Greetings!
It’s been ages since my last posting so I thought that as we now have a Resto/projects section I should let you know how I’ve been get on with my 1850HL
Some of you may recall I bought my car of a forum user, a young chap from Stockport, Manchester back in February.
It looked like this at the time
We just about managed to get it to my son’s home under its own steam but within a few days refused to run above idle speed. After hours of trying various solutions suggested here, we came to the conclusion the carbs would need a rebuild and the rubber mounts replacing. All this was around the time of the Stoneleigh Triumph day which we attended and late in the day I spotted a TR7 manifold including HS6 carbs on Aluns’ stand. He explained they should bolt straight on with a suitable gasket. So that’s what we did and within seconds of fitting the car was running, I fitted a spare TR7 air box /filter we had from when we fitted K&N’s to our 2.0L DHC and we were able to get it off the Ex’s drive and back to my place to work on it further.
Once home we started to tackle the brakes which did not inspire confidence! On removing the rear brake drums we noticed that the wheel cylinders were clogged with dirt and grease and one of the “auto adjustment “ levers had snapped off
A replacement was sourced via a “wanted add” on here and at the same time the pads and pins were replaced at the front end, resulting in a car that stops!
All the wheels were pretty grotty looking
So while they were off the car I cleaned them up
Primered and painted them up including the hub caps (not the best job but smarter than they were)
While I had the matt black out I also tidied up the head lamp surrounds.
The cars paint was flat and patchy and there were rust bubbles in various areas so even though I hadn’t tried before I have had a go at tidying these up ,it’s only a rattle can job but its turned out well enough and will do for now.
While this was ongoing I decided to strip out the seats and carpets and give them a clean. It was at this point that I noticed a small hole in the passenger foot well to bulkhead seam! (Fairly common I hear)
Inevitably it got bigger as I investigated!
By the time I had finished messing I realised that it had be patched before and filled, also I could see that the chassis leg was holed as well, so I took a look from the underside and found that the leg had also been patched and filled
As this wasn’t something I felt confident tackling myself, I put the driver’s seat back in and took it to “Totally Triumph” which is a few miles up the road (a very hot and loud trip without the transmission tunnel in place!)
While the car was away I cleaned up the transmission tunnel and what remained of the rubber seal
When the car came back I managed to get the overdrive working by repairing the wiring loom and took the opportunity to top up the gearbox oil before refitting the tunnel (using the whole contents of a small tin of Dum Dum paste)
Then it was back to painting the offside and replacing the mouldings and C post trim
In with the repaired parcel shelf and clean carpets
Then in with the cleaned up seats
My rear squab was in shreds so I sourced a replacement (spot the schoolboy error!)
Yep it’s not got an armrest (I’ve since found the correct one in decent condition)
With that done I turned to the nearside paintwork. When I got the car it looked like this
So I tidied it up, re-primered it
Moved along to the lower doors panels and sill
Then hit it with a Halfords rattle can a few times
Just needs the door and sill trims refitting.
Next I removed this (sorry to those that like them!)
Polished it up (you can still see the ghostly image!)
Then the whole car was G3’d G6’d and polished up
Ready for my first club outing to the Lancashire Classics show near Preston
There is still plenty to do such as a nasty scab on the front panel above the nearside headlights, the mat black rear boot panel also needs repairing and painting.
As for how it runs, well it creaks from every corner so I want to look at replacing the springs (I have 4 new shocks waiting to go on) and I will check and re-bush the front and rear suspension when funds allow. Engine wise it runs nicely although it tends to flat spot very slightly so that will need remedying at some point. I guess I should eventually return it to using HS4’s but for now the HS6’s are doing the job.
Any thoughts, comments, hints or observations gratefully received!
Regards Duncan (Alfabax)