FHC resto nr. 57; Various small jobs

Over the past few weeks I have been busy with various small jobs on the '76 FHC. To start with some work on the heater. First of all, the newly coated flaps that hide inside the heater were fitted with a new foam backing ...

But while trawling through the various parts of the heater I was reminded of the fact that the original design of the connection, between the heater matrix and the rest of the coolant system, is not very impressive. To put it mildly! And the fact that the rubber seals between matrix and pipes are made from unobtanium these days doesn't help either ...

So I visited H&S Speed equipment again. It's the same local firm that provided me with a new alloy radiator for the DHC shortly before the 10 Countries Run in 2013. And they will eventually supply the new radiator for this car, but that is one of the last parts that will be needed. But as they are specialised in all kind of alloy motorsport products they should be able to help me here. And they could! This means that the heater's matrix will be fabricated in alloy, using an of the shelf matrix block. But also normal ø16mm pipe ends, to get rid of the unreliable push connections. Sadly it won't be ready till the middle of July. The only disadvantage of a small local firm with a good reputation!

Also resumed preparing the parts that will (hopefully soon) be sent of for galvanising. Initial plan here was to have them all treated in an oven to remove oily grime and other muck before shot blasting and galvanising. But I was advised not to use this heat (±425°C) treatment for any springs or spring clips as it could damage the structure of the steel used for these parts. So some parts will need a different approach here. Not these parts, these are ready to be sent of for coating ...

But before that is going ahead, this seemingly small batch of parts needs to be sorted and prepared ...

And to end this write up, a major part of the time this weekend was spent in front of the television, watching Le 24 Heures du Mans. And during those many hours I also spend some time on the fluid reservoir from one of the brake's master cylinder from the spares hoard. Not overly difficult but fairly time consuming to get it cleaned properly ... 

Rétromoteur Ciney 2017 (B)

I visited this rather rural car and motorbike show over the Whitsunday weekend in the Belgian town of Ciney (famous for its similar named beer). A few pictures from the cars in the parking lot ...

Lotus Europa S2:

Rather weird Spanish built Renault Siete (or 7).

It's actually a Renault 5 with a boot:

 Renault 8 Gordini:

 The cars surrounding the Renault 8 Gordini clearly
show the wide variety of cars that were there ...

Porsche 914 in my favourite colour ...

The stylish rear end of a Citroën DS21:

Pretty old Citroën 2CV with a lovely patina:

Absolute gorgeous NSU TTS.
I am probably biased because of its colour!

And finally looking at the stuff some people try to sell!
Really makes you wonder ...

FHC resto nr. 56; Fuel tank refurbishment

It is already well over a month ago that I collected a car load of freshly coated parts from Habraken in Best. And amongst these parts was the fuel tank for the car. When I removed it from the car it was in rather mint condition, both outside and inside ...

But time hadn't been kind to it. This is how it looked when I pulled it out of the shed over three years later ...

The outside still didn't look too bad, but the inside was worse. But it looked like it was only surface rust. As there were no signs of something resembling serious rust damage it was sent of for paint removal, shot blasting and powder coating together with the other parts. But with the strict instructions to give me a call if they found a leak. But no call came and it looked rather nice from the outside when it returned with a fresh new black coating ...

Which meant I could start with the last stage in the tank's refurbishment, coating the inside. For this I used a special 2-pack epoxy coating from Tank Cure. As the tank had been put in an oven to remove most of the old paint and muck, I didn't expect there would be much grease or dirt left inside. There was only a handful of blasting grit inside, which was easily removed with a vacuum cleaner with a slim hose attached to it. After which the actual treatment could be carried out. I decided to use the full treatment just to be safe; degreaser, rust remover and coating ...

But not before I found myself this odd collection of items to plug the various openings in the tank ...

As the instructions clearly state that after degreasing and rust removal the tank should be thoroughly flushed and dried I waited for some sunny and warm weather to aid the drying. But while flushing the tank after degreasing I found there was water coming out of somewhere. Turned out to be a very small hole in the lower part of the tank! Luckily the instructions also state that the epoxy coating can plug small holes. So I taped over the hole and carried on with the rust removal. But not before I had a good look inside the tank ...

No visible problems! After draining the rust removal after a few hours turning the tank over regularly it was time for the final flush with water. Sounds easy, but with the temperature reaching 30°C it was rather hard work shaking the tank with some 15 litres of water inside. But every disadvantage has its advantage. Due to the very hot weather the tank was dry within a few hours. Time for the final stage and the actual coating. Thoroughly mixing the two compounds, pour the mixture in the tank, turn the tank for 20 minutes and finally drain any surplus fluid . All rather easy, except for the last part. Getting the surplus fluid out turned out to be a bit messy. But at least the tank's outside wasn't affected. Time to put the tank aside and let the coating cure properly. And this is how it looks now. Not a very smooth finish but most importantly all areas of the tank have been coated ...