Stainless Steel Grill and old bumper

Fitted the new grill this weekend.

Bought on eBay and made from stainless steel it looks absolutely wonderful.
The stainless surround was fitted with screws and only needed slight trimming and bending to fit. The grill itself also needed some tweaking and adjustment to the last two slats at each end.
Trying not to scratch the surround with each trial fit was difficult; the slats are very sharp and easily cut through my masking tape protection.

Next I offered up the front bumper. It is in OK condition but looks awful under the grill. A test patch was cleaned with solvol autosol. It's not going to help much. I took it to my local plater (he did my TR5 bumper 6 years ago) who said he has stopped doing "that sort of work". Then looked on the sussexclassiccar website and found its only £80 new!

There won’t be much of Jemima left at this rate!

Other jobs done
Fitted magnetronic coil and ballast.
Fitted Kevlar reinforced hose set (Why isn’t the straight heater hose kevlar reinforced?)

JYC 603, Radiator, and some more little things...

11 June 2007
The radiator wasn't easy to fit, It never is on the Midget.

I tried to make life easier by rivetting together the splashgaurds and the support brackets so I only had 3 things to line up. Unfortuneatly the front end assembly still made contact and needed a few washers as spacers. The "new" electric fan was fitted with tywraps and I started wiring it in but thought I would test the thermostat. I may now know why the BMW, it came from, was in the scrap yard - it doesnt work!

Also adjusted the tappets as they had all been set to be really loose after the rebuild.Fitted the rear number plate, connected the cable to the starter motor. Went to fit the earth strap from chassis to engine but cant find a bolt the right size for the chassis nut.

Has anybody seen JYC 603?

More goes in the engine bay

06 June 2007

Not much done this weekend. Jet lag and a general laziness is my excuse.

One of the reasons for fitting the engine (other than it needed to be fitted!) was to add weight to the front end, to help compress the springs, so I can undo the bolts on the front dampers. I also had to stand on the steering rack mountings to make sure.On top of the dampers I then bolted the Spax shocks reinforcing plate. A bolt should then pass throught the wheelarch to mount the top bracket.

This is an early version of the Spax kit and it was originally fitted to CLK???H years ago. It fitted CLunK quite well, It doesnt fit Jemima. The bracket has a large gap between it and the wheel arch which will need to be filled. I have looked at the new style lever arm that replaces the whole unit. A much better system but rather expensive at this stage.
While I decide what to do I removed the exhaust manifold. The gasket had stuck very well to all parts and needs replacing without ever getting hot. The manifold was removed to fit the exhaust insulation wrap.

I used this stuff on my TR5 when it had what I thought was fuel vapourisation problems. It successfully reduced under bonnet temperatures and delayed the problem of "Fuel vapourisation". The TR5 would run nicely if kept running or stopped only to fill up. If stopped for 5 minutes or more it wouldnt start until it had really cooled down - up to 45 minutes. This troubled me for years and embarrased me once on the M25 in the outside lane during the usual traffic jam. I had to use the starter motor to drive us to the hard shoulder. Just before I sold it, I replaced the coil lead, and the problem went away!

Anyway, I want to use the wrap to help reduce under-bonnet temperatures especially as the exhaust manifold is directly under the carbs. I then read in the sales literature "competition use only". What does this mean?

Also fitted the magnetronic electronic ignition.

Footwell repairs

24 May 2007

Still in Qingdao, waiting for customs to release my stuff.

The footwell area had been repaired many times. Patches on patches, some welded, some braized and some pop rivetted.

The sill hadnt been welded at all behind the wing so I guess the sill was fitted without removing the wing at the time.

This meant that all the water that went behind the wing wheel arch area went into the inside of the sill. The result is more rust and the sand that had built up inside the sill over time.

With the sill removed the triangular foot area was revealed in its many layers. This was easy to repair with 1mm sheet steel and the sill and floor sections then added on.

The end results looks ok (not that you can tell in this picture).

Spring hanger area behind the seat

19 May 2007

Hello, I'm In Qingdao this week so even less work done on the car. Qingdao is the home of Tsingtao beer, brewed since 1903, and where the sailing part of the Olympic games will be held. (Qingdao and Tsingtao are pronounced Ching-dow.)

More history of Jamima. The spring hanger area was the main reason for the last MOT failure in 1996. As can be seen we were probably lucky to have got that far.

The more I poked the more dust and fresh air was found. I was having difficulty deciding which bits to cut out and how to start the repair as there was little that would remain original.

The sill were fitted first, then the floor, then the triangular section was built up using the spring mount as a means of aiding alignment
Very satisfying once completed.

Time for another Tsingtao beerCheers.

A week away

first posted 14 May 2007

Hi, I'm in Hong Kong this weekend, and last week in Madrid, so i haven't been able to work on the car for a while.

Here are some old photos from the body restoration all those years ago.The rear wheel arch was rather tricky, I thought.

Rear wings for the MKII aren't available so I was going to replace the lower half. This was roughly cut off and the inner arch damage was more obvious to see.

With an inner arch repair section attached, the rest of the rust was removed and replaced with a patchwork quilt of bits of sheet steel.

The area behind the wheel at the bottom of the wing was so far gone on both sides I had no idea what shape it should be, so both sides received a different approach, neither probably anything like what it should be, but you can't see it when the wing is on.