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Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Vintage and Classic Roadster Kit Car Builds

Vintage and Classic Roadster Kit Car Builds For Vintage and Classic era kit cars. Post your build reports, problems and progress here

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  #261  
Old 16th December 2018, 13:05
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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I managed a quick session in the cave this morning, with one eye on the weather as I wanted to take the A352 for a spin before condemning her to another week under the soggy 'waterproof' cover. I first unbolted the exhaust manifold, removed the old gasket, cleaned the mating surfaces and ran a die up the studs. I fitted the new gasket, replaced the exhaust manifold, and offered up the new inlet one. It fouled the exhaust flange very slightly but the merest bit of dressing with a flat file soon had it sitting nicely. As it'll doubtless have to come off at some stage, I only very gently nipped up the nuts. With the base gasket in place I fitted the DCD, again only nipping up the bolts, and made the first cut of the card template I'll be using to mark the bonnet for surgery. Shaky photo' alert, as ever.





As it was then A352 o'clock, I called it a morning.

Regards, Mick
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  #262  
Old 16th December 2018, 15:12
Lucky@LeMans Lucky@LeMans is offline
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How come the Yanks can supply new manifolds for an old British designed engine ? I would have thought that would be from a specialist UK supplier only.
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  #263  
Old 17th December 2018, 07:24
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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45% of all Spitfires, 141,449 of 314,332 made, were exported to the USA. As I mentioned above, Moss, the only UK supplier I could find, couldn't be bothered to answer my e-mail query, hence my US purchase.

Regards, Mick
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  #264  
Old 20th December 2018, 08:24
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Smile Overkill? Probably.

Ever since trial fitting the steering column and wheel I'd been wondering how best to move the wheel back for a more comfortable driving position and to ease entry. I'd considered having the column cut and shut but decided on a more DIY approach.



I'd searched for a more compact boss but everything available included the horn operating bits and were too deep. My horn button is on the dash so I decided to modify the existing boss. I measured the depth of the metal at the base which was sufficient for my idea, and got a local bloke to cut the whole dished section off on 'his' lathe to leave a plane surface for my adaptor plate. £10 cash as a foreigner . I then cut a disc of 3mm steel plate to the diameter of my steering wheel's centre, firstly as a polygon with my disc cutter, then trued with a grinder wheel. I then drilled the six peripheral 5mm holes using the steering wheel as a jig for marking their centres. I used these holes to mark the centre of the plate for the boss attachment holes, and drilled them at 4mm. Once I'd drilled the centre to accept the column, I assembled it all and secured it upright with a bespoke plywood support. I then drilled 4mm holes through the ally boss and tapped them to 5mm.



All that was then left was to open up the inner ring of holes to accept the 5mm screws and assemble.



I'll have to cut off the protruding threaded portion of the column, and fashion something to conceal the nut. I'm fairly certain I'll never see another like it, but once painted, perhaps with subtler fixings, it'll pass muster.

The nice people at Flickr wrote to me the other day to let me know that, as long as my photostream contains fewer than 1,000 images, it will remain FOC. Excellent!

Regards, Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 20th December 2018 at 08:46.. Reason: Typo.
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  #265  
Old 20th December 2018, 12:30
Dpaz Dpaz is offline
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Oh I do love to see the art of the true 'Special' builder is alive and well. Respect.

Last edited by Dpaz; 22nd December 2018 at 21:41.. Reason: spelling
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  #266  
Old 21st December 2018, 07:40
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Paul L Paul L is offline
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Mick – I get the impression that nothing fits in/to a Monaco without modification!

But it certainly looks like you are getting there.

Good luck, Paul.
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  #267  
Old 22nd December 2018, 21:42
Dpaz Dpaz is offline
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Mick , Why not turn a boss to cover the screws. With care a big woodscrew with the head cut off in the center of a circular piece of hardwood held in a drill chuck in a vice. With care a nice domed boss with a dummy horn push can be made . Then lots of Black paint and held on with double sided sticky. or even 2 screws from behind. CBS has ahorn push #HPUSH on p42 of issue 32.
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  #268  
Old 25th December 2018, 09:54
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default The Easy Option x 2

I wandered down to the cave the other day to address the problem of enabling cable operation of the DCD. I decided that I could probably cobble together something that would work. Some sort of cable locating bracket would be needed so out came the cardboard and scissors and, half an hour later, my demon design had been transferred to aluminium angle and mounted on the carb. The inner cable's clamp would have to be a drilled bolt, free to swivel as the cable moved.



I then decided that my puny effort was, in fact, rubbish, and went indoors to see what was commercially available. An Ebay search turned up this spiffing item, reasonably priced at £29.99 inc. postage, which arrived the very next day. Excellent!



Dpaz, sadly, I don't have a lathe, but I do have the perfect steering wheel centre which hearkens back to my kit car spiritual roots. This has graced quite a few of my creations over the years and will suit the Monaco admirably.



The DOC logo was designed by a very good kit-car friend of 35 year's standing who lives locally. He has a Dutton B Type I sold him in '93 (£50!) awaiting his retirement for rebuilding with a Lotus 907 dual overhead cam, 16-valve all-alloy engine. The 144 BHP should ensure decent performance.

Season's Greetings, Mick

Last edited by Mick O'Malley; 26th December 2018 at 08:31.. Reason: Faulty memory!
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  #269  
Old 8th January 2019, 18:13
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default 2019 begins....

After a most enjoyable and lengthy midwinter break, I at last motivated myself to wander down to the chilly cave hoping that I could find something simple on which to break my 2019 duck.

I'd realised some time ago that there was no rear access for the number plate and light; reversing lamp and GB plate fixings without removing the body, far from ideal. My first thought was to make an access hole in the plywood floor, but I soon rejected this because of the contortions which would be required to use it. Next thought was maybe a hole in one body side with a removable ally plate over it? Ugly, but do-able. It then dawned on me that there was going to be an ally plate on the rear body anyway - the number plate - D'Oh!.

A little head scratching and Rivnuts sprang to mind. I marked and cut out the hand hole, then cut two short strips of 3mm ally, fitted the nuts and drilled 4mm rivet holes either side of them. Correctly spaced number plate bolt holes had been drilled long ago, so I fixed my strips on back to front to make sure everything lined up properly, drilled through them and countersank the outside of the resultant body holes. I luckily had a few suitable rivets left over from fitting the fin on the A352, I re-bolted the mounting plates to the inside and four pops later the job was done.



As I was fitting the number plate the noonday sun crept over the house roof for the first time after the solstice, lighting a small strip of the cave, a heartening sign of happy building days to come.



I quit while I was ahead.

Regards, Mick
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  #270  
Old 29th January 2019, 10:20
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default If only...

I didn't have so many cars on the go .

I'm sure that this could be successfully mated with Herald underpinnings resulting in a gorgeous evocation for pocket money.

Regards, Mick
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  #271  
Old 29th January 2019, 11:49
Dpaz Dpaz is offline
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I was a bit tempted to rebody my Locust, the body of which is OK. Best Beloved pointed out I have a S1 Landrover that needs a clutch a Marlin tha needs tidying a Locust ditto and no money also a wrenched shoulder that has had me out off action for 2 months! Ah well back to the dreaming board
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  #272  
Old 24th February 2019, 11:02
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Slow Winter Progress

Over the last few weeks I've done a few small jobs here and there on the project, none of which has warranted a photo' until last week, when I decided that, although the pedals were operable, their action could be improved by both shortening and offsetting them. I measured the clearance available, removed them, made the necessary cuts and bends and whizzed them over to my welding friend of almost 40 years who stuck them back together for a tenner. Top bloke.



The angled clutch and brake pedals look a little awkward, but they'll definitely be a lot easier to use than before.

Regards, Mick
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  #273  
Old 17th March 2019, 08:21
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Talking Light at the end of the tunnel............

Yesterday, after what seems a marathon 25 months, the Monaco (in the shape of dismantled body parts) at last went for paint. My very good kit car chum of some 37 years stepped up to provide transport to the spray shop (read 'barn').



The hi-tech nature of this sortie is evident from the photo' . Spray dude hadn't previously seen the project, only a picture, and showed enthusiasm for it, just as he did with the A352. He said he'd "turn it round quickly" so I'm hoping that final assembly isn't too far away, followed by a V627/1 application. Triumph Monaco perhaps?

Regards, Mick
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  #274  
Old 17th March 2019, 09:10
Dpaz Dpaz is offline
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Then the fun starts, after paint rebuilding & registration and it's on the road. We hope for a sunny Summer. Good luck!
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  #275  
Old 17th March 2019, 11:02
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Cool
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  #276  
Old 17th March 2019, 11:03
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Thumbs up Burst of enthusiasm....

Having posted the above, I wandered down to the sunlit cave to have a look at the chassis. I decided to paint the parts of the frame which are visible when the body's in place. I dusted them off, de-greased them with acetone, and gave them a good coat of black stone chip, masking the adjacent areas with an old bed sheet.



I think I may need to black the insides of the main rails, but I can do this later even with the body back on.



The left hand front outrigger will eventually form the front part of the spare wheel mount. Gathering clouds brought progress to a halt.

Regards, Mick
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  #277  
Old 24th April 2019, 07:59
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Yet Again

Another Ebay offering from our favourite comedian.

Regards, Mick
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  #278  
Old 2nd May 2019, 07:43
Mick O'Malley Mick O'Malley is offline
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Default Waiting, waiting.....

Having read with interest Paul's Water Feature posts, I thought I'd post my tuppence worth from the idle days awaiting the return of the Monaco body from the spray barn .

I've had a couple of commercially made swift nesting boxes on my back wall for a few years now - the swifts ignore them, probably because sparrows commandeer them early in the year. I searched the web and found plans for making my own from 13mm exterior ply. I've built and mounted the first twin box and have blocked the entrances until the desired occupants arrive. I also acquired a swift call CD to play from an adjacent window to entice them in.

Diverse skills go with our territory, but clearly (in my case) don't extend to re-painting 90 year old soffits......!



Regards, Mick
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  #279  
Old 2nd May 2019, 09:29
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Nice work Mick.

Once the Swifts move in they will swiftly (sorry) repaint the render under the box with streaks of white 'lime'. That will at least distract everyone's attention away from the flaky soffits...
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  #280  
Old 2nd May 2019, 11:02
Dpaz Dpaz is offline
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It's Patina, much sought after in the Landrover Ser1 world.
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