Project Lemondrop

[Purplebargeken]

I could post a couple of pics if I'm allowed to. That is if anyone is interested.

[Nathan Mwk 627G]

Spread that Austin love Ken.....

Nathan

[1300dolly]

yehh, lets see some more piccys of Kens collection of rust

[Purplebargeken]

Cor. Has it been that long since I posted about LD's resto Wow.

Ok, like most things Dolly it is an ongoing story.

Things have been pretty good in LD world. However, now is the time to address those niggles. They are:

The front and rear suspension.

Gearbox mount

Running on slightly still.

Have got a mix of shocks from a couple of great folk on the forum. The rears are Spax and I am just in the middle of refurbing them, have stripped all the old paint off and will be fitting new top and bottom bushes. I plan to use the uprated 1" lower Rimmer springs. Hopefuly this will reduce the squishy sofa feel to the ride somewhat. Il post some piccies later today.

Ken

[Purplebargeken]

Have bought a pair of the uprated and 1" lower springs for the front end at the moment, plus some polybush bits and pieces. Will try and book a day off this week to clean up Carls old front ARB and prep it for painting and fitting. Rear uprated springs will have to wait until the end of July.

[Toledo Man]

Yes, these things are ongoing. I re-read my "Project Brown" thread from the beginning and even though I've completed all but a few of the jobs on my original list it doesn't stop there.

[Purplebargeken]

Ok, the front ARB is all cleaned up, rustproofed and painted satin black (that's the only black paint I had in the garage). Replacement front shocks are also cleaned up and derusted. Will paint at the weekend after I remove the old springs. Need to clean up the brackets.

Cheers to Carl and Roy for the bits

MOT due at the end of the month, so I have booked a couple of days off to go over the car at Steam Engine Mates place.

[Howard81]

Sounds good Ken, LD will be looking (and handling) even better

Yes, these things are ongoing. I re-read my "Project Brown" thread from the beginning and even though I've completed all but a few of the jobs on my original list it doesn't stop there.

It's a Dolomite. They are never finished.

[Purplebargeken]

Front ARB all done now. Will chuck it on tomorrow.

Old springs now off the shocks. Will clean up the replacement shocks and put it all back together with the lower springs.

Overall, a good day.

[Purplebargeken]

An update. Took LD down to my mates place and changed the rear subframe bushes for the poly ones that I bought. Easy peasy. Also changed the gearbox mount in the hope that it would cure the slight judder I get when pulling away. It didn't, but what the heck. I think it might be a bit of oil contamination on the clutch plate from an old leak from the rear of the rocker cover.We went over the car and found nothing of note and it was taken down for an MOT. The MOT tester couldn't find the car on the system. By the time I got home and found the log book and current MOT, it was too late to do anything. We then found out they had missed off the DL at the end of the VIN no. Doh!!! Monday is now the day for the MOT. Fingers crossed.

I have two weeks off in August. Andrew has told me to bring LD down and we will chuck her up on the lift and I will finish off the renovation of the underneath of the car

Ken

[Purplebargeken]

Just put on new wiper blades as the old ones had split. Will leave some spare flexi hoses, rear brake cylinders, track rod ends and an upper ball joint in the car if need be. Everything else seems ok.

Fingers crossed [-o< [-o< [-o<

[Nathan Mwk 627G]

Stop worrying mate, if that car dont pass the MOT ill eat my Hat...and Bruces aswell!!

even though you wont need it.....good luck mate!!

Nathan

[Purplebargeken]

She passed!!!! Two advisories, one I agree with but the other

Body has slight corrosion (the underneath has light surface rust in places, this will simply be gone mid august )

Now the bit that I really don't get at all: Front suspension spring mounting prescribed area is corroded but not considered excessive. I don't quite get that. The bodywork around there was taken down to bare metal, rust proofed and has about 6 layers of red oxide, anti-stone chip and top coat. Ain't nothing getting through there rust-wise. Or does it mean the actual mounting arms that the bottom of the shock bolts to. I didn't take the car in so I couldn't say for sure. Am a bit confused but not overly bothered as all of those areas will be lovely and rust free in August.

Hey, what the heck. She passed No hat eating this year then Nath

[Howard81]

Nice one Ken!

[Purplebargeken]

Right then.

Things to do later this month whilst on holiday:

- Strip the underneath of the car to bare metal, rust proof and paint+++

- Strip the door bottoms to bare metal, do any remedial work and paint, same for the arches if needed.

- Fit the front shocks once the lower springs are fitted, fit the rear shocks.

- Fit the pig of a front ARB

- Fit the interior clock, speakers and the radio

- Sort out the bit of worn carpet by the drivers side sill

- Sort out the leaky water pipe

- Tidy the engine bay generally and fit the shiny new alloy rocker cover

- Hopefully try and get hold of some Rover seats as my back was killing me after the L2B

- Sort out the timing as she still runs on a bit

Not a huge or drastic list but enough to keep me busy and enough to make a difference to LD generally