Tuesday 24 April 2012

Horny Carbs!

What did you expect from the title then?!

I dropped in to see my engine builder and after several discussions about engines, spec and timescales, we got onto the subject of carbs. The carbs on his own Stag engine were very worn and mine were of unknown quality (although they look pretty ok!) we decided we both needed our carbs done properly. So, in the boot of my car now sits 2 pairs of Stag carbs ready to be dropped off at Andrew Turner's for him to work his magic on..............
 Also, whilst doing some ebay trawling I found the correct sized triple air horns I need. Libby originally had triple tone air horns fitted inside the n/s front wing. They were still there, but looking very sad, so a new set arrived today. Strangely, there is a separate switch in the car for "horns", but there are no standard car horns connected to the normal horn push. I will put a normal set on the indicator stalk, and leave these for fun I think.

Sunday 15 April 2012

Horrible Job!

After a walk in the park and feeding the ducks, the girls and Sam curled up on the sofa to watch "Toy Story"........ time for me to work on Libby then!
The new special rivets and screws arrived from Chris Witor last week (and a new Stainless Steel Strap, bolts and rubber gasket!) so I could finish putting the wiper motor in and secure the washer bottle correctly. Job done.... looks nice!

 Then it was time to move to the horrible job........ finishing the Shutzing underneath. When I did the underneath, I did the front and the back separately....... I now needed to join up the middle and do the centre of the sills and the centre of the floorpans. So, bit of marking, then warm the Shutz up in a bucket hot water and off we go........... didn't take long, but its a horrible job!
 Then, it was time to move onto the really horrible job............. Cavity Wax. I had bought 5 large 750ml cans of Bilt Hamber Dynax Cavity Wax which came complete with the special long tubes with spray nozzles. When Brian did the sills he drilled some extra holes to allow me to do this job better, they'll be hidden under the tread plates anyway. So, warm the can up in a bucket of hot water and off we go.
 5 cans later the sills were well and truely coated, the bottoms of all the doors where done, the inside of the tailgate, the inner arches front and rear, plus a few other box sections and anything else I could think of was done.
 However, when I stood back whilst having a cuppa, I notied what I had forgotten....... the sills have holes underneath to allow for drainage, and the Wax was now dripping out all over the drive...... rats.
 By the time I got to do the other side, I thought about it see................!!
 The marks the end of the really horrible jobs, everything should be fairly clean from now on. Next problem.... wiper spindle threads........ buggered. I was thinking I would have to remove the whole wiper assembly again to get to replace it, but after a bit of gentle persuasion from the back (and a small amount shaved off the rubber grommet!) I got the remaining threads to catch and it did up tight...... result!
 Now.......... big roll of polythene...... useful stuff this. I use it for covering and wrapping things in the caravan, (its actually shrink wrap for bricks!) but today it has a different purpose. Now, don't laugh but I remembered when I took the car apart that the rear off side door had no vapour barrier behind the trim panel. This is important as it guides any drips of water from the window seals down to the bottom of the door, and it prevents moisture getting to the back of the cardboard door cards. So, time to make one..........
 Yeah, I know.... not exactly original, but hey, it does the job and it won't be see again so who cares!
 So, after messing around for what seemed like HOURS trying to get the stupid small pin in to hold the window winder handle on, I can report that one door is totally finished!!   Woo hoo!!
I then fed about another 18" of door seal in on the nearside front door (grrrrrrrrrrrrrr!) then time to go in, have a shower, wash my hair 6 times to get the shutz out of it (!) and then have dinner!
A good afternoons work I think....... quite alot finished today!