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1959 A35 restoration
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:00 pm    Post subject: 1959 A35 restoration Reply with quote

Well, I decided it was time to start my A35 restoration. For three months now, it's been sitting in the garage gathering dust, so I decided to do something about it.
Through the Owners' Club, I was able to find a pair of secondhand fibreglass wings, a rot-free driver's door and some good secondhand boot hinges from an enthusiast in Bedfordshire. There are still several parts to source, I need sills, front shock absorbers and a drivers seat in particular, so if you have any parts, please get in touch Wink
A bit of background to the car - I have owned it since I was 15. It was bought in 1986 by my parents who ran it as cheap banger transport. In 2002, the car was sold to buy an Austin Somerset. It went to a local man who never used it and in 2006 my parents bought it back and gave it to me. When I was 17 it was my first car, and I used it everyday for nine months until rust and mechanical faults took their toll and I bought another A35 to replace it.

The photos below show what needs doing:






Completely rotton driver's door - It has a repair panel fitted here but the finish was terrible so I am pleased to have found an excellent replacement. You can also see the lack of jacking points in this picture.


This picture shows the bulge of the replacement sill which has been welded over the original rusty one. The rust has continued through and now the "new" sill is rotton.


Another shot of one of the sills, showing the poor quality welding covered with underseal. The front of this sill is actually non existent, with a gaping hole instead of metal. The pictures make it look much better than it is Rolling Eyes


The underneath of the original drivers door, showing the extent of the grot.


Er, new drivers seat required I think!


More rot


An iffy looking patch breaking though in the passenger side 'A' post.


A little bit of rot here, this area is double skinned so is much harder to repair than it looks.


Another iffy patch covered in underseal.


This isn't tooooo bad, I repaired the other side to a good standard last year and that just needs finishing off.


Rusty drivers wing




New drivers door


Offering up the wing




"New" boot hinge next to old one.


Drivers door stripped of door card and rain guard. Quarterlight freed off. Door is totally rust free Very Happy


Window channel wire brushed and is lovely and solid. This will be painted to protect it. The original is half rusted away completely due to being parked outside most it's life.


The glass block which you pull the window up and down with has broken off here, and taken a chunk of glass with it, so I will have to swap over the original glass. This has also lost it's glass block, but I have a new one ready to go on.


The engine bay. The engine is a 1098cc Morris Minor engine, and runs well, apart from a bit of bearing knock and a slightly rattly timing chain. The gearbox is completely worn out and I am going to fit a 1098 (ribbed) gearbox, complete with the matching clutch and flywheel. This should make the car much nicer to drive. I am also going to fit an SU carburettor.

Probably the main expense the car needs is new sills, but these will have to wait until I can afford them. I am going to strip the car back to bare metal and have a proper respray in the orginal colour.

Please feel free to comment Very Happy
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Richard Hughes


Last edited by Richard H on Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:53 pm; edited 1 time in total
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scott_budds



Joined: 20 Nov 2008
Posts: 175
Location: Norwich

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:38 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I really really love the little A35. Looks great in that blue too. Good work so far love seeing your progress!

Buddsy
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Im looking for an Elan plus 2 for my next resto project...if you see one think of me please!!
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Jason



Joined: 12 Nov 2008
Posts: 623
Location: Todmorden, Lancs.

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 3:53 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

good luck with it richard, don't be pinching parts off your other one Wink Laughing Laughing

jason
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 4:03 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jason wrote:
good luck with it richard, don't be pinching parts off your other one Wink Laughing Laughing

jason


Hmmmm there's an idea! Laughing Laughing Laughing
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Richard Hughes
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22429
Location: UK

PostPosted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 5:28 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

great stuff, funnily enough I was pondering about A35s the other evening during one of those quieter moments Smile look forward to following the build!

cheers, Rick
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 10:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks everyone for your kind words, I'll update as things happen Wink
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Richard Hughes
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Sat Jun 27, 2009 6:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Spent a couple of hours this afternoon stripping out the rear lights and clearing out the boot.


The bumper will be the next thing to come off I think. All the rubbers here are the originals and are terribly perished, luckily, they're all standard Lucas parts so shouldn't be too expensive to replace.


After I cleared out the rubbish from the boot, I removed the boot mat to reveal a soaking wet piece of carpet that had been used as sound deadening. There's a small amount of surface rust which I have wire brushed but it is surprisingly sound for an A35 boot floor Smile I can add to the list of parts required a new boot seal now!
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PAUL BEAUMONT



Joined: 27 Nov 2007
Posts: 1281
Location: Barnsley S. Yorks

PostPosted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 1:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Can you weld? I strongly suggest you find time to go to a night school course or some such and then buy a decent welder. You will save a fortune, get a lot more satisfaction, know its been done properly and NEVER BE SHORT OF CLASSIC OWNING FRIENDS!! Very Happy
Paul
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Tue Jun 30, 2009 9:43 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

PAUL BEAUMONT wrote:
Can you weld? I strongly suggest you find time to go to a night school course or some such and then buy a decent welder. You will save a fortune, get a lot more satisfaction, know its been done properly and NEVER BE SHORT OF CLASSIC OWNING FRIENDS!! Very Happy
Paul


Well I can weld, just not very well! It's ok though because my dad will do the welding as he's really good (plenty of practice) I should be able to do everything else though.
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Richard Hughes
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Richard H



Joined: 03 Apr 2009
Posts: 2148
Location: Lincolnshire, UK

PostPosted: Sun Aug 09, 2009 5:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry I haven't updated for ages, I've just been doing little bits here and there, but it is coming on Smile


Interior stripped out and floor cleaned up.


There is a similar bit of rust to this in the same place on the driver's side, it is a patch that has rusted through.



The front of the inner sill will need work, but it can be saved. The outer sill needs complete replacement.


Windscreen stripped out and channel cleaned up.

Luckily this is the only rust in the windscreen channel, a bit of light surface rust.

I cleaned away the filler from this area to reveal the welded line of the cover sill, marked in black pen.


The fibreglass wing offered up, it looks a fairly good fit but will need work around the indicator hole. An advantage to buying secondhand fibreglass wings is that they have already been tweaked to fit Wink
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Richard Hughes
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