Finally got a round tuit

On the 3rd April this year Jemima had been of the road for 21 years! It’s over 6 months since my last real effort on the car which may help explain the 21 years.

I bought a hood on the last sunny day of 2007 and its taken this long to be at home on a sunny day suitable for hood fitting. Not that I couldn’t have done other tasks in the mean time. I have popped into the garage and looked at a few things but never quite actually did anything. It was too cold or too wet – that was the usual excuse.

The hood was finally fitted yesterday with new seal and seal channel. The holes in the channel for the pop rivets all lined up with the existing holes which surprised me. I still need to finish the poppers.

I also had a look at the brakes. The front brakes were binding, this was the job that I was looking all the time. I didn’t want to have to rebuild the callipers again.
This time I tried to remove the pads but found it rather difficult as the pistons appeared to be fully retracted. Once removed, I noted that the pads have a 1mm soft pad stuck on the back surface, which may be part of an anti-squeal system. The pads were refitted without the additional metal anti-squeal shim. This seems to have sorted out the binding problem.

Some electrical lighting problems were discovered which turned out to be the old bullets from the lights not making best contact with the new loom. Also the wipers bashed into the top shroud as the parking point wasn’t set correctly. It’s ok now.

Now I need to fit a washer bottle, top seat belt anchor adapter, new tyres (maybe wire wheels), reset the tappets, then the MOT.

That should take about 3 years!

Bouncy

Last weekend I fitted the windscreen wipers, took about 5 minutes plus 30 to clean then up first. Pleased with myself I retired to the couch.

The hood header rail has now been painted. So a new hood was bought from www.sussexclassiccar.co.uk and as part of the "Is it finished yet?" chat I mentioned the lack of bolts for the upper damper mounts. A pair of High tensile bolts were swiftly produced. I keep forgetting he has a good stock of fixings in the back, saved a special trip to Namerick.

The holes were not actually that bad, two sweeps with a file and it was OK. The dampers are now fitted. It isn't the best conversion kit but it works. The brake hose is a bit close to the damper.

The bracket inside that supports the upper mounting point is not a good fit on this car so has an extra few fat washers to fill the gap.

Measure twice drill once

Or not in my case.

The front telescopic damper, upper mounting points, don't line up very well with the holes in the inner wheel arch. Shame really, more drilling required.





Also the brackets that bolt onto the lever arms don't quite touch where they should. I have some thick washers now from B&Q that will do the job of filling the gaps but I've lost the bolts that hold this bit together.


Another trip to Namerick is required.



All this week I have been de-rusting the hood header rail ready for the new paint and hood. It isn't quite fully rust free but its close! I've now painted it in the blue rust killer stuff ready for the primer.



Not much really... and winter is coming.. it'll be cold in the garage soon.

Further on down the drive...

Found that the brake light switch was loose hence the brakes needed bleeding all the time.

This time, pressure seems to be holding, although all the wheels seem to be binding slightly.

So we went for a spin up the drive and back. The first journey out of the garage under her own steam for 20 years.

Now all I need to do is...

fit the hood

Sort out the front dampers.

cure lack of brake lights

binding brakes

dicky left main beam

Windscreen wipers and washer

dodgy door fitting

speedo cable

Wire wheels

still more stuff I've probably forgotten

MOT

Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' ........... Not Stoppin'.

So the clutch push rod was filled with weld and a new 8mm hole drilled into it.

The hole was set nearer to the end than normal to push the clutch actuator lever away as much as possible. I might have overdone it, as it was a bit tight getting it to fit.

Engine started and warmed up, I got in, engaged gear, let out the clutch and away we went.

Wahoo!!

About 3 feet later I applied the brake and not a lot happened.

Next job then, bleed the brakes.

Again...

Clutch dragging on

I bought a replacement starter motor recently - another bit of the original Jemima gone forever. But now it is fitted she starts every time without problems.
The problem now is the clutch.

I bled the clutch but I can’t press the pedal far enough in to disengage the clutch. It took me some time to remember the adjustments at the top of the pedal into the dual master cylinder. Memory like a 20 year old sieve.
With the upper adjuster rod adjusted fully out, I could now start the engine in gear and drive up the garage but I couldn’t start the engine and engage gear!

With thoughts of having to remove the engine and gearbox I retired to the lounge and had a few beers and watched TV for a week.

This weekend I had another look at the clutch problem and decided it could be the old pushrod. So I’ll take it to work (I leave my welder there these days) and fill the hole full of weld and re-drill.

Next weekend I’ll see what happens.

Garage door

I haven’t done very much on Jemima recently.

The local scum smashed my daily driver side window to get at the sat-nav I had stupidly left on show. Later in the week they smashed a neighbour’s rear window and then further up the street a windscreen.

Thoughts naturally turn to security in these troubled times and I wanted new keys for my garage doors anyway - and I also wanted the same key for both doors.
The local garage door provider and the local security firm couldn’t supply standard or improved door locks with the same key. A rummage through eBay didn’t help and a few supplier’s responded to questions with “they all have different keys mate”.

Then I found http://www.lockshop-warehouse.co.uk/ and the D613 Enfield Garage Door Bolts Keyed Alike for more than one Garage – excellent news and just the job.

The following weekend they were fitted. I should have bought the triple set then I could have fitted one to the Side door too.