Classic cars forum & vehicle restoration.

[alanb]

With what I think was termed a bustle boot I think a name suitable for a Lanchester lady would be appropriate, from the pictures it certainly seems to be a sound car, the sort of thing you could spend many enjoyable hours improving here and there as the mood takes you whilst having something you can use and enjoy and use. The brakes I believe were Girling mechanical so they should work well and be trouble free once set up . I look forward to seeing many more posts on its progress.
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old tourer


Morris 8 two seater

[Peter_L]

[alanb]

With what I think was termed a bustle boot I think a name suitable for a Lanchester lady would be appropriate, from the pictures it certainly seems to be a sound car, the sort of thing you could spend many enjoyable hours improving here and there as the mood takes you whilst having something you can use and enjoy and use. The brakes I believe were Girling mechanical so they should work well and be trouble free once set up . I look forward to seeing many more posts on its progress.
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old tourer


Morris 8 two seater

[Peter_L]

[Vulgalour]

Today is too hot to do that much that's meaningful cosmetically so we decided to have a crack at the mechanical instead. First stop was off to Halfords to get a suitable battery and oil, we expected to need to top everything up, so got enough to do that. We knew the car would idle from a fresh fuel source, and we also knew that sometimes it wouldn't, so this would be a good opportunity to figure that out. First job was to hook up the fuel supply, we're not running it for very long so we know we'll be safe on plain unleaded for testing purposes.


That was when we found sometimes the starter motor sticks, a tap with a metal pole got it going again and with more running and diagnostics, the starter motor behaved better, so we expect that just needs a basic clean up and a bit of maintenance. Eventually, we decided to see if the car would run on the old 4 star in the tank, even though it looks like this.


The fuel coming through is clean, it's just really old and varnished. The car does run on this, which surprised us, and meant we didn't have to have the jerry can balanced on the wing like that. After a little while we found the car was firing up, idling, and then dropping one or two cylinders. It didn't take long to discover the ignition leads are just rubbish. In the past, someone has fitted new spark plugs but they've reused modern push fit type leads of a couple of different varieties. Not only are the leads too long, they don't stay seated so as the car is idling the spark escapes. To combat these we've ordered the parts to make up a new set of leads to the suitable length. The two original style leads in the car fit better but the quality of them is such that they're not viable replacements.




Knowing that the car will run and idle, we then attempted to put it in gear just to see if we could, and while it made a clunk and tried to drive, it didn't actually proceed. The car did rock forwards after the clunk, it was a lot like when an automatic gearbox is low on oil and it engages gears but can't actually move the car. A check of the oil showed us that it was quite low, so we topped that up and went to try again but now the spark plugs simply weren't staying put and we couldn't get the car to idle for long enough, which was a bit disappointing. One thing we did learn, happily, is that the car has oil pressure. After idling for a fairly short period of time, the oil light went out. Unfortunately the ignition light didn't, so it looks like the dynamo needs fixing, or a connection somewhere is dirty and needs cleaning. The fuel guage works, and there's a third of a tank showing which again was quite surprising.


We did have all the exterior lights working, and we found the dome light was working too. However, the dome light switch couldn't switch the light off, so we pulled the bulb out to prevent it overheating and causing problems. In retaliation, the sidelights front and rear then stopped working. At the front we got one of them to work again and learned that the sidelight assemblies are devilishly fiddly things. The copper wire around the bulb holder appears to be completely normal and while the bulbs work fine, we could only get one of the sidelights to work again. We'll need to go through the connectors and such to get to the bottom of this since all the lights were working on the day we viewed the car.


We were pleased to find where the starting handle actually lives, so reinstated that too.


The fresh air vent has been left open for now, hopefully it will allow the seal it sits against to dry out a bit so it's not so sticky.


Other half spotted the door latch for the driver's side was loose, so tightened up the screws and now the door shuts much better. It still needs a little attention to the fit at the leading edge, though we're led to believe this is normal on cars of this type and can be adjusted fairly easily.




Another surprise came when we connected the new battery and the wipers were working. Fortunately I'd had the good sense to lift the wiper arms free of the windscreen just in case, since there's no blades fitted. What we don't know is what type of blade is required, it seems there's several different fittings and we don't know which one these are.




While I was on with other little jobs around the car, the other half got the Autosol out to see how the grille would come up and was quite pleased with how easily the surface corrosion disappeared from the centre bar.


It feels like a very rewarding car to work on. We do have a shortlist of items from today's efforts, this list will likely grown

Wiper blades
ignition leads - ordered
Door handle gaskets
Rocker cover gasket
Carburettor rebuild kit
window winder escutcheon (driver's side front door)
Full set of tyres, possibly inner tubes too
Carpet set
Pedal rubber seals
Refurbish dynamo
Refurbish starter motor
Repair/replace wiring loom
Repair/replace exhaust

[Penman]

Hi
With slots in the wiper arms I think the blades will be like this and they need a tapered rubber bung through the hole in the little ring tab on the blade to hold it in place.
http://jimbutterworth.co.uk/1wiperblade2.jpg
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Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[Vulgalour]

I assume that would be these then?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Daimler-DB18-Lanchester-LD10-Wiper-Blades-10-Peg-Fitting-Pair-2/154011751328?hash=item23dbd0d3a0:g:E48AAOSwT5tWOoid

[Penman]

Hi
Yes that's the one, we had them on the Austin ten four and they were quite likely almost universal for flat screens, with just different lengths for different screen sizes.
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[Vulgalour]

Excellent, I know which ones to get now and at least those look easy to get hold of so that's good.

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I don't like to feel like I've wasted my free time, so when it was too hot to move outside, I tackled the rear seat base inside and gave it the first leather feed. The leather feels vastly improved and smells nice and some of the scuffs and scratches are now much reduced.


Then the temperature finally fell to something approaching reasonable and it became a little overcast. In fact, the weather became ideal for getting a bit more of the bodywork done and all it took to finally tempt me back outdoors was a refreshing breeze. Spent an enjoyable little while cutting through the oxidised paint by hand and actually getting some shine back to the paint. For the front wing, I used some 400 grit sandpaper in a piece about the size of my palm and carefully worked away the roughest of the surface rust, revealing quite a lot of paint which has just about taken some shine. I'm not expecting miracles with that wing, the paint is incredibly thin and seems to have been done well after the original paint that remains on the car.


The bonnet has become a nice display of before and after. There's still a bit of fogging to work through on the polished section, a couple more passes should get it.


I'm really enjoying how this is coming together and brightening up. Seeing all the layers of neglect, and use come through as the oxidisation is cleared away is really quite rewarding. This is far more satisfying to me than getting the car resprayed.








Other half and I will keep plugging away at this and getting everything shipshape again. I'm not much of a fan of doing the brightwork because it's fiddly, so it's nice that the other half likes doing that bit, we have a similar thing with the bodywork preservation which is very much my domain, while the mechanical stuff we share equal duties on. It's felt thoroughly wholesome to work together on this, it's done us a lot of good to have something to do while we wait for life to return to something more like normal.

[Penman]

Hi
If you can get the blades locally (rather than by mail) take the arms with you:
A) Just to check they are the correct blades and
B) So that you can check the strength of the springs on the old arms comaperd with new ones.
Mind you with that type you can probably get new springs that will fit.
_________________
Bristols should always come in pairs.

Any 2 from:-
Straight 6
V8 V10

[alanb]

If you are close to a river or the sea a chandlers shop will probably have the wiper blades as they are used on the flat screens of boats, I bought mine from a local chandler for less than £5. With regard to the gearbox and fluid flywheel they like automatic boxes need clean correct fluid to work properly otherwise they can easily be damaged.
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old tourer


Morris 8 two seater

[peter scott]

The gears and flywheel just run on normal engine oil.

Peter
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http://www.nostalgiatech.co.uk
1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon

[petelang]

Reading with interest your progress.
With regards the lack of drive, best to check oil level in fluid coupling (flywheel). Over a long period of time it may have lost it from the spring loaded seal. Turn flywheel to get the filler bung at 12 o clock, should be access from inside the car. The bungs are usually a recessed square type, a 1/2 inch drive extension will usually fit. Fill it with SAE 30 oil slowly until it runs from the hole.
If the seal is leaking these can be converted to modern shift seals, 2 x placed back to back with a little bit of machining of the housing possibly. They never leak again then.
Also, the wire wrap-around the lampholder body is definitely not standard. Should be an earth terminal, probably a split type bullet. The holder may have corroded or broken off.
Good luck with your investigations.
Peter

[alastairq]

Back in 1972, I was trained by London Transport a a bus driver.
3 weeks of attending Chiswick Works for driver training of all sorts, and basic mechanical knowledge...as well as training regarding the operation of buses.

[Must remember to stop at a 'white' stop, regardless!]

Amongst other things I learnt about, were the workings of the pre-selector gearboxes the buses were equipped with. [AEC RTs were used for training..and were my daily vehicle for a few years too..Routemasters were 'modern' to LT bus drivers in those days]
LT made a big point about [London Transport OC} being the inventors of the 'labyrinth' oil seal...which made the fluid flywheels oil tight...Of course, LTOC ''owned'' AEC at the time.
Also, LT Engineering Dept had conducted a n experiment to see just how long a pre-selector gearbox with a fluid flywheel, could be left, idling, in gear?
The answer was, just over 25 minutes..before the fluid flywheel exploded in dramatic fashion [the film camera was set up on the bus platform at the rear.....at the 'zero-hour' time, the little hump at the front of the lower deck floor peeled open, and a chunk of red hot fluid flywheel could be seen hurtling down the central aisle...before the film went all fuzzy....it wiped out the camera, and left a large hole in the rear panel of the bus..before embedding itself in the concrete wall immediately behind...at the time, the evidence was left in place for all to see.
Hence, a rule that was drummed into drivers....do not leave in gear , idling, for more than 5 minutes, before engaging neutral.
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Dellow Mk2, 1951 built, reg 1952.
Fiat 126 BIS
Cannon special [1996 registered. Built in 1950's]
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Ford Pop chassis, Ashley 1172 bodyshell, in pieces.

[Vulgalour]

We're not far from a river, or the sea for that matter, and it turns out there's a fair few chandlers locally so thank you for the tip off on that, always nicer to go into an actual shop than ordering things online, even with the current restrictions.

We have topped up the gearbox because it was low, we hadn't yet done the fluid flywheel as we weren't sure where the fill point was. Now have a better idea of what to look for, so I'm sure filling that up will be quite easy now we know what to look for. Have been warned that the gearbox and flywheel do leak and while you can fit newer seals, it's easier to just keep topping up and make sure there's always some spare oil in the car just in case unless the seals have catastrophically failed.

That exploding flywheel story is rather shocking and entirely what I'd expect from LT. They seemed to like putting their vehicles through all sorts of "but what if the driver is an idiot" type tests.