Enthusiasts of British Motor Vehicles Built Before 1985
  • Home
  • News & Events
    • Group News
    • Group Events
  • Blogs & Vlogs
  • YouTube
  • Photo Galleries
    • 2022 >
      • 2022 Classic Motor Show Gallery
      • 2022 Fat Lamb Tour Gallery
      • 2022 NC500 - the Grand Tour of the Scottish Coast Photo Gallery
      • 2022 Glos Vintage & Country Extravaganza Gallery
      • 2022 Best of Yorkshire Tour Gallery
      • 2022 Peak District Revisited Tour Gallery
      • 2022 Gaydon Weekend Gallery
      • 2022 NEC Resto Show Gallery
      • 2022 Forest of Dean Winter Tour Gallery
    • 2021 >
      • 2021 Classic Motor Show Gallery
      • 2021 Fat Lamb Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Welsh Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Jurassic Coast Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Crich Museum & Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Staffs Oatcake Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Boston CCC Show Photo Gallery
    • 2019 >
      • Yorkshire Moors Driving Tour 2019
      • Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show NEC Nov 2019
      • New Forest Driving Tour 2019
      • Gloucester Vintage & Steam Extravaganza Photo Gallery 2019
      • Tour of the Dark Peak Photo Gallery 2019
      • Codgers do the Cotswolds 2019
      • Bubble Car Museum Gallery 2019
      • Brecon Beacons driving tour 2019
      • Morgan Factory tour 2019
      • Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show 2019
    • 2018 >
      • Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show NEC November 2018
      • Isle of Wight Tour 2018
      • Brunel's Somerset Tour Gallery 2018
      • Gloucester Vintage Extravaganza 2018
      • Maesteg Charity Classic Car Show & Driving Tour 2018
      • Bubble Car Museum & Driving Tour 2018
      • Peak District Driving Tour 2018
      • Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show 2018
      • Coventry Transport Museum 2018 >
        • Joel Lodder's 2018 Coventry meet gallery
    • 2017 >
      • Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show NEC November 2017
      • Snowdonia Driving Tour 2017
      • Gloucester Vintage Extravaganza 2017
      • Lupin Farm Charity Car Show 2017
      • The Shackleton Trust 2017
      • Crich Tramway Museum 2017
      • Bubble Car Museum 2017
      • Pride of Longbridge 2017
      • April 2017 Practical Classics Restoration Show (NEC)
    • 2016 >
      • Crich Tramway Museum 2016
    • 2015 >
      • Bubble Car Museum 2015
      • Coventry Transport Museum 2015
  • Shop
  • Insurance
  • More ...
    • Contact
    • About
    • Join our Club
    • Mailing List
    • Sponsors >
      • Alvaston Press Ltd
      • Lancaster Insurance Services Ltd
      • Richard Edmonds Auctions Ltd

blogs & VLOGS

Categories

All
Alan Warwick
Andy Perman
Anthony Osborne
Austin Mini
Brett Richardson
Brian Allison
Brits Abroad
Callum Tooey
Daniel Bysouth
Drive It Day
Eddy Glass
Eric Dalton
Focus On British Classics
Gar Cole
Graeme Moore
Graham Hemsley
Group Events
Group Tours
Gus Brooks
Holly Bush
In The Workshop
Jim Lodder
Joel Lodder
John Lonergan
John Simpson
Kevin Thompson
Mark Smith
Matthew Homburg
Members Classics
Members Recollections
Mick Masters
Mike Peake
Nicholas Webb
Nick Arthur
Paul Sweeney
Projects
Steve Favill
The Weekly Groan
Tony "Tosh" Brooks
Unsung Heroes
VLOG
YouTube

Archives

December 2022
November 2022
October 2022
September 2022
August 2022
July 2022
June 2022
May 2022
April 2022
March 2022
February 2022
January 2022
December 2021
November 2021
October 2021
August 2021
July 2021
June 2021
May 2021
April 2021
February 2021
December 2020
October 2020
September 2020
August 2020
July 2020
June 2020
May 2020
April 2020
November 2019
October 2019
September 2019
August 2019
July 2019
June 2019
May 2019
April 2019
March 2019
February 2019
December 2018
November 2018
October 2018
September 2018
August 2018
July 2018
June 2018
May 2018
April 2018
March 2018
February 2018
January 2018
December 2017
November 2017
October 2017
September 2017
August 2017
July 2017
June 2017
May 2017
April 2017
March 2017
February 2017
January 2017
December 2016
November 2016
September 2016
August 2016
June 2016
May 2016
April 2016
March 2016
February 2016
January 2016
December 2015

BLOG: A tale of two lucky VDP's - part 6

29/4/2020

0 Comments

 
by Andy Perman
Early April saw the cold weather come to an end and the temperature start to rise. That coupled with the lighter evenings gave me more time and I was going to need it! I basically had a month to finish the car, get an MOT and tax it before the Gaydon show in early May. Being a 1974-built car it missed the frozen nil duty on classic cars by one year so I had to pay up!
I’d ordered a new exhaust system a few weeks before which had now arrived, so there was that to fit plus changing all the suspension metalastic parts including the engine mountings as the engine was definitely not sitting level. Oh, and a new set of tyres and tidy up the wheels at the same time. A steering rack to change and finally there was a series of interconnected rods that I found in the boot that turned out to be the kick down mechanism. Why they had been removed was unknown so I had to figure out how they went back on and how it worked, but more of that later. I roughly worked out to get this all done over the next three weekends leaving one spare weekend for wiggle room before the MOT.
I decided to lift the front of the car first so I could remove both wheels and tackle the engine mounts and suspension bushes. With the wheels removed I rubbed back the scabby paint, rust proofed and treated it to a couple of coats of wheel Silvereene. Not perfect but certainly presentable. So off to the tyre fitters they went for a new set of boots.
Now I could tackle the engine mountings and the decidedly wonky-sitting engine. The workshop manual said to lift the gearbox and power unit to just take the load then remove the 4 bolts securing the mount to the body, remove the top engine stabiliser bar, then to lift the whole power unit 4 inches before taking off the inner nuts connecting it to the gearbox housing. Then repeat for the opposite side. Amazingly it all went textbook. The new mountings went back in and I got my first look at the engine now sitting level.
So next I removed the tie bars and the bushes to replace them. It was weirdly cheaper to buy the whole tie bar and bush kit than just the bushes, so whole new ones went back on. While removed it gave me a chance to rust treat and paint the front under body heavy gauge parts that would otherwise have been difficult to get to. 
Next job for the front of the car was a new steering rack. There was a lot of play in the passenger side arm so that clearly had to be rectified. What I was unaware of at the time was this was a simple bush change, but more of that later! Removing the rack was very simple. Separate each track rod end ball joint. Undo the 4 clamp bolts, then finally undo the lower steering clamp bolt. As I did so I heard the clonk of the rack dropping free onto the inner wings. With the rack removed I lined up both the old and new racks on the drive to set the track rods as I was seriously running out of time and didn’t think I’d get the opportunity to get the tracking professionally checked and set, so I could get it damn close myself just in case. Then before fitting the new rack, injected the gear oil into each set of the bellows.
The re-fitting was fairly straightforward except trying to get the lower clamp connection to line up. I spent ages climbing in and then under the car trying to get the two parts together and not getting anywhere, then swearing at the stupidity of the design making this such a difficult part to fit, before I realised you simply slide up the steering column then drop it onto the rack spline. Simples!! Last job for the front was to re-fit the newly shod wheels and lower it to the ground.
Picture
I could now raise the rear of the car and again refurbish the wheels so I could send them to the tyre place. However the job I’d been dreading was changing the cross tube mounts. Both mine were shot and had come apart like the engine mountings had and there is no way they would get past my MOT guy.

​The big issue was that the full force of the suspension fluid cantilevers on the mountings, so you really need to de-pressurise the system before removing them. Problem was I didn’t have a pump unit so I had to use method 2 in the manual which assured me by the use of 3 jacks and wood packers it was possible to carry out the job without de-pressurising, but it looked terrifying.


With the three jacks in place and the radius arm packed up I undid the main bolt and………. well, nothing happened. I didn’t all fly apart and squirt fluid all over the workshop as I’d feared. It was actually very straightforward and was all done in 6 bolts and half an hour. Result! With the opposite side also changed I refitted the newly tyred wheels and lowered the car. Job done. Last job of the day was to fit the new exhaust. Really simple, one bolt on the manifold clamp and three rubber hangers saw the job done in an hour.
That just left the puzzle in the boot - the kick-down linkage. There was little information in the workshop manual and very few people knew much about the auto gearboxes, so I was on my own. I had found a diagram online for a Mini automatic set up and that turned out to be really useful. It enabled me to lay the parts out on the bench and work out how they connected together. With that done it was fairly easy to then connect them to the appropriate throttle arm point and onto the governor housing lever via a cam on the gearbox. I’d spotted the odd looking lever not doing anything whilst fitting the exhaust but now it all made sense.
One final job; I’d bought a Boyer Bransdon ignition amplifier. Simple four-wire fit and it removes all the points issues. It certainly improved the running of the engine when I fired it up. Quick check of the dwell and timing - it wasn’t perfect but good enough given I was now out of time. So that was it; I’d done it. MOT was 8am the following morning. The Gaydon show was 10am the day after! No pressure then. The car was on all 4 wheels for the first time in over 2 years. I shut the workshop for the night and had a well earned beer.

To be continued……
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    RSS Feed

Privacy Policy 

​Your shopping bag

Home

News

Shop

Insurance

Contact

Picture
Picture
Picture
© 2022 Enthusiasts of British Motor Vehicles Built Before 1985
  • Home
  • News & Events
    • Group News
    • Group Events
  • Blogs & Vlogs
  • YouTube
  • Photo Galleries
    • 2022 >
      • 2022 Classic Motor Show Gallery
      • 2022 Fat Lamb Tour Gallery
      • 2022 NC500 - the Grand Tour of the Scottish Coast Photo Gallery
      • 2022 Glos Vintage & Country Extravaganza Gallery
      • 2022 Best of Yorkshire Tour Gallery
      • 2022 Peak District Revisited Tour Gallery
      • 2022 Gaydon Weekend Gallery
      • 2022 NEC Resto Show Gallery
      • 2022 Forest of Dean Winter Tour Gallery
    • 2021 >
      • 2021 Classic Motor Show Gallery
      • 2021 Fat Lamb Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Welsh Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Jurassic Coast Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Crich Museum & Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Staffs Oatcake Tour Gallery
      • 2021 Boston CCC Show Photo Gallery
    • 2019 >
      • Yorkshire Moors Driving Tour 2019
      • Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show NEC Nov 2019
      • New Forest Driving Tour 2019
      • Gloucester Vintage & Steam Extravaganza Photo Gallery 2019
      • Tour of the Dark Peak Photo Gallery 2019
      • Codgers do the Cotswolds 2019
      • Bubble Car Museum Gallery 2019
      • Brecon Beacons driving tour 2019
      • Morgan Factory tour 2019
      • Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show 2019
    • 2018 >
      • Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show NEC November 2018
      • Isle of Wight Tour 2018
      • Brunel's Somerset Tour Gallery 2018
      • Gloucester Vintage Extravaganza 2018
      • Maesteg Charity Classic Car Show & Driving Tour 2018
      • Bubble Car Museum & Driving Tour 2018
      • Peak District Driving Tour 2018
      • Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show 2018
      • Coventry Transport Museum 2018 >
        • Joel Lodder's 2018 Coventry meet gallery
    • 2017 >
      • Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show NEC November 2017
      • Snowdonia Driving Tour 2017
      • Gloucester Vintage Extravaganza 2017
      • Lupin Farm Charity Car Show 2017
      • The Shackleton Trust 2017
      • Crich Tramway Museum 2017
      • Bubble Car Museum 2017
      • Pride of Longbridge 2017
      • April 2017 Practical Classics Restoration Show (NEC)
    • 2016 >
      • Crich Tramway Museum 2016
    • 2015 >
      • Bubble Car Museum 2015
      • Coventry Transport Museum 2015
  • Shop
  • Insurance
  • More ...
    • Contact
    • About
    • Join our Club
    • Mailing List
    • Sponsors >
      • Alvaston Press Ltd
      • Lancaster Insurance Services Ltd
      • Richard Edmonds Auctions Ltd