Sprint Restoration in South Australia (pic heavy)

[Toledo Man]

Stu, early 1850s had Strombergs. They changed to SUs around '73. I don't know if Aussie cars ever had Strombergs. I'm not knowledgable about the big saloons (2000 range) so I don't know if your 2500 carbs would fit.

[Jon Tilson]

Okay this is a Sprint we are talking isnt it? It has a peculair kind of HS6 as standard with slightly squat dashpots.

TR7's also use HS6 as do the later 2500S but they are different...slightly taller dashpots...

On an 1850 out of the box it would have HS4's in 2 variations....non waxtstat with side acting pull-off springs to about 76 and waxstat with coil pull offs on the spindel. Putting a TR7 manifold on with HS6's is reckoned to be an improvement.
You have to have the manifold cos the HS6 has a different 3 bolt flange pattern...its not just the size.
My TR7 engined 1850 has the full TR7 HS6 setup and is extremely frugal on fuel. Its hard to remember a time I got less than 350 on a tankful...
I imagine Toledo man is talking of short trips in a probably badly tuned automatic, which shouldnt have Hs6's and is probably not jetted right.

So stick with HS6's mate...jet them right and you will be fine.
Jonners

[straylight]

thanks guys. Now saturday arvo and some time to have a decent look.

The sprint has HS6's, no doubt about that. I refurbished them recently.

The donor 1850 (red) has SU's and they look like HS4's, which makes sense. The Haynes manual reference to strombergs threw me.

The 2500TC has HS6's, they are still sitting in the back of the ute !

today's work will be to finish stripping down the subframe and painting it. Almost finished bud bashing the vines, so I'm allowed some car time

stu

[Toledo Man]

Jonners, it's probably the leaky torque converter that's contributing to my crap fuel consumption. I'll find out when I fit the HS4s I've got from Alun.

Sorry to hijack your thread Stu!

[straylight]

not a hijack at all, just interesting information

[newguy]

Stu have you ever thought about tinting your sprints windows?
I am as i would like to protect the material in the car as good as possibly?
I know the Sun is real bad down in this halve.

Your Thoughts???

[straylight]

window tinting

yeah, I have and I think it would be smart, but anal laws in SA about how much tint, which windows can be tinted and whether I'll really need it done will probably see the windows left as they are. The car will be in the shed, so kept out of the worst of the sun.

[straylight]

been plugging along slowly, so thought I'd put up some pics of the progress.

the subframe was taken back to metal and then hit with a Black Zinc spray. Expensive spray at $25 a can, but recommended for marine applications. I'll hit the insides with a fish oil spray.







George welded up some rust on the tunnel and that was also hit with zinc spray.







the calipers and front suspension components were all refurbished, taken to metal and resrayed with the zinc. waiting on ball joints and poly bushes before I can reassemble it all. George is going to spray the car on a trolley, so I don't need the subframe and parts back in until then.



Did the shocks yesterday, took them out, set them at two half turns out of the 5 half turns possible adjustment. Koni adjustable D. Bit of a respray in red to tidy them up. Springs were brushed back to metal, hit with a rust-eater overnight and have been zinc primed a few minutes ago. I'll go for a blue finish on the springs, mid blue, nothing too shocking. Anyone have any recommendations for setting the Konis up ? my only experience was setting the rears in around '83 and thinking "tighter is better", found the back of the car skittering all over double bay road.


and yesterday, a pleasurable job stripping back the resin varnish on all the wood trim, ready for staining with teak tomorrow. I love the woodwork side ! been saving the job for a rainy day, and 2" of rain in 24 hours was a good excuse !




a few dings where my small model scraping tool dug in which 'm fixing by gluing the veneer back on. I decided to gio with the donor dash, even after relaminating my original dash. the donor was in better nick and hadn't delaminated at all.

finally, a look at the workbench, needas a tidy !


good news on the parts front, scored a thermostat housing and two viscous control units. Bargain at $25 each ($38 for the thermostat housing, and I had just finished ordering one from vanguard spares ). Didn't get the fast road cam though, scared off by talk of it being a regrind. Bad news on waiting for the roof vinyl/headlining and a few other bits so I can move ahead. Still going to try making the headlining up at home.

Coming up to summer here and despite a bit of a cold snap and the highest rainfall ever seen in december, it is going to warm up a bit. School has finished for the year, George has been putting along on the shell and even got the bonnet sitting better (I then made up some new bonnet hinge pins by turning down some 5mm stainless bolts). Next week I'm juggling some jobs around the house and tealing some time to visit george and start rubbing down the engine bay and under the wings while he gets the glory and does the externals

pleased with the progress though.

stu

[triple tango]

its certainly going to be a nice car, any idea when it will be completed?

[straylight]

George was looking at doing the spray before christmas, but his timeframe is somewhat flexible. I'm hoping to have it back in my shed in a month so I can start work on reassembling it. Bit of a giddy-up on the accessory side !

the 'leccy window winders and remote central locking are still in the box Roy, they are still a goer

stu

[straylight]

60 quid is pretty good value

I'll hold out for Wilshire's (Adelaide) effort for the time being. Thanks for the offer though Mike.

stu

[straylight]

progress to report.

main effort has been around the home, wife bought an above ground pool last january 2008, and it has taken 3 weeks of solid work (after many months of procrastination) to get the thing in so we can swim in it. But, this last week I've been able to sneak down to george's shed of sin for some triumph time.

George got me rubbing back everything in sight, except anything that would be on the outside of the car in a critical location Spent yesterday rubbing back the engine bay and front of the car back to the A pillars, wet and dry, 320. Rub, rub, rub. Did the underside of the bonnet and grill, lots of mess but quite relaxing work, even in the heat. George did the front guards.




george then hit it with undercoat

It was good to see how the guide coat (blue in our case) worked. Pretty straightforward really.

today we wheeled her out, gave her a good blow down and wet and dried the rest of the vehicle. Whole day rubbing back. Roof first, then pillars, sills, boot, back end. George fiddled around sorting out all the door hinges while I slaved away with the wet and dry



while we were putting the trolley jack in place, we noticed the rear subframe mounting tubes were different.


this is the offiside, complete with extension tube.


this is the nearside, without.

Now I'm guessing the nearside one has snapped off. No sign of it anywhere, not on the mounting bolts, not on the subframe bushes. Can someone confirm what is supposed to happen here ? I have new polybushes (SPRINTPARTS), new bolts and nylocs, new washers, new steel tubes for the front subframe mounts, I can fabricate and weld on a new tube if needed. I did cut off a rear subframe bolt when I took the car apart, but didn't cut through a tube.

I also found some splits in the floorpan, around where the front seat mountings are (rear), so we have to weld those up. Sad moment explaining to George how the split in the passenger side mount occured.


driver's side


passenger side

parts have been rolling in slowly. New bottom ball joint, poly bush set, upper ball joints on order, complete interior carpet set arrived (Rimmers), plastic mounting lugs for the side trim.

The plan from here is we spend tomorrow welding, complete the rubbing back (we need to go back over some spots), clean out the interior, remove the rear axle and put the car on stands while we wire brush the underside. Order the paint (yippee), hit the underside and under mud guards with stoneguard and spray the back of the car with undercoat.

Plan early next week is to rub back the undercoat, hit the hinge areas with top coat and spray topcoat on the interior surfaces (selectively on the floorpan), then mount the doors and boot and spray the outside.

Then I get to take her home, without the roof and vinyl being done to fit out the engine, door cards and furniture etc up to the stage where george can drop over finish the vinyl (I'll fit the headlining) and install the windscreen and rear screen. Headlining is in the pipeline at Mt gambier, MikeyB has kindly sorted Martrim to do the vinyl roof and C pillars for me and when ready will post it (I'm praying it will be under 2 kg).

so, with the subframe tubes to ponder over, only a few sleeps to seeing colour on the car. then I go back to work.

stu

[straylight]

nah, I posted before I had put the pics up online

cut the roof lining in....two !!!!! Baaaahaaaaa

(uhm, please don't ! )

Nothing from vanguard on the gearstick front sorry Mike, I'll wait until Friday then call them. Their main man was still on holiday until Monday so I'd guess they are sorting through a swag of back orders. No rush at all on the vinyl, the way ahead means It'll be one of the last things I do.

Any ideas on the subframe mounts ?

stu

[newguy]

Stu great update, hopefully you will keep it right up to date as it gets painted etc?

I have no idea what the subframe mounts are like i think they have a tube but half the lenght of the long one you had there.

Though i maybe very wrong.

[straylight]

cheers, thanks Mike, I didn't look at the front mounts, just saw the rear ones were different

Stew, yup, you'll get umpteen pics of the paint going on

stu