Practically Classics Forum

Ay up!

I wish you luck with this one. I love these cars as well. Long, low and stylish.

Cheers chaps, sorry I didn't reply earlier to the comments but thought I'd be posting back sooner than this. The boy having gained his driving license after just 11 lessons has seen a lot of my "spare" time dissapearing into the hazy world of mini mechanics. A fast 24 hour stint to iron out the glitches saw the mini MOT'd for him and my wallet emptied into the abiss of insurance hell. Now in true mini form there is a new job every time he comes home.

Anyway, just for Tractorman



OK, so the riley remains with its F~~d blue, but I thought you'dlike these two colours. Forgive the mess, we were having a tidy up.........

And back to "Rusty" Riley.....

New captive nuts put in place where I'd repaired the arch and another coat of paint.



A small localised repair was then carried out to finish this area





Then it was time to move to the edge of the body where it meets the roof and I made and fitted the new metal across most of the car





New metal in place and on with making the new boot aperture edges



Then we had a week of wind and rain coming at the garage so everytime I opened the door the bits I'd been doing got wet and flash rusted, so as the sunshine came back I decided to clean up the metal and get a little protection on.

Sanded free of rust and nasty old paint





Coated with rust converter to catch any stray oxidisation in little pits



And some red oxide



So, that protected I finished off around the boot opening



Then a new bottom edge welded in to complete



Thats now been cleaned up so the next job will be to repair what currently passes for a boot floor, I'll probably then sort out the edges of the perforated roof where I can get at them before moving the car over to gain access to the drivers side tinwork for more of the same.

Well done Arceye, i haven't seen a car with a perforated roof like this before

Is it standard for your Riley

Red lead takes me back to when i was a pipefitter

I thought i did well to pass after only 13 lessons but your lad has done well with 11

Keep up the good work

Nick

Nice stuff again! I hope your engineering expert of a relation has a taste for humble pie, he's going to have to eat a heck of a lot of them!

I may be big-headed, but I only had four lessons (and passed the test first time). Mind you, that was in 1971, just before my 18th birthday, the front L-plate made the engine overheat and, when I did the emergency stop, the laundry van behind us had to swerve violently (the examiner hadn't noticed it pull out of a side road just after he warned me about the E.Stop! Fortunately, a child kicked a football in front of the car and almost ran onto the road in front of me!

Tractoring has taken a major blow this year - my mother died last week, so I will soon be among the ranks of the unemployable (too old!!). It took all my funds and more to buy another good car (to transport Ma in!) after a cobble took the sump out of the old one! However, I will do what I can until I run out of paint!!

Thanks Nick, the roof was perforated as standard, not sure why unless it saved weight or came cheaper, but it probably does mean I have to use the proper everflex vinyl when it gets covered as anything else may get stretched when the windows get opened.

Tractorman, thats great going on passing the test to lesson ratio, I remember when I took my bike test you could probably have fallen off and still passed as the guy just stood at the end of an alleyway as you went round the block a couple of times.

Very sincere condolences over your loss, Mums are special to say the least, and if you have took time out to care for someone then it leaves you in a predicament when that ends. Since I was made redundent from the Railway I'm self employed selling my clocks and repairing them, then I pick up what work I can mending anything that needs mending though it is hard in these lean times. I care for the wife as well who despite being pretty young has a lot of difficulties, her Incapacity benefit helps cover some of the losses, but given I couldn't even get an interview for cleaning the local Bogs I do know how you feel.

Maybe best to just pick up what you can self employed in the meantime, you are handy with your hands and generally I've found if you make yourself available most people need something mending sometime. I recently did a mercy job on my ex morris minor, which in turn fetched a traveller for Alt conversion, brake adjustment, and window channels fitting. It will be back soon for a gearbox swap and the woodwork varnishing, then it needs a horn push, and either valve guide seals or preferably a fresh head. It kind of self perpetuates and whilst it will never make us rich it keeps the wolf from the door and saves the indignity of signing on. Just a thought anyway, but I wish you all the best with whats to come, as to the cobble, well it never rains but it pours.

The official story behind the perforated roof and fabric top is that it was the quickest, easiest, cheapest way of finishing the pre-production examples for the press demonstration, and the reviews all made so much of it that it was standardised for production. I also believe that at the time Nuffield did not have enough production presses, or access to, for the whole panel to be produced in a full sheet.
There needs to be padding over the panel before the fabric goes on, the two I have done used a man made wadding with a material like that used on hoods, but with a grain type finish. There is locally a car with a steel roof from a holden modificated to fit, and at least two that have been fibreglassed, one then had the fabric glued down as per a modern fabric roof and the other painted.
Matthew

Not surprised the roof was like this to save money

Tractorman sorry to hear about your mum

Nick

That quirky roof is probably most nuisance bit of the car for me, given the cloth, wadding, and then vinyl I don't think there is much room for manouvre on the vinyl specification as typical stretch vinyl may end up flapping at speed and so it will probably have to be the proper expensive stuff by everflex, you can get a kit but expense will probably see me trying to make my own. We'll see soon enough.

Anyway, I couldn't believe yet another month has slipped by since my last update but there has been progress.

The boot floor is now solid having been chopped up quite considerably and numerous repair patches butt welded in. A bit of a faff but I didn't want to renew it all. Its done now, cleaned up and under a nice coat of hammerite.



So it was on to the inner arch sections of the drivers side rear, This had taken a lot of water over the years and little remained of arch to wing lip other than laminated rust, and numerous holes were present under the rust of the side pieces, thankfully although under a thick layer of rust the chassis remains absolutely solid.







So nothing for it but to replace the entire arch to wing lip and weld in more patches. There was also a lot of frilly steel where the side strip mounts so this area was also cut away and patched in.





It is a little tricky to photograph this area due to restricted space but after lots of welding and serious cleaning up it is solid again,
I also replaced the last of the body to roof edge section which if you remember looked liked this.




So here are the end results





And of course my good old red oxide came in to play along with the hammerite







I've repaired the roof edge of the drivers side rear with ordinary sheet steel, I'll leave the passenger side rear and window surround edges until the timber window frame is repaired



So its time to start on the rotten window frame, tonight I've just removed the bottom section in order to use it as a template for the replacement.





Getting these bits done around the rear window will be a real milestone, as although there is no end to the work in sight the main body will be structurally complete, I think I'll have an extra glass or two when thats done.

brave man, how long before its finished??

rich. wrote:brave man, how long before its finished??

Thats a tricky question, a truthfull answer is probably a good couple of years, BUT, I'm hoping to get it fit for its first trial outing on tarmac by the end of the year or at least early 2013. Fingers crossed that will be mechanically and bodily sorted with chrome needed and a lot of interior work. We'll see, it may prove to be a little optimistic.

Days like today don't help, as I spent the largest part of it having a small piece of Riley removed from my left eye must get some new safety specs tomorrow, the current ones were getting a bit scratched and I foolishly decided I could do a little detailed cutting without them yesterday, I never learn