Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!!!
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing! In February, armed with my recently acquired 'four bolt' fact, I bought a pair of Type14 callipers from ANG, a really good concern I've used many times
. When they arrived I put the unopened box in the shed to await brake-time.
Having finished those at the rear, I last week jacked up the front, took off the wheels and wire brushed and emery'd the discs. I'd kept the brand new pads and the fixings gubbins, which I cleaned up ready for assembling into my new toys. I removed one from its packing and offered up a pad. WTF! The pad is way too big for the calliper! A little internet research revealed that my old callipers are Type 16 to match my (unbeknown to me) Vitesse/GT6 front suspension. I've been in touch with ANG and, once they've received the Type 14s and verified their unmolested state, we can sort out my latest SNAFU. Criticism of Robin's helpful advice is neither warranted nor intended, I simply should have noticed the big fat discs and thick anti roll bar, and the penny would have dropped!
Regards, Mick
80mm Tacho
The last lap of my dash saga has been trying, this car has fought me every inch of the way, but hopefully I'm almost there. I transferred the outline of my card template to ally, cut it out and carefully relieved the tacho. hole until it just fitted with a slight push. Next job was to rivet the plate to the existing, the steering column and padded Mole Grips holding it. My usual pop-rivet overkill soon had it in place. As its wiring differs from that of the Triumph impulse item it replaced, a little creative bodging of the relevant ends of the loom was needed, but this turned out not too untidily.
I'm going to have to dream up a bracket for the floating left hand end of the dash - the body seems to have changed shape slightly since pre-paint days - and fit a couple more fixing bolts where I've marked with black dots. Although it looks as though the steering wheel might mask the view of the tacho., the high seating position makes it perfectly visible, up to the 7,000 RPM mark, so not going to be a problem. The wavy line gear stick clears both the dash and the steering wheel, which I've embellished with my '82 vintage DOC badge as I regard the DOC as my kit-car spiritual home. The hideous butchering of the coaming moulding (guilty) will need some cosmetic treatment some time.
Once my Type16 callipers arrive I can fit them and bleed the system, then all that's left is covering the seats, sending off my V627, and getting the engine running. How I feel at the moment, I'll probably take her around the block once then immediately sell her to Marcel or whoever, time will tell...
Regards, Mick
Thanks Paul, I certainly hope so. I'm thinking of calling her 'Quarantine Special' after the car owner virus...
Regards, Mick
ANG, to their credit, refunded the purchase price, helpfully pointing out that there are two types of Type 16 callipers. The chief difference being the thread for the flexi hose - later models being metric. Making double treble sure this time that I knew what I needed (Imperial threads) I sourced them from Jumblemaster, ANG only having the metric ones in stock. They arrived, together with pad mounting kits, yesterday
.
Over the last couple of weeks, when weather permitted, I got her started for the first time. At first she ran very roughly so I cleaned the carb. again and re-flushed the supply pipe. She now runs only fairly roughly
. The second hand 28/36 DCD I bought was jetted (according to the vendor) for a 1500cc pre-cross flow Kent. Reading my 13/6d Triple C Weber Carburettors booklet revealed that it's unwise to assume that any old 1500cc engine will require similar jets, so further research is required. Watch this space.
Regards, Mick
Front Brake Saga (cont.)
The other day, when weather permitted, I wandered down to the cave to complete the assembly of my front brakes, dreaming that, help in the shape of my furloughed son being available, bleeding activity would soon follow. Hopes dashed again, as ever. I'd carefully assembled the pads and anti-squeal shims into the callipers with the merest smear of copper grease (unlike that tall bloke who puts it on with a trowel), and bolted the units onto the uprights. So far, so good. Next job: flexi pipes. Aaaaargh, they're too short. Check various internet sources and discover that GT6/Vitesse callipers have a metal pipe and bracket which brings the outboard flexi-pipe attachment more central to overcome any stretching or fouling. Buy necessary pipes, fabricate suitable brackets (they're unavailable) after studying You Tube videos, fit same, offer up flexi pipes: still too short. Aaaaargh again! More research reveals that extra long flexis are still needed for this application. I bought the necessary on line in stainless this morning so the saga should be concluded in next week's forecast good weather. I really hope so. The picture shows the current state of play.
My seamstress friend, who did such fabulous work for the A352, has gone to live in the USA so I decided to have a go at making the seat covers myself. I bought a pre-owned sewing machine on line this morning and am picking it up about 12 miles away tomorrow. How difficult can it be
.
Regards, Mick
I decided, as the weather was so good, to pick this up in the A352 'D-Type'. It turned out to be more like 20 miles each way, and pick up was in a tiny village in the middle of nowhere. Anyway, with my purchase balanced rather precariously on the passenger seat, I'd got about a couple of miles back down the twisty B road when a hood down E-Type appeared going the other way. I thought 'This is well worth acknowledging' but the lady driving it went into raptures, taking both hands off the wheel and madly waving them above her head with a huge smile as we passed. A magic moment that made my day
.
Regards, Mick
Hi Dpaz
I couldn't find it. Do you have either a link or the item number please?
Regards, Mick
Hi Bellicose
Thanks for that. I think the hyphen bamboozled their search engine...
Regards, Mick
Getting There
My new SS front brake hoses arrived in the week and, given the hoops I've had to jump through, it was with some trepidation that I set about fitting them. This turned out to be a doddle as I'd only gently nipped up their predecessor's attachments.. The moment of truth arrived and turning the steering from lock to lock revealed that they are plenty long enough. My delight was rather tempered by the back of the nearside wheel hitting the body on full left lock. I'd already (years ago!) fitted lock limiting hose clips to both ends of the rack, it seems another is required - more evidence of the body's asymmetry. Here are the shiny new bits in situ. Excuse crap photo', an orb web spider had spun between the cover and the cave roof necessitating delicate uncovering and gymnastic contortion.
I spent a couple of hours on You Tube yesterday learning the techniques of machine sewing vinyl which resulted in a burst of Ebay activity. Teflon foot, special needle, strong thread and correct machine lubricant are on their way.
Regards, Mick
It's a miracle x 2
I wandered down to the cave this morning before it got too hot, and consulted my 'To Do' list. Adjust handbrake and bleed brakes were two of the four remaining so, as pedal pushing assistance had been negotiated for later, I decided to pitch in with the former. In order to get my Machine Mart aluminium racing jack (great buy!) under the diff. a few feet of forward movement is required. The garden is slightly downhill so removing the chock achieves this. Why won't it move? Ah, it's in gear. Why don't I sit in and see if the clutch has freed itself as the engine's been run a few times. To my amazement it had. Miracle no.1.
Jack up, axle stands, remove wheels and set to tightening the threaded adjustment ends of the transverse cable until there was no slack either side. I checked the shoe adjuster - still spot on - and applied the cockpit lever. Drums locked. Miracle no.2.
As I type my assistant is unavailable. I spent half an hour earlier bleeding the rear brakes single handed using a length of architrave to depress the pedal whilst my other orangutan like limb worked the nipple. Can't say if this was successful as the front pipes of course contain some air so no 'pedal' yet.
Regards, Mick
Another tiny step closer...
I was down the cave early yesterday, wondering if there was anything I could get on with before my bleeding assistant surfaced. Looking at the butchered coaming above the scuttle I decided that fashioning a full width ally cover (which would have to follow multiple compound curves) was an impractical pipe dream. Next best, small individual plates over the two worst and most visible areas. A trial run with small card templates decided me that, although it was ugly, it was nevertheless a lot better than nothing. I transferred the shapes to thin ally, cut them out, drilled fixing holes, bent them to the correctish profile over a breaker bar clamped in the vice and riveted them on. Not pretty, but undoubtedly an improvement.
Postie had by this time delivered three of the four sewing machine related items I'd ordered, the outstanding one being vital to progress on seat cover fabrication so nothing doing there. Much later help was available so brake bleeding commenced. Only a very soft pedal could be achieved without vigorous pumping so I dismissed my assistant and set to checking all the joints. I quickly identified and tightened the culprit, which was one of those into the four way union. The cave was by now a furnace so I called it a day
Regards, Mickl
Not much to report from yesterday: my bleeding assistant was unavailable so I decided to play with the sewing machine. After a couple of schoolboy errors, and discovering that some parts of the machine weren't designed for bloke sized hands, I got acceptable seams in pieces of scrap vinyl. I also discovered that the teflon foot advertised as 'suitable for my machine' wasn't. An e-mail to the vendor elicited a request for a photo', as my machine is 'very unusual'. "Well he would say that, wouldn't he."
After perusing pictures of sundry 50s Italian racing machinery I'd decided that Mobil Pegasus stickers for the nose would suit. They arrived (by return) yesterday. Excuse even shakier photo' than usual - DTs, moi?
Sun's shining, off down the cave.
Regards, Mick
Sharing the cave with wildlife. Taken yesterday.
Regards, Mick
A fox cub. It sat there for five or so minutes having a good scratch. Broad daylight in the middle of the city. I love it
.
Regards, Mick
Browsing 'Replicas' on Ebay...
I think I may invest in a wad of lottery tickets this week....
Divine.
Regards, Mick
Bled at last
Three weeks ago today I was cutting my daughter's grass, which includes shifting the trampoline (in which she'd put my granddaughter's paddling pool) to get to the bit underneath. Failing to take into account the weight of storm water dumped in the paddling pool I did myself a serious mischief lifting it. Hamstrings - ouch! Both hernia repairs - ouch! Slipped disc - ouch! This put progress on hold and was followed by last week's house/dog/cat sitting for a holidaying friend.
In the interim I'd bought an Eezibleed due to the fag of recruiting help, plus the lack of success. Anyway, yesterday, at last feeling up to it, I pitched in and the job was done in what seemed like no time. The only tiny hiccup was the master cylinder cap not sealing at first, even after a gentle tweak with water pump pliers. A few twists of PTFE tape sorted that and success - a hard pedal
.
Seat covers here I come.
Regards, Mick
Kidney Stones
I passed five of these over three or four days a few years back: the last one took 15 hours:. 'Regular' pain hasn't seemed so bad since
.
Thanks for commiserations.
Regards, Mick
Rare Beast
My daily eBay Kit Car and Replica searches turned
this up this morning. Lots I don't like about it, but lots I do. If only my between houses car access was a little wider, and I was loaded...
Regards, Mick
Yes Please
Why not start a thread, or maybe there is one and I've missed it?
Many thanks for above info. and kind offer.
You have a PM.
Regards, Mick