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Spare time is proving elusive at the moment so I am trying to keep momentum and spirits up by doing small tasks that mean that things will be ready when production begins.
Yesterday I fired up the Bunny Blaster Cabinet and cleaned up a few more items.
Before
10 minutes after
I left the old pipes in place to protect the internals and to give me something to hang on to as I blasted.
Tonight I shall strip them bare and give them a coat of BS318c-217 caliper paint. Tomorrow I shall fit new pistons, seals and nipples.
Apologies for slightly boring post, but it is designed to convince me that I am making continual progress, no matter how slow.
Mind you, I've managed to work-in the words "strip them bare", "nipples" and "give me something to hang on to" in a single post. As I said before, I know this car better than I knew some previous girlfriends.
They're bloody red! I'm on my strictly sea green policy. The bushes I have are orange which is bad enough, so I can't have red as well. As I said, it's a shame............that I have become obsessed.
I wouldn't worry about it. I sprayed mine silver, but that was about nine months ago now and they're beginning to turn to a russet rust colour already. Tres authentique...
Stripping the calipers was more effort than I anticipated - there's a surprise.
The pistons did not want to budge despite the application of some lubricant and the introduction of compressed air. At this point, I could have given up and parted with £100 on some refurbs from Canley.
I don't like being defeated so I looked at YouTube and trawled online and followed this advice.
Fit a grease nipple to where the pipe enters the caliper and pump away with your grease gun. Bingo, all four pistons out within an hour.
OK, the calipers now need a thorough clean to remove old fluid and grease and a good drying with the air line, but that's not a problem. The calipers look great and I have new seals and pistons to go in.
I shall let you know how they respond when put under pressure.
Looking good. Is that going to be your body colour too?
Yes, everything will be this colour - including shockers, springs, engine and drive train. The only contrast will be the orange bushes.
It's probably a bit lighter than some tastes. I was pretty sure I would like it once it was on, and I must say, I love it.
As mentioned before, I may have a cream/buttermilk nose-band around the radiator intake, but not sure on that yet.
I am toying with going for silver-grey 15" "Dunlop" steel wheels rather than wires. This will require some adapters from the States. Undecided as yet, but the idea is growing.
Yes, everything will be this colour - including shockers, springs, engine and drive train. The only contrast will be the orange bushes.
It's probably a bit lighter than some tastes. I was pretty sure I would like it once it was on, and I must say, I love it.
As mentioned before, I may have a cream/buttermilk nose-band around the radiator intake, but not sure on that yet.
I am toying with going for silver-grey 15" "Dunlop" steel wheels rather than wires. This will require some adapters from the States. Undecided as yet, but the idea is growing.
We would love Dunlop wheels aren't hey even copies hugely expensive?
We would love Dunlop wheels aren't hey even copies hugely expensive?
Yes, I've seen prices of £1,500 per corner for copies.
Just give me a few days while I try some things out. I may have a neat(ish) solution that could work out cheaper than a set of adapters for 14" wire wheels.
Yes, I've seen prices of £1,500 per corner for copies.
Just give me a few days while I try some things out. I may have a neat(ish) solution that could work out cheaper than a set of adapters for 14" wire wheels.
Wow, they look like fantastic value. How would you get them on the Triumph or Reliant hubs though? There isn't much information on the site about PCD's, adaptors etc. Looking at the pictures I guess they're Jag five bolt or Jag large splined fitment only.
I suppose it's possible to have the hubs/drums redrilled to suit, or a set of adaptor plates fabricated. Worth thinking about though - although I'm happy with my MGB wires my original intention was to find some Dunlop replicas, but I couldn't find any that would fit or were in my price range of cheap as chips.
Wow, they look like fantastic value. How would you get them on the Triumph or Reliant hubs though? There isn't much information on the site about PCD's, adaptors etc.
They are lovely but still £450+ per corner to fit a Triumph hub.
Just to be clear, what I am planning is a combination of after market items that will be reminiscent of 15" Dunlops. They will be to Dunlops, what a Sammio is to a Lancia D24.
I had looked at the pdf, but I missed the 'peg drive, bespoke hubs' option. With spinners and VAT you're looking at just shy of £2,500 for a car set. That's cheaper than most I've seen but seven times what I spent on five used MG wires with new splined adaptors. Plus, if I break a wire wheel, brand new ones are only £99 each from the MGB hive in Wisbech, twenty minutes drive away from me.
They'd look great on the car though. Now, where's my lottery ticket...
They are lovely but still £450+ per corner to fit a Triumph hub.
Just to be clear, what I am planning is a combination of after market items that will be reminiscent of 15" Dunlops. They will be to Dunlops, what a Sammio is to a Lancia D24.
I can't wait to see what you've got planned. My original idea was to reuse the 13" late Triumph Spitfire wheels that came with my Vitesse, fitting them with dummy spinners, 175/80/13 tyres to give them a larger rolling diameter and wide-band white walls to make the wheel look bigger.
Eventually, the look of the wires won me over. The adaptors push the wheels out to fill the arches better. The standard Triumph wheels sit much further in, which isn't a complete stylistic disaster as they look quite like the original narrow wheels fitted to early Porsche 356's before wider tyres became available -
That's the best picture I could find of an original before everyone retro-fitted 911 steels to them in the sixties.
Other ideas included having some adaptors made to take TR6 steels, but then the wires snuck up and sold themselves to me.
So come on, let's see the wheels you're going with, we're waiting...
As Mr T says, it's possible to get a set of wires and adapters for under £300 if you shop carefully.
I love the look of spokes but I am hoping to do a few hillclimbs in mine and I will be more comfortable with steels. Who knows, I may hate them and replace with wires.
