Practically Classics Forum

Very unusual to see one that hasn't had the main rails welded where the gearbox crossmember fits, looks very sound and being an SL90,very very rare now....... well done

Checked the car over on the pit and found no serious issues, though we couldnt get it running properly due to a carb issue. We found water in it and cleaned it all up but it wont run for very long. However we rang it long enough to be happy that it had no knocks or rattles. Upon closer inspection we believe the head gasket was going or gone, so while its off the road we decided to change the headgasket at the same time



In the centre of the photo is the manual timing chain adjuster. Dad says many of these cars were converted to hydraulic self adjusters so the fact this still running the original one justifies the 37,000 mile odometer reading.



Finally, we have take off the wheels to service the front calipers.

As a side story, I wanted a model example of each car my family owns. I was pleasantly suprised to find a massive market for model restoration where you can even get custom number plates made up, so I decided to start with a Dinky Vauxhall Viva and Hillman Imp.

As bought from eBay



I drilled the rivet off the bottom and separated the bodyshell and stripped the paint using caustic soda (interestingly the 'new' Nitromors did nothing)




Next job will be to repaint it. Then order number plates

Top coat is on