Sparky's winter/spring/summer/autumn work

Thanks all - certainly getting there now - I can almost hear him cough into life :D

testrider said:
quattro said:
Cleaning, de-rusting and painting the engine stay bar and its brackets (that was more work than it seems)
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Tell me about it! An afternoon to clean them, then two coats of primer. Wait a day, then two coats of black paint and reasseble only to find that you'd missed a bit dangling from a wire hook with no paint on!

Sparky's coming on a treat now though and I bet you're glad that you can cross the heater box off the list with all those fiddly bolts and levers behind the dash. Are you going to refit the badges and reflectors at the back? I've got a couple of ideas to try out for those.

Don't 'spose you seen my again car at the paint shop recently have you? I like to keep ringing up asking about it, but I'm going to have to go over and have a look this week.
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I love it when you have painted a piece and you notice a small flaw in it, so you get the tin out and give it a quick blast only to watch in horror as the surface pickles before your eyes. :oops:

I was going to refix the reflectors as they should be. On my old car, I got hold of some series one reflectors and blended them into the boot lid, looked great but Sparky's is already painted so not going to do that.

I haven't been back to Derby since the first time I saw your car, so sorry, can't help there. Our delivery van goes that way now and then, so it picks up whatever is ready as and when. I only have 2 sills there now, everything else is here ready to go back on :D :D

I'd would give him a call.

Richard
 
Personally I would just leave the reflectors off, and see if anybody notices, I find them quite ugly and never had any on my old car, went through at least 12 MOTs and nobody noticed. The reflective surface tends to be knackered too so they end up reflecting less than the standard lamp clusters.

If you really bothered you could fit some fold down ones under the bumper and pop them down if parking at night.
 
I quite like the S1 rear lights with the reflectors built in, though obviously there would be an issue with having no reversing lamps.
 
When did the rear light unit change from having the integrated reflector to the reversing lamp? I reckon it must've been between '65 and '66 as I have pics of '65 and earlier cars with the reflector built in but all the pics I've seen of '66 and newer cars have the reversing light built in.

Dave
 
They changed in '66 at the same time as the launch of the TC and the change to Girling brakes. Surprisingly, there seem to be more new old stock lamp units of the old type around than the later more normal ones. I guess there just aren't the number of cars around to use them up. (but note mine have later type units with early type lens's).

Chris
 
So, the next instalment 8)

Sparky had a habit of leaving a large white cloud behind him if asked to tick over for more than a minute, then accelerate. I thought it may be the servo leaking internally so a strip down was required. This is what it looked like last year when I took it out.

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It did have quite a bit of brake fluid in it as you can see from the inside

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Last week I cleaned it up and then fitted a rebuild kit. I was intending to zinc plate the servo and yellow passivate it, but ended up just paining it with silver engine enamel – I can always plate it another year.

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Doesn’t look bad snuggled back in place.

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I have basically finished in the engine bay :shock:

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All plumbing done except for the radiator, PAS sorted except for the banjo on the pump which has gone hidey along with one of its washers. All under bonnet wiring back where it should be although I am expecting a few small problems when I connect the battery up. When I took the headlights out, I just pulled the bullets apart and left them as they were. This obviously left a host of male and female ends. When going through the wiring diagram and reconnecting them all, I had two instances of trying to fit two female wires together. The only possible explanation is that they were connected incorrectly to start with.

Throttle/choke is connected, alternator back on painted and wired up, dizzy back in timed correctly (I hope), all brake pipes connected including the vacuum hose on the servo, etc. If I crawl underneath and check the fuel lines, connect the main battery cable from floor to starter, and connect the battery, I could start him up :shock:

I have two dials which I want in the car, namely a fuel pressure gauge which I took out once but have changed my mind about, and a LAMBDA gauge. More work than I expected but worth it in the end. I like the look anyway.

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The only other thing that I wanted to sort in the interior was the gearstick. It still had an old broken auto tunnel cover with the SD1 gearstick wrapped with an old piece of vinyl. I got a manual cover with rubber boot and fitted it.

Problem, the gearstick is too far forward? This is in neutral. I haven’t had a good look at it yet, but it should be interesting.

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Both rear doors back on with new weatherseals cut out and fitted. Made a mess of the first one, but will just have to live with it for now :twisted: I have them at the correct height, just need to fit the latches and get them to close, then get the frames in the right place and refit the inside bits, door pulls and handles etc.

osreardoor.jpg

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Centre bumper brackets and rad undertray back on this afternoon, and here we are.

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Getting excited now :D :D
 
I'm excited too, Sparky is looking fab! It's when you get this close that inspiration helps you out a little and spurs you on. You could book the MOT :wink: .
 
Me too, it's getting soooo close now, if you weren't still recovering from the opp, I'd tell you to pull an all-nighter and get it done :LOL:

However one word of caution - you don't want to look back and think "if only I hadn't rushed that last bit..." Take your time and make sure it's all exactly how you want it, nothing worse than having a little niggle staring at you every time you drive it.

He's going to be fantastic isn't he, I hope you're very proud, you should be !
 
Excellent work Richard. I wish I'd painted my servo housing now!

Connecting the headlights up was a nightmare on mine even with the wiring diagram and photos. Some of the earth wires actually need to be all connected together.

In my (limited) experience of P6 powersteering the banjo connector and washers to the pump is the place where you'll get leaks. It's much easier to get the spanner in whilst the radiator is out so find them and do it next. I've got a dowty washer on the top of the connector and a nice snug fitting copper washer between the banjo and pump body. According to the parts diagram there's meant to be an O ring between the pump body and banjo but I couldn't find anything to fit tight enough to hold the pressure.

Oh, and don't forget you've a front wheel missing! :shock:
 
adamhotrod said:
I'm excited too, Sparky is looking fab! It's when you get this close that inspiration helps you out a little and spurs you on. You could book the MOT :wink: .
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MOT? LOL - I think it may fail on only having three wheels. It's not inspiration I am lacking, it's fitness Adam, so keep your weekends clear :D


webmaster said:
Me too, it's getting soooo close now, if you weren't still recovering from the opp, I'd tell you to pull an all-nighter and get it done :LOL:

However one word of caution - you don't want to look back and think "if only I hadn't rushed that last bit..." Take your time and make sure it's all exactly how you want it, nothing worse than having a little niggle staring at you every time you drive it.

He's going to be fantastic isn't he, I hope you're very proud, you should be !
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I have thought about the "if only I hadn't rushed that last bit..." scenario, and my thoughts on it are, that there are many other winters on the way. I would like to get him back on the road now and treat him as a rolling resto. I still have the roof and quarter panels to recover, under the roof to derust, bumpers and other chrome to rechrome, seats to recover, heater to rebuild properly, gearbox to strip and rebuild if needed, etc.

So any bits that niggle, can be sorted then. What I am concerned with is bits that I cannot easily get to, are sorted now and for good, like the rear calipers, and any base unit rust, for instance.

Pity he can't be there on Sunday :( but he will be at Saltaire and Elsecar if I have to tow it there!!

Richard
 
Just curious, but how have you fitted the fuel pressure gauge? I want to fit one on my E-type, to monitor some issues I'm having..
 
chrisw said:
Just curious, but how have you fitted the fuel pressure gauge? I want to fit one on my E-type, to monitor some issues I'm having..
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Hi Chris

When I bought the car, it already had a fuel pressure gauge fitted. It is just a braided hose from the 'take off' on the pressure regulator to the back of the gauge. I just connected it back up as it was.

Richard
 
This little beggar is back from his holiday at Hidey Mountain along with the top of the windscreen washer bottle. Gave them both a good clean and on they went.
Banjo.jpg

Back on with the header tank. The original fixing hole has been filled with a rubber bung and a new one drilled to make a neater fit. I bought a selection pack of rubber grommets and bungs from fleabay for £5.80 in delivery :shock: 150 of them including postage. I do like a bargain
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Another use for the grommet box – new rubber mounts for the radiator. The old ones were practically gone altogether, so these came in very useful.
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So with that lot back in, the radiator in, plumbed and full of water, I could start the engine. After I have been underneath of course, but the engine bay is finished.
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Bit more to do in here but I can’t fit the N/S kneebin as I haven’t fitted the front suspension yet. What you can’t see is the radio is wired up and is on, and ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ is floating around the interior. This was the second noise that Sparky has made in 18 months, the first being me testing the horns ten minutes beforehand :)
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Rear doors are finished, lined up fairly well and closing with that satisfying clunk that we all love. Getting a lot of dust though which can be seen all over the back seat, will have to spend a few days cleaning when I have finished.
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I had a go at taking the front calipers apart, and was faced with this as the first piston to be removed. Obviously ronnied so I have had to order a set of new ones.
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I have spent quite a while with a wire brush getting it clean and removed the smaller pistons. They were both ronnied as well.
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Whilst walking around Halfrauds looking for some TQF, I found some caliper paint, so I thought I would give it a try. I wonder how long it will look like this :?:
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Put the rear bumper on and wired up the light. Tested it. It doesn’t work.
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The front decker turned out to be warped when I tried to fit it, so another one is with Clive being sorted out.

Jobs to do :

Front suspension

Front doors/wings

Few bits on the interior including fit front seats and kneebins

Crawl underneath

Richard
 
Looking very good, Richard! It looks like it's really taking shape now. Won't be long until you're out driving Sparky again! 8)
 
Excellent progress again Richard, tantalisingly close now !

With the caliper paint, did you have to bake it in the oven, or was it just your basic spray ? I presume the oven bake stuff lasts longer, but how much difference it makes I don't know.
 
The standard of workmanship is fantastic, I have been following this build with interest. I hope I can have my car looking this good one day :)
 
Guess what I have been doing today?

Here's a couple of clues

tailpipe.jpg

NSFront.jpg


So the hand brake is adjusted, the propshaft is on, the exhaust is on, starter motor wired up, front suspension in and working, anti roll bar in, and Sparky is off the ramps.

Yes, you guessed it,

I have been watchi... ermm helping Adamhotrod to put the underneath bits back together :D :D :D Thank Adam, I am forever in your debt.

We turned the motor over and had oil pressure, so dropped so petrol in the carb and tried again. It fired up first time :D :D

Fuel pump is not working yet and I haven't fitted the petrol cap and filler pipe so we could only run it for a second or so when there was petrol in the manifold.

Pretty exciting hearing the V8 rumble though, even for a second or two.

Now we're humming, I can almost smell that MOT :D

Richard

Oh and I managed to get the pistons into the NS front caliper. That's a bit fiddly :shock:
 
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