Vulgalour's Vehicles - 10/03 Ignition Switch Woe

[JPB]

I see what you mean, Rob, but these earliest Dolomites should - on high beam - have all six filaments glowing at the same time when equipped with the o/e sealed beams or the post-2010 replacement halogen units, so if the relays are set up to switch the lamps as per original, then switching on high beam should at least give you four lamps.
The MOT tester - who used to test my Dollies among other cars - had a very original Rover of the P6 flavour and that was wired from the factory to have the same arrangement though I know that later Dollies, possibly from around the time of the change to SU carbs and the "upside down" instruments, lost this setup so could only have either dipped or high beams showing which would mean that their lighting would have been crap compared to the early cars but that [these later ones] would be less prone to the melting switches. In practice, the later switches were based around plastic substrates instead of the black phenolics used earlier so they were just as likely to burn.

And on the wedge; my Tahiti Blue 1800 fleet model - AVG99T, very late for a B series car - had the four round lamps and even in stock form, I always found their performance suited me far better than the harsher cutoffs of the trapezoidal lamps found on HLs, plus they look better IMHO. I reckon these recesses would look good with a flush fitting chunk of one way plexiglass across them, the indicators could them be simple amber bulbs fitted behind which would glow well in use but would be invisible at other times.

[vulgalour]

Yes, I remember the projector lights mentioned, I'm still not entirely sure they'll fit without moving the battery, they're very long. Indicator-wise I've got some MG B units winging their way over, if I'm really lucky BL will have even used the same cut out on the front panel (unlikely, but I can dream).

[vulgalour]

Upside-down day today so I got some hours in on the Princess before work. Someone on the club is selling a bunch of Princess parts, including some complete sills, so I'm not working on those until I've collected them. I'm hoping at least one of the sills is for the passenger side, it'd save me a lot of time and effort. Instead, turned my attention to the nose end since my new lights had arrived. Found that the few small holes in the valance I was aware of have got no worse, now I have the means these will get patched properly. There's a lot of paint on the front valance too, it must have had at least four resprays judging by the layers I went through.


Chopped out the rust on the front wing and let in a section of one of the partial sills I've got that I can't use to repair the existing sill. The profile is similar enough so it was easier to manipulate this than a flat sheet. I've got to trim and fold the return and try to get the arch flare into it before filler and primer goes on. Got about half way around on filling the pie-cuts which just takes forever and welded up the little hole in the leading edge of the wing.


Offered one of the new MG units up to the hole in the valance and found the hole was ever so slightly too big. The units are also slightly curved. They do look better than the originals without the bumper, if a little too new and shiny.


When I let the new panel in I wasn't that keen on it, mocked up it looked fine, it bows out slightly to match the profile of the new units. I may have just done things clumsily. I'll be deleting the bumper bracket nobble and I may cut out this patch and fit a flush one so I start with a smooth valance. It could be easier to modify the MG light unit to fit the valance and look better. In fact, the curve of the MG unit is so minor it can probably be taken up with an extra foam gasket. We shall see I suppose.


It's progress. Progress is good.

[rich.]

you are an optimist... but i think we all are really...

[3xpendable]

Just a suggestion. Is it worth putting a body coloured blanking grommet over the bumper mounting bolt hole? Just means that you can change back if you or a future owner ever wanted to.

[vulgalour]

Chopped out a rusty section so I could do repairs on the upper valance and found it was much worse on the back than expected, this meant a slight change in plans because replacing exactly as original was going to be time consuming (more not-available panels here) and I don't need the original shape anyway.


A new upper valance section was created from that bonnet I'm still making use of and welded in place. The welds need dressing back to finish. Coincidentally, this removed all of the deformation of the valance panel so the front end looks much straight than it did. The structure behind is undamaged, it looks like all the damage was restricted to the wing and valance.


This is less involved than repairing the original pieces in the way I was going to and took me less time. You'll just have to wait and see how it looks when I've done it, I've got all the pieces I just have to put them all back on the car.

I was very lucky to get a pair of full sills, a partial sill and a full set of six brake hoses for £40 less than 20 miles from home. The chap I bought them from has other lovely useful things too that I'd like to buy but it's all bigger items so the cost adds up quickly. Things like arch repair panels and radiators and all sorts of things you never ever see.

For the meantime I'll keep on keeping on. I'm not going to try and make any alterations reversible now, there simply isn't any point. I like Princesses in stock form and if this one had proven to be in better condition from the start it would have stayed that way. Trouble is it's just been too knocked about in the past and even during my ownership - remember the drunk neighbour reversing into me a few years ago? - so any value in it as an original car is completely gone. It's very likely I'll be the last owner anyway, things would have to be monumentally rubbish for me to part with it now.

[vulgalour]

Got a good way towards completing the welding on the front end today, which was a great feeling. Having decided on the indicator's final location I found I didn't have the time to make the small brackets needed to install them today, nor time to fit the final element of the front end.

Instead, I managed to come very close to finishing the welding on the passenger front wing. All those little cuts on the arch have been welded up, a small hole I'd previously missed was caught and the bumper mount hole-and-bump flattened to match the arch better. I need to cut a new indicator hole and plate up the old one as well as plating up the bumper mounting hole before I can get a bit of filler on here to smooth it all out nicely. Tiny glimpse of the bit of metal I've not quite finished that's going back on the front end too.


Happily managed to salvage the centre brace. I'm pretty sure now that this car has had a minor bump before I owned it because I found that were the metal had split was an old brazing repair. With some patience I got most of the original shape back to the brace and welded it in place. I also tidied up the front lip and centre seam of the lower valance and got some primer on it. A little bit of filler will see this all smoothed out properly. I'm rather pleased with it.

[vulgalour]

Finally got time and motivation to crack on with the Princess this weekend. Putting theory into practice on bodywork is quite a learning curve, especially when you're trying to do ambitious things with shapes. I had fitted the MG B sidelight-indicator units to the front valance on the Princess, it looked perfectly okay on the bench. Then when I put it on the car it looked HORRIBLE so I had to cut out all the work and start again.

I'd already marked out where I wanted the unit to sit but transferring the shape of the light unit to the curved panel was a case of trial and error as the light unit is slightly curved horizontally whereas the panel it's going into is heavily curved vertically, and ever so slightly horizontally too. After much nibbling and filing after the initial hole cut I had a hole the right shape without taking too much material out. Then I just had to make a rectangle of metal the right curve to fit the hole.




That's also complicated. The recess needs to sit parallel to the top edge of the panel I'm working with but the back of it will be angled so the units sit in a better way. Many, many frustrating minutes of bend, hammer, tweak, bend, adjust with offering it up to the hole between and eventually I get to a point I can weld it in. Ugly welds, I know.


I do know that welding from the other side of this would have probably made for a neater finish and required me not to make a second pass on the seam. It was very difficult to get access all the way around on the back of the panel due to its shape so I opted not to. When the piece was welded in I trimmed off the excess with the tin snips and then got the flap wheel to get everything flush. This bit wasn't so bad and the end result is fairly smart. Few bits here and there need extra attention and finishing and of course a bit of filler will be needed before paint.


The backing plate next. I made several cardboard attempts at this and it was just annoyingly difficult. The back of the light units have two fixing bolts in opposing corners and the unit itself isn't flat so you need a really specific shape for the hole. Originally I was going to cheat and get a repair section but I've been unable to find one so I guess it's one of the few bits of MG B that you can't get off the shelf. After a while I had one side in, not fully, but enough to check for fitment. You can just see the orange corners of the backing plate where I've not trimmed them yet.




It's not bad. For a first attempt at this sort of thing I think I've done okay and with a little more graft I'll have it finished nicely. What's surprised me is just how difficult it's been to get the shapes I want. I did notice that the tolerances I'd allowed in the cardboard version were probably a little tight for the metal version so I'm hoping I don't have too much trouble getting everything as smartly finished as I want.

[vulgalour]

Ah ha!








Needs some fine adjustment to be properly finished like the bolt holes for the indicators enlarging slightly so I can fit them but otherwise it went remarkably smoothly today. I'm very happy with how this looks. I've a few options for the front number plate location, all of them are very easy, and a good amount of finishing work with filler to get it all looking as it ought.

Driver's side wing needs that repair section letting in and the headlight alignment sorting out which are comparatively easy jobs to getting the front end tidied up. Next I'll either finished the rear light bucket or the passenger outer sill replacement.

Can't do anything about the suspension until I find someone local to make me at least one suspension pipe and since disturbing everything the front corner is so low now that the tyre rubs on the inner arch when properly inflated.

But hey, it's progress, and good progress at that!

[rich.]

progress! hows the renault doing?