FHC resto nr. 91; A few Small jobs

While removing the body harness from the old DHC shell two weeks ago, I decided it would be a good idea to remove the back axle from that shell and replace it with the redundant 4-speed back axle from the ’76 FHC, to keep the shell moveable. I had mentally prepared myself for somewhat of a struggle here. Luckily, when I replaced the completely worn original suspension bushes somewhere in the early 90’s of the previous century, I used copious amounts of copper grease. And two weeks ago I was able to reap the benefits! All the nuts and bolts came off without much problems. As did the back axle itself. And the stiffer rubber Triumph Tune bushes fitted in the early 90’s of the previous century turned out to be in pretty good condition. As were the trailing arms. And with the 4 speed back axle being considerable lighter (compared with the 5-speed axle) fitting it to the shell was rather straightforward.

The idea behind removing this back axle is that, with all my spare back axles together and “freely” accessible, I can now easily inspect and compare them. And thus decide what back axle I will be using for this car. But I also think it is about time to (slowly) start on a new back axle for ‘t Kreng.

And although the picture above might suggest something else, all axle casings and brackets are in remarkable good condition. From top to bottom;

• CL 12290: from a late Solihull built California PI DHC (71.823 km);
• CL 12397: the original back axle from ‘t Kreng (101.458 km);
• CL 11314: an earlier Solihull European spec. FHC (72.492 km);
• CH 35143: The original back axle from my DHC (>200.000 km).

As you can see in the list above the later 3.45:1 (CL) ratio back axles are clearly in the majority in the shed over the 3.90:1 (CH) ratio. So it looks like the car will get a 3.45:1 back axle, just as the DHC. That is because I want to reserve the 3.90:1 axle to build a spare axle for ‘t Kreng! On the other hand the Dolomite Sprint also used a 3.45:1 differential ratio. Although that car is a slightly lighter package. To be continued …

And while working on the DHC shell I found a few small parts that looked to be in very good condition, and might come in handy. To start with a very tiny part, the boot light switch. Probably never been touched since it was fitted to the car in early 1980. It only needed a good clean.

But while trying to get to grips with my spare parts last weekend, I found out that I have circa 10 of these switches. All brand new and still in their original packaging. And to add insult to injury I found out that these switches don’t fit in the boot of a ’76 body shell. Of course the original switch hasn’t been found so far. Bugger!

Another item I removed from the shell was the prop shaft’s bump stop (UKC8268). I know, it is a part not fitted to early cars, but it is very good at protecting the brake line to the back axle, in case the prop shaft bottoms out (I have the mangled remains of a bump stop somewhere in the shed, to prove what can happen).

Fitting the bump stop will be a bit of a challenge though, as the ’76 shell of course is missing the necessary welded on mountings studs. And using nuts & bolts will prove my arms are not long enough. But it also has a wiring clip which is welded to the end of the transmission tunnel. And I also overlooked this 😕 And this clip might well be in the way of the bump stop! I’ll see that somewhere in the future. At least the DHC shell has the same clip, though it looks to be positioned more off centre compared to the ’76 FHC’s shell…

And to end this post. While working on the shell I noticed that the original alloys, with which the car left the factory, are marked K 79 (I presume that means November 1979). So it looks like my DHC is a fairly early production car.