LinksBonnet nose interior painted with truckbed liner...it's still wet, hence the sheen, but should transition to more satin-ish in time.
Brake line jumpers to bypass the boosters and PWDV (for now...until I replumb). Hint: use the same type of fittings across all the bits: if your junction is brass, use brass pipe fittings, if steel...use steel. Don't mix and match, especially putting harder male threaded fittings into softer female junctions. There's a lesson there for other things, I think...lol.
On to replacing the starter with the new high-torque unit I picked up from RD. I built a short jumper for the solenoid so that I could hook up a remote starter push button whilst working in the engine room to crank her over. Kind of hard to try and start from the cockpit while needing to attend to the engine directly.
Next? I think attacking the valve cover gasket, get the TDC and paint marks on the flywheel set, and installing the new Petronix dizzy, coil, fresh wiring, and new plug wires (sparkers were replaced a couple months ago) and see if that improves matters.
Ordered, from Moss, the Gunson Ezbleed kit; it's only me working in the garage (no helper, but have my phone always in my pocket Just In Case), so, thinking this will help with the bleed process in lieu of having someone to pump and release the pedal on prompting. So, will pend the final brake system attack...until it comes in.
Ordered, from AutoMat in Hicksville NY a set of loop pile (which is what's in the car already) driver and passenger side carpets for the footwell and underneath the seats. I've put down dynamat on the floor (which will attenuate the drumming of the fiberglass...yeah, a bit more weight, but that's ok) so, that should work out just fine when it comes in...
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Did a bunch of stuff today..weather was springish…and calendar was empty.
1. Removed brake boosters from the engine room. Strangely, no fluid leaked out. Gave me the opportunity to put a nice heavy coat of truck bed liner paint on the sidewall to match (for lhd) the offside. Photo of the removed boosters down below. Free for cost of shipping, if anyone wants them on this side of the pond.
2. Can of truck paint was open, so…started with freshening up the forward nose area. Need to vacuum out the dust that I brushed down into the lower area and keep going. You can see the difference. Amazing what a coat of paint will do, eh?
Note to self: get a fan going when using that paint. The fumes are strong, and don’t need a college flashback…lol.
3. Don’t remember whether I posted a photo of the S2 steering wheel installed, just to see how it looks. It's in good condition...and IIRC, was current for the early TCs. Have the original (as I've posted before)...decisions, decisions... If so, sorry for the dupe.
4. Obviously got the beast up on jackstands so i can get underneath to mount the new starter; need to get to lower bolt, and it’s hard from up top.
5. Didn’t shoot a photo of using tapered wheel nuts on the diagonal studs to stud-center the wheels when mounting; when you get the two proper nuts on in the other studs and torqued, remove the tapered nuts and replace with the proper fitting. So, just screwed the tapered nuts on and took a shot.
6. Replaced the oil cap gasket; the one on there broke apart when I tried to take it out. Guess it was time, right? Still no mayonaise on the cap inside.
In the queue for this week:
1. Replace starter.
2. Remove valve cover and old gasket. Find the true TDC based on cyl 4 lobes and use a mirror to find sprocket timing marks. Paint a line on the flywheel to give me a TDC reference for the timing gun. Check head torque. Check chain adjustment, new gasket, new selocs, new nylocs for cover.
3. Freshen wiring to coil to remove bodged existing wiring and install new low resistance pertronix coil.
4. With TDC established, install new dizzy and wires. Connect up the Ignitor module to new coil, and time this sucker. New dizzy is mechanical advance curved to the TC engine. Should (I hope) work better than the tired Lucas dizzy that's been in the car since it left Hethel.
If I have time:
5. Mix up the washing soda and water solution. Fill one of the gas tanks to brim with solution (capping off the outlet). Ground tank. Suspend positive lead with length of iron bar in solution. Turn on 12V supply at 2 amps. Wait a day. Supposed to work well. Alternative is 5 gal of white vinegar, topped off with water and soak.
Have new fuel level sender and some various brit 3/16 pipe fittings warming up at the usual suspect…and Greenstuff pads for front. Speedbleeders for brakes, Gunson pressure bleeder, and air/oil seperator to plumb into the head and return the air to the carb air box (will hide in front of right tail light). Have all the rebuild stuff to build a new set of calipers (including the cross-half quad seal) with stainless pistons; yes, the spare calipers I have were split (and I have the break away torque for the bolts written down in my 693R journal online...), so, may paint them up with caliper paint and build a fresh set and install those in place of the existing ones. Also have a fresh set of disks that I had bought still in wax paper stored in a dry location, so may throw those on while I have the fronts apart.
Oh, and a coolant overflow/reserve tank.
If I keep "freshening up" stuff...it will be a little patina-ish on the outside...but under the covers will be presentable, right?
Enough for now, I think.
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Had the opportunity to stop by RD this morning to replenish my 'to be installed' parts stash...nice to catch up after a few years, pandemic, detour to an MGB...good to see old friends...I've been dealing with him for over 40 (!) years...and trust his insight as to what I need to have on hand for the near future.
New valve cover gasket...going to check the head torque and it's weeping oil anyway, so no time like the present...Pertronix distributor, low-resistance coil, new plug wires...high-torque starter...pair of stainless caliper pistons (I have a spare pair already)...caliper rebuild kit..."D" plugs for the head...seloc washers...caliper half seals...oil cap gasket. I'm sure I'll need more, but for today, that's enough flogging of the checkbook...
25' of cu/ni 3/16" brake line, and flare tool.
Pretty sure the OEM dizzy, after 50 years, and been hacked apart and so forth, is probably in need of attention...having an electronic ignition and high-power coil is probably not a bad decision; the starter sometimes seems to strain to turn the motor over...other times spins just fine...same thing...original Lucas starter...the high torque replacement worked well for me in the S2...so, why not? Brake piping and flare tool was recommended by a couple of folks here, so, will be interesting to use it in the car to rip out the boosters and replumb the brakes (for now, all in the engine compartment to get on the road and bled...will work in the future on simplifying the piping, thus having a stock of piping...)
This should keep me busy as I move forward on getting her back on the road
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Well...got new cold start cable (it's not really a choke) in with zero issues (except for making another blood offering through the chassis access hole in the cockpit...). This is what I did...
1. Remove the inner cable from the new sheath (carefully...don't want to kink or start separating the strands at the cut end...), and put aside.
2. Remove the old cable assembly from the carbs and the mount under the armrest. Toss in the bin.
3. Push the new sheath in through the front mount, slip the lock washer and nut over the sheath, and thread the sheath through the backbone out the back, tighten the nut down on the cockpit side,
4. Go into the front of the engine room, making sure the cable misses the pulleys and belt, and gently pull the end up along the passenger (right) side. Now, the universal fit cable assembly that Ray sells is meant to be cut to length. So, keeping a nice sweeping arc out of the chassis bulkhead (and supporting it with an adel clamp set on the cross-tube where the catch can would normally be) down to the front carb. I used a dremel with a cut-off wheel to cut to length (using a set of dykes would crush the sheath), and then ran a needle file through the cut end to clean up any swarf.
5. Threaded the lightly lubed (I use LPS #2 from my days in an aircraft maintenance hangar...) inner cable through the sheath and out the other side in the engine room.
6. attach the cable to the clamp in the front carb, ensure the inner cable is pulled back all the way, and thread through the cable attach fitting on the cold start lever and tighten down the capture nut, leaving an inch or so past the fitting, again, using the dremel, cut off the excess inner cable.
7. Check operation. Pretty basic but still good to check that it works both all the way out (and the capture nut is tight) and all the way in. (Just a note, you never set a cable up so that when you push it all the way in, the knob bottoms out on the ferrule; leave a little gap so that the controlled lever is at its stop, not limited by the cable bottoming out. Just how I was taught when restringing control cables in airplanes...;))
Done. Now, on to the throttle cable. I'm thinking of leaving the existing sheath in place and just replacing the inner whilst lubing as I did with the cold start cable so I don't have to pull up the carpet on the driver side for now. I'm going to ruminate on it a bit.
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I thought of back-threading stainless bolts through the mounts (mine have welded nuts on the tank straps) and using fender washers and stainless nylocs on the inside the fender side to re-attach.
Of course, getting the car up in the air high enough to drop the old tanks (I picked up a set of tanks this weekend...just need to get some of the surface rust on the inside off...) so I can get to this stage will be a project in itself. I've done it on an S2 and it was not the simplest task to accomplish. Lots of cinder blocks, jack stands...and incremental lifting to get it high enough. loosen everything up first, raise the car, drop the tank, install new one, then lower. Keep it in the air as little as possible....
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Was just spitballing (poking a stick in the cage?). Have the intake down to the head flanges all apart...finding all sorts of DPO happiness (like no nuts on the 2 bottom studs holding both of the carbs on the adapter plate to the secondary throttle assembly), copious amounts of RTV squeezed out of joints, thackery washers torqued down tight, idle trim screws set vastly different between front and rear carbs, 2 different tapered needles (I have their mates in a box of spare parts...) in the pistons...So...back to 'stock' (except for the lack of secondary throttles) and set up per the book.
Have cleaned up the threads on the pile of 5/16x24 nuts, ran a die down all the studs to clean up those parts, have a stack of new split and flat washers to use where needed, new thackery washers, new gaskets, new diaphragms, new o-rings, new floats, new needle valve, a gallon can of carb dip and a couple parts brushes. Time to dig in, clean up, rebuild, and reinstall...
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I'll just let the photos tell the story. Didn't use foam padding, just flexible leatherette from the local sewing supplies store. Dipped into my store of aircraft upholstery supplies for the cement, which is a high-solids, high-tack cement used to finish aircraft interior panels. Seam was tightly sewn to the edge as close as possible then trimmed carefully.
Key is to let the cement flash off completely, and use a sharp razor knife to point the leatherette as you go around curves or inside corners. It's fiddly (no doubt the ladies in the trim shop at Hethel were a lot faster), but if you take your time, it all works out well enough.
Fiberglass base was stripped of all the old cover (which I used as a general pattern...), foam, then sanded lightly to remove the old cement. Luckily it was in good shape and ready to receive the cement. I did one panel at a time, starting with the front, and stretched the leatherette as it was smoothed down on the base after the cement flashed off.
Think it came out OK; it only has one attachment screw in the front face that goes into the switch mechanism metal flange. Thinking, for sturdiness sake (and to give the switch gear a little more stability), I may put two holes in the bottom that align with the base of the dash, and use some #6 black trim screws up from the bottom, and build a short flange out of aluminum and do the same for the top. We'll see when I get back to MA and keep working on the car...
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At the base....you will have (deteriorated) nylon 'top hat' bushings IN the base of the lever. The shoulder bolt will be inserted from the driver side through the base (there's a welded stop to prevent it from turning...when you tighten or loosen the nyloc nut on the other end. Under the nyloc nut is a washer. The whole assembly is (assuming you have a TC or an upgraded S2 that uses the TC parts) is as you see it in the photo above.
You will have to get your forearm IN all the way and do by feel. Yes, things COULD drop into the frame, but a magnet stick works wonders to pick up pieces that may disappear. Just take your time (thinking the factory had a select group of assemblers who either had very thin forearms...or built the whole thing out of the car and pushed it into the frame before dropping the engine in...I've done it both ways...); I've found that it takes about a half hour and much contortions (helps if you pull the seats so you can kneel on the floor) but taking it a step at a time works just fine.
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Got a question:
"That sounds like a major effort for the Euro tail lights! I wonder if just buying Euro lamps wouldn't have been cheaper..."
My response:
They were euro taillights off a canadian body I bought. I just restored them (new ones, last I checked were over 1K USD for a pair, if you can find them); I like the fiddly work of hands-on renovation of the appliances. Especially when it works when you're finished.
Checked my receipts and the rechrome back then cost me 150 for each, and the lenses were 100 or so each from Banks. Had all the internals/springs/etc, so it was just a matter of my hand work to finish them.
Federal cars have a relay box under the dash so that one filament in the solid red lens tail light can work as both the brake and the directional; when your foot is on the brake, and you engage the directional, it allows the same filament to blink while still keeping the other filament on the other side steady on as the brake is applied. That, and the regs at the time, stated that rear directionals had to be red. It's 2022...no one cares about a 50 year old car as to whether the directionals are the right color...just that they work.
Just adding the Green/purple wire from the brake switch direct to the stop lights (tying back the GP that goes to the DB10 relay box) and moving the green/white and green/red to the top filaments is a simple job.
Just replaced the reverse with LEDs. I usually change out the flasher anyway to an electronic unit that will work with either incandescent or LED...constant flash rate no matter the voltage, and quiet. So, if I wanted to put in LED replacements, it's an easy swap. Anything to reduce the current draw on these old harnesses (I did all the position and landing/taxi lights in my plane under approval with LEDs...they're brighter, and the current draw according to the meter in my plane panel is almost negligible versus the incandescents that were in there before.)
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Euro taillights polished and ready to install. While still ruminating about what to do about the motor...working on other items of interest.
The TC wiring loom for federal cars (versus the S2, which ran a wire forward from the brake switch to the DB10 and left the other brake light wire in place in the loom) does not mirror the S2 arrangement, which made it easy to install the euro taillights after I painted 693R in '08.
So..ordered up some proper color wire (and bullets, etc) from Brit Wiring in the right size and will add the wire into the back end at some point, and wire the car as per the euro wiring chart for the blinkers/stop/hazard/running lights.
For the record...the bases were stripped and replated, new sponge gasket under the lenses, bases retapped for 6/32 to attach the lenses (using stainless hardware), mounting threads cleaned up (1/4x20) and have new base gaskets. All the light sockets were chromed at the same time, but, re-flowed the solder on the light contact bases, new bullets (crimped and soldered) for the light leads, and the reverse light assemblies rebuilt and connectors polished....and LED festoon bulbs used.
Was going to put these on the second S2 that I had thought I was going to build...but...ran out of steam with some medical issues in '09 and never got to it, selling the frame and second body off as time went on.
Thinking of offering the steering wheel I pulled out. It's in perfect shape...but only good for a TC, since 1) I have no idea who manufactured it or where to get the horn button fixings...and 2) that's the model it came out of.
And...spent some time with a buffer, chrome polish, and went after the bumpers. They are 40 something years old...but only a couple scratches and rub marks, but certainly are not something to be ashamed of. Considering the cost to strip, buff, replate...they'll do.
Packed up the seat with the torn seams on the bolster and a piece of carpet (and measurements for the floor on both sides)...and drove to the next town over to the only auto upholstery shop in the Fall River area. Closed due to a positive covid test until April. Sigh. Oh well, the other seat is ok. No rush on any of this, but was thinking of getting ahead of some things. Hope he's ok...and will revisit later.
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