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I spent Saturday at Prescott. Amongst the glittering display of exotica was this little gem, which would have fired me to get on with my build, if only the bodywork were back from spray dude.....
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f3143572_b.jpg Regards, Mick |
Gorgeous! It is good to see older specials and kit cars being resurrected. That was, I think a Hamblin Cadet? I am leaning toward the '50s and '60s simplicity. It's a pig waiting to get on with a project.
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Chapter and verse here. Regards, Mick |
Cheers for sending me to a site where I could waste half an hour. Almost as bad as the 'A-Z of Kit Cars' for looking up the 'oldies'
Dave |
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Historic specials day at Cotswold wildlife park in August is the place for you Dpaz!
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Light at the end of the tunnel......
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I'll now launch a pre-emptive strike before you-know-who asks why I haven't mercilessly harassed my sub-contractor to get the job done in short order. The reason is two fold: Firstly, spraying kit car bodies isn't his and his co-worker's meat and drink, it's more in the way of a gardening job to fill in between their real jobs. Secondly, his charges are extremely reasonable, and putting his back up with repeat progress enquiries would be counter-productive for my pensioner's wallet. I'll post some pictures once she's back home: if it's half as good as the A352 I'll be more than delighted. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...55fb40b2_b.jpg "Yes, I know I've built a kink into the fin :rolleyes:" Regards, Mick |
Getting Nearer.......
Yesterday I pootled over to spray dude's place to both stump up and collect the loose parts, which he'd already finished. I have to say that the colour I'd chosen, now applied, has exceeded my expectations! In the flesh it's quite a bit darker than the photo' shows. He'd also, on his own initiative, sprayed the undersides matt black with no extra charge. Top bloke!
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...c83a20e8_b.jpg The body is very near completion: yesterday was to be high-build primer; today, top coat :). The only down side is that my chum's LDV is off the road, so alternative transport for collection has to be sourced. I have a good friend with a Morris Ital estate, so I'm thinking roof bars....... https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...289a327e_b.jpg Spray dude told me that, on two recent occasions, customers asked "Is that an aircraft?" Hilarious. The charge is once again well south of four figures, a fantastic deal. Watch this space. Regards, Mick |
Really good color choice. I'm liking it!
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Mick - Another +1 to the colour choice. :cool:
Good luck getting the body home and putting the car back together. Cheers, Paul. :) |
Yep, lovely colour and the price of the spray job does sound very reasonable.
Now that you mention it, the body does look like it might've fallen off one of these - https://i1301.photobucket.com/albums...ps62419389.png Oh dear, sorry about the image, photobucket are holding all my pictures to ransom :( |
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I always thought the body mould came from one of these....
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Regards, Mick |
Sounds good, you could finish the look with mottled paint and white crosses.
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The Monaco Has Landed
Today, at long last, it seems, I collected the main body from spray dude. The friend in whose long wheelbase LDV it was transported is undergoing chemo: he can drive OK but lifting is a problem. Loading was a doddle, but unloading at mine was problematic with just me and my son doing the honours. We used a halfway house method, balancing it on my workmate and a discarded furniture item I found in the hedge at LDV height.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...69dc0ace_b.jpg The actual colour is somewhere between the above and below shots. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...e79370f3_b.jpg Once the LDV was gone, we could carry it down to the man cave and plonk it on the bespoke table I crafted in '16 for painting the S4 Seven frame. This has it at a handy height for the few engine bay jobs left to do. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...09c96200_b.jpg Once these are done it can go back on the chassis and reassembly can commence, first job being to make it 'look like a car' for the V627 submission photo's. I'm more than happy with the finish, there being a mild dose of authentic cellulose orange peel, a nice period touch. My wildly optimistic completion target is August Bank Holiday weekend for the Gloucester Retro Festival, failing that, Castle Combe Classic in October. Regards, Mick |
Looks like awesome paint job Mick now you can really enjoy yourself putting it all back together for the shows.
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Hi Mick. looking good, seems a tight deadline if you do get it done for the Gloucester Restro Festival I wouldnt mind popping up but if not I will definately be at the Castle Combe Classic so hopefully see you soon
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Coffin Dodger Contortions
On Tuesday morning, brimming with enthusiasm, I headed down to the cave to address the list of tasks requiring completion before body mounting. Front and centre of these was mounting the hand brake multiplier, which bolts through the back end of the tunnel. Once this was done I went to connect it to the bar from the lever I'd fabricated, only to find that I'd neglected to drill the necessary hole. Not a problem: I'll just unbolt the lever and drill it on the bench, or so I thought until I realised the nuts in the middle of the tunnel were inaccessible without unfeasibly long arms. Not wanting to invert the newly sprayed body on the grass, which, help being unavailable wasn't an option anyway, I hit on the idea of cutting a hand hole in the table. Lots of careful measuring and the drilling of a guide hole later, I set to with the hole cutter and access was available.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...28a5a896_b.jpg At this stage, covered in sawdust and with aching arms and back, I quit for the day while I was ahead. Tuesday morning, with the aid of a socket extension, UJ, and contortions, I knocked that part of the build on the head: surprisingly straightforward. Next job: fit the sender to the 'refurbished' Mini fuel tank. This 'refurbishment' clearly hadn't extended to straightening the butchered locating lugs. Despite the once again limited access I managed to tap and bend them into shape and fit the sender. I decided to test it for leaks but then realised I'd need flexi pipe on the outlet stub. I measured this, the metal pipe through the frame and the unions on the mechanical pump, all at 8mm, and bought on line the necessary, including clips. What next? Ah, the lock-limiting hose clips on the rack to prevent the front wheels hitting the body. None of the clips in my tubfull was the correct size so more on line buying. The last job for the day was the connections for the water heated inlet manifold. Both the tappings in the water pump housing had temperature gauge senders in them, one of which needed replacing with the stub pipe outlet. Spitfire Steve had come to the rescue once again with this obscure item, handily delivered in the nick of time. The necessary water hose and clips I found and fitted, but I'll need a ½" compression stop end to blank off the heater outlet of my spiffing stainless steel pipe. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6d85431e_b.jpg I called it a day. Regards, Mick |
Coffin Dodger Conundrum
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I'm going to fit about ¾ of a hacksaw blade to my padsaw and chop it off to revert to gravity feed unless anyone can advise otherwise. Regards, Mick |
This is most likely a fuel return pipe. Common practice for carbs with a return system or fuel injection. What car is the tank originally from?
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Hi Jon
Thanks for speedy reply. The tank's from an Old Skool Mini. What I can't understand is how the petrol gets out of it in the first place? I'm sure there's a simple explanation somewhere. Regards, Mick |
I'm wondering if you've mounted the tank in the same orientation as in the original car?
I don't know anything much about mini's but here is a diagram that shows various options.... http://www.somerfordmini.co.uk/eshop...ge=page&id=161 Just a thought .....:noidea: EDIT: just looked at your tank mounting on page 5 and TBH I can't see anything wrong? |
Hi Peter
Thanks! I was beginning to think that I was in an alternative universe. I'll follow plan A with the padsaw: I can't see a downside. Regards, Mick |
Mission Accomplished. Well, One Of Them.....
An early start in the already warm cave saw me digging out my padsaw and a fresh hacksaw blade. It was immediately obvious that the flex in the blade would make the cut difficult if not impossible. After a bit of head scratching I hit on the idea of taping something rigid to the blade to stiffen it sufficiently. I had a length of 6mm stainless rod left over from making the mirror support for the A352 which fitted the bill perfectly. Amazingly, the tank sat on the bench at the optimum angle for inserting the bespoke tool through the sender hole. Illuminating it with my miniature LED torch got me started: two or three minutes saw the cut made, and another couple the offending pipe extricated. I de-burred the inside of the cut with my slimmest round file, and the cut end with my big rasp. I then used my telescopic magnet to remove the filings. Job done :). There's about a centimetre stub left inside the tank, so the dregs of fuel won't flow but this will help prevent any foreign bodies being sucked up.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9f4b95df_b.jpg Regards, Mick |
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The latest version of the "old Skool" mini was fuel injected. SPi (single point) or MPi (multipoint). The tank looked identical to the carb versions except for the fuel return pipe that you have just cut off. The fuel pump was positioned where you have probably put the sender unit. Some tanks also had a vent pipe for use with a non-venting fuel cap and some didn't so needed a venting cap. Jon |
Hi Jon
All is now clear! My tank has the vent pipe. It didn't occur to me that the pick up could be through the sender hole. Every day's a day at school! Regards, and thanks again, Mick |
Paint and Repaint - Aaaaaaagh!!!
Whist I set about a few of the jobs more easily done with the body on the table, I'd left the mudguards, bonnet etc. down the garden where I'd plonked them after collection. I painstakingly Sikaflexed protective strips to the bonnet opening, left them overnight, and offered up the bonnet intending to fit the locating springs.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4709f7db_b.jpg Imagine my surprise to find the body was paler than the bonnet! When I'd collected the former, spray dude had mentioned that, as he was running low on the paint I'd supplied, he'd put a red base coat on before the top coats. I'd originally asked him if 2.5 litres of top coat would be sufficient and took his word that it would - poor judgement on both our parts! On discovering this I immediately ordered more paint and informed spray dude of the problem. Good as gold, as ever, he said bring it down and he'd swiftly do the business. Yesterday I delivered it and will pick up on Monday. Here it sits again awaiting transport, whilst in the cave the lonely table awaits its return..... https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...db03dbb1_b.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...6aba6620_b.jpg Roll on Monday :) Regards, Mick |
At Last!!!
Yesterday, in a rented long wheelbase Peugeot van, I collected the newly sprayed body. Surprisingly, it fitted in the back with an inch or so for padding at each end, a welcome bonus. It's now sitting on the bespoke table in the sunny cave awaiting re-installation of the fuel tank before being finally mated to the chassis.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...111f26d5_b.jpg As soon as I've pressed 'Submit Reply' I'm down there! An outdoor bonus this week is Northrop Grumman B2 Spirits from RAF Fairford passing overhead on 'exercises'........ Regards, Mick |
Pitching In - At Last
Tuesday's task was to re-install the fuel tank. When I removed it I noticed that the 12mm ply floor was bowing slightly. I imagined this increasing with the weight of fuel, road bumps etc., until the filler pipe pulled the cap down far enough for it to bind against the body. Having to use water pump pliers on the cap when filling up didn't appeal, so I strengthened the floor by bolting through a length of 1.5" steel angle. Job done.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...f4e2b51a_b.jpg I'd discovered some time ago that the gearbox cover GRP moulding was too narrow, perhaps it's a version for a Ford 'box as the kit's heritage is unknown? It was hitting the 'box on the driver's side so I cut out most of that side with a panel saw, leaving a little at the tunnel end. Once the body's bolted down I'll fabricate something removable from aluminium. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9319b27f_b.jpg I Sikaflexed the strip of ply to the bottom of the passenger side to get it to sit at the right height. Nothing seems to fit! When I saw the Lenham Alfa-Romeo at Prescott Breakfast Club a couple of months ago, I noticed that the builder had come up with an elegant solution to the aeroscreen mountings which didn't use the flimsy castings supplied. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...1ccd6322_b.jpg I had bought a small sheet of 5mm aluminium in anticipation of this job so yesterday I set to. I decided to use the existing holes for mounting my supports to keep things simple. Using the tried and tested cardboard assisted design method I carefully hacksawed out the two passenger side supports, and filed, drilled, bent and polished them before bolting in place. As they're at right-angles to their inspirations, I ran an M8 die down the mounting stubs and bolted them through my creations. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9837d11e_b.jpg Not as pretty as their inspirations, particularly the centre one whose vertical portion needs to be tapered, but passable. I'm off down the cave to make the driver's side ones now, then to Yate to stay at my kit-car chum's place for our annual dawn sortie tomorrow to the Beaulieu Autojumble weekend. The weather forecast is good! Regards, Mick |
Loving the work, this has to be one of my fav cars on here :)
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Nibbling Away.
Hi Kon, I did consider doing as you suggest, but, as it will never be driven in the rain (in my ownership), and will almost certainly go to France (where it will doubtless be rebuilt) when I pass it on, I didn't bother. Why France? They're mad for Monacos, one of my FB friends even races his :)
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...3cf606ce_b.jpg Anyway, back to the build. I turned my attention again to the gearbox cover, the fettling of which is the last job before permanently bolting the body back onto the chassis. Trial fitting it, and bolting it to the front bulkhead by its front flange resulted in a gap where it's supposed to meet the transmission tunnel. I want it to be removable so, after a bit of head scratching, I decided on a bridging piece bolted across the gap using Rivnuts. Being unsure if these would split the GRP I trial fitted one to a scrap body off-cut of similar thickness - success! I cut, drilled and folded the bridging piece using cardboard assisted design, as always. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...eb94a9f9_c.jpg For those of you unfamiliar with them, Rivnuts are essentially big pop rivets with a splined outside to grip the substrate, and a tapped hole through the middle for a bolt. The gismo I bought for fitting them works on the inclined plane principle (same as a thread, which is an inclined plane wrapped around a rod). Crap photo' alert. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...d73994d2_c.jpg The Rivnut (at the bottom) is passed through the 5.7mm hole and set by tightening the bolt on the right (this is in the finished position) until the end mushrooms. Quite a lot of force is required but the result is a very secure tapping - as long as overtightening of the bolt inserted is avoided! Gearbox cover and 3mm aluminium bridging piece. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...244fdb54_c.jpg Tunnel with nuts attached. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...73e4a99a_c.jpg I'll put two or three more in the top driver's side edge of the cover for attaching its as yet unmade aluminium side, the bottom flange of which will have to be Techscrewed to the wood sandwich floor. Regards, Mick |
...and again.
After writing up this week's jobs, I whizzed down the cave and fitted the three Rivnuts mentioned above. I don't think I explained how they're fitted very well, so I took this picture of one inserted in its hole ready for the gismo to mushroom it.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...93afa28c_c.jpg As my son is away until Fri/Sat I can't replace the body so I'm rather scratching for body off jobs. I decided to finalise the grille/front number plate mounting. The former is behind the front lip, but the latter is too wide. After some careful measuring I drilled 6mm holes in the plate for slot headed bolts long enough to hold it proud of the grille, to which it's held with a penny washer sandwich each side. If it drums in use I'll add a third in the middle. https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...8ccbff0a_c.jpg The only other job I fancied in the ever hotter cave was the steering wheel badge mounting. I cut off the protruding stub of column, replaced the nut and lightly ran the flapwheel over it. I found a suitable jar lid and cut a hexagonal hole in it with a small cold chisel so it just fitted over the nut. I Blu-Tacked the badge to it and it to the boss - spot on! https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...be2df48f_c.jpg It was held on my Marlin like that for years so should be strong enough. Regards, Mick |
looking good!
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Mick – Your aero screen brackets are certainly a better design than the originals. :cool:
Good luck putting the rest of the car back together. Cheers, Paul. :) |
Thanks Paul,
You have PM (since 21st!) Regards, Mick |
I would suggest some 'artistic' fillers under the aero screens to avoid a blast coming under it. Looking good!
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And still they come....
A new member of the Moss Owners' FB group posted these pictures of a newly rediscovered Monaco.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...9a556e26_c.jpg https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...69215f0a_c.jpg Beautiful. Regards, Mick |
Just imagine, opening the garage door one morning and finding that inside! Would Best Beloved believe that it had just appeared? Or would it be, ' You got another Bl##dy project? It is a bit shiny for a barn find. But yes it is lovely, congrats to the new(?) owner.
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