Vulgalour's Vehicles - 10/03 Ignition Switch Woe

[vulgalour]

The unit has a strict one-in-one-out policy. Actually it doesn't, but we are very limited on space. Princess got an opportunity to come in so I could replace the front displacer with tools easier to hand. When I attempted this job I was thwarted by two bolts, today that didn't happen because I had the magical grab-a-bolt-with-sharp-bits tool and a more different combination of ratchets and extensions. The pivot shaft came undone easily and was easy to knock through, though I didn't remove it fully as it needs to hold the displacer in place for a little bit first. The job was going well! So of course I was foiled by the nut on the hydragas pipe that needs to be undone to free the displacer which is so stuck it started to twist the pipe. This is a Very Bad Thing, because new pipes aren't available and have to be custom made, if only British Leyland had used something more substantial than mild steel for them.


Never mind, I could still inspect the inner arch for any damage, knock off the loose layers of paint and whatever and find a rust hole. Yay, more rust to deal with. This needs fixing too because it's in a structural area and I have that sinking feeling that it's only going to grow much worse given the overall appearance of the metal in the vicinity. I shall try and be optimistic, even though I sacked off this part of the car for today. You can see shiny silver metal through that rust hole to the top left just above the small bolt hole. Nuisance.


I needed to inspect the passenger sill for rust so I could match it to the driver's side. When I bought the car I knew it was a bit tender where the sill meets the front wing so this bit didn't surprise me beyond it being better than anticipated. Pretty easy to fix this too.


The other end of the sill was an unknown quantity. After digging out lots of fibreglass in the wrong profile I was left with a rather accurate map of the Himayalas constructed from clumsy patches. I also found two holes that were previously hiding under filler and more fibreglass. Nothing new here on this car. Don't know what I'm doing exactly about the repair here as I don't think I have a repair panel for this bit. I have got more metal to work with so I'll likely bash it into a shape something a bit more like factory and just make it look tidier than it does now.


On the other front wing I took back the filler and paint to the arch partly for the repair work needed. I decided to do the same here and was suddenly confronted with about an eighth of an inch of filler underneath a really heavy couple of paint jobs and a rather special arch repair. It's the same method I used to repair the rear arch on the opposite side but instead of cutting out the rust and filling the pie-cuts, they've just tacked this whole thing over the frilly arch lip and smeared filler on top. This is a lot of time to sort out, time I didn't want to be investing in this part of the bodywork. It should at least be the last bit of this nonsense to find on the car, I've poked every other panel and part and dug out all the rest.


Not sure if I've made progress, gone backwards or stayed about where I was today.

[kstrutt1]

That used to be a common way of "fixing " rusty arches, you could buy what were called universal wheelarch repair sections which is what you have there, the fronts on my tr7 were done in a similar way when I bought it 22 years ago.

[vulgalour]

It's a great way of putting a profile back on an arch, especially if you don't need to replace the whole thing, but it really needs to be applied properly which this isn't. I'll most likely cut it all off and weld it back on properly, it'll just take ages to do because it's tedious work. Not only that, the rear sill piece could have been repaired really easily using a panel I had which I welded to the front wing on the other side so I'm pretty sure I don't have a repair panel for that now and it's a difficult shape to fabricate. Again, nobody makes these panels so I'm on my own with it.

[vulgalour]

Chopped off that manky sill end today, bit of an awkward thing to repair. Glad I did, underneath were a few layers that were causing problems.


With the patched sill section removed and the closing plate literally pulled off because it wasn't welded on properly I could see what I was dealing with. A little bit of frilliness to trim back but it's otherwise quite good and there's enough healthy metal to weld new pieces in properly. Really, I should have chopped this out before repairing the inner sill and floor, life would have been easier on that then.


De-fillered the front wing. There was a lot of filler hiding in the bottom corner here covering a patch I already knew about. I need to cut this out and let a larger patch back in as the metal has holed beyond the repair. Shame really, the repair wasn't too bad here originally, looks like they bothered to seam weld, cut out the rot and dress it back better than the other repairs on the car.


Found a bit that needs attention at the front too. The wing shouldn't be welded to the front valance like this, there's a return lip on both that should be spot welded together. Not entirely sure what I'm doing with this bit for now beyond repairing that little hole that's appeared in the wing just at the bottom of the headlight opening.


I'm definitely moving the side repeaters. I really don't like the stock location and since it's only a case of extending some wires and drilling a hole I might as well do it while I'm doing the rest of the wing repairs. You can also see here just how much filler was hiding in the wing, much of it for no reason at all because it wasn't covering repairs or even bad metal.


One thing I am doing is de-bumpering the car. The back end looks pretty tidy without them, the front not so much because of the sidelight-indicator units. I had a bit of a think and realised that I can relocate the side repeaters into the headlight trim. You can get clear lens versions too and they'll sit in the gap above. The old sidelight-indicator holes will get plated over to finish the front end off and the bumper mounting holes filled front and rear. You can see the two little holes where my number plate used to be fixed, it will be going back there.

[vulgalour]

Front indicator placement is too near headlights and too small, on reflection, but good for sidelights if I need them. I'm considering putting MG B units in the old location instead, be nice if there was something more flush-fit that was easy to get hold of for that space. I'm only thinking of replacing the originals because they stick out too far without the bumper.

[TerryG]

What size headlamps does the princess have? If it uses 7" ones then Defender SVX headlamps have a plain lens and focus the beam with the reflector which gives a much better beam pattern. They have integrated sidelights as a bonus.
You also have the option of upgrading to LED, I have just got a pair of e marked 7" LED lamps for £260 for my RR.

[vulgalour]

Five and three quarter twins on the Princess. There are some headlight options out there and she may get an upgrade if I run out of spare sealed beam lamps, or decide not to fit the halogen bowls I've got that were liberated from a breaker car. I snaffled some MG B sidelight-indicator units which will do the trick smartly, it's very nearly plug and play since the wires and everything go to the same location and should look in keeping with the car.

[mach1rob]

I can't remember if I mentioned this before? I know I commented to someone about them, E30 projectors, bloody brilliant, Dolomite has, IMO a better spread of light than my modern MG has at night. I just need to add another relay to the wiring, as currently, the dipped beams turn off on main, so I just have the inner lights on, as outers no longer have a double filament bulb to remain lit up. They're OK on flash, all 4 light up, but switch to main, I loose the 2 outer units.



I also took the opportunity to relocate side lights to outer units, and fit later, clear lenses and have the whole lower indicator/sidelight just for indicators. Just need to fit some chrometech bulbs for that clean look.

[JPB]

That's one very effective way to silence the "indicator lens are the wrong way round" faction among Dolomite folk!
The original wiring for the Dolly lamps is designed to have both high and low beams lit up when the stalk is in the high beam position. I spent ages trying to work out why mine did this when they had been correct all along - small wonder the switches invariably melt in cars that haven't been kitted up with relays.

[mach1rob]

Correct, but outer units have dipped and main filaments, the projector lights just have dipped, so with no main filament, they go out when main beams switched on, so you loose most of the light directly in front, which is a bit of a mare.