Wednesday, 24 December 2014
Sunday, 21 December 2014
New wheel centres for the DHC
Those that
follow this blog will remember that well over a year ago, I fitted a set of
refurbished Wolfrace Turbo's to my DHC. Because they came with only one wheel
centre I decided to have a set of those made. At the time I contacted a few
local companies who specialise in 3D printing, but they all were far too
expensive or just not interested. So I opted to have them
spun from aluminium alloy instead. Sadly the guy who would do the work suffered from a heart attack and as a result he had to stop with work.
So to fill
the gap till I found a solution I fitted a set from Compomotive, shown above.
But they really are only a stop gap solution as they are a fair bit too small,
but so far the gaffer tape bodge has kept them in place. So it was pretty easy
to forget that I had to finish this little project ...
Until
recently that is, when I was given the details of i.materialise, a company in Belgium who
specialise in 3D printing. So the AutoCad file I created over a year ago was
dusted off and converted to a 3D printing format. That turned out to be not as easy as I thought, as one of their support engineers pointed me to the fact that the model I
sent over was rather rough. But with some help from a friend who knows more
about AutoCad then me, the file was converted to a much higher resolution 3D
printing file. The end result should look something like this ...
Monday, 15 December 2014
FHC resto nr. 26; Swage line rectification
Paint
preparations have been on hold the past few weeks due to illness. But by the
end of last week the work has restarted. First on the to-do-list was rectifying
the swage line on the right hand rear wing. As a result of the numerous small
and not so small dents in this area the line had suffered a bit. Which is
clearly visible in the picture posted on November the 9th. After adding some
filler and sanding it down it now looks like this ...
Also did
some adhesion tests to see how the primer attaches to the epoxy primer. I
mentioned earlier that we had some doubts here, but I am glad to report all is
fine. These test were done on the engine bay, which is also finished by now ...
And it is clear that the car won't see the inside of the spray booth in 2014. Hopefully somewhere in the second half of January.
Sunday, 14 December 2014
Alloy SU mounts part 2
Or how the
transformation from digital file to machined parts looks like. Friday evening
there was a fairly large box waiting for me at home. Sure it came from
Schaeffer, and nicely within their estimated delivery window. The only thing
that struck me as odd was the box's size. It really was vast for what it should
contain ...
For
comparison I put an original carburettor mount on top of it together with the bolts needed to finish
them. So did I make a mistake with the files, or did something go wrong on-line? Or did they just run out of smaller boxes? But a quick inspection of the
contents showed me all looked fine.
This was confirmed
after removing the parts from their protective wrapping ...
... and
comparing them with an original mounting block. This was a bit of a tense
moment as there is always some doubt in the back of my head ... "did I measure everything correctly".
But I needn't have worried there as everything fits as it should and all holes
align correctly ...
And as an added bonus these alloy mounts are each 40
grams lighter in comparison to the original rubber ones. See how they behave on
the car, and in particular how they influence heat transfer to the carburettors.
Well, the first little winter project is finished. Getting cool air into the
carburettors is one of the other jobs for this winter. To be continued.
Saturday, 6 December 2014
Calendar Girls 2015
With the
end of the year approaching it is time to start to think ahead to 2015. What
will the new year bring to us personally and at work. It also means making
plans for holidays, trips abroad and the TR7's. And time for a new
calendar to grace the study wall. This year I decided to use pictures of my
TR7's, taken over the past years across Europe.
The cover
The DHC on
its maiden trip after finishing the restoration,
inside the Flimserstein Tunnel
in Switzerland. Picture taken by René on my instructions.
(9 August 2010)
January
My latest
acquisition and current restoration project,
the 1976 FHC in the shed waiting
for dismantling to start.
(11 January 2014)
February
Dismantling
of the 1976 FHC complete.
In the workshop of a friend in Belgium.
(12 February
2014)
March
't Kreng in the hotel parking in Haaksbergen,
after the seventh edition of the Nacht van
het Oosten.
(14 March 2010)
April
The DHC in
front of the Nant-y-Moch Reservoir,
during the second edition of Club Triumph's
Taith o Amgylch Cymru.
(10 May 2014)
May
't Kreng
in a lay-by just outside Pwllgloyw, with the navigator trying to look cool,
taken in Wales during the first edition of Club Triumph's Taith o
Amgylch Cymru.
(11 May 2013)
June
't Kreng
hiding in Broughton in Furness,
after the International Auto Ecosse.
(6 June
2012)
July
The DHC on
top of the Timmelsjoch between Austria and Italy,
also during its maiden trip.
(8 August 2010)
August
Again the
DHC during its maiden trip.
This time on top of the Albula Pass in Switzerland.
(9 August 2010)
September
The DHC in
the market square of the Belgian village of Watou,
the day before the start of
Club Triumph's fifth (official) edition of the 10 Countries Run.
(4 September
2013)
October
The DHC in
front of the old pit boxes of the "Circuit de Reims" in France,
during
the first day of Club Triumph's 10 Countries Run.
(5 September 2013)
November
The old
DHC (as she was before restoration) on top of the Timmelsjoch just inside
Austria,
during the 2007 edition of Club Triumph's 10 Countries Run. Picture
taken by Roger.
(8 September 2007)
December
And to end
the year a picture (again taken by Roger) of 't Kreng.
On top of the
Col de L'Iseran in France, during Club Triumph's first official 10 Countries
Run.
(9 September 2005)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)