Dicky’s Disastrous Debris - free Somerset gets brakes, 15/1/24

[wuvvum]

Surprised to hear you've sold the Somerset but it sounds like it's gone to a good home.  It should make a great first classic, I was really impressed with it when I drove it - the 1489 engine makes it so much more usable than a standard one.

Tractor looks fantastic, I'm mildly jealous of that one!

[Angrydicky]

5 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

Surprised to hear you've sold the Somerset but it sounds like it's gone to a good home.  It should make a great first classic, I was really impressed with it when I drove it - the 1489 engine makes it so much more usable than a standard one.

Tractor looks fantastic, I'm mildly jealous of that one!

I bumped into the seller of the tractor over the weekend, he apologised for the delay and said it should be delivered some point this week!

[MarinaJosh]

Very jealous of the Nuffield. I drove a friend's one recently and it was great fun, I'd seriously love a vintage tractor. Just not quite sure what I'd do with it!

[Angrydicky]

12 hours ago, MarinaJosh said:

Very jealous of the Nuffield. I drove a friend's one recently and it was great fun, I'd seriously love a vintage tractor. Just not quite sure what I'd do with it!

Cheers Josh. You should buy one! I’ve got no use for one either. Just got offered it and thought why not, it’s something a bit different! I have since seen that you can buy PTO driven saw benches which might be worth getting, for cutting up firewood (and possibly losing a limb or two in the process!)

[somewhatfoolish]

If you have a wood burning stove a log splitter might be a useful too.

[Angrydicky]

Oh well I didn’t last long without a Somerset in my life, even if I didn’t want another one!

Just minding my own business at home when I had some awful pictures of a Somerset wedged in the back of a garage appear on my WhatsApp, followed by the caption “want a car?”

My mate then rang me and just as I said “not really in the market for another Somerset if I’m honest” he replied saying “it’s free”.

My mate breaks these cars and a club member rang him and asked if he was interested in it to break for spares.

As you can see it is far too good for that fate so he offered me first refusal on it.

I rang the owner and immediately hot footed it down to Bedfordshire in a recovery truck to go and pick it up.

First impressions are it’s pretty good. The bodywork and interior are tidy though not mint, it still has its original plate and it’s very solid and nicely painted underneath. Definitely a much better body than my old one.

The catch is, that the engine is seized. It’s overheated big time and blown the head gasket. The previous owner had already done the head gasket and had the head skimmed and converted to unleaded, now it’s gone again so he got fed up with it. All he ever managed in it was to drive around the block.

Radiator looks to be completely blocked solid so that’s probably the cause of the overheating issues.

I’ll probably chuck a B series in, maybe a 1622 if I can find one.

Anyway, I’ve never had a free car before, and as free cars go it’s pretty good, that’s why I moved quickly on it.

[Westbay]

That's lovely, well done 👍

 

ps MGB + Overdrive please 

[Angrydicky]

34 minutes ago, Westbay said:

That's lovely, well done 👍

 

ps MGB + Overdrive please 

Thanks. I would like to retain the column change and original box, due to the length of the overdrive gearbox it’s pretty much out of the question to use in a Somerset as the lever would be right between the seats (which are very close together). It’s quite easy to mate a B series to the original box using the original clutch, flywheel and backplate. Think it needs a couple of extra holes drilling in the backplate.

The 1500/1622 conversion has been done several times before but I only know of one 1800 powered counties car which is an A40 van. I don’t know how much more difficult that is. The hardest bits are modifying the front crossmember and the gearbox crossmember to fit the B series in as it’s about 3” longer or something.

I must admit having that amount of power in a Somerset is tempting!

[wuvvum]

Oh wow!  That's quite a score there, nice work!

[Westbay]

10 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

Thanks. I would like to retain the column change and original box, due to the length of the overdrive gearbox it’s pretty much out of the question to use in a Somerset as the lever would be right between the seats (which are very close together). It’s quite easy to mate a B series to the original box using the original clutch, flywheel and backplate. Think it needs a couple of extra holes drilling in the backplate.

The 1500/1622 conversion has been done several times before but I only know of one 1800 powered counties car which is an A40 van. I don’t know how much more difficult that is. The hardest bits are modifying the front crossmember and the gearbox crossmember to fit the B series in as it’s about 3” longer or something.

I must admit having that amount of power in a Somerset is tempting!

Apologies, forgot they were column change ...

[Spottedlaurel]

Nice one, it couldn't have gone to a better home. What a great early Christmas present!

Good luck with it.

[Angrydicky]

Well bugger me with a fish fork. After a couple of hours spannering yesterday this old crate was up and running!

I whipped the plugs out first and tried turning the engine on the handle. It was indeed locked up. I then rocked the car in gear, just to see what would happen and after a few attempts the engine freed off! I tried turning it again and did a few full revolutions with the handle, there were no nasty noises or tight spots so at least the bottom end seemed ok, there were no broken conrods or anything like that.
With the engine free, I put a battery on it to see what worked. And that was everything except one headlight and the fuel gauge, which the previous owner told me about. I’m pretty sure the only thing stopping the engine turning was the starter as it jammed up again and we had to rock it once more. But since then, and with the addition of the very powerful big Bosch battery from the Hampshire, it’s been ok. A bit noisy but it does work ok. Needs a good strip, clean and lube I reckon.

Spinning the engine over on the starter with the plugs out allowed me to quickly get a healthy oil pressure on the gauge. I then did a compression test. The results were: 125, 125, 130, 0.

Bugger, looks like it is indeed the head gasket. But wait a minute, could it just be a valve stuck? I whipped the rocker cover off and admired the very clean rocker shaft and springs. Turning the engine on the handle again revealed a stuck inlet valve on no. 4 cylinder, but I could see it was actually closing slowly of its own accord. The sort of thing that would almost certainly sort itself out with a bit of use. I don’t know how long it’s been standing but the last fella bought it in 2017 and I reckon it must have been at least five years since it last ran. 
I jacked up the back end and drained about 2 gallons of very stale petrol out of the tank, however, it was quite clean. Put a gallon of fresh in there.

Took the float bowl off the carb, expecting it to be full of the usual rust but it was actually very clean, it even had traces of lead from the old four star petrol in there. I removed all the jets and blew through them, two very fine ones were blocked.

Put it back together, then took the fuel pipe off the carb and manually primed the pump to flush all the old petrol through. 

Then I checked for a spark. Got a very healthy spark on one cylinder, so put the plugs and leads back in and gave it a whirl. 
After a few churns it started coughing, I gave it a bit more choke and it fired up and actually didn’t sound too bad!!

I had a quick drive up and down the driveway in it. It seems pretty good. It was a bit awkward for me to drive as I’m a lanky 6 footer and I couldn’t get the drivers seat back far enough due to the mechanism being seized. The carb is leaking petrol and it’s reluctant to idle (probably connected) the valve clearances are way too big and it’s got the wrong spark plugs in. The brakes are binding. The column change was a bit sticky and it kept trying to go into reverse when I went for 2nd, but that seems to have freed off as it’s fine now. It didn’t even overheat, but the clogged radiator does need sorting, also I need to reinstate the heater which has been bypassed for some reason. If the matrix leaks I can get another used one cheaply.

Now I know it’s worth doing, I’ll give it a service and grease up, sort out the issues and it should be back on the road very soon indeed.

Chuffed to bits with this one. 
 

 

[somewhatfoolish]

Winnar. There isn't a prize for Luckiest Shiter of the Year(old autoshite section), but if there was you've just won it.

[LightBulbFun]

talk about Christmas miracles! Awesome stuff  

[Matty]

Sounds really well. Smooth as silk.

[lesapandre]

It 'sits' very nicely. Looks a really decent car and very tidy. Great fun!

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Good to see the car with an appropriate custodian - what a barg though!

Great work with the recommissioning so far.

[Angrydicky]

Some more pictures including some of the interior. I’ve cleaned up the steering wheel and it’s come up quite nicely. 
The top of the dash is the only original paint I’ve found so far. I think it’s Windsor Grey which was one of Austin’s commemorative Coronation colours.

[Morris 63]

Incredible that the previous owner wanted to part it out; looks lovely. 

Mind you, I guess we've all been there before with projects.

[Angrydicky]

The tractor is here! Yes it looks rough but to be honest it’s solid and very original with virtually no previous owner bodges which is quite remarkable.

A good pressure wash brought it up quite well!

[timolloyd]

Lovely! Where’s the post-pressure wash picture? 😆

[BorniteIdentity]

There really ought to be an AS award for this sort of stuff. How does one go about having an oily rag engraved?

The leather in the car is of the sort you simply don’t get any more, anywhere. And the tractor? Totally ace. 

[Supernaut]

My life goal is to become a Scottish analogue of Angrydicky. However I'm a 5'6" short-arse.

I will say that I'm mildly appalled by somebody actually washing a tractor. It's just not the done thing!

[Angrydicky]

I think I’m starting* to get a reputation as a hoarder who will gladly take on any old rusty shit people want rid of.

So, the Somerset. The carb was pretty well worn out. With these Zeniths the throttle spindle wears, causing air leaks and poor running. The body also distorts when the float chamber screws are over tightened causing fuel leaks. This one was dreadful with a very sloppy spindle, and was pissing out petrol all over the place.

A mate of mine who owed me a favour, happily volunteered the carb from his Somerset spares car he has in his garden. He said it was seized but this is a good sign. If it’s seized solid it can’t be worn out! This turned up and it didn’t take too much effort to strip and free everything off. Built it up with a new gasket set.

Unfortunately at some point the thread for the vac advance had been stripped so I had to fit an insert in there. It’s a standard M6 thread; for some reason Zenith used metric threads on their carbs. I didn’t take any pictures of the repair so you’ll just have to imagine it.

With that back on, it ran so much better. After a bit of fine tuning it now starts easily and will actually idle now whereas before it needed the choke pulled out a bit.

I fixed the non-functioning fuel sender. It was in a right old state, not only was the arm seized and the float full of petrol, but there were a couple of holes in the body which had allowed petrol to seep into the resistor housing. The resistor was broken, first time I’ve seen that.

Fortunately I had a spare Cambridge one in stock, and the Cambridge ones always survive better because they’re mounted in the top of the tank inside the boot, rather than the Somerset which is in the side of the tank under the car and they always get corroded from all the road dirt getting thrown up at it. All it needed was a tweak of the arm to match the bend in the Somerset one and it now works a treat, lovely.

I then got started on the brakes. They were absolutely dreadful, not much pedal and pulling to one side. I found three of the wheel cylinders and the master cylinder were leaking, the other three were seized. The handbrake mechanism on one side was seized solid and I had to resort to a hammer and punch to remove the little actuators from the back of the wheel cylinder. (This should be greased). The linings were contaminated which is a shame as they didn’t look like they had done anything but nonetheless I didn’t want to have to do the job twice so I sent them off to a firm in Norwich called Charles Johnson I’ve used a few times now. Their green lining material is, in my opinion, on par with original asbestos linings in terms of efficiency. They turned them around in only a couple of days so nice and quick too. Shoes aren’t available new for these so relining is the only option.

I stripped the cylinders and sent all the bodies off for resleeving in stainless steel. The previous owner said he had rerubbered them but they had carried on leaking. The bores weren’t great on them.

Having got those back, I then built them all up using new seal kits. I cleaned all the pistons, springs and other bits in my little ultrasonic cleaner and polished up the pistons and handbrake bits on a wire wheel. It all came out quite well.

Got everything back together. Fitted new flexi hoses because they are cheap and the ones on there were incorrect (too long) and over 25 years old. The pipework has all been replaced in copper already so that was fine.

Bled the system using my Sealey VS820 pressure bleeder, a fantastic piece of kit I bought from someone on here, unfortunately I can’t remember who. It fits the reservoir on these Austins and it’s really easy to use, chuck a couple of litres of fluid in it, make sure it’s sealed, pump up to 10psi and you can then open each nipple in turn and it forces all the air out without loads of tedious pedal pumping. These master cylinders are notoriously difficult to bleed conventionally, so this piece of kit is so useful. It’s the third Somerset I’ve used it on now, plus the Hampshire. I really need to invest in the box of different adaptors so I can use it on MOAR cars. Saves loads of time.

I then went around adjusting the brakes and faffing around trying to get the handbrake to work, the problem was that the cable has stretched, I’ve nipped it up to the limit of its adjustment and it’s acceptable now but a few more clicks than I really wanted. 
I’ve had a quick test drive and the brakes are superb, pulling up sharply and in a straight line, so I’m well pleased with that.

Flushed with success, I then fitted my new wing mirrors. Period style Tex mirrors always look good on these cars and it’s a lot safer driving them on the road when you’re not relying solely on the tiny rear view mirror to see behind you.

I got really lucky, I managed to buy a joblot of Somerset spares from a former owner, as well as a lot of other stuff I got a lovely set of nos overriders and nice hubcaps. 
The front overriders were missing and closer inspection revealed the bumper was kinked in the middle and the mounting irons were bent, hence the downward stance.

I bought a set of good used irons, a pair of trafficators and associated mountings, and a few other bits from my mate who does the spares for the Austin counties car club. I asked him if he had a decent front bumper and he replied saying he had a nos one he had recently found in his loft!!! No it wasn’t cheap but still most definitely mates rates when you consider that it would cost around £400 to have one rechromed these days and that’s even if I had a straight one to chrome which I don’t.

Got that fitted back on today and it’s looking good. The bumper irons were a twat to get lined up as they always are, and it needs a couple more bolts. But there’s not a lot left to do on it now. Almost ready for a road test.

Lastly, when I picked this Somerset up I asked the chap if he had any history with it and he told me he would have to send it on as he didn’t know where it was. I chased him up a week later and he said he’d found some photographs of its restoration but nothing else, if I gave him my address he would post them to me.

I was pleased when a few days later, an envelope turned up containing some history, the old green logbook is there, and an old mot and tax disc from 1969 which may have been the last time it was on the road. It’s had a very long term restoration carried out (at different times) three blokes who were all mates, one owned it twice but him and the last but one owner have both since died so unfortunately despite doing all this work they never actually managed to get it on the road. Not properly anyway.

 

[SiC]

41 minutes ago, Angrydicky said:

I really need to invest in the box of different adaptors so I can use it on MOAR cars.

Do you have a Gunson easy bleed to hand? They have a lot of caps in their kit and a lot that fit older stuff. 

What I do is take out the hose from bottle of the Gunson and plug that to the bottom of the Sealey pressure cap. I don't even bother using clips, I find the hose stays on sufficiently well without even at a full 20psi odd. 

I can't find any photos off hand of the setup, but hopefully makes sense. If not I can take a photo. 

[Angrydicky]

That’s a good call, thanks. I did have an Eezibleed years ago, never got on with it and no idea what happened to it. I’m sure mine was missing the extra adaptors too. I’ll keep an eye out for a cheap one. Looking at pictures of other eezibleeds it looks like it comes with a cap that would fit the small diameter Lockheed reservoirs (MG, Princess…A30/35, Hillman Minx…and others, that would be particularly useful. Could also do with a male adaptor for the Morris Minor style Lockheed master cylinders. I did think about buying a cap and drilling it to suit.

[SiC]

Lockheed reservoirs and MGB aftermarket ones are exactly what I used my eezibleed kit for originally so they definitely fit. I then bought a Sealey pressure blender later on as I got fed up finding a tyre and flattening/pumping it to the right pressure. Eezibleeds usually are pretty cheap kits and cheaper than the Sealey caps. 

Infact I also have left the eezibleed reservoir inline when using it too. So instead of the Schrader valve connector, I attached that pipe to the bottom of the Sealey cap. That way I can use the smaller 1l eezibleeds reservoir and don't need to put as much brake fluid in the bigger Sealey. I found the Sealey needed a fair bit of fluid to work properly and not risk sucking up air. But as I don't bleed very often, I ended up wasting a lot of fluid. 

[Surface Rust]

That Austin looks really smart now, lovely work.

Can I ask who relined the wheel cylinders for you?

[plasticvandan]

I remember my dad's being an absolute pig to bleed when I rebuilt the master cylinder for him,lovely to see it progressing

[Angrydicky]

18 hours ago, Surface Rust said:

That Austin looks really smart now, lovely work.

Can I ask who relined the wheel cylinders for you?

Thank you. Past Parts did the cylinder sleeving.