up and get something to eat methinks.

 

Weather tomorroe unfortunately doesn't look too great for more weldings though.