MadaboutKitcars

It's been a while since my last post but things have moved on. The Marlin has moved from my man cave to the garage (thanks to help from Peter) ready for the engine installation. And I have a real wheel in each corner. Just waiting for the inevitable few forgotten items to arrive now and the engine will be ready for fitting. In the meantime I have been fixing the Pembleton (see my other build) and have started painting the body - pictures to follow.
in_garage2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
in_garage1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Hi Robin - good progress with the Marlin there! I have been involved with TVRs for years, and many of those use alli rads. One thing to note from the TVR experiences is that the rads have a propensity to crack if solid mounted. The Chimaera crowd use quite flexible rubber donutty things…. Hope this doesn’t give you a headache…! Regards Tim

With a little help from Peterux (Sabre) the engine complete with gearbox is now fitted. 4 hands and 2 heads are better than 2 hands and 1 head! I first tried mating the engine and box on my own and failed - it is a heavy old lump.
Everything pretty much fits as it should other than:
1. I am a bit concerned about the clutch operating lever which doesn't seem will have much travel. About 2.5cm before it hits the gearbox. Don't think I cocked anything up but it does seem a bit "not right". See picture.
2. And the gearbox just touches the transmission tunnel side in one place so a little fettling will be required there.
Both the steering shaft and the alternator (not in picture) are fine with a huge 1cm clearance :-)

engine_in1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
engine_in2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
clutch_lever by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Completed the engine instalation yesterday. You wouldn't have known, but in the previous post the gearbox mount was resting on a wooden block. It's now fitted to the proper rubber mount. Proved to be easier than expected due to the removeable gearbox crossmember I made. I had to relieve, that is cut holes, the transmission tunnel in a couple of places. One to clear the back right side of the gearbox (unexpected) and the other to clear the mod I made for to the gearbox for reverse gear. Cutting the holes however revealed a problem with the vinyl I had stuck directly to the transmission tunnel in that it isn't stuck! For some reason the adhesive has not gone off and there is a sticky mess between the vinyl and metal of the transmission tunnel in many places. I am considering taking it all off and doing it again.

tt_gear_stick by Robin Martin, on Flickr

tt_reverse_gear_mod by Robin Martin, on Flickr

The gearchange works a treat although I may have to shorten the gearstick as there is opportunity for grazing knuckles on the underside of the dashboard!

Second post for today!
I am still not happy with the clutch slave cylinder and lever. I was able to fit the slave cylinder without levering forward the clutch lever, which you are supposed to have to do. Although I looked inside the bellhousing with an endoscope and all looks OK. Hmmm. Going to try filling it with fluid and see what happens.

clutch2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

clutch1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Third post today! Put fluid in and bled the clutch.

And b*gg&r.... The clutch pedal only moves halfway before the clutch lever hits the end stop. The clutch isn't disengaged - tested by putting in gear and trying to rotate the gearbox output flange by hand. So it looks like the engine and gearbox will have to come back out.

The general consensus of the Marina guys is that the clutch cover is faulty. You can see from the above picture that the operating "fingers" appear almost flat - whereas they should be angled outwards.

So a bit of investigation and much discussion later resuted in pulling the engine to investigate the clutch issue. I had used a NOS clutch cover, plate and bearing, but to be on the safe side I have now purchased a new boxed set of the 3 components. The clutch plate and cover are completely different in appearance to the NOS items but probably similar in function. The bearing however is a different story. The bearing I originally installed, supposedly the correct item, was 16mm high. The new bearing is 19mm high. I have since put everything back together and refitted the engine and am pleased to say I now have a clutch that works!


nos_vs__new_clutch1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

nos_vs_new_clutch2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

clutch_bearing by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Engine installation now complete and I have a working clutch. It's a long story but the main problem was the release bearing which was the wrong size.

Yesterday was a big milestone as I turned the engine over on the starter for the first time and established that I have good oil pressure. Always a fearful moment particularly as the engine hasn't been used for many years (20+) even though it had been rebuilt.

I have also now fitted all the ancilliaries and all the cables and pipes. Even with a simple engine like this there is a lot of plumbing.... The next step is to double check the timing, rig up a temporary fuel supply and fire it up. What could possibly go wrong....

A few pictures of the completed engine install.

Traditional SU HS4 carbs. Still thinking about how to add an air fiter as there is very limited space between the front carband the bonnet. Home made heat shield to hopefully aleviate fuel evaporation.
engine_lh by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Accuspark distributor (Chinese hmmmm) and tiny Denso alternator. HT leads need a bit of tidying up and I am probably going to fit some right angle plug caps.
engine_rh by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Completed exhaust system. I had the section with the flexi, which joins the manifold to the silencer, made from a drawing. Always a tricky thing to do with a 3 dimensional object like an exhaust. But it fitted after a little fettling. It looks a bit low but at the current chassis height there is about 5 inches of ground clearance - the same as the sump.
exhaust_complete by Robin Martin, on Flickr
exhaust_connection by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Looking good, Robin. Good luck with the first startup 👍

Its alive.....
its_alive by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Congratulations! Sounds good too

I had intended to paint the rest of the car in September but the other half has rather inconveniently broken her ankle big time. It's very debilitating - no weight on it at all for 6 weeks and then very limited for a further 6 weeks - so I am now chief cook and bottle washer (and nurse) for the foreseable future. Ho hum.

However I have managed to spend the odd hour here and there in the man cave, and have been doing a lot of thinking! As a consequence I have completed something I would have done later which is a decent air filter arrangement for the twin SUs. It's quite difficult to acheive on the Marlin as the front carb in particular sits so close to the bonnet side. As a consequence most cars either have no air filter at all, use horrible pancake filters or have a huge hole cut in the bonnet side and top.
Anyway - enough words - here are some pictures.

air_filter1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

air_filter2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

To say I am pleased with the result is an understatement :-)

I did have to relieve the return on the bonnet side which is there for stiffness. But I have replaced that with another piece of ally angle about 5cm down. Still held with clicos in this picture.

air_filter3 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Nice work indeed, lovely bit of fabrication

Looking good ! The air filter box is very smart just like the rest of your build. My Marlin project is still under a cover on my drive but I hope to make a start on it very soon. Plans have changed and I've decided to go fully retro Alfa 8c monza style with a twist !

I am gradually picking away at a few of the smaller "to do" things when I get the odd hour to myself.

When rebuilding the engine it was obvious that the distributor was well past its sell by date so I purchased a new (Chinese Lucas 25D clone) replacement from Powerspark. This is an electronic distributor using a hall effect sensor and was responsible for the difficulties I had when first starting the engine. Partly my fault I should say to be fair. However that was soon sorted, but it led me to investigating the distributor further. The Powerspark distributor is supposedly a direct replacement but when I investigated further I found it was pretty unlikely that it had the correct advance curves.
A bit of deep Googling and I found that there are dozens of types of 25D each with a different mechanical and vacuum advance mechanism depending on the engine it is for. Ahh...
The mechanical advance is determined by the cam plate and springs. The vacuum advance depends on the vacuum advance unit fitted. After a bit more investigation I found that Distributor Doctor could supply new springs (not cheap) and I managed to get the correct cam plate (10deg) and vacuum unit from Ebay.
So now I have an almost new "proper" distributor.
dizzy1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
You can see that 2 quite different springs are fitted. The lighter one is responsible for the initial slope of the advance curve whereas the heaver one takes over part way through the rev range and controls the second part of the advance. The total advance, 10deg at the dizzy and therefore 20deg at the crankshaft, is limited by the camplate. It's all very clever.....

While I was at it I also repaced the little wire that connects the points to the outside world. This has to be super flexible to allow for the movement of the points plate when the distibutor advances and retards. I used multistrand silicon insulated wire normally used for the leeds of multimeters. Only time will tell if it is up to the job.
dizzy2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

In between applying the numerous coats required whith the coach paint I have decided to use I have been getting on with some of the numerous other little jobs.

First a little home chemistry to nickel plate the door hinges. Done with vinegar (acetic acid) a nickel anode, and a 12 volt battery.
Unfortunately the door hinges were already pitted with rust so the results aren't fantastic, but at least they shouldn't rust! They now look a bit like stainless steel.


nickel_plating by Robin Martin, on Flickr

hinges by Robin Martin, on Flickr

I have also completed the resto of my old school Triumph steering wheel, finishing it off with a leather cover from Ebay. What you can't see is that I have replaced the horn button with a little wireless electronic gizzmo which operates the horn - err - wirelessly. It just happens to fit exactly where the horn button used to be.

steering-wheel by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Now I must get on with the painting but don't hold your breath.....

The plan was to complete the coach painting of the body but, after a bit of a problem, I have temporarily put that on hold. Instead I have been doing the many small jobs required before the fitting of the windscreen.

I have done the final fit of the scuttle top to the bulkhead sealing it in place to (hopefully) discourage water leaks. I had a problem in that the temperature capiliary and oil pressure lines wanted to be in the same place as the demister hose. Eventually solved by turning the gauge through 90 degrees. Well it will at least be a talking point...
demister_hose by Robin Martin, on Flickr
dual_gauge_90 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

I have fitted a rear veiw mirror from a motorcycle which has a long arm so it means you can actually see something useful in it even with the hood and sidescreens fitted. I made a plate to fix it to the windscreen frame - it looks a bit ugly ATM but should be fine once it is painted the body colour. I also fitted some wind wings. These are mounted on the inside of the windscreen so thay can be left in place when the hood and sidescreens are on. Tapping the windscreen frame for the fixings definitely better done before the glass is fitted!
wind_wing2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
mirror_and_windwing by Robin Martin, on Flickr

And solved the problem of the front of the hood tipping back when it is tensioned. Without this fix, I think there was the distinct possibility of the hood coming unclipped from the cant rail when at speed. I understand YKC used to make some plastic wedges for this purpose but I have used a couple of lengths of heater hose fixed to the inside of the cant rail which do the same job. You can clearly see the difference in how the top of the hood fits in the pictures.
hood_before by Robin Martin, on Flickr
hood_after by Robin Martin, on Flickr
hood_wedge by Robin Martin, on Flickr

And finally some opinions required :-) I have rescued the original stamped chassis number from the under door closing plate which I no longer have as my doors are larger extending all the way down to the chassis. I thought it would be quite cool to fix it somewhere visible as a homage to the original kit before I rebuilt everything. What about the dashboard. Here perhaps?
chassis_number1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
Or here maybe?
chassis_number2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

I have completed the windscreen installation but not without its difficulties.

I had trial fitted the windscreen clamp in the same position as the original builder but when I came to fit the windscreen I found the bottom edge was exposed. So I had to slot the mounting holes to move it up my a few mm. Grrrrr.

I also found that there was something amiss with how the scuttle top (on the inside of the windsceen) was fitted. There was a large uneven gap between its front face and the inside of the windscreen and also the windscreen clamp, on the otherside of the glass, whan clamped up was too close the the glass to get any sealant in. By now the scuttle top had been fixed in place so I had to make a spacer for the windscreen clamp. It all worked out in the end but a bit of a pain.
I have sealed/bonded the glass in place using a caravan sealer. This skins over but remains soft on the inside so should I ever want to replace the glass it should just be difficult rather than impossible!

Oh - and just to add to the problems I found a large semi circular scratch on the driver side of the windscreen presumably made by a windscreen arm. I think this may be an MOT failure so I reversed the glass so the scratch is on the passenger side and away from the drivers main field of vision.

And the final problem.... was that the wiper sweep was greater than 180 degrees so the blades ended up sweeping the windscreen clamp as well. Cured by changing the gear wheel in the Lucas wiper motor.
A few pictures.


windscreen_wipers by Robin Martin, on Flickr

windscreen_sealing by Robin Martin, on Flickr

I filled the space between the glass and the front face of the scuttle top using a 12mm foam bead. This I was able to squash in nicely to take up the uneven gap.

scuttle_top by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Windscreen washer bottle snuggeling in the passenger footwell (another saga...) I hope I won't need to fill it too often!

washer_bottle by Robin Martin, on Flickr

And, nothing to do with the windscreen installation, I bought some pretty custom engraved lables for the switches.

labels by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Today I (almost) completed one of the few major jobs left to do which was the boot floor.
Never an easy job fitting a 2 dimensional shape into a 3 dimensional hole but after a bit of faffing I managed it.
The result is reasonably good although I ended up having to make it in 2 pieces as my first attempt as 1 piece wouldn't fit through the tumblehome of the tail moulding.
Here are a few pictures. The little clips holding it in place will eventually be pop riveted in place once I have completed painting everything.

boot_floor1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr
boot_floor2 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

The next job is to remove the tail section for painting. After that the "only" major tasks are to make a Panhard rod for the rear axle and to make the bonnet tops. Getting close to being finished :-)

The quality of your rebuild and engineering is quite inspirational. This will be one of the best Marlin's in existence when it is finished. It is a great guide for any future re-builders.

Seconded

Just a small update but a big step. I have completed fitting the bonnet tops.
These are actually the prototypes I made some time ago, but I decided in the end that although they were not perfect they were good enough to use.
The main problem I had with them, other than getting them to fit! is that the 1.2mm aluminium I made them from was just a little too wobbly so I made some stiffeners which I pop riveted in place. You can just se the rows of rivets in the picture.

bonnet_top by Robin Martin, on Flickr

I have actually made a lot of progress recently but just discovered I had forgotten to post anything.
I have completed the bonnet sides adding some dimpled holes for ventilation. Not to everyone's taste but louvers are beyond my skills. What you can't see is that I have also carefully modified the bonnet sides so they can be easily removed by just undoing a few M6 screws. Much easier for engine access.

I have also mounted the spare wheel using a modified trailer spare wheel mount. It's bolted to the chassis rail using 4 x M10 set screws and rivet nuts. The largest rivet nut I have ever used and a b*gger to set. I mounted the actual wheel using a spare splined hub and spinner bought just for that purpose. Now just need to work out a way of making it secure so nobody pinches it.

Although it may not look it the car is getting very close to completion. I decided the way forward now, to make sure I don't forget anything, is to literally work from front to back completing jobs as I come accross them. So next is the headlights and horm. Look out for updates...

bonnet_side by Robin Martin, on Flickr

spare_mount1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

spare_mount4 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Setting up the tracking the old school way....

tracking1 by Robin Martin, on Flickr

Nice work, Robin, as expected!! Must be time ti fire up the engine soon?