Car Back to Shop

On Monday April 25th we moved the car back to the Boonville shop since paint was done - well, almost done.  There were some defects in the paint on the hood, so Dave Folk is retaining the hood to wet sand and paint a second time.  He will deliver it to the shop in a week or so.

Here's a picture, the doors and trunk lid line up quite well.

Paint is Done!

Al and Dave F were able to complete the paint yesterday, got three coats on the car, looks great according to Al!  We are going to let the paint "cure" for a week, then put doors/hood/boot lid back on.  Don't you love this color?

Bodywork Continues

Our schedule of one person per day assisting Dave Folk has been working pretty well.  We did lose one day due to temps being too low to spray.  Here's a picture of Dave spraying primer on the trunk lid and hood:

Next week should be above 60 degrees every day, so we ought to be able to get a lot of finish color applied.

Back to Body Work

The new radiator was installed March 29.  The car is now ready to return to Dave Folk's for continued bodywork and then paint, now that warmer weather is here.  Here's a picture of the car on it's way back to Dave's:

Based on Dave and Al's prior experience doing bodywork and paint, basically we need to have one person there at a time to assist Dave.  We have worked out a schedule starting April 4th for two weeks where each weekday one club member will go to Dave's in Tennyson at 10:00am and assist him until they get tired or to a good stopping point.  The paint has also been purchased.  Great progress!

Not only runs, but drives!

We have had a few more work sessions focused on mechanicals.  One key result was that we were able to drive the car for about three blocks, ran pretty darn well.  Here's a video of this first run:

After this run we changed the oil.  We also noticed the radiator upper tank was leaking.  Radiator shop was not able to fix, so we are getting a new radiator.  We've replaced all cooling system hoses and applied undercoating to bottom of new floor pans. Car is ready for radiator installation and then return to Dave's for completion of bodywork.

Picture of engine compartment less radiator:

We've also replaced the "gaitors" for the rack and pinion, typical issue on these cars.  Refilled with 90W oil and checked toe in.

We have made the decision as a club to auction the car and have selected the non-profit to benefit with the proceeds.  Target is completed car by 8/1/16, auction then the day of our local British Car Show 9/24/16.  So plan has been made, now just need to work the plan!

Great day - it runs!

Had three of us working this morning (Vince A, Dave F, and Al S).  Installed new battery (with cutoff switch) plus new fuel pump.  Struggled with still no fuel, eventually figured out we had a leak in the line between the fuel filter and the pump.  Repaired that and we had fuel!

So then started the car.  Initially had issues with poor running, found the mixture very lean on the rear carb.  Fixed that and it ran pretty darn well!  Good oil pressure, smooth idle, no extraneous noises.  Then pushed down clutch and got it in gear - it did appear initially the clutch disc was stuck to the flywheel (often happens when these cars sit for long time), but then it freed up and the clutch worked fine!

Watch this video, pretty exciting:

Minor things to work on yet, like changing oil, installing air filters, choke cable, top off transmission fluid, etc.  But right now we are excited that this is going to be a sweet little ride for someone!

Car's Moved to Boonville

On December 2 we moved the project car from Dave Folk's place to Ray Graham's place in Boonville.  Dave leads body work, and it's too cold in the winter to do paint, so we will concentrate on mechanical work over the winter.

Had our first workday at Ray's on December 29th.  Great turnout, had six guys in total (Vince, Ray, Clay and Al plus two guys from SIR Brit south, Eric and Jeff).  First step was to rebuild brakes.  We removed one front caliper to confirm that both pistons moved freely - they do.  The pads and rotors looked great, so we are just going to replace the flexible hoses on the front.  Rear brakes were rebuilt with new shoes, wheel cylinders, and flexible hose.  Vince worked with Eric and Jeff on the brakes.  Ray, Clay, and Al took care of the clutch hydraulics, replacing the slave cylinder and flexible line.

Turns out we had three rear brake flexible lines, missing the two for the front so we are ordering those parts.  Could not get the clutch to bleed and operate.  Decided to replace the master cylinder, Clay had one to donate.  On December 31 Clay, Vince and Ray installed the clutch master and bled the clutch hydraulics, we think that part's ready to go now.  We also got the engine to fire on ether (starting fluid).

Here's two pictures from the December 29th work day:

Clay giving advice on how to perform the clutch slave cylinder job:

Vince discussing front brake components with Jeff and Eric: