Sheila

[Spunkymonkey]

Well, all Dafs are out of my workspace for now and Sheila's MOT expires tomorrow. So I have decisions to make:

Do I just get her through the MOT again or take her off road and treat her to some of the TLC the Dafs seem to get?

Once done, do I keep her so we have a "spare" car or pass her on so someone else can feel some FWD Lurrrve?

Q1 is a choice between a quick patch-up of her drivers' sill and bang her in for test v. more careful welding and some body tidying including a blow-over with a few litres of celly to match everything, followed by rebuild my spare gearbox, pull engine to swap that, check bottom end while in there, timing chain, rockers, gaskets etc. Compression and oil consumption are both good so no need to go near the top end.

Q2 is a case of really want to keep her but justifying* 3 with 2 drivers is difficult and Sian can't drive the manual so, if one goes, it really has to be her. On the other hand, with free tax, dirt cheap insurance and minimal maintenance costs, they really are so cheap to have lying around that the three still cost us less than one modern.

What to do???



* as in, justifying to the neighbours as we gradually take up all the on-street parking in the area

[JPB]

Hmm, I don't see you as a

quick patch-up

kind of bloke, rather as one whose work on his cars is done not only to keep them on the road but also to preserve them for the longest time possible, so perhaps that first option's not really an option at all.
So, even if you do decide to part company with the car, it's got to be the proper repair and the paint job at least but then you'd miss her and would struggle to find another that you'd trust to the same extent as you've come to trust Sheila with her minor and eminently manageable issues.

If the problem is the neighbours; there's a house for sale in my street and this lot around here love helping out with Triumph-preserving activities, even if they don't quite "get" why it is that some of us don't feel the urge to p*ss all of our hard-earned up the wall on some dull, new car.

Keep her, she owes you nothing and you wouldn't have a healthy old horse put to sleep simply because it needed a good grooming session. By keeping the car and doing your best by her, she won't be heading for the knacker's yard any time soon.

So, who's going to be the first to say that I'm wrong and that you should get rid?

[Purplebargeken]

Stuff the neighbours. Keep all the cars and move to Essex. You know it makes sense.

Keep the cars, do Sheila up and enjoy her, stop whining about selling any of the old cars

See, that was easy wasn't it.

[Pauldaf44]

Joe you have a workshop. Problem solved.

Use workshop to fix Shiela up as nicely as you did Matilda then keep her there inside. Keep her roadworthy and enjoy her as and when you want. Then when one of the others need work she can be pulled into service whilst there working.

When running these old cars daily you need a spare as they do like to break. As Sian can only drive the DAFs Matilda has to be her spare if Betty breaks which without Shiela would leave you carless. I know you love her and you've already done her proud so enjoy her. Besides if you sell her you'd only regret it look for another and end up with me selling you Bruce and you really dont want the Poltergeist car taking up your workshop space all the time

There sorted restore Sheila and keep her for ever and ever

[Pauldaf44]

p.s.

Ken and I would get very lonely in the Triumph (Not a DAF) FWD and DAF owners club and who else could I tell NOT A DAF jokes with if you sold your Triumph (Not a DAF).

[Spunkymonkey]

With such well reasoned and coherent arguments I guess I haven't really got a choice

So, Sheila fans everywhere, watch this space! It won't be a full resto because there's too much of the car's personality tied up in her dents, scrapes and patches. If I get rid of too many of them then Adam might not want her back if I do decide to sell

[1300dolly]

Patch it get a ticket on it, drive it south. I'll give you £50 and a train ticket back to Wales.

[Spunkymonkey]

So do the (minimum) work, pay for an MOT, then sell her to you for the cost of the test and a train ticket home. That sounds like a deal too good to refuse!

But I think I'm going to anyway

[Spunkymonkey]

Spent the last few trips to the workshop getting the 2 poster working and, having satisfied myself that it was safe (well, as safe as the hateful, inherently unstable design will allow), cranked Sheila up in the air today for a quick look round to see what she needs apart from the gearbox, engine and paintwork. It was so nice to be doing this standing upright!

Started with the small hole in the o/s sill:


And checked to see how big it really was. Oops!


On the plus side, it's a completely flat area along there, and the inner membrane panel is sound:


so not too difficult to patch up neatly

Then it was a quick check round the wheel bearings - without having to stop and jack up each corner in turn. Luxury! The results were, both n/s are fine (but there's some play in the n/s inner track-rod joint), o/s/r needs adjusting and o/s/f needs checking for either adjustment (re-shimming) or replacement.

Brake pipes were next on the list. I was aware of this rusty bit on the main front / rear pipe:


But not this bit:


That second bit is actually worse than the rear, so one brake pipe to replace.

Then it was round the various known trouble spots round subframe mounts. Rear n/s, center and o/s are all sound but could all do with a bit of fresh protection to keep them that way:






Fronts are also ok, with plenty of oil protecting the n/s chassis leg and some surface grot on the o/s:




The front subframe front mounts are basically sound:




but there is some rot on the o/s inner wing / chassis extension in that area:




There are also two dead balljoint gaiters (not a fail yet but need sorting given the price of balljoints), a hole in the downpipe, and a stale donut:








So, all in all, nowhere near as bad as she could be and all stuff that can be sorted for a few hours work and minimal expense

[Pauldaf44]

Hmm that sill hole looks all too familier. I know im preaching to the wise here but are 100% the membrane panel is good? I can see in the photo you posted what looks like minimal grot as it meets the missing bit. Whatever jam the whole lot full of rust converter otherwise it wont stay good there is gonna be too much rust dust in there

[Spunkymonkey]

Finally found a couple of hours to play with Sheila this evening. I'd originally planned to have her back on road before now but one thing & another has been getting in the way so decided to get the guts out of her spare gearbox while I had a chance to try and get some motivation going:





Nothing really scary found, so hopefully I'll be reassembling by the weekend with nice new bearings and synchro rings ready for when her body stuff's done

[Spunkymonkey]

All parts washed and inspected - check!
New synchro ready to fit - check!
New driveshaft seals fitted - check!
New needle bearings ready - check!
Selection of shims ready for adjustment - check!
Diff stripped, cleaned and backlash in limits - check!
New mainshaft and input gear bearings ready - Oh bugger, I knew there was something I needed to order!!!

So, gearbox build is now stalled while Bearing King do their stuff.....

[Spunkymonkey]

Not being able to start the rebuild until the mainshaft bearing arrives, it was time today for a lot of paraffin and a little paint:



Needs a second coat but I'm thinking purple for the engine block would look good with this.....

[Purplebargeken]

No, not a good colour combination. Everytime you look into the engine bay you will vomit. Good work otherwise

[Spunkymonkey]

But it would be bright, Ken! Besides, I've always wanted a purple car with orange trim and this would be close without making passers by feel ill