FHC resto nr. 30; Sorting parts

With the final paint preparations postponed for a few weeks (hopefully not longer) I switched my attention to the various parts that need coating. As with the DHC I will use two methods for coating the parts, powder coating and zinc plating. The first method, powder coating shouldn't be a problem as I have currently three companies in the area to choose from. Zinc plating is a an altogether different problem. Since restoring the DHC the company I used for galvanising and (black) passivating some of the parts has changed hands. And that doesn't seem to have improved their quality. That search will be continued ...

Luckily there are also lots of parts that need to be powder coated. So over the past week I started with sorting through the first batch of storage boxes. To help here I used a parts list that I made up over the previous year, using the two parts manuals I have and the lists from a few years ago when I restored the DHC. And the first boxes I started with are from the interior and the boot/tank area ...

Clearly a few bits are still missing because they were either not fitted (I will upgrade some parts to later spec) or so badly worn/butchered/rusted, that they were discarded. Like this seat runner stop that had some welding done somewhere in a previous life. Clearly one that needs to be exchanged for a decent one from my parts hoard ...

Then there is the petrol duct panel. The car came with an incorrect late (small filler cap) rear deck, so the petrol filler duct had been ... euhhh ... reshaped a bit. This sadly meant that the original duct panel didn't fit anymore and had been discarded by the previous owner. Sadly the only early panel I have lying around is this one from a very early car we broke several years ago (ACG96L). But as you can see that needs a bit of welding. And not sure if the lower edge has been modified or not. Something to trial fit this weekend ...

But before they will be send of for coating they need some cleaning. And a few parts need some small alterations before they are coated.

The Shape Of Things To Come?

No ... not this one ... 😜

I have been thinking to replace my daily driver for some time now. This is mainly caused by the fact that the road tax for my Land Rover has risen rather steeply over the 10 years I have owned this car. I know that these cars aren't the cheapest to run. But a rise in road tax of over 500% since I bought this car (greedy bastards in The Hague) was the moment to say enough. Especially as I bought it as a commercial vehicle, which at the time meant low road tax but also no creature comforts and strictly two seats. But the fact I have to pay a fairly ridiculous amount of money for a car that's loosing ever more of its practicality made me decide to go looking for something else and more practical. Sadly not much that ticks all the correct boxes, so in the end I decided to stay with a Defender. OK it will be even more expensive on road tax, but at least it has some more creature comforts, and most of the time it will be more practical ...

Really wanted another TD5, but today I got the opportunity to drive the TD4 shown above. Yes the one with the Transit Van engine fitted, and also a Getrag 6-speed 'box. This car, despite only having covered just over 8000 kilometres, certainly didn't meet the mark. It comes from a Land Rover Experience Centre that went bankrupt, so the car was far from perfect. Trashed might even be a better word. But the whole package showed promise. Let's say this test drive widened the horizon a wee bit. The search begins ...

Cool Air And Noise Reduction

My last winter project, this time for the DHC. I have actually been toying with this idea for a few years now, especially after a few longer trips abroad ... So with the preparations for this year's edition of Club Triumph's 10 Countries Run about to start, I thought it a good idea to give it a go. The plan is to get rid of the open K&N filters currently fitted to the engine and replace them with an original air filter box. Well sort of !

The outlines for this little project are to fit a more or less standard air box, but instead of an air filter it will have ram pipes inside. Actually the box is only fitted to reduce noise levels on longer trips, and to help get cool air from the front of the car to the carburettors. 

Here I encountered a few small problems, because I wanted an early box with the two round funnels, as these make fitting the air hoses so much easier. But I also wanted the later type lid with the alignment tabs, instead of the earlier design, as it works much better in aligning the cover and keeping it in place. Here's a picture of the lower edge of the early box ...

Luckily both variants have the same dimensions and have a strip spot welded to their lower edge that acts as locating strip. And this was rather straight forward to swap with a decent drill and a welder. The finished box looks like this, with the alignment tabs clearly visible ...

Also took the opportunity to remove the sensor from the base plate and blank of the hole. Looks much cleaner and the sensor won't be used anyway.

With the air box sorted it was time to focus on the most important part of the exercise, filtering the air and routing it to the air box. I based the design on the original cardboard blanking plates that are mounted to both sides of the radiator. The RH one will be replaced with a steel one. I choose steel as this enables me to weld in two tubes from an old filter box. To the front of these tubes I will fit two universal K&N filters. This way they will sit in front of the radiator and above the oil cooler. This should give them plenty of nice cool air. And to get that air to the carburettors the rear of the two tubes will be connected to the air-box using universal ø44mm air hose. Sadly still waiting for the base plate to be cut, so I can only show how it should look ...

DHC Wheel Centre Update

Been  a while since I posted on the subject of 3D printing the wheel centres for the DHC's Wolfrace wheels. I ordered a set of 4 of these about a week before Christmas and the Initial delivery date was scheduled for week 3. So I was pleasantly surprised when a parcel from i.materialise was waiting for me when I returned home on Friday the 2nd of January. But after opening the parcel I could only conclude that the quality of the contents was slightly disappointing to say the least. I had ordered polished black centres and this is what I received ...

As you can see they were not very polished and not very black. Sanded charcoal was a far better description. Especially the outside was very rough. And as you can see the pictured wheel centre also had a very pronounced fault repair in it. Quiet clear on the inside what went wrong ...

Clearly something slipped through their quality control. But also apparent that the inside was much smoother in comparison with the outside. Time for an email to ask for an explanation. And they quickly agreed that these items shouldn't have been shipped. The inside looked to be up to their normal production standard, but the colour wasn't. And the fault of course. So they suggested to produce a new set. I could only agree there.

And just when I was thinking of dropping them an e-mail to inquire about the new set, I again was greeted by a parcel on my doorstep. This time the contents were as they should be. And together with some new logo's they look pretty much as I intended them ...

One last test remaining, fitting them to the wheels ...

Weber Jigsaw

This week I not only spent time on moving the FHC around, I also used my free Wednesday to finish the Webers for 't Kreng. With all parts cleaned, the two worn out holes repaired and the arrival of the service kits, it was time to put them back together. As I had nothing else that needed doing that day, I decided to make myself comfortable and reassemble the Webers behind the desk ...

And with everything laid out within easy reach it was time to start with these little 3D jigsaws.

Biggest problem I encountered were the service kits from Webcon. They contained several extra seals which I couldn't place, and of course that's something that will create some doubt. Luckily I took some pictures during dismantling enabling me to use the computer in slide show mode in the background. For the rest it was rather plain sailing, everything slotted back in its intended position without any problems.

But next time I order a service kit I'll have to be more careful. When ordering the kits I looked at the original invoice for the parts I needed, and it clearly stated that the carburettors were fitted with 1,75 needle valves. So I ordered these. But with everything dismantled I found out that the carburettors were fitted with 2,00 needle valves. Luckily only the needles showed signs of wear and the valve seats were fine. And as I couldn't see any differences between the various needles I fitted the original seats with the new needles provided in the kit. Checking the float levels showed me they were spot on, so that should be OK.

The only other (this time very slight) problem was the main gasket, the screw holes didn't line up exactly. Easily sorted by using the old idle mixture screws as alignment tools.

Now waiting for the temperature to rise a bit more outside, so I can refit the carburettors to the car and see if this does solve most of the problems.

FHC resto nr. 29; First paint layers

Today saw another milestone in the DHC's restoration. The first few litres of paint in the chosen colour were applied to the car. To be exact, nearly two litres of paint excluding the hardener and thinners.

As mentioned earlier only the underside, interior, boot and engine bay were painted. But it does give a good indication how the end result will look. A few pictures of the result so far ...

Only a few more weeks before the outside will be done. Needless to say I can't wait to see the end result.