Mechanical Restoration

I believe that no significant mechanical work was undertaken during the body off  restoration in 1990.  Whilst there are pictures that show a very clean chassis and engine,  there are none showing the mechanical components disassembled. Someone going to the trouble of producing a photo record would surely have recorded a mechanical restoration if it took place.

When I bought the car early in 2000 there were serious mechanical faults with the steering and suspension. The engine suffered from lack of power and overheated badly.

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Work that I have undertaken:

• None of the four Armstrong shock absorbers were working. They have been totally rebuilt.
  
• King pins had allegedly been replaced just before I bought the car. In fact only one had been replaced, the other was still serviceable. The one that had been replaced had been incorrectly fitted too tightly leaving the steering with no castor action. I reamed the bushes to the correct fit.
  
• The steering box was very severely worn with about 8 inches of play at the steering wheel rim. It was removed and reconditioned by a specialist.
  
• The tyres were old and different types. They have been replaced with four new Waymaster 5.50x17 tyres.
  
• The front springs had sagged to the extent that the front of the car felt dead and bottomed out on bumpy roads. These were reconditioned.
  
• Engine reconditioned. Rebored to +60, crankshaft reground, remetalled conrods, remetalled main bearings, refaced cylinder block and head, unleaded valve seats, refaced valve rockers, new valve guides and valves, refaced flywheel, pressure cleaned oilways and waterways.
  
• New clutch and clutch cable.
  
• New freewheel cable.
  
• Radiator professionally flushed and tested.
  

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The car now handles very nicely. After I put the engine back together I had a serious lack of power. The engine felt very tight and would not pull uphill. It turned out that number 4 piston had picked up due to overheating, requiring the bore to be rehoned. The overheating was caused by a big airlock in the cooling system. So the next time I filled the cooling system I did it without the thermostat in place to avoid the airlocks and have had not further problem with overheating.

Then I had a second problem with a loud tapping noise. This turned out in fact to be two separate noises. The first was caused by the pistons making contact with the head gasket at the top of the stroke. This was solved by machining a chamfer on the top of each piston. The second noise was caused by  a tappet being badly scored by a piece that broke off it.   Its bore was also badly scored and now gives rise to a loud tapping. I think it's because it is much looser in its bore and rocks when the cam hits it. Any ideas on how to solve this  one will be welcome. Apart from that the engine now runs very well.


Work that still needs doing:

• Steering Wheel rocks slightly.
  
• No 4 inlet valve tappet.
  
• Gearbox overhaul - sometimes drops out of top gear on the overrun.
  
• Minor bodywork dents.
  
• Fit flashing direction indicators.
  
• Check condition of brake linings and replace as necessary.
  

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