Practically Classics Forum

does this mean i wasnt dreaming??

No, unlike John with Ms Friel.

I'd still rather get a black handle if I can at all... might be in for a long wait though.

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Started early today so I could finish early. Getting the wheels off was a bit of a challenge as the driver's side were dogged up so tight even the 4' breaker bar struggled and passenger side wheels hadn't been off in such a long time that the nuts had started to rust to the studs under the nut covers. Got there in the end and I now have a spare set of steel wheels to refurbish with tyres on that need binning.


Got the bonnet off and I'm deeming it scrap/repair panel material. The rusty hinge mount had a seized bolt, the head of which sheared off, and the rest of the bonnet is reasonable but not great. Distributor and side repeaters removed easy peasy and had another go at the front trim and headlight fixings to no avail, going to have to get the drill on those.


I wanted to liberate the windscreen if at all possible, they're made almost entirely of unobtanium. Luckily, in some ways, the windscreen seal was perished on this car and letting water in so it was a fairly simple task to cut through the seal and carefully lift the screen free. The rear screen put up more of a fight, mainly because I wanted to save the exceptionally good seal. Again, rear screens and seals are made of the rarest of materials and well worth preserving and I'm glad success was had, even if it did take three of us to liberate it safely. The glass has been put in a Safe Place but I'm still terrified of breaking it. These are being kept in stock because I know the rear screen at least needs to be removed and I don't want to risk having no screen to refit.


With the screen out I could inspect the rear surround and I'm delighted to report that it has good solid metal where the beige one isn't so clever. I'll cut these sections out as they may make repairing the surround on the beige car easier when I get that done.


You can see on this side what happens if you do nothing about the rust you can't see under the vinyl trim. There's still enough for the repair I need to make though.


Bottom on the driver's side is on its way out.


These little round trim clips I haven't been able to find a supplier for. Since I'm putting the C pillar top trim back on I'm going to keep remove them. These are one of those fiddly little items you need and can never find.


Bottom of the passenger C pillar had a rusty patch, once the vinyl and waist trim were removed it became a hole. There was another hole lurking completely hidden from view under the vinyl further to the front too. Again, the beige car is good here.




Once useful discovery is that if I can get to the rivets on the beige car the rear vinyl trim on the parcel shelf can be removed without taking the rear screen out. I had assumed that the vinyl tucked into the screen seal as it did elsewhere but since it doesn't that's going to be easy to resolve. I also removed and kept the two white vinyl C pillar trims that tidy the small piece of metal between the removable trims and the rear screen seal.


Headlining out, complete, without damage. The wires holding it up are really substantial. I'll be taking a pattern so I can make new headlinings and the one from this car will be cleaned and put with the HLS for the new owner to experience the joy of fitting.


Front driver's side corner has a practically new set of pads and a very good disc, there's barely any wear at all so I doubt they did more than about fifty miles on it. The track rod end has utterly disintegrated and of no use. The brake hoses look in good condition and the inner arch plastics are reasonable if not perfect.


Passenger side brakes are a different story, they've seen a lot of use and I'll likely only save the caliper to refurbish on this side and the hoses which again look in reasonable order.


At the back the rear axle proved fairly easy to remove. The rebound strap mount on the inner arch is good both sides so I'll chop those out in case they can be used to repair the HLS. The brake hoses came apart nicely, and everything looks healthy and, for the most part, as though it's been apart in the not too distant past. Dropping the axle was a doddle, no seized bolts or any of that nonsense and the only problem thus far has been very tight hydragas unions, I didn't want to battle those today so that's a job for tomorrow. Best of all, the pivot shafts are free moving as they should be which means I can remove and regrease them before fitting this axle to the beige car.


That was about all I had the energy to do today, but it's a good chunk more sorted. There was a really healthy amount of pressure in the hydragas system, the pipes look in excellent shape and all the spheres are good. I'll inspect the rear drums but may end up putting this axle straight on to the beige car with the brakes and everything as they are after checking it's all working properly. End of play I dropped the bonnet back in place and we'll do this all again tomorrow.

vulgalour wrote: I wanted to liberate the windscreen if at all possible, they're made almost entirely of unobtanium.

Really? I have one, if not 2 along with 1 or 2 rear screens in the shed. If you hear of anyone desperate, send them my way.

You don't happen to have a decent windscreen seal do you? Those are even harder to find.

Alas not, the seals on them have past their sell by date I'm afraid.

Today I have been exhausted and plans to do any work on the orange breaker car were thwarted by the simple fact I just didn't have the physical energy or mental faculty to do it. I did not want it to be a wasted day so I took a look at what could be done on the HLS to get it that bit more sorted.

To start, I removed the dead bonnet struts from the car to replace them with the good ones on the orange breaker. It is much nicer to be able to work under the bonnet without having a prop in the way.


Next, that rear window. One issue with living here is that things go missing, nobody will ever put their hands up to it and things usually turn up again, but it's always the one thing you need that disappears. In this instance it was the fixings for the rear window guides that had vanished (and today, the box of drill bits I could have done with have wandered off). Happily, the fixings I need are on the orange car so I got things all swapped over and fitted.


I also liberated the better interior light lens from the orange car.


While I was at it, the central cubby got swapped in too so I don't have to repair the one that was originally in the red car. These are admittedly little things but they do make me feel better about the car and make me feel more encouraged to work on it.


Rather than go headlong into any really big jobs, I decided to give myself a mojo boost by giving the red car a wash. True to form, it's the car that keeps on giving, and it gave me this pinhole in a common rot spot. It's not serious yet but it will need fixing within the next year or two, not really my problem but one for the new owner to address.


Car has been sat outside for a while now, longer than I wanted really, so it's been looking a bit sorry for itself. I reckon all projects go through this stage where they just seem to demand more money and time and effort than you have the will to put into them, then they get looking neglected and it compounds the issue. Traditional bucket shot here.



The bodyshell isn't bad at all on this car and the new panels have much better paint so while it's a bit flat, as is the wont of red cars the world over, some G3 action and a full Vulgalour valet should see this looking very smart indeed. For now, it's just a quick wash to make me feel better about the car, which I do. I now want to get on with the mechanical maladies again as today has felt like a better day to own this car.

Any progress is good progress.

Have you parked the red car there to show it what will happen if it doesn't behave

Yes... do you think it'll work?

vulgalour wrote:Yes... do you think it'll work?

It's a 70's Leyland. It'll come out on strike in support of the parts car.