Steve's unexpected Series 3 rebuild.

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Stretch said:
Disco fan Steve (!)

Nice bit of progress on the engine. (Be interested to hear how the epoxy holds)

The doors are worth taking your time over. I expect a whole heap of trouble when I get to that stage myself. I plan to be very slow and careful especially with the alignment of the bulkhead and the rear tub. Those pesky door pillars have to be at the right position. Gut feeling is that if you get the tub and bulkhead / door pillars millimeter perfect you'll have the best chance to get the doors as good as is possible.

Break out the tape measure - measure across - diagonals within the door but also across and in between the gap between the tub and the bulkhead on the chassis. A flat garage floor will help with relative heights. Get your son involved - it is a real geometry project - pay back for all that homework!
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I think you are right about taking my time. It's the main reason i've called a temporary halt over winter. I need it all out on the drive in dry weather and half reasonable temperatures. I need my wife at work and my son at school so I can get some peace to think. Even then all the old folks walk their dogs past the house and stop to chat. It's all very pleasant but it ruins your train of thought. I'm going to sort the tub out first. Apart from a bit of shimming there's not too much adjustment in it. I reckon that as long as it is level and square then it's the starting point and everything will have to be made to fit to it.
 
I had a thought about steering adjustment recently. Now it's going to be a long time until I actually need to adjust the steering rods but when I do I reckon it will be easier if i've got something to get hold of. The longitudinal rod is the only one that's survived. The drag link and the track rod were total gonners. So when I was cleaning up the tube I remembered a box of massive nuts that I inherited somewhere or other. Turns out that if you file out the threads these slide perfectly over the tube. Then you can weld them in place like this.
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Not great welding to be honest. It's a while since i've done any and I was really cack handed. Grinder saved the day. If it was anywhere important I would have had to start again. But when it's painted and assembled though it looks ok and to be honest who's going to ever see it? Possibly pointless but maybe in years to come when it needs adjusting and its all rusted up by having that nut there I may not end up having to struggle and swear so much.
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Even by my standards these next bits were a faff. Someone in the past had got overspray on the flyscreen things in the bulkhead. It looked really naff. I tried hand wire brushing but that made little difference. There's loads of talk about how hard it is to get paint to stick to aluminium. I think the secret is to make the paint believe that you don't want it to stick. This was accidental overspray on top of dirt and corrosion without primer and it was not budging. Had to be paint stripper in the end. Then the wire brush and wire wool. Shiny.
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Next I decided to concentrate on my flaps. :eek:
The vent flaps look like they have been painted about a dozen times in the past and never rubbed down once. I got a lot of paint off and some of it just peeled because it had not been primed. The lower levels got a lot tougher though so it needed paint stripper to finish it off.
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Then with a bit of sanding, scrubbing and scraping you get this.
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Etch primer is as far as i've got at the moment. I really like being able to see the spot welds again but as i'm going to be brush painting it i'm going to have to be really careful that I don't just fill them all back up again.
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It's been a very long time since i've posted. There has been progress but as usual not as much as I would like. I'm happy for family and home to always take priority. Unfortunately work hogs the rest of the time. Even in lock down at the moment I can work from home and i'm doing more hours than ever. I'm not moaning. I'm lucky to be able to carry on as normal and keep the money coming in and have the security. A bit of time off would be nice though.
At the moment i'm working on the bodywork. I have assembled the bulkhead, roof, doors top and bottom and windscreen and i'm just jiggling everything about to try and get and acceptable looking fit. It's all over the place and i'll share the story soon but I haven't got many pictures sorted yet. For now here's some of the minor stuff i've been doing.

I try to restore old parts as much as possible even when it's not all that sensible but the exhaust manifold just seemed too far gone even for me. I got a new one but I fancied painting it black. I really don't know if it will last. Of course I got the high temperature paint and went to loads of trouble to get it right. I don't know if it's the same for all manifold paint but with this stuff you have to bake it on. Easy enough if the car is running and the engine heat will do the work for you. Not easy in my case. I had recently received a major telling off for putting parts in the oven so I daren't do that again. I made a plate to block off one side and fired a little gas gun into the other end to heat it up to the right temperature. Be careful doing this. The carbon monoxide monitor in the garage soon went off despite me thinking I had the place well ventilated.
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With the inlet manifold cleaned up and put together I reckon it looks smart. We'll have to see how long it lasts.
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LincolnSteve said:
It's been a very long time since i've posted. There has been progress but as usual not as much as I would like. I'm happy for family and home to always take priority. Unfortunately work hogs the rest of the time. Even in lock down at the moment I can work from home and i'm doing more hours than ever. I'm not moaning. I'm lucky to be able to carry on as normal and keep the money coming in and have the security. A bit of time off would be nice though.
At the moment i'm working on the bodywork. I have assembled the bulkhead, roof, doors top and bottom and windscreen and i'm just jiggling everything about to try and get and acceptable looking fit. It's all over the place and i'll share the story soon but I haven't got many pictures sorted yet. For now here's some of the minor stuff i've been doing.

I try to restore old parts as much as possible even when it's not all that sensible but the exhaust manifold just seemed too far gone even for me. I got a new one but I fancied painting it black. I really don't know if it will last. Of course I got the high temperature paint and went to loads of trouble to get it right. I don't know if it's the same for all manifold paint but with this stuff you have to bake it on. Easy enough if the car is running and the engine heat will do the work for you. Not easy in my case. I had recently received a major telling off for putting parts in the oven so I daren't do that again. I made a plate to block off one side and fired a little gas gun into the other end to heat it up to the right temperature. Be careful doing this. The carbon monoxide monitor in the garage soon went off despite me thinking I had the place well ventilated.
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With the inlet manifold cleaned up and put together I reckon it looks smart. We'll have to see how long it lasts.
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you leave the 4 nuts clamping the 2 manifolds just nipped till they are bolted to the head then fully tighten them
 
Thank you. Had no idea. I've already tightened them up pretty well. Can I slacken them off now and redo them later or is it too late?
 
jamesmartin said:
no tractor run this year obviously but ive had both working hard,youll have to pop over when the times right
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I'm going to miss the open farm day. It's a nice day out. Always next year. Also the Lincoln steam rally. That's normally my favorite day of the year.
It would be good to come and see you again. I would say that I'll bring the landy when it's finished but at the speed I work we'll both be too old by then.
By the way i've just sussed it out. If the manifolds are bolted tight before fitting they aren't necessarily both going to fit flush and seal to the head. Why couldn't I see that? As I say keep an eye on me. :)
 
LincolnSteve said:
I'm going to miss the open farm day. It's a nice day out. Always next year. Also the Lincoln steam rally. That's normally my favorite day of the year.
It would be good to come and see you again. I would say that I'll bring the landy when it's finished but at the speed I work we'll both be too old by then.
By the way i've just sussed it out. If the manifolds are bolted tight before fitting they aren't necessarily both going to fit flush and seal to the head. Why couldn't I see that? As I say keep an eye on me. :)
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thats correct ,bring your family make an afternoon
 
jamesmartin said:
ive been working with them a fair while, it was quiet for the first few weeks but work has picked up,ive 4 boxes on the go at the moment plus a 110 galv chassis rebuild
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I'm glad you're keeping busy. We're in strange old times. One day i'll get a galv chassis and really do the job right. Is it from Richards?
 
The scotch has run out so i'm calling it a
jamesmartin said:
it is ,the guy got it cheapish from ebay ,failed project which is great if you can find them
Click to expand...

Lucky fella. Must be nice building a landy up knowing that what's underneath is jigged, correct and true. That would take some of the guesswork out of it.
Right the scotch has run out so i'm calling it a night. I'll put some more bits on soon. Stay safe.
 
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