[Jeroen]

I managed to finish and re-install the window guide rail with the new seal installed. As I mentioned, often most time is spent on items/parts that you will never see. This is a good example!

All ready to be put together.



First I needed to find a way to glue the new seal in the guide. I found a piece of plywood that did the trick. With plenty of glue, the guide and the seal were pressed together by using the plywood and some clamps. Left it overnight.



Done!





Test fit on the window, perfect fit from the seal!



When I took it all apart I noticed only one rivet. As I mentioned I had drilled one more hole. Two rivets is twice as strong as one rivet!!



But there was a problem. I have two rivet pliers. They are both guite wide and would not fit inside the rail and seal. So I had to improvise some sort of rivet plier extension.

Rummaged through my part bins.



I found this little knob. Not sure where it is from, but it was the perfect fit!! Drilled it through and grinded it to the correct length.



Makes for a perfect rivet-extender!!



Installing the window guide was a bit fiddly. Took me about 45 minutes and another 45 minutes to put the door card back on. And I am still not happy on how it sits, but it will have to do for now.

A testdrive showed the refurbished window guide rail works well. The window slides up and down easily and it does not rattle any more.

Time to get the Spider cleaned.



Because of the upcoming annual inspection APK (MOT), I did a few basic checks. One of them is to check all the lights, including reverse lights work. They did, but I also noticed the rear light unit was coming loose.

If you have followed this thread, you might recall it happened before. So I took it off the Spider. Whilst I was undoing the nuts I already felt what had happened. All four studs on which the unit rests against the chassis had broken off!!



Out comes my trusted fix everything JB Weld!



I hope this holds a bit longer than last time. I am pretty sure I did not use JB weld last time, fingers crossed. Let it cure for 24 hours before I will re-install it.



I also visited Gilbert about my Mini yesterday. Just about ready. They just need to put the finishing touches on it!!

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

My good friend Berndt had decided to sell a few of his oldtimers. Berndt had asked me and two other friends, Marco and Kees, to come and help extract them from his garage. Those of you who follow this thread will be familiar with Berndt's garage. It is not easy to find anything in there, let alone get anything out.

The new owner showed up with his son and his grand daughter Mila, who was very exited about it all. They already owned an Austin. They acquired it some 40 years ago and have restored it themselves. Both of Berndt's car are going to require some major work too. But nice to see these two cars go to an enthusiast who will restore them and make them road worthy again.

We had the first car out and on the trailer within 25 minutes.



They drove off to take it home, we went for another round of coffee. Next we started extracting the second car from the garage. It was parked all the way, stuck in a corner. We had to use a trolley jack to swing the rear out.



I was surprised to see the tyres still held their air, when we pumped them up. Even more surprising, the brakes were still working. I had expected them to be completely seized. British engineering at its best!



After about an hour and a half the new owner returned with the trailer for oldtimer number 2. As we were about to load up on the trailer, a bunch of one HP vehicles came pass!



Nice old registration plate. Look carefully, it is mounted on a contraption that can swing. So if you lower the boot, the registration plate will swing and remain vertical and visible.



Myla insisted she would winch the car all the way up onto the trailer! Strong little girl, she just kept on going!





On it goes



Berndt has a couple of lockups where he keeps more cars. We are going to move some more of his cars. One of these currently hidden cars needs a new gearbox. Berndt being Berndt doesn't have a new gearbox, but he has several old ones. So we will be doing some swapping to see if we can find one that fits and works.

In the Netherlands cars over 50 years of age do not require an annual inspection APK (MOT) anymore. This last car still has its Dutch registration so as soon as it is road-worthy, all it needs is insurance and can be driven once again. It will take some work as the head gasket was blown a couple of years ago.

Jeroen

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

I was surprised to see the tyres still held their air, when we pumped them up. Even more surprising, the brakes were still working. I had expected them to be completely seized. British engineering at its best!

What is even more surprising for someone in India - a tropical country , is these cars in your garage and Berndt's don't show a trace of rust anywhere. They are spotless and so immaculate - as if they came out of the factory just now.

We see modern cars - barely 2 years old with rust here. It is understandable that the heat and moisture are not good for steel. But I still can't attribute all the rusting to tropics.

What makes your cars - so resistant to rust ? The 40-50 year old Austin would look spanking new if someone just dusted it.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Prowler

What makes your cars - so resistant to rust ? The 40-50 year old Austin would look spanking new if someone just dusted it.

The fact that are kept inside a dry garage makes all the difference. Doesn’t even have to be heated. Just dry with decent air circulation.

These cars have not been driven for many many years. Berndt will take out his oldtimers only with dry weather and only for short tours.

Makes a big difference. Of course climate is a big thing too. But irrespective of climate keeping your car in a garage even an open car port makes a considerable difference.

My wife grew up in Barbados. Tiny island in the West Indies. Lots of seasons with salt, high humidity often. Cars, houses everything suffers terribly.

Jeroen

[Thad E Ginathom]

In 1950s-early-60s England, rust seemed to be the reason my parents changed cars. During that period, we were not even near a coast, and the car was garaged. Perhaps a decade earlier, the workmanship was better?

[Prowler]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

In 1950s-early-60s England, rust seemed to be the reason my parents changed cars. During that period, we were not even near a coast, and the car was garaged. Perhaps a decade earlier, the workmanship was better?

There is a Corten steel bridge near Burliyar on the way to Ootacamund (ooty) which was built about a 150 years ago by the British. You can't find rust in that bridge even now. They used a special weathering steel called as Corten steel for building superstructures and bridges - so I read somewhere. Could they have used something like that in those days for cars ?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by Prowler

... a special weathering steel called as Corten steel for building superstructures and bridges - so I read somewhere. Could they have used something like that in those days for cars ?

Within the over-all concept that owning any car was quite elite in 1940s, I'd say that for a more ordinary brand like Austen, I doubt that any special steel would have been used.

Jeroen might know?

Plainly, mass production has been part of car making since Mr Ford pioneered it, but I wonder if the cars of that era received a little more individual attention in finishing. Steel coatings and paint word is what improved subsequently, enabling manufacturers to offer body guarantees of a decade.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Plainly, mass production has been part of car making since Mr Ford pioneered it, but I wonder if the cars of that era received a little more individual attention in finishing. Steel coatings and paint word is what improved subsequently, enabling manufacturers to offer body guarantees of a decade.

I don’t think so. As a rule of thumb, the older the car, the more likely rust is going to be a problem. In fact modern cars are made of much better steel than 40-60 years ago. Let alone, these days the metal gets much better anti corrosion protection as well.

We should not deduce too much from just a few photographs. Just because you don’t see any obvious rust. I suspect both these cars have their share of rotten patches, especially underneath. I have not worked on these two cars, so I can’t tell for sure. But when you start stripping an old car there will be rust. And plenty of it!

Jeroen

[Nempuguru]

This photo is very nicely composed , looks as if taken from a World war era movie set.

I just fiddled a bit by changing the mode.

After about an hour and a half the new owner returned with the trailer for old timer number 2. As we were about to load up on the trailer, a bunch of one HP vehicles came pass!

Attachment 2597565

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by Nempuguru

This photo is very nicely composed , looks as if taken from a World war era movie set.

I just fiddled a bit by changing the mode.
]

Very nice! I will print and give it to Berndt!
Jeroen

[Jeroen]

I have made an appointment for the bi-annual APK (MOT) of the Spider with Goos.

I always check a few things, just to make sure the basics are working. Which means checking all the lights. For the MOT/APK every outside light that has been installed, has to work. So that means all headlights, in all settings, rear lights, fog lights, indicators, reverse lights, registration plate lights, and brake light including 3rd centre brake light.

I had actually checked all the lights before I took the rear unit off to be fixed. I had a spare half hour so I thought I would quickly put the fixed rear lightunit back in.

Here you see the studs and how I fixed them with JB Weld. Lets hope it holds!



Before putting the unit back in I also applied a liquid gasket to the rubber gasket. This will hopefully help a little by keeping the unit fixed in place, but also if it does become loose prevent water ingress.



With the unit back in, all wires cleaned and attached I tested all the lights again. And it was a mess!!! The fog lights would only come on, with the headlights on full beam. With the headlights on, the indicators would not work. And the right front dipped beam light was not working at all.

This is the problem with car's electrical system. One small problem can offset a whole host of seemingly unrelated issues.

I checked the fuses. I know they get dirty and I twiddle them a bit inside the fuse holder.



Nothing, so I took the headlight unit apart to check the bulb.



The bulb was fine, I checked I got 12VDC on the connector, for both the dipped and the main beam.

So I decided to check the fuses a bit better by removing them. You can see that the fuse is not popped, whilst still in the fuse holder.

But with the fuse out of the fuse holder, it became immediately apparent what the problem was. Terrible corrosion of the fuse, on both ends! Cleaned it and all problems were gone!!



The next day I drove over to spanner mate Peter. He had a few little jobs, nothing he could not have done by himself. But we enjoy doing these things together.

Lots of Spiders on the drive! When I first met Peter more than 20 years ago, he only had the white S3 Spider. It is very similar to mine but has a different dashboard. Otherwise identical (well apart from the colour obviously)



First job, an engine oil change. So we drove Peter's Coda Tronca for about 15 minutes to warm up the engine. Next drained the oil and put a new oil filter on.



We also replaced the air inlet filter. The weather was not cooperating and we had to work in between various showers.

The final job was to replace the lock on the boot. There are some earlier post in this thread on this one. The lock was stiff, which means you had to pull very very hard on the plastic handle inside the door frame to open it. These cables and the plastic handle will snap at the best of times after 40 years. We tried to make it all a bit more smoothly but were only partly successful. The main problem was you couldn't get these locks anymore.

By sheer chance, Peter had managed to pick one up the other day.

We pushed the Spider in the shed, so the rain would not bother us.



Very simple such a lock and it did the trick. We had to adjust it a bit to get it to open up smoothly, but all is working well now!

Later today I am picking up my Mini!! About time too, it has been away for quite some time. But it should be fine or so I am told. I have several trips lined up over the next few days to rake up sufficient kilometers to check out everything.

Jeroen

[Bibendum90949]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

In the Netherlands cars over 50 years of age do not require an annual inspection APK (MOT) anymore. This last car still has its Dutch registration so as soon as it is road-worthy, all it needs is insurance and can be driven once again. It will take some work as the head gasket was blown a couple of years ago.
Jeroen

Here in India, one's arm is twisted and even a 15 year old fully functional, mint condition cars are made to drive to the scrapyard.. Thanks to the magnanimity and far sightedness of our profound authorities, we're at the receiving end to helplessly witness such bathos.

[Jeroen]

Finally, at long last I have the Mini back again!! Yeaah!

It has taken a very long time. Caused primarily by problems in sourcing the correct parts. For some reason getting the correct parts proved to be very complicated. Unusual here in the Netherlands, and I would have not expected this from BMW. Mini parts are a nightmare to source. Well to get the correct ones. Normally a VIN is all you need, but that wont suffice for a Mini. Gilbert had to replace many parts ordered again and again. I think he got 4-5 different steering wheel airbags before getting the correct one.

I took the Mini home and gave it a good wash:





It also needed a few small jobs done. Some of the internal trim was not completely aligned properly so I redid it. Most time was spent on fixing the arm on which the very special Garmin-Mini GPS unit sits.

This arm is supposed to be able to swivel around the tachometer and stay put in different positions. It would still swivel, but it would not stay in different positions. So I took off the tachometer and opened up the swivel arm.



The mechanism that keeps it in place is very simple. There is a tiny ball bearing with a spring that locks in place in openings in the swivel arm. I thought the ball bearing was lost, but when I opened it up I found it hidden in there. Just not on the spring.



The swivel arm is fitted to the rear of the tachometer with three long screws and three spacer. When I tried to re-install it all, I lost all three spacers. They disappeared inside the dashboard. The one thing I did not want to do was to remove the complete dashboard. So I banged it a bit and after a while two of the spacers dropped out. I made a third one out of a bit of aluminium tubing.

We are good to go:





Everything works again. It drives really well. Except there is one occasional whining noise from the gearbox. Did not notice it before. I know that Gilbert had to replace one of the gearbox mounts as well. I will need to check that one more time. I will probably refresh the gearbox oil for good measure and take it from there.

I have driven about 175 km already. On Monday I am driving all the way up to my boat Sirion Old Marina as I need to test a GPS unit at the Raymarine Service centre there. Let's see how that goes. For now, I am very happy to have my Mini back into service!

One thing I have already noticed; that right front brake is still a bit sticky!! That is an old problem, nothing to do with the crash. I will find a way to fix that one way or another. It is not that bad, I can still drive safely.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

Yesterday I took the Spider back to Marc. Since the last engine overhaul, I have driven almost 1600 km. So, it's time to get the oil and filter changed. And a few other small things.

As always, there is plenty to see in and around Marc's shop!



We put the Spider on the lift. Drained the oil, and replaced the oil filter.



The engine has used about 0,75l of engine oil, which is not too bad for a newly overhauled engine. I am still not 100% convinced the problem with the over-fueling is completely solved, but it appears a lot better than last year.



When we started the engine within minutes I noticed a huge black spot of soot and crap underneath behind the exhaust on the shop floor. Marc confirmed it is most likely unburned fuel. This means the cold start and warming up system is not working properly. I will look into it when I get back home.

We also investigated the small coolant leak. Most likely it is not the coolant pump seal. With the Spider on the lift, we could have a good long long. Impossible with the Spider just on jackstands in my garage.

We concluded there was most likely a tiny bit of coolant coming from the bleed screw and perhaps also underneath one of the hose clamps. So that was soon fixed. I also felt the Spider steering was a bit on the heavy side. We discussed the option, which is adjusting the front wheel alignment (Toe in/out) or the steering box. As the Spider drives extremely well straight out at high speeds (130-140 km/h) we opted for adjusting the steering box. I have done this once myself a few years ago. It is somewhere in this thread. It is done by placing additional shims in the top of the steering box. And I must say, it made a remarkable improvement.

I have already spoken to Peter. Most likely he will come over to help me with checking the cold start system. It is not that difficult, but it is a two men job most likely. We will need to remove the cold start injector and hold it above a container whilst the other one cranks the engine.

I took a nice drive back home, avoiding all motorways.



In a few weeks time, we had planned our annual Spider trip to France. Unfortunately, Cees and Annelies, our friends and owners of the B&B Le Paradis had to cancel our booking due to personal circumstances. During that time they need to be in the Netherlands. With the other Spider friends we quickly made different arrangements, so we are going to Daun, Germany instead of Buxurelles France. Cees and Annelies will be staying in our home, so that works out for everybody.

Jeroen

[Jeroen]

With our annual Spider trip coming up, it's time to get the Spider prepped.

This means I need to get it properly cleaned and fit the fly swatter, so the wind doesn't mess up Mrs. D's hair.

I decided to give the Spider a light polish. It has been several years since I got the Spider professionally polished and waxed, see my earlier posts since I have taken a workshop in car polishing and bought all the kit.

I admit I don't do as good a job as a professional. Still, having gained a bit of experience on the Jeep and the Mini and a few bits in between, I think I am beginning to get the hang of it. I just go a relatively low polish, which is a lot faster.

Spider looks great I think!





I keep adding to my collection of cool signs for my garage walls! I like this one, if anything my life motto!



A couple of days after I had done the Spider I decided to polish and wax the Jaguar too. I have never polished the Jaguar before. But it is always kept indoors (unless we are on the road with it obviously) and I have "clay bar-red" it religiously at the start of each new season!!

This is a big car, much bigger than the Spider, and it has a roof. So a lot more work.

First, a very good hose down, wash and vacuum the inside.





Then I bring it back into the garage. I would have liked to have done the polishing outside too. But there is a lot of Sahara dust and pollens in the air at the moment.

Masking is a time-consuming affair. I am getting much better at it and I have developed a good feeling about what to mask and what not to mask because I have gotten more confident with the rotary polishing machine.



Getting the rubber seal of the open roof masked was royal PITA.



There are two reasons for the masking. The first is to protect plastic and rubber parts from the polishing. The second reason is to protest it from the wax. The wax I am using on the darker cars (e.g. Jeep, Mini, Spider) is ok on rubber and plastic. But the wax for the light colour cars (Jaguar, Mercedes) will leave a white residue on the rubber, which is nearly impossible to get rid of.



I know these images are not so much about showing how to polish, but more about me showing off my cars. I have shown in much more detail how I go about masking, polishing and detailing in more detail on both the Jeep and the Mini in earlier posts.



It took me about 3 full days to do the Jeep. That paint was in not a very good condition of course and needed a lot of polishing. And there was also endless masking on the Jeep and even on the Mini. The Jaguar needs surprisingly little masking.

The paint felt and looked relatively good, so only a very light polish. Applying the wax afterwards is a 5-minute job. Buffing it out takes longer.

All in all, both the Spider and the Jaguar took about 5-6 hours each! Working that rotary machine is a, literally, back-breaking job. So I switch between jobs. I polish for about 30 minutes and then do 30 minutes of cleaning up the garden. Last time I had to go see my physiotherapist with terrible back pain. This time no problem. Shows how experience counts!

A bit more showing off:



I must admit, it gives me tremendous satisfaction to see this car all nice and shiny!!



A polished and waxed car is so smooth to the touch, almost silky-like!!



Not too much hard core spannering at the moment. But that will change when we get back from our annual Spider trip.

The Mini is going on the lift at Berndt's garage. I need to change out the gearbox oil and I need to check the adjustments of the gear shift linkage.

Berndt's old traditional Mini needs a new hand brake cable fitted and we also need to swap a tranny on one of Berndt's other cars.

But first our Spider trip to Daun, Eiffel, Germany. Looking forward to it!!

Jeroen