Syncronicity

Ok, syncronicity is a load of twaddle, but sometimes things just work out very tidily. I have just put an order in with Frost Restorations for some metallised filler and for a tank lining kit. Total bill £84. I had decided I was going to pay for that lot anyway, but only yesterday I was bemoaning the necessity of that outlay.

Today a nice chap called Roger, who had won one of my auctions and bought a trolley jack for a painfully low amount, came to collect it. The fact that he is a fellow enthusiast and is adding it to an extensive collection, and that he bought another jack yesterday for less than he is paying me for mine, made me feel a lot happier about it. It is good to know it will be appreciated where it is going.

But here's the syncronicity bit. I took him down to my workshop to see if there was any other automobilia, of which there is loads taking up shelf space, which he might fancy. And he left with a box full of old lights etc, which he gave me £90 for. He will doubtless make a few quid on them at Beaulieu (I asked him not to tell me how much!) and I gained some valuable space...

....and readies enough to cover today's purchases. Thanks Roger.

Now, what can I sell to cover the cost of the tyres?

tyres and tank - ouch

It is just as well I haven't kept accounts! No way would I have set out on this project if I had realised the real costs involved!

On Roly's advice I have been talking to Longstone Tyres (who supply classic tyres) - to Dougal, to be precise. Dougal really knows his stuff and appreciated right away my issue about wheel size and J type scale, when he looked at Morris JBs and Austin 101s on Google images. He says that there was a tendency towards the end of the 1950s to fit 15" wheels rather than 16"s, which is why some late model vans and cars have wheels which look odd in their over-sized wheel arches.

He understood when I said I wanted as high a walled tyre as possible.He said that my best bet is Avon Super Safety 640-15 cross-plys, which come in at £129 + VAT each. With tubes etc I am looking at a bill of £870!

WOW!

Also, it took my mechanic contact well over a year to get round to doing the metalwork on my fuel tank, and when it came back he said it still needs to be lined. I feel a bit mis-led on that because I thought that would be included, but quite honestly, I just got sick of waiting for it, so I cut my losses and got it back.

He had farmed it out to someone else who owed him and it has had a substantial lump of lead used to patch it up - I hope to goodness it doesn't fall out, first bump. So, I need to order a tank lining kit from Frost, who are still waiting for the Metal Ready to come in, as they are short of stock. That's another £60 to find, but it will be satisfying if I can have tyres on wheels and tank lined before the end of the school holiday.

I figure it shouldn't be long, then, before I have the wheels on the chassis and should be in a position to lift the restored engine in and start the Meccano exercise....bolting panels on etc.

an online owners' club has evolved naturally

Just recently I have been contacted by several fellow restorers, including Tim, here, and from his very interesting new blog you can see that there is an impressive number of resto blogs under way now. There was a time when it was just Truman and me.

Now that I am sort of back in action, I really must find time to read about everyone's progress and get out and meet folk, including Andy, who lives very near to me.

The great thing about blogging is that it creates a community of knowledge. Despite the best efforts of the owners' club's chairman, Harvey Pitcher, it was always a struggle to get people to write articles for the club magazine, so that increasingly it felt a bit of a one-man effort and my membership lapsed. But I suppose the immediacy of a blog and the feeling of pride you can have in your own creative space has meant that a new kind of club has evolved. I like the way we all help each other out with info and parts.

Good luck with your projects, everyone!

You meet them all in restoring...

Colin Smith - a Good Man

My B Series engine is coming home next week, fully restored by my local Austin Morris guru - good man! Rang him this morning, and despite having stored the engine for nearly three years, since finishing work on it, he was adamant that he wouldn't accept a penny more.

You meet some great people in restoring; but you meet the rogues too. A few years ago an old chap asked if I would let him have a rare roofrack for his prized restoration and Truman and I generously donated it to this "fellow restorer", only for the rarity to end up on ebay with a starting price of £50 . Remember? When challenged he denied vehemently that this was the same one but eventually said he'd rather cut it up than give it back. Sour grapes at being caught out.

Well, as it turned out, that roofrack ended up being thrown in to a deal when this rogue later sold his van to Truman, who is letting me have it back.

The roofrack which Trumans and I took off a van which I had found on the basis of a pub tip-off.
Read about "The Goat-Lady's van" here (sorry about the formating, which won't behave)

A great image of a J Type chassis

Tinworm is tinworking again - after TWO YEARS!!!

I got back to work on the van today - for the first time in TWO YEARS!!!

Progress was made in August last year - but by someone else.) The last time I did anything on it myself was way back in July 2008.

I fabricated the tops of the windscreen, as planned and welded them in on both sides. At present it may look a bit rough, but I will do the fine finish at the painting stage. I will use por-patch to fill holes and to seal the the joins between old and new metal. For now, the entire windscreen surround is solid!

The scuttle now rings instead of rattles

Top of windscreen surgery

I have been out in the garage today considering how I will repair the top of the windscreen, where it really needs comprehensive surgery, but where the metal is frighteningly thin. I had thought of reinforcing the area with fillets of plywood inside the frame and fibreglass....but fibreglass and metal is considered a bad compromise as they don't stick very well and are thought to eventually separate.
So Now I am thinking of putting in a steel support and heat-sink.

I think this may be the solution. Rather than remove lots of metal, insert a 2-piece fabricated part from inside the roof. Then drill two lines of holes -along the eyebrow and along the inside edge (see dwg) and spot weld it with mig (not my spot welder, which only works well with virgin steel).

Great to be back at it at last.