NWL – Project Concours Carmine Sprint

[James467]

I haven't got up to much this week, cleaned the shell ready for next weekend and as I'm waiting for things to be returned from the blasters I cracked on with cleaning some other bits.

Last week we had a water meter installed so the week before knowing this was due to be done I decided to clean the gearbox.

We went from this, as it was removed from the car on my newly constructed cradle...











30 years of oil and dirt



A reference for rewiring the overdrive...









After a good wash she scrubbed up well!







A little bit of damage here and there





Input shaft oil seal's still leaking then...



That's now stitting in the workshop waiting to be refurbished.



I also tidied up the workshop.







Then with nothing else to do I stripped down and cleaned the clutch master cylinder. It was new, relative to the car but I thought it would probably need new seals given the state of the brakes. this is what I found....



Not too bad and amazingly after a clean this is what the cylinder came up like



The inside has a small amount of surface rust but the bore was perfectly fine.



So with a new seal kit and a clean up it all went back together



Ran out of Castrol red grease so I couldn't do the slave cylinder, I'll post a pic when they're all done.

[xvivalve]

That can't be surface rust, it must be a rust stain from one of the other components...one of the steel ones!

But yes please on the old tandem master.

[James467]

I cleaned the shell up, it was covered in dust after the garage work....







I found a pretty standard 1980s wheelarch repair...



Not normally a problem if done correctly but with the amount of filler thay they had used it was no wonder that the doors never lined up properly.





So it's definitely going to be dipped now!!

[shaunroche]

OCD aside, what did you clean the gearbox and master cylinder with? They're quite remarkable results!

[James467]

Gearbox was cleaned with Jizer, brilliant stuff, followed buy a plain and quite cheap basic Karcher pressure washer.

Master cylinder was just Jizer then Carplan Brake and Clutch cleaner.

[James467]

That can't be surface rust, it must be a rust stain from one of the other components...one of the steel ones!

But yes please on the old tandem master.

I'll bring it up to Stoneleigh with me.

[Dolly-Dimple]

Looking fantastic James, the after cleaning results of the gearbox are amazing!!

Kind Regards

Russell.

[James467]

Thanks Russell, when I have stripped it down I'll thoroughly clean the inside then have the case plus the selector rail and cover media blasted to remove any corrosion to restore that 'as new' appearance.

The overdrive will be dealt with separately, there's no corrosion or damage to the casing so it will just be cleaned when I strip and rebuild the unit.

I need to re-write my to do list, it's getting a bit big! The Excel project plan's a bit more organised.

[tinweevil]

Not normally a problem if done correctly but with the amount of filler they had used it was no wonder that the doors never lined up properly.

Ummm, hate to break it to you James but there's more to it than just a poor wheel arch repair in why the doors on a 1980 car don't fit. 10 years of press tool wear for a start. The A posts on our 74 TC and 80 HL are visibly different shapes, no measuring instruments required.

[Dolly-Dimple]

Sounds like a plan James sounds like a plan, loving your list also! How didi you clean the gearbox casing if you don't mind me asking? I still can't get over the results!! Looks sensational.

Aye thats a fair point about press wear, id heard that before that the Dolly presses were getting a bit tired towards production end unfortunately.

Kind Regards

Russell.

[James467]

Ummm, hate to break it to you James but there's more to it than just a poor wheel arch repair in why the doors on a 1980 car don't fit.

Panel gaps are fine, I'll show you next weekend, you may just look at it and think wow, this is the best 1980 car I've seen. That'll show ya!!!

The problem is the rear door bottoms, both have had a flat repair panel welded in and the rear bottom corners just stick out, no contouring at all, almost as good as the leaky inner wheelarch repair that probably caused some of the boot floor corrosion. You'll see next Sunday.

[MalcGE]

Been meaning to say, great progress and great photo's.

Love the attention to detail

[tinweevil]

Panel gaps are fine, I'll show you next weekend, you may just look at it and think wow, this is the best 1980 car I've seen. That'll show ya!!!

The tell tale place is not the gaps around the doors, it's inside. How snugly the window frame & door shell sit against the seal and any gap between the end of the dash pad and the door capping (early - credit card / late - a finger). Bit hard to tell on your car just now! I'll take some pictures next weekend if I remember.

It is what it is though, I'm not in the least trying to say that there is or will be anything wrong with your car. It's just with your attention to detail if you could end up chasing your own tail (and blowing an awful lot of dough) trying to get the door fit perfect.

[James467]

I'm not in the least trying to say that there is or will be anything wrong with your car. It's just with your attention to detail if you could end up chasing your own tail (and blowing an awful lot of dough) trying to get the door fit perfect.

Don't worry Julian, I was just being sarcastic, doesn't come out well on a forum though!! That's good advice though.

Thanks for the compliment Malc.

Russell, I used Jizer on the gearbox. Trick is to use a small pressure sprayer like this,

http://www.belmoretools.co.uk/acatalog/ ... Litre.html

Then let it sit for a while to do its work. I then just scrubbed it with a standard 'essential Waitrose' pan scrubbing brush spraying on more Jizer as needed. That was followed by a pressure wash with the Karcher. There was A LOT of caked on grease and muck on there.

[Mahesh]

I'm getting worried about jizer, it sounds like it's used in porn production

But, can't argue with the results, and if your using it James, must be good.