More Maintenance

 This afternoon I re-packed the exhaust. I bought the wadding almost a year ago but had been putting it off as it was bound to be a pig of a job & I looked deep into the engine bay at the rusty bolt on the clamp with some trepidation. But with my magic ratchet & enough extension bars to reach right out of the car it came undone easily, then the clamp moved off the outer pipe easily.

I undid the nut holding the tailpipe onto it's rubber mount easily, but the exhaust wouldn't move. I applied a little WD40, but it still seemed to be stuck, so I inserted  breaker bar up it's tailpipe & pulled - was that some rotation? Yes it was, with a wiggle it came off the car & I set about opening the can.

This was pretty much the same story, I drilled the rivets, it didn't move, I gave it a squirt & a tap & off it came.

So it was a comparatively simple job to re-fill it with fluff & put it all back together.

Pine Ridge (Again)

 I've been engaged in a number of things today, I've done a little on the Stylus - nothing interesting, I just swapped the front & rear wheels, the LSD seems to scrub the rear tyres, so evening out the wear seems like a good plan.

I also "customised" the 3D printer, It has a selector knob on the front which has always seemed unnecessarily dull, so it got brightened up.

But before either of these things I took myself off to Pine Ridge Golf Club (relax, I've not taken up the "sport") for the monthly car breakfast meet.

There was the usual spread of stunning cars & some that were "less so" (I'm afraid a charcoal grey Fiat 500 Arbath with a few lurid green stickers on doesn't do it for me", but each to their own.

On arrival it was immediately clear that there was an event on because the roundabout just inside the entrance looked like this:-

That's a Packard & the only thing it lacked was a couple of violin cases with machine guns in on the rear seat.

The next thing to grab my attention - & I'd still not cleared the roundabout - was this. 

At first glance I thought "someone's HotRodded a '50s Bentley", but no, it appears to be a Lagonda used for classic motorsport by the look of it, but the lack of bumpers & hubcaps & the stance, just perfect.

 The place was heaving & I had to drive round the car part three times looking for a space, fortunately someone left, just as I was circumnavigating the roundabout for the forth time.

"Roar Willys" was there, I'm seeing a lot of this car this year, it's been a few different colours in it's time.

Further in there was a Minor with the Willys esque bonnet that was available in the '80s

Meet the "Desoto Firesweep".

Really? "Firesweep"? Did no-one in the marketing meeting start humming "chim-chimeny, chim-chiment, chim chim cheroo"? OK, the car probably pre-dates the film.

Like a lot of American cars of this era it's all rear over-hang, the bonnet wasn't that long & the bit where the people go wasn't that big, but the boot was enormous.

Three bustles, that's a Model B, a Model A & an Austin Devon

Classic - though it might benefit from more orange than the indicators are currently offering, but I'm biased.

And - It seems slot mags are back in vogue after 30 years in the HotRod wilderness.

Variety - it's a good thing.

It often feels like car culture is under attack, meets with a "broad church" are the best defence.

This 100e appears at a number of local meets, I like it a lot, it has the roll cage & racing roundels, but the standard 1172 engine with period tuning parts.

It's cool.

Two faces of HotRodding at the moment, though one's heart bleeds for the small boy, if the powers that be have their way, there'll be nothing interesting when he is old enough to drive.

Not a Dodge Charger of Dukes of Hazzard fame, but a Plymouth Road Runner. The same car, just a different face.

This is a Dodge Coronet - another variation on the same theme.

More Pop, they're a little like a British Model B, they never go out of fashion, they just get new styles invented to mod them into.

 No idea what it is, but it was fabulous to look at.

And that's about it for photos I'm afraid, there were many many fabulous cars there, many of which I've posted pictures of before.

Still Got It

 Today I was on my own at home, so the car got jacked up for some attention (girlfriend's off photographing planes). I didn't do a great deal, I just took the Panhard rod off (again) & drilled the adjustment jam nuts for wire-locking as some time ago a "clonking" from the rear suspension had been identified as a rattling rose joint after the jam nut came loose. I also drilled both of the Panhard rod pivot bolt tails & put locking wire through the holes. It won't stop the nuts coming loose, but it will stop them coming off & leaving the Panhard rod flailing about & the car going sideways.

And before anyone says "one of them's anti-locked you old fool", that's the left hand thread end and yes I did make that mistake & had to re-wire it the other way.

Did it need wire-locking? Not really, but it's nice to use the old aircraft fitter skills from time to time.

Sad Day Sorn Day

 Yes, the Stylus is off the road for the Winter, so the DVLA owes me 5 months road tax. I took it out for a last run this evening to test a couple of things.

Thing one was a new camera mount that raises the cameras just above the roll bar, so it can see more of the scenery & less of the dashboard. It's a little "leggy", but I have a plan for that.

The other thing was an steering wheel.

The car came with a D-shaped black suede item from "OMP", which I didn't think went well with the car, so when my brother offered me the wheel from his HotRod of 50 years, I put that on. it looked great, just the job & I hung the OMP one on my kitchen wall as a conversation piece - which was fine, but I really wanted an older looking one. I looked around the Autojumble, where many wheels were to be found in pretty poor condition for £lots. However, I stumbled upon (literally) a wheel claiming to fit a Mini, in good condition for £30 & bought that. Then I started thinking. My brother's wheel looked good, but when touring I found the rim a little thin & my hands ached, also, I'd never been very happy with the look of the adaptor I'd made. But could I fit the new one & hang the older wood rim wheel on the wall?

When we got back I summoned up my inner Aircraft Fitter & drilled out the rivets holding the spokes onto the mounting ring, I countersunk the holes & rivetted it back on, now with a smooth underside, drilled holes for bolts & there it was, fitted - ish.

Of course the centre looked ugly, so I set about drawing up a new centre cap using "OnShape", as ever with me, it ended up a little "complex" as it had to fit over all the uglyness.

There were rebates for the bolts, for the arms and for a square rubber plug to retain it in the square hole in the centre of the wheel. That I will admit was a little genius. How do you hold a centre cap on without bolts & without it vibrating & buzzing? I used the square hole to fit a TPU (soft polyurethane) block I'd drawn & printed, which wedged into both the wheel & the cap - job done.

I set it printing at about 9:30 that evening, then had a "better" idea.  I could put subtle coloured rings on it! So I sat up late & swapped the colour to blue, then set my alarm & an hour later, re-set it to silver.

Then after another hour, orange, then silver again.

Obviously by this time I'd had broken sleep all night & it was a rather jaded Blatter that staggered down stairs the following day & was rather pleased when he found the display on the printer showing 99%.

I peeled it off the print mat & tried it on the wheel - perfect!

This was a good thing after a sleepless night.

Isn't that the cat's nightwear?

How did I manage without a 3D printer?

Holidays III

 

We had a week in the New Forest because - the AutoJumble was on & my girlfriend wanted to go.

As we arrived on the Saturday this was up for auction. I've been seeing barn-find E-Types for 30 years, surely there have now been more pulled out than there are barns to pull them out of.

This one went for £29k

Lovely soft top, early 2 door DS & a much later 4 door behind it.

Immaculate old Lancia - these have a weird looking engine, the cast cam cover looks like an aluminium blancmange with spark plugs sticking out apparently randomly.

This was not for sale. "Tetanus" was found as the rusted out wreck of a four door, front wheel drive Cord. Normally a properly expensive car, but there was so little left, it was not worth restoring. Until that is Andy Saunders found it. Andy has built some fantastic HotRods & as you can see the car is now a swoopy two door coupe & driven by the correct wheels. It is absolutely stunning.

Still a working vehicle, this Morris van was beautiful.

This was in the car park - & we saw it driving though the forest as well. It's a coach-built MG, one was built for a car show & an American ordered 100 to sell, but in the end only 60 odd were delivered, but isn't it fantastic?

Also in the "not seen one of those before" category was this Prefect pick-up. no idea of the history but it was either factory made or brilliantly executed, you can usually tell a saloon made into a pick-up, but this had none of the usual traits.

After the AutoJumble we visited Sammy Miller's Motorcycle Museum, as is usually the case we arrived as it opened & were thrown out when it closed. This was in the car park when we arrived.

I'm afraid I can't claim any great interest in motorcycles, but I do like engineering & there was certainly some of that on display - like this one with .......

.....a combined fairing / exhaust casting.

Or quarter-eliptic leaf spring front suspension........

,,,,,or girder forks with six springs, only two of which control the forks going up & down........

..... some had no forks at all & were just plain weird .......

....... while others were like rolling art works.

We even saw the actual Sammy Miller, now 90 years young, wandering about & organising people.

This was someone's Uni project. Looks fantastic, but I couldn't get past the idea that the engine's in there with you - that's not going to make for a relaxing experience.

There's a bit of a kit car connection here, the blue & green bikes were owned by Don & Derek Rickman - they of the Rickman Ranger kit, two of which I have owned.

A bike that falls into the "interesting" category. I expect there's an engine in there somewhere.

Not someone's custom built confection, but a standard 1938 Zundapp.

It looked absolutely fantastic.

I told you there was some weird front suspension going on

Trapezium steering - really?

A six GALLON petrol tank on a bike, & all hand beaten aluminium

As I say I thoroughly enjoyed the trip there - not necessarily for the "right" reasons, I was intrigued by the inventiveness & weirdness & by just how many ways people had come up with of solving the same problem.

And finally You have to love an enormous dustbin fairing!