Sunday 6 June 2010

DHC report nr. 98; Happy birthday ...

Nothing to do with the restoration but it was a memorable day today. Because today 30 years ago the car hit the road for the first time. Doesn’t look very much like she left the factory anymore, as I used parts from at least 5 different cars I have lying around ...


Sadly no time to celebrate as there were some minor problems to get sorted. First one was the fan guard. While driving over speed bumps yesterday there was a very slight metallic sound. I first thought it was part of the exhaust touching the body but there were no signs off that. After a few minutes searching I found out it was the fan touching the fan guard. Clearly that somehow the original spacers weren’t thick enough. So I needed a few new and slightly thicker ones, which thanks to Robbie and his lathe were only a few minutes work. Now with the same clearance as ‘t Kreng I am quite sure the fan won’t hit the guard anymore ...


Next on the to do list was checking all suspension bolts. A few needed to be tightened up a bit, but nothing excessive. Also checked for any further leaks (but found none) and fitted the fresh air duct ...


So only one thing remained, the first repair. In true Lucas style the almost brand new (only 10.000 km) alternator decided to pack up. As the only decent alternator around was in ‘t Kreng I decided to use that one, and get myself a new one for her tomorrow. I had already planned to take the DHC home with me and put ‘t Kreng in the shed, as I have to leave fairly early for my appointment at the MOT garage tomorrow morning. I used this opportunity to swap the alternator. And for the first time in more than two years the cars were back together again ...



After that it was time to bring the DHC home with me. I took a detour for a final check. Should be OK for the MOT tomorrow.

1 comment:

Tonny said...

Nice Work :-) really a pleasure to see this car in such a perfect condition.