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1958 Austin A55 Cambridge MK1 Restoration
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22429
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 6:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's a cracker isn't it, good find! Smile

RJ
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Churchill Johnson



Joined: 11 Jan 2011
Posts: 359
Location: Rayleigh Essex

PostPosted: Wed Jun 01, 2011 7:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

IF you get stuck on the radio give me a shout as there is an old boy at Southend who used to do old radio's and i am still in contact with him.
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Richard H



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

PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 12:08 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Aar0sc wrote:
Looks lovely!
(If a dodgy fit Razz )



Yeah I've got it wedged in there with a bit of rubber at the moment, I'm not sure what it had originally but I'm going to make a surround/mounting bracket for it out of aluminium.

Churchill Johnson wrote:
IF you get stuck on the radio give me a shout as there is an old boy at Southend who used to do old radio's and i am still in contact with him.


Thanks Church, I think all I need are the right connections to go into the sockets on the side then I can see if I can get anything out of it.
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7113
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Thu Jun 02, 2011 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Richard,

I'm away from home just now but I think I will have the service info for your radio when I get back. Unfortunately, looking at http://www.radiomuseum.org/r/ekco_cr117cr_11_2.html
and
http://users.skynet.be/antique.autoradio/Ecko/Ekco-1951_1.htm
I suspect the vibrator power supply is a separate unit that you will need.

Peter


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1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon
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Richard H



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

PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 8:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for the info Peter. Ah well, static display piece it is then.
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7113
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Richard,

If you keep looking you might still find an orphaned power unit at an autojumble and the seller will probably not be asking much for it. Even if you found a power unit for another make of valve car radio it would probably not be too difficult to modify it to power your set.

If you want the service info then PM me an email address.

Peter
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Richard H



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

PostPosted: Fri Jun 03, 2011 9:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Peter,

I've sent you a PM with my email address. Look forward to receiving the info.

I will keep an eye out for a replacement power unit, thanks for the tip.

Cheers, Richard.
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22429
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

There used to be a place in Sale, near Manchester, that dealt in re-furb'd vintage/classic car radios, not sure whether they're still trading or not though ??

RJ
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Bob T



Joined: 16 Nov 2010
Posts: 128
Location: Sudbury, Suffolk

PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Richard,
I have sent you a ppm, but am not sure it sent !!
I have purchased a wreck of an A50 which need welding as yours etc. Initially I want to get it running, the original had a zenith carb, my car has had an engine change at some point and is fitted with an SU carb, so I guess the engine may be from a later A55 like yours.
I tried pouring petrol direct in to the carb (as the petrol pump needs work !) only for the petrol to pour out of 2 small holes in the underside of the inlet manifold (1 at either end). Does your car have similar holes on the underside of the inlet manifold? I have no idea what they would be used for and would have thought that they should have been blanked off, any ideas?
Also can can you tell me what type of tyres you have? Can you fit radials?
My car has 40 year old cross plies that need replacing.
Cheers
Bob
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Kelsham



Joined: 18 Jan 2009
Posts: 349
Location: Llandrindod Wells Powys

PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:47 pm    Post subject: Austin Cambridge Reply with quote

Cars fitted with downdraught carbs often had drains at the bottom of the inlet manifolds. I believe the idea was to control the possibility of flooding the engine.
My 1968 Morris 1800 has two copper pipes fitted to the underside of the manifold for this purpose.
Regards Kels.
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Kelsham



Joined: 18 Jan 2009
Posts: 349
Location: Llandrindod Wells Powys

PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:48 pm    Post subject: Austin Cambridge Reply with quote

Cars fitted with downdraught carbs often had drains at the bottom of the inlet manifolds. I believe the idea was to control the possibility of flooding the engine.
My 1968 Morris 1800 has two copper pipes fitted to the underside of the manifold for this purpose.
Regards Kels.
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Kelsham



Joined: 18 Jan 2009
Posts: 349
Location: Llandrindod Wells Powys

PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 2:48 pm    Post subject: Austin Cambridge Reply with quote

Cars fitted with downdraught carbs often had drains at the bottom of the inlet manifolds. I believe the idea was to control the possibility of flooding the engine.
My 1968 Morris 1800 has two copper pipes fitted to the underside of the manifold for this purpose.
Regards Kels.
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Richard H



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

PostPosted: Mon Sep 26, 2011 6:21 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi Bob, PM received and responded to.

I've just had a look at my inlet manifold (more of a feel really) and it does have the two holes you describe. The one at the front is blanked off with a bolt and the one at the back has a petrol drain tube screwed into it, about 6" long.

If you have a look at the side of the engine block, just above the mechanical fuel pump, there should be some numbers stamped. Your A50 will have left the factory with a 1489cc engine, therefore it should say "1500" on the side of the block if it's an original size block. If it says "1600" it will be a 1622cc engine out of a later A60 or deriative, a lot of Pre Farinas have had their engines replaced with 1622's.

As I mentioned earlier, I'm looking forward to seeing some photos!

Richard.
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Richard H



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

PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 6:41 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I haven't been on here much lately, due to spending most of my spare time working on my cars. The A55's MOT ran out in September, so in August I started poking around underneath in the hope of scraping through another MOT, things were not looking good. It became clear that this Austin was going to need serious structural work just about everywhere, or it would be the end of the road. Crying or Very sad

I'm a sucker for lost causes, so I got stuck in.

I wasn't really sure where to start, so I began by hacking off the rusty and accident damaged front fairing panel and rotten crossmember. I also bought a NOS front fairing panel and a pair of better front wings from Ebay (i.e. ones that weren't 50% filler).







I got my dad to do some welding repairs around the headlights and trailing edges on the new wings. They were from an A50 which has a different headlight mounting so had to be modified.







Quick mockup for motivational purposes.







Here's some pictures of the N/S inner wing as it was.






Now the A50/50/55 range have a fairly over-engineered inner wing setup, with a strengthening panel spot welded onto the outside of the inner wing to help with rigidity. This then forms a box section between the two panels. Unfortunately, Austin, in their wisdom, decided to make two ventilation holes in the side of said box section with corresponding slots in the inner wing to help with engine cooling. Sadly all they did was allow mud and road salt in, with predictable results.

Now rather than prevent the problem occuring by blanking off those two holes, previous custodians of this particular car had simply welded plates over the rust, then as each one rotted through, another one was slapped over the top. Here you go:















This is after probing with a screwdriver. I noticed a suspicious looking edge at the bottom. Rather than repairing the rotten A post, someone in the dim and distant past had filled it with fibreglass instead. Now this car has a sunroof, with the drain tube emerging about half way up the A post...of course water had been seeping past the fibreglass into the front outrigger, so it was now beyond saving as well. I believe that was fitted in 2007...

Fibreglass!



More to come...
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Richard H



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

PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2011 7:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

So I hacked off the old faring panel (I really had to butcher it to get it off, the amount of spot welds used!) to reveal the front crossmember. It had already been heavily patched when I got it, and my dad patched it last year, but it wasn't really very satisfactory, and the chassis legs were clearly rusty beneath it, so it had to go. I bought a large sheet of 1.5mm steel from a local steel supplier (Polair Ltd, Rochford) for this job.

I made a cardboard template and bent the steel in a vice with two bits of wood as I don't have a sheet steel folder, not many photos unfortunately, but having repaired both chassis legs I got my dad to weld in the crossmember. Thankfully it was a reasonable fit.





We also repaired these bits on either side.



This was the first inner wing section I fabricated. I decided to use the 1.5 steel plate for all jobs from now on as although it's a nightmare to fold compared to the 1mm stuff I've always used before, it's so much stronger.





I then drilled out the spot welds and removed the strengthening panel:





Rolling Eyes









Now it was about this time my dad went off on holiday for a week. Up until now I hadn't been brave enough to try welding for fear of ruining it, however I decided to give it a try, what the hell. I did a couple of practice runs with the MIG first, but thankfully picked it up quite quickly.

The inner wing was too big a section to fabricate for me, so rather than cut it all out at once I made it in several sections. After a week it looked like this:





The bulkhead was predictably rotten as well.













More to come.
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