Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[badhuis]

Looking very good!
The D lights are awfully vulnerable though. Never realised they stick out so much.
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a car stops being fun when it becomes an investment

[Ray White]

[Rootes75]

Looks really good. I'd agree with the D lights thought, they do sit out quite a distance but do look right.
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Various Rootes Vehicles.

[Ray White]

[Ray White]

[Ray White]

Today I finished re doing the chrome edge beading to the dashboard...making sure that this time I didn't crack the metal while bending it to the 'double hump' shape. I should now be able to get on with fitting it to the car. Making it snug up to the piping will be 'interesting' to say the least.

I have discovered another slight problem, however.

The new spare wheel spinner; although it screws down tight, the wheel remains loose. It seems the taper on the wheel does not tighten to the matching taper on the wheel mount.

I am not quite sure what needs to be done to fix this... it is just something else sent to test me!

[badhuis]

Adding a rubber in between?
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a car stops being fun when it becomes an investment

[Ray White]

[Ray White]

With the number of things that have gone wrong, I wonder if someone is trying to tell me something?

You couldn't make it up. This time the ignition warning light has broken. It is not as if I am a heavy handed type of person; just the opposite in fact... but with just a slight turn of a terminal screw, the light has broken in two.

.

It wouldn't be so bad but the way I have trimmed the dash means the warning light bezel hides the join around the hole in the plywood; thus the shoulder of the light is trapped under the leather.

To get the light out without making too much of a mess, I have had to make small cuts in the leather around the hole. Hopefully a new light can be fitted without it showing.

Of course, typically, the replacements are not quite the same and a fair amount of fettling will be needed to get it to fit.

[ukdave2002]

[Ray White]

[ukdave2002]

From memory, there is a horseshoe clip that needs to be removed, the lamp is fitted from the rear of the dash without the lens and chrome bezel attached, then the horseshoe clip is fitted on the front of the dash against the resistance of the spring. The bulb and lens can then be fitted.

Some of the reproduction WL3 lamps, have a resistance coil that is just decorative, quite why they bother I do not know as it won?t be seen! These must not be fitted with the normal 2.5v bulbs as they won?t last long.

[bjacko]

On my 8 they are retained by the chrome bezel and glass. The bulb is always 2.5 volts for 6v or 12v systems according to Lucas. Other bulbs are too dim. Never heard of a short life with the 2.5v bulb.
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1938 Morris 8 Ser II Coupe Utility (Pickup)
1985 Rover SD1 VDP

[ukdave2002]

The lamp holder shouldn't come out when the chrome bezel is unscrewed, unscrewing the bezel allows you to change the bulb, there is a horseshoe clip that needs to be removed to remove the fitting.

The reason I mention short bulb life with some of the reproduction WL3's is that they lack the (real) resistive coil that limits current, so a 2.5v bulb wont last long, another reason why putting a purely decorative winding on them is not a great idea!

Thinking about Rays situation, I'm wondering if the bulb holder is fitted in the wooden part of the dash? The original WL3's were designed to be fitted to a thin metal dash, there is no way of holding them in a thicker wooden dash without a metal adapter and that involves having a larger hole in the wood, possibly this is why Ray's lamp has failed if its been a tight fit in the wood, that would tend to compress the fitting?

Dave

[Ray White]