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Go Back   Madabout Kitcars Forum > Mad Build Area > Sammio Builds and discussions

Sammio Builds and discussions Sammio bodied car builds and specials

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  #2941  
Old 6th April 2017, 17:41
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A Cunning Plan...
Due to a change in work plans, I ended up with a short bonus session in the car this afternoon.

Initially, I had a jumper on, but when I got stuck in traffic that had to go, although it was a bit chilly when traffic was moving again.

Still, as our American cousins are fond of saying…

"We reserve the right to bare arms."





Just grabbed a couple of other photos.





As this could be the end of my regular driving sessions for a while.

Because I now need to bite the bullet and start drawing up (and ticking off) my "snagging" list.

These jobs will include:
- Replacing the dodgy rear stop/tail light on the passenger side.
- Fitting bonnet pins to stop the rear edge lifting at speed and/or in windy conditions.
- Finishing off the bonnet lip on the body shell, which has a few gaps in it.
- Finally repairing the damage I caused when the car fell off the stands.

By chance, I was reading an article in Classic & Sports Car magazine last night.
It was a reader's car, a Triumph 2.5PI, and they mention a great garage in Acton, W3.
So I rang them up this morning and they will take a look at my (oil leaking) engine in a few weeks time.

So the current place is to get some of the odd jobs finished before then and drive to Acton.

Once the engine is taken care off, I will be officially off the road and prepping for paint.

Given the Frankenstein nature of my build, the 1,000 miles shakedown idea was a good one.

As today's sunshine gave a good contrast along the driver's side to highlight the "lumps" all this driving has brought to the surface.





Although if you look closely, you will also spot some damage caused by a stray angle grinder.

So I definitely have quite a bit of filling and sanding ahead of me.

Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2942  
Old 16th April 2017, 17:57
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Happy Easter!
Spent a week in Ireland visiting my wife's family and friends.



Unfortunately, where we were staying was at the end of this little lane with no Wi-Fi.
( Much to the complete horror of my daughters. )



Apparently Rory McIlroy will be getting married here shortly.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Anyway, I'm back in the UK now and sneaked out for a quick spin earlier today.



I've also been thinking a lot about the standard of paint finish I can achieve.
( And re-reading how builders like Swifty and Mr T painted their cars. )

I will definitely be trying to sort out the main lumpy bits seen in my last post.

However, I know that I will not be able to achieve Jeff H's high professional standards.



The reality is that this build simply took too much out of me and I just can't face the huge effort required for great paint.

So, as with my things in this build, compromise is required and I can live with something that isn't 100% perfect.

This means that I will also simply live with some ugly "gaps".

E.g. The boot cut out is still one of my favourite features of the car.



However, both the boot lid and body shell shifted slightly during the construction process.

This means that there isn't a smooth transition across the gaps in the humps.
( Although the angles of the photos make these look worse than they are. )





Thankfully, these gaps will not stand out as much when the car is British Racing Green.
( But will still be there if you run your hands along the join. )

There was a time when something like this would have bothered me.

But these days I would rather be driving a car that is less than perfect, than spending hours chasing perfection.

The reality is that cars like Swifty's have been built to such a high standard, that they deserve great paint.

Whereas, I am just so happy that my 'warts and all' build is actually on the road, rather than just a collection of bits on my driveway.

So I am currently making a list of all the things I need to buy and am looking forward to finally starting the work.

Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2943  
Old 16th April 2017, 22:11
DaveP DaveP is offline
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Paul,

Love and admire that approach. After all you build the car for your pleasure and that comes through with your posts.

Whatever the outcome you should be proud. I'm sure I would be.

Dave
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  #2944  
Old 16th April 2017, 23:38
deni deni is offline
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Hi Paul,

Your car looks great to me already and I am sure it will look great too when you paint it, no matter how you paint it and to what standard.
Also, I will have to agree with you, I really like your boot cut out.

Cheers,
Deni
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  #2945  
Old 17th April 2017, 12:55
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Paul,
How about after you paint it give it the distressed used look to keep everyone guessing?
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  #2946  
Old 22nd April 2017, 14:43
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Dave P, Deni & RedRatBike - Thanks for the encouragement chaps.

I'll certainly try my best to get a decent paint finish, but the paint must be seen within the context of the whole build.

As I abandoned any quest for perfection many years ago in an attempt to actually get the car on the road, warts and all.

I am sure I read something about there being over 30 million cars in the UK, yet my Triumph Swordfish is a genuine one off.

The entire (extended) Sammio family (Spyder, Chevaux, G-46, Cordite, revised Ribble Navigator + Miglia Speedster) must be less than 200 cars.

And not all of those are on the road, so I will take pride in the unique nature of my build and refer back to one my favourite comments on this build thread…

Quote:
Originally Posted by oxford1360 View Post
It's all looking good and solid - like a 50 year-old race car that has been into the hay bales a few times in its life - perfect.
Which was certainly the approach I took when I painted my last racing MZ, complete with a big dent in the tank.



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Next Steps:
'Real' work has been hectic since I got back from Ireland and I seem to be very tired all of the time.

So whilst I had planned to do some basic prep work on the car in the evenings this week, I never got around to doing anything.

I'd booked the engine in for Tuesday (25th April), but make some last minute arrangements to drop the car off earlier today.

As the garage closes at 12 noon on Saturdays, this meant a bit of last minute work this morning…

Washed the engine bay and underside of the bonnet:

Before:





After:





Note: Sorting out some inner front wheel arches is still on my "To Do" list.

Noticed a bad paint reaction along the bulkhead where clutch fluid was spilt.



Finally re-fitted the Frankenlid inside the boot.



Although I've been trying to ignore the damage inside the boot area caused by the car falling off the axle stands.

So today I just made a token gesture towards the repair work needed, by applying some Kurust.



I'll finish hammering out the dents when I get the car back.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Then it was time to head off to Acton to find the garage.

I knew I was getting close when I first saw an old Herald coming the other way, closely followed by a TR6.

Outside:



Inside:



Had a good chat with the guys there and it looks like my car is in safe hands.

The journey home involved a couple of trains, but cost just £1.50!

Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2947  
Old 28th April 2017, 17:33
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Enginuity - Acton W3
A big thank you to the team at Enginuity for working their way through my "snagging list".

Oil Leak:
- Replaced the oil seal on the timing cover, the main culprit for leaking oil all over the place.
- The timing chain tensioner was also replaced while they were in there, as that was knackered too.

No Heater:
- I'd supplied the new thermostat I previously bought based on the heater problem suggestions on here.
- Turns out the old one was indeed stuffed and the entire manifold tube also needed to be unblocked.
- So although I forgot to test it on the way home, apparently I now have a working heater!

Engine occasionally running on after switching the ignition off:
- This was due to parts of the engine overheating due to the blocked cooling system.
- So two problems fixed for the price of one.

Overdrive on the blink:
- A new gear level overdrive switch and new switch wiring has resolved this.
- As I did remember to test this on the way home and it is all working well.

Occasional clutch failure:
- Every now and then, there would be 'nothing' when I tried to pull away.
- Turns out this problem was also connected to the dodgy overdrive wiring.

High Idle:
- The car has started to tick over around 1,750 revs.
- Once everything else has been sorted out, the idle was reset around the 800 mark.

With dark clouds overhead and the odd drop of rain falling I had to head straight home.

So if I get the chance, I will try to take the car out for a longer spin at some point.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

"What a lovely pair."




Local Parking:

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  #2948  
Old 29th April 2017, 19:34
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Just a quick one...

I have been weighed down by domestic/gardening chores and only managed less than 20 miles out in the car.

But the good news is that I remembered to check the heater today...

And the even better news is that my little micro heater now pumps out real heat.

So I am sure it would have made a big difference when driving around on those seriously cold days.

Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2949  
Old 1st May 2017, 09:13
phil9 phil9 is offline
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so you and the car be running up to norfolk then
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  #2950  
Old 1st May 2017, 13:48
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Phil - I will definitely be heading to Norfolk at some point this year.

I know Mister Towed is currently re-working his Spyder's bonnet.

So I am going to try an get my car painted ASAP and then we can form a cunning plan.

You have no idea how much I am looking forward to lining my Swordfish up with the Three Musketeers.

Cheers, Paul.
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  #2951  
Old 7th May 2017, 18:58
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I've Made A Start…
It has been a bit of an odd week for me, I was ill for a few days, followed by being snowed under with work.

Today I took the car out for a quick blast to see if the fresh air would clear my head.



Unfortunately, I don't think driving through all the pollution in London does much for my health.

But I was determined to at least make a start on the body work, or this car will never get painted.

I'd ordered some of this filler as I remembered Swifty recommending it.



Unfortunately, whilst it said this on the tin…



The reality was it was very stiff to both mix and apply.



At which point I stopped to check the date on the tin…



And if I'm reading that correctly, it should be good until 2018, so something has gone amiss somewhere.

The next problem was that is then quickly set like concrete.

As I started to put some effort into the sanding, I realised that I am still not fully recovered, as it was taking far too much out of me.

Still, at least I have finally made a start.



Until next time, take care, Paul.
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  #2952  
Old 7th May 2017, 23:02
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Get well soon Paul, you have a large audience waiting to see your car painted.
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  #2953  
Old 8th May 2017, 08:30
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As Froggy says, get well soon.

As for your tin of filler, maybe it's just me, but I read that data to mean it was manufactured in 2011 and was 'best before' April 2016, so it's possibly a year out of date.

There are other factors that could affect the malleability and setting time though - cold weather will make the filler stiff while the amount of hardener you add dramatically alters the setting time.

When it's cold outside, consider keeping your tin of filler near a radiator indoors to keep it soft. Also try mixing in only about a third of the usual amount of hardener when you're going to fill large areas. That will keep it workable long enough for you to smooth it off with a spreader instead of it going stiff half way through and turning into a diorama of the Himalayas.

The only downside with that is that you'll need to leave it a lot longer before it does set and I find it stays tacky for about eight hours if it's mixed to be workable for ten minutes. I just leave large areas for the last job of the day and allow it time to set fully overnight.

As for which filler to use, I've tried loads of different ones that all use terms like 'easy sand', 'flexible', 'lightweight' etc., and they all seem to be exactly the same, so I buy what's cheap at the time.

This appears to be the cheapest at the mo' (unless anyone can suggest a cheaper alternative?) with the added bonus of them including ten spreaders -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2910667433...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

Anyway, good luck with the prep and paint, and can you just remind me which colour you're going with as I've forgotten.

*just looked at that tin again, I now see it was filled at 08:02hrs on 11th April 2016 and presumably has a shelf life of two years, so it's probably the weather/catalyst that's making it difficult to work with.

Last edited by Mister Towed; 8th May 2017 at 08:33..
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  #2954  
Old 8th May 2017, 09:13
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I agree with MrTowed, the can is out of date. If it has previously been opened the date will be even shorter.
I have been using the Upol filler as I was also using the Reface and dolphin glaze as the stopper (great product, if you haven't used it give it a try).
Any deep filling I used GRP paste, much harder to flat down but may way of thinking it is less likely to crack. I also used filler with a fibre content, again with the idea it wouldn't crack so easily. Best to get a reply from Jeff as he is the resident professional.
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  #2955  
Old 8th May 2017, 20:10
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If you have a Euro Car Parts near you , its a little known fact but they do sell bodywork materials too ...

We got through over 40 tins whilst making the buck for the Formosa and I negotiated it down to around £13 a tin if I bought 3 at a time ...

I think even at full retail they only wanted around £17 a time ...we used the UPOL EASY as well ...it does what it says on the tin , it can leave a few pinholes as its not the best quality , but for price and the average amateur user , its hard to beat ....
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  #2956  
Old 8th May 2017, 21:14
molleur molleur is offline
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Paul, I would attribute the issue with styrene evaporation, old material.
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  #2957  
Old 8th May 2017, 21:53
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Agreed , the lid hasn't sealed properly or sat for a while ..it goes quite chewy after a while ......

Really would be better buying fresh ...
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  #2958  
Old 9th May 2017, 06:35
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Froggyman – Cheers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Mister Towed, JaguarTVR, Lancelot Link & Molleur – Thanks for the feedback gentlemen, I really appreciate it.

Just to cover all the points in one go…

Flyweight Filler
- There was a dent in the tin when it arrived and I didn’t think much of it at the time.
- However, as this dent covered the lid area, I guess it wasn’t fully airtight and has gone off a bit/lot.
- So I’ve ordered a new tub just to make my life easier.

Jeff H
- I’ve already picked up a few painting/preparation tips from Jeff.
- It is also clear that his great paint finishes are directly linked to his detailed preparation work.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Setting Expectations
To be honest, I did seriously consider just driving the car to Jeff to get a professional paint job.

But part of me really wants to paint the car myself to complete this whole ‘warts and all’ build.

In an ideal world, I would just throw a serious amount of time at this preparation stage.

As I’ve been re-reading other builder’s threads and I know this is the key to getting a great finish.

E.g. Mr T



Unfortunately, I just do not have the spare time available at the moment to prep the car to a very high standard.
( Especially as there is a list of small, but time consuming ‘odd jobs’ to do too. )

Therefore, I am left with a stark choice:
- Paint the car in the next few weeks/months to finally get some colour on it with a less than perfect base.
- Put off painting until ‘sometime in the future’ (which may never actually materialise) when I can do a better job.

So I have spent the last few weeks reconciling myself to living with a lower standard paint job.

My dark Brunswick green paint will definitely highlight any flaws in the bodywork, but so what?

There is a list of things that are less than perfect on this car and I still love it.

Actually, I shouldn’t be comparing my work to professional painters in the first place.

Instead, I should just take pride in completing a difficult build, outside on my driveway, with no prior experience.

So if I can achieve a smooth, but slightly undulating surface, I’ll take that for now.

Cheers, Paul.
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  #2959  
Old 9th May 2017, 17:45
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Even if you paint it in an afternoon with a 4" roller it'll still look good
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  #2960  
Old 9th May 2017, 18:10
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Agreed. Just get as good a prep that you can accomplish in a reasonable time and paint it yourself.
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