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Post by dmaxwell on Aug 4, 2020 18:22:28 GMT
The car came with a manual transmission from the factory (my grandfather didn't believe in "frills" like automatics!) and I do perfer a manual trans, much more fun to drive and I have more control over what the car does. I've alread had the driveshaft modified to fit an american transmission and have fabricated some motor mount adaptors for the engine (using the Chevy motor mounts). At one time in the distant past, I had hoped to fix a Jag 6 cylinder engine in the car but it was too tall and long for the engine compartment. I will need to have the front seats recovered in cloth. Leather does not last too long the hot summers we get in California.
David California
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Post by dmaxwell on Aug 10, 2020 19:02:34 GMT
Well, this last weekend was pretty productive. Pulled all the brake cylinders, calipers, master cylinder, master clutch cylinder, drained the gas tank of about 6 gallons of 22 year old gasoline (very strange smell, does gas rot?) and worked on the linkage for the clutch. Removed the spare tire (well, what was left of it after sitting for 25 years) and got the reverse light switch replaced in the transmission. A lot done but still have lots to do, mostly to take stuff to places to get them rebuilt!
David California
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Post by stirlingmg on Aug 10, 2020 19:23:58 GMT
The petrol would smell like yacht varnish but not quite as pleasant I’m guessing. I know that smell only too well with all the old scrap I’ve meddled with over the years
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Post by Brendan69 on Aug 11, 2020 16:36:01 GMT
Fitted my newly refurbished original radio and 8 track player back in my P5B. Decided i did not want the modern cd player in there anymore so took the plunge. Not cheap but well worth it with the end result.
Back to the period 60/70s sounds where she belongs.
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Post by p5andrew on Aug 11, 2020 19:51:28 GMT
The fragrance associated with stale petrol is certainly memorable. In my experience, stale 2-stroke is in a different league entirely!
Incidentally, never fall into the trap of thinking that stale petrol - normal or 2-stroke - does not remain highly volatile and potentially dangerous. This was confirmed by an experience I had as a young teenager.
As a 13-year old lad (I am 60 now, though I am not quite sure how I have made it thus far!) I and two friends decided that it would be an excellent wheeze to blow up a large old water tank which had a massive hole rusted in its side so was definitely hors de combat and no use to anyone. The tank was in a long-disused chalk quarry and had been used to water the locomotives which had once worked the narrow gauge rail complex. As a source of fuel we drained off a Corona bottle full of fuel from a long-disused Lambretta in our garden shed and liberated a toilet roll to act as a fuse. After emptying almost the whole of the bottle of fuel into a corner of the tank we rolled out the toilet roll to its full extent and dribbled the remainder of the fuel along its length. All this, by the way on a steaming hot summer afternoon. After drawing straws to see who would light the fuse the privilege fell to me. I struck the match and there was immediately an enormous bang and a sheet of flame exited the hole in the tank - I never got the chance to touch the fuse. A hot day and stale petrol vapour were a nearly fatal combination! Whilst I was lacking eyebrows and much of the hair on the front of my head as a result of our endeavors, I was otherwise entirely unharmed. Would not want to try it again though! When all eventually came to light after returning home, as it inevitably did, parental wrath was swift - and painful...
I wonder if others have similar tales?
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Post by stirlingmg on Aug 12, 2020 17:11:48 GMT
I have many tales of my own stupidity😬
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Post by Steed on Aug 12, 2020 20:33:42 GMT
Good to hear from a P5 owner from across the pond!
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Post by johnwp5bcoupe on Aug 14, 2020 7:58:26 GMT
It was my 21st birthday yesterday so took The Old Girl for her MOT I try each year to keep to the 13th, she passed with flying colours the emissions were spot on and the handbrake was nearly the same level as the hydraulic reading so all good
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Post by stirlingmg on Aug 14, 2020 8:26:39 GMT
Nice one, I wouldn’t have expected anything less of course
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Post by dmaxwell on Aug 17, 2020 19:23:40 GMT
On Friday, I took the engine to a machine shop to be rebuilt. Also stopped by an upholstry shop to talk about recovering the front seats. They won't be able to start until the middle of Sept but will need to go by two weeks before with a sample from the seats so they can order the right color material. Pulled the turn indicator switch (which has been having problems since at least 1989) and found the plastic spring was broken. It looks like Jaguar used the same switch so I've order the plastic spring from a Jaguar supplier and hope it will fit. I need to pack up and ship out the brake parts to be rebuilt in the next week or two. Slow progress but progress nonetheless!
David California
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Post by stirlingmg on Aug 17, 2020 19:51:11 GMT
I’ve achieved very little in the way of actual repairs this last couple of weeks but yesterday I travelled to downsouthsteshire to collect some shiny bits & some not so shiny bits. Some of which will be fitted this week, some I will talk about fitting & the rest will be squirrelled away until such times as I tackle the bodywork. I collected a pair of rear wings, a pair of really nice bumpers, a set of new leather seat facings & a handful of other non essential essentials. I was lucky enough to spend a few hours at the home an exiled terrier & his good lady wife, where I was forced to eat cake and biscuits, resistance proved to be futile of course😆
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Post by Warwick on Aug 21, 2020 9:02:27 GMT
I suppose it's well overdue for me to give an important update on the progress of my car. I can confidently report that what I've done to my car in the past 12 months is much the same as my progress for the previous 5 or 6 years. That is, virtually nothing!
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Post by johnwp5bcoupe on Aug 21, 2020 11:23:03 GMT
I suppose it's well overdue for me to give an important update on the progress of my car. I can confidently report that what I've done to my car in the past 12 months is much the same as my progress for the previous 5 or 6 years. That is, B****r all. BTW B****r all = B ugger all. You've gotta love American automated censorship. You can more or less say what you like on Facebook and Twitter. These censored words are set by those bl**dy admins Warwick
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Post by Warwick on Aug 21, 2020 12:09:37 GMT
Thanks John. I assumed it was a Proboards thing. Doesn't that expression have the same meaning in the UK as it does here? In standard Strine, it just means "very little". I'll delete it.
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Post by Ken Nelson on Aug 21, 2020 16:04:01 GMT
Yes, in the USA we don't censor anything. Just listen to Trump talk about all the sh*t-hole countries, and you'll realize that bug*ger-all is nothing to us!
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Post by Brendan69 on Aug 22, 2020 14:43:12 GMT
Full mech service carried out on front brakes and put back togeather with road test. All spot on as still as new with hardly any wear on the discs and pads and calipers at all.
Previous owner had them all replaced front to rear not long before i bought the car from him so just a good check and clean prior to her M.O.T next month even though she is exempt but i will still have a second set of eyes look over her for me and keep the continuous M.O.T history since her first in 1976 fully intact.
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Post by GlennR on Aug 22, 2020 15:13:54 GMT
I picked up my wiper motor from John Boy today. I will put my hand up and say I had burnt it out originally due to not wiring properly.Be careful folks. I can't thank him enough for all the years he has helped me out. A true gentleman.
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Post by Steed on Aug 22, 2020 16:05:45 GMT
I've been taking advantage of the good weather( for a change) and applying sealant over and around the dry and cracked rear screen seal. Hope it's successful, after doing the boot seal too!
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Post by johnwp5bcoupe on Aug 22, 2020 16:49:50 GMT
I picked up my wiper motor from John Boy today. I will put my hand up and say I had burnt it out originally due to not wiring properly.Be careful folks. I can't thank him enough for all the years he has helped me out. A true gentleman. That's what friends are for GB
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Post by stirlingmg on Aug 22, 2020 17:12:58 GMT
I concur, he is a proper canny bloke
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Post by stirlingmg on Aug 22, 2020 17:25:31 GMT
Today I have done a few little jobs on the car which were unlikely to get done if it was still usable 😆 I’ve fitted my stainless heater pipes as my aluminium ones had started leaking since I had the engine out. I’ve renewed one of the two long studs that stabilise the slam panel as that snapped when I put the front end back together. I have also been fitting some of my bits I got last weekend. I’ve replaced the crash rail along the front parcel shelf with a smart reupholstered one Oh and as can be seen in that picture I replaced the gear selector plate as my old one was broken & had holes drilled in it for an alarm led & a self tapper to keep it in place. Again I got a nice replacement last weekend
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Post by dmaxwell on Aug 24, 2020 18:30:03 GMT
Well, didn't get too much done this weekend. The for the turn incicator lever came in on Friday so I spent part of Sat taking apart the switch, installing new spring and then trying to remember how it all went back together! Finally figured it out and the lever is now fairly tight, not flopping around like it has been doing since 1990! Packed up the front calipers, rear cylinders, brake master cylinder and clutch master cylinder to ship off to Kip Motors in Dallas, Texas for rebuilding. 32 pounds to ship!!! Glad it going ground FedEx instead of overnight. Now, I just have to wait for the engine to be rebuilt, the appointment to recover the front seats (on Sept 14th) and the brakes to come back. After that, putting it all back together and hope it all works.
David California
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Post by Sam Bee on Aug 25, 2020 14:06:42 GMT
Not today but yesterday! Big step forward in my restoration as the rear springs and rear axle were put up and the car now back on its rear wheels. I have used the latest mounting bushes from JRW. Attachment Deleted
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Post by Sam Bee on Aug 29, 2020 18:59:09 GMT
I have just started to put everything back on the sub-frame. The parts manual lists the brake disc bolts as ' special bolts' - a big help. I do not have any originals to hand so would appreciate the specification, please..
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Post by Phil Nottingham on Aug 29, 2020 21:08:26 GMT
Close diameter tolerance to prevent disk fretting
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