The resurrection of KSF404T - 1978 Sprint

[Howard81]

The rear parcel shelf (do people really carry parcels on that shelf ?) is an easy sort. It is a piece of hardbaord covered in vinyl and clipped into place. A piece of black vinyl and you can soon have that soerted

I have fitted the rear parcel shelf, but there is a small strip of vinyl that covers the gap between the shelf and the rear window... you can hardly see it!

I have now sourced a few more carpet sections from hendrag, so I now have the correct Sprint tunnel carpet and a perfect driver's footwell piece! Will fit them all tomorrow

[Howard81]

I've finally finished the interior on KSF. It's looking great! It actually makes the car look and feel a lot more sporty, although now feels a bit smaller inside than it did with the tan one. I have to say, the black looks much better than I had expected...

Over the last couple of days I took the whole interior out again and fitted the Sprint tunnel carpet, taking the opportunity to fix the loose connectors on the overdrive. The parcel shelf was repaired and painted with special black paint as it had turned very grey over time. It now looks brand new! Before the seats went back in I fitted a decent pair of matching seatbelts and stalks.

To top it off, Modded_Toledo found an original aerial in his stash of bits, so I have fitted that

Very pleased indeed

[Reg]

Very, very nice Howard. Though I do like the Beige/Biscuit interiors, the Black interior also compliments the Pageant very well. Lovely, sorted car you have there..

[JPB]

Very tasty, one small point; the head restraint on the driver's seat is in backwards.

[Howard81]

Thanks for the comments!

Honestly I did prefer the tan, but it was just too shabby looking for the car. It looked fine before the respray, but with lovely new paint the interior looked rather tired in comparison I still have it safely stored away... It was amazing how grubby and worn everything looked when I took it out.

Well, it's far from being "sorted"... I have an oil leak somewhere in the engine, the gearbox is crunching in third and fourth, and the rear axle is whining over 50mph... Once those problems have been resolved it'll be finished... maybe...

Oh, I also have the wheels to be refurbished... hopefully next week...

[Howard81]

With regards to the oil leak, I am pretty sure it is the oil pump... I cleaned it all up and now it's all oily again!

Looks to be a right PITA to replace as it's right near the steering rack.

New/recon one or new seals in mine?

Also on my way back to London my lovely new indicator arm snapped off in my fingers

I wish I could go through a month without something breaking on the damn thing

[Mad Mart]

Re: the oil pump Howard, you'll need to undo the two engine mounting bolts on the offside & jack the engine up for the pump to clear the rack.

[Autonet7]

Howard, I think David (Sprint36) still has a rebuilt oil pump left. He had 2 and I had one of them.

viewtopic.php?f=12&t=14398

It might just be the pressure relief valve cap 'O' ring. I had the same on OGK.

[JPB]

Re the stalk switch; these seem to be of really poor quality compared to the factory originals.

The substrate is now some kind of soft plastic like polystyrene, where once there was a phenolic resin such as Bakelite, so on cars without relays they are tending to melt around the pins for dipped and high beam contacts. The arms themselves seem to be much less precisely assembled than on the original ones and I rejected two of the things on that basis alone before finally being sent one that wasn't so "floppy" in use.
That too ended up going back and I finally found a decent one from Paddocks' though even that is still built around a plastic that melts if its pins are expected to carry full current to the lamps and not everyone wants to do this:

but realistically, even on stock sealed beams, that's the only way to use a new stalk switch and not have it melt somewhere.
It wouldn't be such a bind if the multi plug wasn't such a complete t**t to extract from the column sleeve, or if the £40 cost of a new one was certain to get quality, as it is, I feel your pain on the stalk switch thing.

[Howard81]

Thanks for the heads up on the pumps, have sent a PM!

Re the stalk switch; these seem to be of really poor quality compared to the factory originals.

Actually, it was a factory original! It's dated 31/77. The mounting has cracked, so I'm going to first try some strong glue to see if that works..

[JPB]

Ah, yes, ISTR that you did mention a crack some time ago, but wouldn't be surprised to learn that it was actually somebody else.... I glued a bit back on to one of my older stalks, but it wasn't strong enough to bear the thread all on its own, so I drilled the remaining thread out of the unbroken end of the Bakelite and used a long machine screw with a tiny nut inside the unbroken part, that sorted it until the rest of that switch fell apart.

[tinweevil]

The mounting has cracked, so I'm going to first try some strong glue to see if that works..

Tip for repairing plastic parts.
Get some 0.5mm drills, they're dead cheap. After you've glued the crack keep it clamped together and drill 2 or 3 holes perpendicular-ish to the crack, you do not want the holes parallel. Then superglue a drill in each hole and snap them off flush.

Tin

[JPB]

That's a good tip.

You can also, if you're a little 'careful' with your money (or so tight that only dogs can hear you fart... ) use bits of 1.6mm welding rod to do the same job, I'm always loathe to break drills that might be salvageable with a little tip work.
For thinner material, especially Phenolics which don't respond to solvent cement, you can replace the round bits of steel with some flat strips cut from a lock strip out of an old wiper blade, that may be of more interest to people wanting to rebuild shattered Bakelite cabinets for ancient radio sets though.......

[Howard81]

After two fuel pumps destroying themselves within a week, the gearbox giving up leaving me with no drive, the exhaust blowing, and the rear axle starting to make a weird grinding sound, I am seriously fed up with this car.

Foolishly, I'm giving it one more chance.. but this really is the last time

Recon rear axle
Decent s/h gearbox
New clutch kit
New oil pump
New Sundym windscreen
Crank rear oil seal
Braided brake hoses front and rear
New rear brake shoes and cylinders
Stainless steel standard exhaust

Still need two "78" wheels if anyone has any

If it breaks again after that little lot, the matches are definitely coming out or I'm going to cash in on the Scrappage scheme

On a good note, with the Sprint stuck in Poole, my Beetle is now coming up to London for a bit, so hopefully a chance of sceneary will help calm my nerves!

[Lord Tolly]

If it breaks again after that little lot, the matches are definitely coming out or I'm going to cash in on the Scrappage scheme

!

sory dude scrappage scheme is now finished