Very autumnal 'ere - a heavy drizzly mist hanging low, even the dogs have come back in and gone back to their beds.

UPDATE

What a difference four hours makes! Pleasant sunny day now .................... and the dogs have gone outside to lap up the rays.:)
 
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Now have two sunny days.
Will be starting by figuring out how I am going to attach my steel plate that will be holding the w/w motor to the rest of the mech. What is left of the original is so rusty I am not convinced that sandwiching it between the new plate and another bit of plate with pop rivets will be the best thing.
My mind has been on other parts of the problem, still unfinished, but now have a clear plan for them.
As it's Monday I'll ring Rob the Dutch guy who used to break Landies to see if by any miracle he has a RHD relpacement one that isn't as bad as mine. If so I'll be pleased to think that all my work so far may have been a waste of time.
Have a good day folks!
:):):)
 
Well Rob had two so I went and had a look, one was quite shot but still not as bad as mine the other was even better so €40 later I now have a mech to install after I have treated the rust on the back of the plate. Typically it was lunchtime by then so couldn't buy any rust treating stuff, which is rare as rocking horse doo-doos anyway.

I may have mentioned before that Rob has the most amazing collection of cars, all Brit, and last time I saw it he had about 8 Dolomite Sprints. Well this time he had yet more and apart from a jag and a TR summat, he also now has a 2.5 pi he has just acquired.
Apparently some Parisian had a holiday home where he kept a collection of Brit classics. He died and after a while his two sons decided to sell up. Sadly they decided they didn't want to be bothered with paperwork so they sent for the scrappers to take all the cars away. The neighbour ran out shouting "You can't do that!" and after a bit of negotiation he managed to buy a Dolly Sprint and the 2.5 pi. So, one owner from new, low mileage, and the smell inside is so lovely Rob keeps the windows closed at all times!
Meanwhile at least one other Dolly Sprint, and others, were crushed so the scrappie could get more on the lorry! Sacrilege!:eek::eek:
 
Well Rob had two so I went and had a look, one was quite shot but still not as bad as mine the other was even better so €40 later I now have a mech to install after I have treated the rust on the back of the plate. Typically it was lunchtime by then so couldn't buy any rust treating stuff, which is rare as rocking horse doo-doos anyway.

I may have mentioned before that Rob has the most amazing collection of cars, all Brit, and last time I saw it he had about 8 Dolomite Sprints. Well this time he had yet more and apart from a jag and a TR summat, he also now has a 2.5 pi he has just acquired.
Apparently some Parisian had a holiday home where he kept a collection of Brit classics. He died and after a while his two sons decided to sell up. Sadly they decided they didn't want to be bothered with paperwork so they sent for the scrappers to take all the cars away. The neighbour ran out shouting "You can't do that!" and after a bit of negotiation he managed to buy a Dolly Sprint and the 2.5 pi. So, one owner from new, low mileage, and the smell inside is so lovely Rob keeps the windows closed at all times!
Meanwhile at least one other Dolly Sprint, and others, were crushed so the scrappie could get more on the lorry! Sacrilege!:eek::eek:
Interesting story - what sort of things got scrapped and were they any good or in reality just a load of rust? Whatever happened its a pity parts could not have been saved if there is someone else genuinely keeping/running classics for which spares must be becoming difficult.
 
Very autumnal 'ere - a heavy drizzly mist hanging low, even the dogs have come back in and gone back to their beds.

UPDATE

What a difference four hours makes! Pleasant sunny day now .................... and the dogs have gone outside to lap up the rays.:)

It turned out to be roasting this afternoon now my neebs says its to be raining tomorrow. :mad::mad:

He's a weirdo anyhoo.
 
Interesting story - what sort of things got scrapped and were they any good or in reality just a load of rust? Whatever happened its a pity parts could not have been saved if there is someone else genuinely keeping/running classics for which spares must be becoming difficult.
Judging by the one I saw they were low mileage and had been stored very correctly. i.e. in a proper garage or summat. Rob never buys rubbish.
Rob bought it from the guy who saved what he could, so the whole story is secondhand, but he says the guy was a British car nut and lots of them were one owner, low mileage as was the 2.5pi.
I agree that it is a massive shame when stuff that could be useful to others gets thrown away.
Enthusiasts of old Brit classics that were used as donors for kit cars are now searching for and buying the kit cars to source parts for their own cars. I in my own garage have bits for Cortina mks 3 and 4 and morris Marina stuff. Talking engines and gearboxes here as well as other miscellaneous bits. Triumphs were popular donors as so many of them had chassis and sub assemblies..
 
Once I got the secondhand scrapped w/w mech home I had a very close look and although the motor mounting plate is a lot more intact, other bits of it, like the W/wiper pillar things that you mount each wiper on is deffo not, particularly on one side. The mech works but there is monumental rust which has "waisted" the side of the pillar things prolly due to a split rubber. And I cannot see how to take these off without risking doing serious damage.

I get the feeling that they all rust in different ways. The plate is only held on to the rest of the frame with 4 spot welds and the two bolts that hold it to the car. The temptation to drill the spotwelds out on both mechs and put the good one back on the old one is huge. But I have no welding gear here and I am not at all sure that pop rivets would be strong enough.

So I am going with derusting and painting the plate on the new-to-me one and doing the best I can with the rest.

I have also bought some special superglue that might improve the split plastic and some clear silicon sealant to seal it all up after and during refitting.
 

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