September Update

27 Aug-18 Sep

Holidays and family visiting have prevented much progress, though I now have all three looms joined together and most of the holes drilled in the dashboard. Windscreen fitting is required before finally fitting the dashboard. Other than that I’ve been making components for the new handbrake. Hope to get stuck in better before the end of September!

21-29 Sept

The handbrake lever’s finished apart from the weld required when the lever that connects with the cable is in the ideal position. The cable’s also fitted temporarily. The capscrews didn’t help the manifold problem – they were even more impossible than the hex heads! With some difficulty it is just possible to get a spanner on the offending screws and tighten them, but it needs patience.   I’ve replaced the Lucas starter motor with a geared  one from Powerlite. The Lucas unit needed repair to the main terminal which wouldn’t have been easy, and when all’s said and done its condition was unknown. I wanted to have the best chance of startup when the time came. The Powerlite unit is much smaller and lighter.     Faced with an ultimatum to clear the spare bedroom (!) pending guests staying, the windscreen is now fitted! A bit of a struggle drilling the holes for the retaining screws, and a bit stiff the day after! Fitting needs careful measurement to ensure compliance with the dimensions recommended by Gerry’s Build Manual.         Following this the dashboard’s been drilled for the instruments and switches, and is now in place, though will need to be removed for covering with leathercloth. The intermediate steering columns been removed and had the grooves milled in place to receive the clamp screws.   I’ve fitted the trim covering the seat belt mount, and the seats are loosely in place. I’ve also fitted the nearside door trim – though this will have to be removed later for remedial work. I made a template from thick paper and accurately drilled the holes for the ‘firtree’ fasteners – but really these are one-shot fasteners, and are damaged by removal. Unfortunately the fit around the GRP moulding that covers the door hinge isn’t good and I need to re-work the trim panel to increase the clearance here and make it fit better – which means fitting new firtree fasteners which in turn means separating the cloth from the hardboard backing.   Gerry’s propshaft has arrived and is now fitted. Good to see it’s fully greasable!   The next major job will be the exhaust. At the moment I’m proposing to build the system myself, using primary and secondary absorption silencers, and 1.75” pipe. This is really a bit too large but silencers taking smaller diameters are not readily available, it seems. I propose to make up a couple of dummy silencers with wood and card to find the best positions.   I have the remaining ignition components – leads, coil and ballast resistor – on order, also over-riders. As of tomorrow – 1st October – I become semi-retired, so hopefully progress might be a bit faster!

August progress

06-17 Aug	Steam Rally at Chelford yielded material to make the cross-linkage behind the engine block (from a commercial vehicle wiper linkage!), which coupled with three Rose joints and some linkage components I’ve had in stock for many years, has seen the throttle linkage almost complete – except for a single ball joint to fit to the carburettor . I’ve also loosely fitted the engine bay loom in place. The relay stack and fuse box will need some ingenuity to fit around the throttle linkage on the footbox top. I’ve distracted myself with a number of small jobs, I really need to concentrate on finishing one before moving on.  I’ve been planning the alternator ‘bracket’ – which will be just a long sleeved bolt going through the pivot brackets. The bolt preload compresses the sleeve and prevents the load of the alternator stressing the threaded connection. The previously mentioned commercial wiper linkage has yielded a turnbuckle which I may be able to use as the tensioning link. A suitable long bolt has been obtained from the Tatton Autojumble today. Other finds included a gearknob, 45 degree cooling hose elbow (now fitted to the radiator bottom outlet) and a metal tube – ex Norbar torque wrench handle – which will make an ideal handbrake lever.
18 Aug	Fitted the demister ducts under the demister chrome outlets. This needed a bit of ingenuity, the ducts have each been drilled in two places to take a piece of 6mm diameter brass bar, cross-drilled and tapped M5 to take the screws which fit through the chrome outlets .Gaffer tape may be needed to make sure it’s all ‘airtight’!   The top of the driver’s footbox is now sorted, the relay stack and fuse box have been fitted around the throttle linkage and the result looks quite acceptable. A picture’s worth a thousand words ……  I’ve started to run the loom around the engine compartment. There’s not too much slack to reach the earth on the nearside chassis, so needs a bit of care and thought. There seems a lot of wire for the N/S lights – I’ll check that again!   The dash is in position now having holes drilled to the steel frame. Button head screws, for safety, aesthetic and IVA reasons.
22-24 Aug	Using some thick aluminium plate bought at a local steam fair, made a plinth for the relay stack, and a bracket for the alternator. The alternator’s now fitted, (some modification to original plan) not without a deal of fiddling, turning, milling and drilling! I’ve incorporated a turnbuckle in the tensioning link, making adjustment easier and more positive than the usual slotted bracket arrangement. Next job is making a spacer for the water pump pulley, so that all pulleys can sit in line.         Wondering about the indicator switch mounting. The outer column doesn’t protrude through the dash, so unless I can extend it with a sleeve there’s nothing to fix it to.
25-26 Aug	Used a piece of ¼” aluminium plate to make a spacer for the water pump pulley. Sounds easy – but took a good few hours. The spacer needed to be like a large washer, about 3.5” outside diameter and 2.25” inside diameter. There are three ¼” holes on 3” pitch circle diameter. The inner diameter is stepped (2.25” and 2.35”) and the outer face needs a raised spigot to locate the original pulley. A combination of milling, drilling and turning to produce, now fitted and all pulleys aligned.   To make clearance for the V belt drive to the alternator, the header tank had to be moved forward about an inch. While under the bonnet, replaced the offside block drain tap (which slightly fouls the blockhugger manifold) with a ¼” BSP taper plug. Noted that the two lower central screws holding each manifold to the head are practically impossible to manipulate with a spanner. These need to be replaced with 3/8” UNC x 1.1/4” long socket capscrews.