OK
so you have a vehicle to restore. It has four
wheels—glass—gearbox—engine—sort of. The body looks straight—has no
brightwork—has no interior—or dash. It is a basic shell.
So
let us remove the glass, door handles, etc and take the shell down to
be grit blasted back to bare metal. DISASTER. The paint hid a multitude
of sins—like bog in the door sills, front mudguards and evidence of rust
holes.
Now we dig out all the old bog to see what is underneath—yuk—not a pretty sight—any panel damage has not been panel beaten, but filled and is centimetres thick.
Don’t
despair. In the paper I find a Humber Vogue sedan for sale—phone
call—look see—has right colour interior in reasonable condition—1 month
rego—doesn’t go. Negotiate a price and drag it home for spare
parts. Things are improving—maybe.
The
vehicle had all surfaces blasted, inside outside, underneath in fact
every crevice was treated. Now came the task of removing the grit and
dust. I have an industrial vacuum cleaner that can suck pigeons off
poles and spit out feathers. With various size hoses and nozzles I was
able to extract 2 x two gallon buckets of grit from within crevices and
places. Good job done I thought. Had a look inside next morning and the
“grit fairy” had been—there were little piles of grit everywhere. What
to do? I laid carpet down on the grass and tipped the wagon onto its
roof and vacuumed up another bucket full of grit then turned a high
pressure water hose into it—cleaned up the mess—allowed to dry, tip back
onto its wheels and that got rid of the “grit fairy”.
Next turn our attention to the panels.
I
read in the Humber magazine that Vogues have a problem with drainage
from the air scuttle in front of the windscreen and with the front
guards being double skin. I decided to drill out the spot welds and
remove the front section to make work easier and to tidy up bits and
pieces.
So
after much panel beating, shrinking and beating of panels they were
ready to receive a thin covering of bog about 3 mm thick to hide any
imperfections. After painting inside the front section it was re-fitted aligned with the bonnet and finally welded into position.
Painting
was the next step with etch primer, undercoat, spray putty and top coat
being applied to all surfaces with much rubbing back between
applications of paint. The finished colour is Smoke Green.
Now
comes the assembling of the body parts, wiring looms, plus extra wires
for radio speakers, rear window demister and some spares, window
winders, door catches, glass in new rubber, upholstery, roof lining,
dashboard, crash padding and so on it goes. How does this fit? Over to
the sedan, looking, remembering, back to estate and fit. Lucky to have a
sedan of the same vintage to refresh the memory.
The
mechanicals came next. Out of three engine blocks, one was
selected—machined to suit 60 thou oversized pistons, crank shaft and cam
shaft journals polished with bearings to suit fitted. I had two alloy
heads and the better one was selected, machined, valves seated ready to
assemble.
The
engine components were assembled and stood to one side ready to be
fitted into the body. The gearbox came out of the parts sedan with a new
bearing fitted to the rear cover and new oil seals to front rear
shafts. The gearbox was attached to the engine.
The
body was then jacked up off the ground about 1/2 metre and on stands to
remove and clean the rear and front suspension members. The read
end—what a mess—the diff centre had teeth missing off the crown and
pinion wheel. New crown and pinion obtained and assembled into the diff
centre by a transmission specialist, new wheel oil seals. Dismantle and
clean the springs, install new bushes, paint, reassemble and fit back
into the body.
While
the body is off the ground this is a good opportunity to fit brake
lines, fuel lines, hand brake cable and anything else to be done
underneath.
The
front cross member was removed from the body, brake callipers removed
and reconditioned, new ball joints, components cleaned, painted,
reassembled and put back into the body. The brakes had the callipers
reconditioned, new rear wheel cylinders, new shoes and pads master
cylinder honed. Lines were connected—system bled and now we have
brakes.
The
motor and gearbox were fitted into the body, tail shaft fitted, all
components fitted, battery, radiator, electrics, etc. The big moment
arrives—so see if it will start. Petrol in the tank—prime the
carby—check oil levels again—turn the key—it turns over—it fires—it
goes. A quick tune up on the b=carburettor, depress the clutch, engage
reverse gear and it moves. Out on the driveway and down the street—a bit
noise as it has no exhaust system fitted. It goes and it stops.
The
wagon is taken to an exhaust centre where extractors are fitted along
with a complete exhaust system. Then next door to an auto electrician
where the charging rate is checked—doesn’t work—new generator fitted and
the electrics now work.
Take it down to motor registry to get it registered—failed hand brake—adjust—re-test and passed.
Pay the money, pick up number plates, fit and take it for shakedown drive—don’t forget the tool box—Murphy’s law you know.
Chris Berry.
Source: cacmc.org.au
