kevin s's blog

[kstrutt1]

it is not the space just too much stuff in it! my workshop is a 20' x 16' double garage, it has a 4 post ramp 3 cars and all my metal and woodwork tools in it plus other projects like the outboard.

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Over the weekend I have been tinkering with all of the cars, the lotus just a simple fluid check as I am using it every day at the moment, pleased to say it had not used any measurable oil or coolant.

For the TR I decided to treat the surface rust on the sills, 20 odd years ago when it was restored I had repaired them locally and painted with stone chip, now a few blisters were begining to appear, I had already poked around to confirm is was just surface rust and sure enough a going over with the Grinder then DA had it all cleaned up. It was then treated with kurust and painted with zinc rich paint, the photo below shows it at this stage, just before I coated it with stone chip. The finish is not perfect but it is presentable and and should protect it for another 20 years, one evening I will give it a final coat of body colour.

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On the Land rover I started to work through the list of minor issues which need doing before the winter, I have bought a secondhand front propshaft as the old one has loads of play in the sliding spline and caused vibration when in 4wd (or the FWH engaged), hopefully this will arrive this week. I also looked at the oil leaking out of the RH FWH, the only thing I could find is it looked like the shaft nut was not fully tighted and the load was taken by the felt seal, I have tightened this and we will see how it goes. I did have one problem though the tip of the torq key I used snapped off in one of the screws, eventually I got the bit out using a nail on the end of a magnet, pictures show the snapped tool and the leak.

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[kstrutt1]

Finally I did a little more on the Minor, I replaced the rotten lower part of the siderail around the shackle because of the high stressses in this area it is welded inside and out, I have decided to weld one thickness of thicker metal (2mm) rather then the original 3 thin pieces which are a corrosion trap on the outside this will be next.

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Although I have work to do on the other cars I want to keep making some progress on the minor, the plan is to try to get the boot finished in the next couple of weeks.

[kstrutt1]

Finished painting the TR sills, after the kurust and zinc primer they were given a couple of coats of stone chip followed by 4 coats of cellulose.
not fantastic but looks much better.

I have some other painting to do as well around the rear panel, one wheelarch and teh windscreen header. A couple of years ago I touched up a few areas of minor rust and paint damage, I used the same paint I have in the past, what I did not realise was the manufacturer of the primer had changed to a acrylic formulation and the topcoat has some crazing in it's not to bad but needs sorting out one day.

Not sure when I will get round to doing this though.

Also asemmbeld the outboard (just need to work out how to wire it up to start now) and cut some repair panels out for the minor.

In the next couple of days I also need to tidy up the Lotus as I plan to take it to the lotus event at Brands Hatch on Sunday.

[kstrutt1]

Didn't get to brands hatch in the end, weather was not up to much this morning and forecast was not great, we did some jobs at home instead.

In the week I fitted the sill strips to the TR so that is done now, just need to give it a wash and polish the new paint in.

We also washed and polished the Landy, insurance is due and it's value has increased to the point where it now needs photographs for the agreed value, a couple of the photos.

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[kstrutt1]

We also did a bit more on the minor, firstly welded the outer panel on the lh spring hanger, instead of the original milti layer rust trap I went for a single layer of 2.5mm galvanised plate, still need toget the die grinder out and clean up the weld around the bush hole.

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next I welded a small patch in the corner where the bumper iron should pass through, what I thought was good metal turned out to be patch tacked on and filler.

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I then replaced a section a foot or so long across the bottom, I know you can buy repair sections but they are £40.

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finally I replaced 3 pieces of the lip, 2 where the floor support had pulled away and one pice of corosion in the bottom corner.

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[kstrutt1]

We then made a new top hat section for the striker, cleaned up and painted with weld through all the reinforcements which will need to go back on and cut out the other piece of floor. The reinforcements had been soaking in a acid rust converter for a, came out rust free.

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I also cut out the first piece of rusty metal around the base of the roof, it looks like all of this will need replacing to get rid of the rust, plan is to do it in sections a foot or so long, replace the boot surround panel first then form a small radiused angle to fix the roof.

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[kstrutt1]

finished the sills on the TR,

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also made some progress on the minor, boot flor is now all welded in, just need to plug weld in the reinforcements.

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also started on the roof to rear panel joint, on the RHS where there was nothing left I fabricated new repair pieces inside and out,

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the rest did not look so rusty but there was obviously significant corrosion in the seam, so I bit the bullet and drilled out teh spot welds then cut the roof both sides to enable me to remove the complete section which will be blasted (slowly)with my spot blaster, repaired and re-fitted.

[kstrutt1]

Some pictures after removing the roof, it looks like It should need some local patches, rather than complete replacement, won't get much done this weekend as I have domestic chores to do (building storage units) and I am entering all 3 in a local show next week so I need to do a bit of washing and polishing as well.

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[kstrutt1]

A bit of progress on the minor, in the end I had to replace 18" of the rear deck panel where the roof joins on both sides, that is all done now, cuting and forming new metal, I have started on the roof as well, again aprox 18" needs replacing on each end, the RH side has been done and hopefully I can get the rest done and the roof panel back on in the next week, the fit so far looks pretty good some fettling will be required but not too much, at least it is now completely rust free and the most difficult area repaired.

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[kstrutt1]

I also cleaned up and painted the new front prop for the Landrover, at the moment the car is at work but I will have to bring it home in the next couple of weeks and give it a pre winter going over.

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Also found something every elan owner dreds:

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Coolant is leaking from the water pump. It has a cartridge type pump which I made myself a couple of years ago, this is the second time it has leaked though, the first time I used a cheap seal so I thought it was this, but now a year later a good quality seal is leaking, I am wondering if I don't have enough pre-load on the seal, I may try pulling it out (only takes 30 minutes or so) and pulling the impellor off and re-fitting it with a shim behind it.