Sprint Restoration in South Australia (pic heavy)

[straylight]

some progress to report.

George finally ran out of other jobs and found some time to work on the sprint. He has finished the right hand side of the car and made up new sills, has done the roof, done the A pillar and repaired the nasty rust in the guard where it meets the A pillar. He suggested that a better drivers side rear door would be prefered over the rusted one I had so I removed the donor o/s/r door and stripped it back to find out it was in great nick. Problem removing the quarterlight but a soaking of the rubber in wd40 and mad mart's clamp method eventually worked. Door is amazingly good. Looks like the donor will get the rusted old door back.

I bit the bullet and have ordered a new o/s/f guard, mainly to overcome the dents that were in the front of the guard. George is going to cut the guard vertically in half, over the wheel arch and replace it from that point forward, leaving me with half a guard (the rear half).

Then he will hopefully keep the momentum up and start on the nearside. He wants to wait until late october before he sprays so the weather will be warmer. My job is to now properly strip the red donor doors and remove the paint from the channels.

back home I potted around with the distributor. Fitted it up and timed the engine at 10 btdc. Still static but it was something at least. The anti-spark cover was cracked and a new one is needed. Ordered it today.

Question time. I was going to wait until the engine was back in the car before fitting the inlet manifold and carbs back on, thinking the engine would be easier to handle and more exposed for refitting. If I find the time I might as well go ahead with rebuilding the carbs. Any real downside to doing that before installing the engine ?

It was great to see the progress George had made. Looking ahead to vinyl and dash. I'll grab some photos when I drop the doors in to him.

stu

[sprint95m]

Good to learn George is making some progress (at long last!).

In my opinion, it is better to leave fitting the inlet manifold and carbs until after the engine is installed.
If it was me, I would rebuild the carbs while you are waiting on the body repairs, as there is no advantage in leaving this task until the engine is installed.

[Stevecox]

Good news on the progress stu
Yeah dont leave the carbies to the last minute like i did
If you dont know , the guys at SU Midel http://www.sumidel.com/contact.htm
are very helpfull

Steve

[2eyes]

Glad to here it's on the move again.

[straylight]

thanks guys.

thanks for the link steve, I wasn't aware of Midel (yeah, I live under a rock here ) but armed with that info and the prospect of a wet weekend ahead, the carbs might get a go. I've been saving SU tuning tips and paying attention to what David (in Adelaide) has been saying, so I'll check 'em out.

consensus is to leave the carbs off until engine is back in, so that is what I'll do. Thanks.

stu

[triple tango]

also when attaching chains to lift engine, the front lifting point is fine but I dont like using the rear lifting eye as it attaches to the head therfore possibly putting strain on headbolts/gasket. I prefer to remove the rear eye & fit it to a bellhousing bolt which you cant do if the inlet manifold is fitted as it would get in the way of the lifting chain.

[newguy]

GOOD to hear we have some progress finally, you have got some catching up to do.

Really i don't like feeling like my car is finished i looked forward to working on it.

[straylight]

some pics


george has started on the near side, having sorted the back and driver's side up to the A pillar



got there on friday to see he had used some kind of sealer on the joins.


A pillar, offside. This required cutting open the guard, fabricating several parts to repair the damaged pillar and bit that goes across the front, re-attaching the guard. I missed the actual repair which was a pity



nearside back door. The sill section and part of the vertical was replaced and repaired


nearside C pillar. he had to cut out and weld in a replacement section just above the badge holes.


George, the hall of shame


the new guard. Ordered monday, arrived via courier on wednesday 600km trip from melbourne. Many thanks and kudos to Vanguard spares. Expensive but a new guard is infinitely better than the old one.


back end. This was shunted in about 1983 and the repairer didn't do a great job. George has beaten out all of the dents and fixed up some rust. The repairer actually used a nearside lens set on the offside lights, which bugged me ever since I spotted it some years later.


at last, the only vehicle george has to work on....


working forward now, he has the roof to fix at the top of the C pillar, some isolated rust spots in the sills, the A pillar/guard area, the front of the guards and the front of the vehicle. Then inside to repair some rust around the brake pedal bulkhead hole.

I stripped the front carb on thursday night. Lots of questions coming up about that little saga, but today tax return has got in the way this weekend. What I should really be doing now actually

thanks for the comments and support.

stu

[Mad Mart]

That's coming on a treat Stu, looks like George has made lots of progress. Have you got an ETA yet?

[Neil907]

Looks like its coming on really well lets hope he keeps it up.

[straylight]

George actually asked me how I was going with the two doors I took away on monday to strip back some paint on. 4 days and he's giving me the hurry up.

Looking towards paint in mid to late october. Hopefully. From there I'd guess back on the road late January 2009.

that'll be a year of restoration. Tell me again how long BFR took mart ?

stu

[Mad Mart]

About nine months, that includes the 3 months it was with the sprayer.

[newguy]

Thats great progress Stu

Nice to see some progress when a old car is in the body shop.
I love to see when all my rust holes were patched over etc.

Keep the updates coming

[straylight]

SU carbs....questions....

The needles I currently have fitted are BDQ, which are for the tamperproof carb according to my workshop manual. The correct needles are BCM for AUD545 specification.

My carbs both have a small aluminium tag that reads AUD 663 attached to them.

I have a pair of BCMs I got on ebay some months ago, but before I put them in, should I be worried about the tags ? They suggest that I don't have the AUD545 spec carbs.

The carbs are definitely not tamperproof. The jet adjusting nut is not sealed.

The needles (BDQ) also sit at an angle. The guide has a protusion that the workshop manual says is supposed to sit flat against the needle shoulder, but there is no rebate on the shoulder for them to sit squarely. When fitted to the piston, they have a 5 degree lean. The BCMs will also sit at an angle.

Finally, the float needles and valves all appear to be working properly so I'm leaving them in.

Apart from a diabolical struggle to put the return spring back on the spindle, it all went swimmingly. Got the doors stripped as well, stripped the airbox and treated a small amount of surface rust.

stu

[sprint95m]

SU carbs....questions....

The needles I currently have fitted are BDQ, which are for the tamperproof carb according to my workshop manual. The correct needles are BCM for AUD545 specification.

My carbs both have a small aluminium tag that reads AUD 663 attached to them.

I have a pair of BCMs I got on ebay some months ago, but before I put them in, should I be worried about the tags ? They suggest that I don't have the AUD545 spec carbs.
stu

AUD663 should have BDQ needles.
FZX1257 (waxstat type) also use BDQ.

BCM needles are for AUD680 and AUD661.

AUD545 was only used on the earliest Sprints (73&74) with BBT needles.


The parts are interchangeable between SUs, so the new needles you have will work, but if it was me I would probably buy the original BDQs.






It is always easy to be clever with hindsight, Stu..........
As you have encountered a frustrating delay to your restoration, it struck me if you have fitted the subframe and back axle from your 1850 to the Sprint, to keep it as a rolling shell, you could have overhauled the Sprint ones during this time.

A weak point with all Dolomites is the throttle pedal attachment to the shell. I suggest you get George to fit some reinforcement here if it has not already been done. (On my car I welded an extension to the pedal mounting bracket to allow an extra fixing bolt.)
George's work looks good!