VYK The Russet 78 Sprint

[Bish]

Yep, a couple of mm under the swage line..just as the panel flattens out. It's good that you will sort out the doors before the stripes..otherwise, if you adjust them after, the stripes will be misaligned..nightmare! Enjoy!

Thanks again. Just got to wait for it to stop raining and I will have a go. Could be a while..........

[oily66]

Pics as requested

[Bish]

Wow Trevor, that looks like a tidy car you have there! Very nice work

[JPSPRINT]

Pics as requested

Excellent work mate. Alloys look the part too !

[oily66]

There not bad for powder coated.

[Bish]

Well, the sun has been shining and it’s been a perfect few days to get VYK out on the drive and start to put the interior back in. Dash went in nicely, but my parcel shelf has seen better days to be honest. As they are rare to find in good condition I will have to make do, so in it went. It looks better fitted than I thought it would actually and I have seen a lot worse.



New rear seat belt kit and seat back in.



One job I hadn’t foreseen was the door glass weather strips. Mine were as rotten as a pear and when the window was wound up they lifted up with it. Wins international supplied some new strips and clips which are decent quality, but do need shortening to fit. I made a little tool to pull the clips up and over the strip / door lip. A blob of grease holds the clip in place while you drop the little tool down in between the glass and door lip. Then pull up when you have the clip in the correct position.



The strip of metal that I made the tool from had a convenient hole to put a screwdriver through, which gave a bit more grip when pulling it up. Those clips are tight! It takes a fair bit of pull to get them on.



Looks like the drivers door has had a new skin in the past judging by the parts sticker.



Plenty of Bilt Hamber dynax S50 sprayed into the bottom of the doors.



New weather strips



Just got the rear doors to do. Stay safe good people.

[dollyman]

Nice job Bish, that S50 drips for ages from holes where you didn't think there were holes Brilliant stuff for keeping rust at bay. Love that little tool for those clips

Tony.

[Bish]

Nice job Bish, that S50 drips for ages from holes where you didn't think there were holes Brilliant stuff for keeping rust at bay. Love that little tool for those clips

Tony.

Thanks Tony. I reckon the drive will be covered in spots of dynax. That’ll please the wife no end! I’ve got the windscreen fitter coming this week to fit new front and rear screen rubbers. Social distancing observed of course. Things are moving along nicely at the moment. This lockdown isnt so bad for me, I’ve had more free time without the commute into London. I’m so lucky to be able to work from home.

[Bish]

Well, the shabby old rubbers and cracked front screen have been replaced. Not very exiting photos for you to view but one day I will be able to look back on this thread and remember what I have done to VYK.

OLD





Ian from Smile Windscreens doing his thing. Good family run business, with bags of experience on classics, is Smile. If you are in Kent and in need of screen help I would thoroughly recommend them.



NEW





Well new rubbers and insert trim, and a second hand front screen that is. All from Wins. Ian commented on the rubbers being a decent quality and fit.

I’ve got the rear door weatherstrips to do this weekend, then I may even give VYK a wash! I haven’t washed the car yet in the two years I have had it, due to the front screen hanging out of it and the crap weatherstrips. I guess that the car will be as watertight (ish) now as it’s ever gonna be!? A quick wash over now and then a full deep clean, t cut, polish and wax when I’m near to being on the road I reckon.

Actually, I can’t be arsed to wash it just yet, I’d rather be getting the interior back in.

[Bish]

Rear window weatherstrips finished today. VYK is as watertight as hes ever gonna be so may see the sponge and shampoo this week!?



Recently, I took a punt on an period radio cassette for £20 because I love the look of it. Test wired it and the tuner works perfectly. But, the tape player won’t load so it needs looking at in the future. I’ll have to be content with the radio for now. I do know a local guy who can fix it for sensible money, so he will get the pleasure of opening it up and investigating when lock down is finally over.



I thought there was a nice pair of period Blaupunkt speakers in the front doors but when I took the door panels off there were no speakers at all !



So, I bought a pair of 4 inch pioneer three way speakers, and with a little modification managed to mate them to the old speaker grills. I think they look better than the round modern grill that came with the pioneers. I won’t be shattering the windows with power but they should sound ok.



A good days tinkering but I did manage to break a window winder handle, and discover there’s no bracket for the front door card ashtray, plus there’s a couple of door handle screws missing. Please see my wanted add and get in touch if you can help.

[Matt Cotton]

Looking good Bish and I really like your weatherstrip tool - great idea. My project has seals in pretty good order, but they are all over the place, so I may replace them sometime.
I had exactly the same with my doorcards too - pretty mullered with speaker holes and grill, but no speaker behind!

[dollyman]

Fingers crossed for being watertight Bish I had one of those Panasonic sets in the eighties, i think the cassette bit must be a weak spot as it ate my brand new Led Zep three cassette first time The radio was great though and a smart looking set.

Tony.

[Bish]

Thanks for the kind words chaps.

Ate your Led Zep tape? How rude! But, maybe the Panasonic eats guitars and has a no taste for my electronic beats and will let them play - we shall see. Maybe I should just put a cd/dab in that actually works, but where’s the fun in that!?

[JPSPRINT]

Hope you keep the period radio in there Bish, looks great..

If you need to stream into it there's always something like this::: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq8ce2V2AEo

Waiting for someone to invent a diy bluetooth module for my nerdy looking radiomobile

[Bish]

Deffinately keeping the old school radio cassette!
I had bought two housings for it - the original Triumph item, and a generic housing from amazon.
Turns out the radio wouldn’t fit the original Triumph housing without modification, and I couldn’t cut up an original part that I guess someone may need. So I cut up the generic housing using the trusty rotary tool:



I cut the housing to the same depth and angle as the original one and it fitted up nicely:



This means that I have an original radio housing surplus if anyone is looking for one. I paid £25 for it and would just like my money back, if you would like it drop me a pm

Also been cracking on with the carpet set from Coverdale. It fits ok, not a difficult job, but I wish the sections were moulded like the originals for a better fit. But then it would be ten times the price I suppose! It’s a bit floppy as it’s in several sections, but when the seats are back in it will look nice. I do like the colour (yes I do actually like brown!), it’s pretty close to the original Chestnut, although it looks lighter in the photos taken in the bright sunshine.
Another lovely sunny day to be tinkering - I thoroughly enjoyed my time.