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1951 Lanchester LD10
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Miken



Joined: 24 Dec 2012
Posts: 544

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:03 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

[quote="Vulgalour"]Time for a Lanchester video.

https://youtu.be/Ys8eIjhzlks




I like your workshop overalls.
A bit smarter than mine.
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7113
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Car's coming along nicely. All the problems you highlight are rather familiar. Am glad it's not just me.

Peter
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:05 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

One should always dress for the occasion, and getting the Lanchester out always feels like an occasion given how much attention it garners just sat about doing nothing.

Next time this job will surely go easier. Hopefully there won't need to be a next time!

--

As usual, check out the video above for more on how this job went and some nice footage of the Lanchester out in the sunshine. This update's job was to try and reinstall the newly refurbished door cards. As you'll recall, we'd replaced one missing escutcheon, the plywood backing boards, the padding, and the tacks and rivets that hold everything together. All of the original elastic cord, rexine, carpet, and door furniture have been retained. This is the approach throughout, replace items only where necessary.

First task is to identify the fixings for the door cards so we can reinstall them. In theory, this should be a simple case of slotting the keyhole brackets on to the screws that are in the wooden frame of the door. There's two of these screws for each door card. They're the silver headed screws on the leading edge of the door frame in the following shot. The upper one was missing on the passenger front door and the lower one not in great shape.


Then it's simply a case of slotting the brackets over the screw heads to hold the door card in place so you can put the other fixings in. Only, we'd made a mistake. You see, even when the eyes of the whole internet are on your project, you've taken lots of reference photos, and you've been really picky about making sure things are correct, sometimes you miss the obvious. The obvious we'd missed was that every single keyhole bracket was on upside down. Unfortunately, the rivets holding them in do an incredibly good job and are very difficult to remove without damaging the plywood.


To fix that issue, we had to remove half the tacks and peel back some of the rexine to get access. We also found on the trial fit - we could still get a couple of the other fixings home to at least put the cards in the correct place - that the front passenger door card was catching on the leading edge. The rear driver's door card was also catching on the trailing edge. The other more annoying problem was that the escutcheons for the window winders could not physically be compressed far enough to get access to the locking pin hole... all in all it meant partially dismantling all of the door cards to correct these minor issues. The hole for the window winder escutcheon was increased such that the escutcheon could recess slightly into the door card, 6 of the 8 keyhole brackets were removed and reinstalled the correct way up, and the two slightly oversized door cards were retrimmed accordingly. A little time with hammers and tacks later and we had the door cards ready to go again.


Refitting wasn't too bad though it did end up being a two person job. It's easier for you to see the struggle in the video, but essentially you need one person to hold the handle and drive the pin home, while the other pushes against the spring inside the escutcheon to keep it out of the way of the pin. On attempting to do this job we understood why when we got the car the escutcheon and pin were missing on the driver's door and had been replaced with a piece of twisted wire. To fit the door cards, there's the two screws that go in the keyhole brackets, two screws that go on the B pillar side through the door frame and into a bracket on the door card, one screw at each top corner that is hidden by the wooden trim, and two to four screws along the bottom edge through the carpet. Once you've done all those, you can put the wooden capping back on, being sure that the screw holes are lined up with the holes in the metal tongues on the capping, and then screw in the door pull handle. It was a far more involved process rebuilding these doors than expected and we hope nothing goes wrong inside them as a result.





They do look so much nicer now. there's a little bit of fettling to sort out minor bits like the padding that's sticking out in a couple of spots that will be addressed later. The only door card we didn't complete on the day was the rear driver's side one. We'll be getting that sorted in the near future and it will be installed in a future video.


Foolishly, I then attempted to see if I could figure out a solution to the dashboard. I reminded myself that I'd replaced the soft and rotting old screws with nice shiny new ones so the problem glovebox could be removed. This then allowed me to thread the dashboard into place.


So far so good. I also found I could get to most of the screws for the glovebox brackets with the dashboard sat in place but not screwed in. An awkward job, but not an impossible one, there's not a lot of access. After doing that, I reminded myself where the three screws were that hold the lower portion of the dashboard in place and, with Pat's help, got everything aligned and screwed in. This is one of those jobs where it is easier if there's two of you because the dashboard does not want to stay in the place you need it to. Screw the central screw in first, you can't really see what you're doing and you have the thread the screwdriver around all the things behind the dashboard, don't tighten this all the way.


Then find and align the side brackets that go into the A pillars. This is also awkward because as you align one side, the other will want to pull out of location. There's a sweet spot where it all aligns, but it's tricky if you haven't got a helper.


Once it's all loosely in place, tighten the screws down and you're done.


Then put the top capping on and screw it into place.


Then realise you can't get to the four screws for the top capping because you've obscured access by putting the bottom half in first. Call it quits for the day and accept that at least the dashboard looks gorgeous and is in a safer location now. We'll address this issue another day too. Just before wrapping up I pulled out the spare Princess carpet I'd dyed and plonked one half in the car to see if there was enough to do a temporary flooring in the Lanchester. It looks like there is and, as a bonus, the colour isn't as shockingly orange looking as expected so will certainly do until we can afford to get the much nicer brown carpet we eventually want to fit.


Finally, we took a quick look at the sound systems. We're still planning to gut and modernise the Dansette as a removable unit. The Ekco we're still planning to restore to functionality if possible.


The only slight issue is the size of the Ekco compared to the size of the Lanchester. We've got some loose ideas of removable brackets and centre consoles as a solution there, it was just nice to see it sat in the car and imagine the possiblities. The Ekco is something of a curio really.
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Rick
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Joined: 27 Apr 2005
Posts: 22429
Location: UK

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 6:43 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your vid got me thinking that I should really be dressed appropriately while tending to ancient motors! I do have some old-school overalls somewhere, although I'd be reluctant to get them grubby Laughing

RJ
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 8:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Something I've been trying to find is a pattern, or original set of, old-fashioned overalls to make a new set in my size that would look the part. Workwear is usually simple construction, it's working out where and how to add robust seams and extra strength for key wear areas that's the tricky part when you haven't an extant example to hand.

If you're handy with a sewing machine and a pencil, you could probably make a copy of the ones you've got. I'd also be happy to give it a go for you, but you'd have to entrust the original to me so I could copy it (without dismantling it) and send them back.
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Peter_L



Joined: 10 Apr 2008
Posts: 2680
Location: New Brunswick. Canada.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 31, 2021 9:39 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hi, both. I don't always comment but I do read all your posts and watched the video with interest and admiration. I have done the self same thing with those "keyhole",thingby whatsits, even after carefully reviewing the part, going over the direction in my mind, checking it all again and finally achieving a 180 degree of failure. The dashboard looks really good. Is the "Princess" resting ? I see it is hiding under a tarp and appears to be minus some frontal bits..
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7113
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 1:44 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Radio Vibrators: https://www.royalsignals.org.uk/vibs/
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1939 SS Jaguar 2 1/2 litre saloon
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 8:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The Princess is currently awaiting some Big Jobs, namely an engine rebuild, which is disappointing but necessary at this point (it's been discussed at length elsewhere). I do have a Princess video coming soon to talk about what it is, what's been done, a bit of its history and whatnot. It's quite difficult to condense such a long ownership into a single video, especially given all the car and I have been through for the duration.

Maestro is still fine, took that out today and it's no bother at all. Still plenty to do on that one but nothing that stops me driving it, just maintenance and cosmetics really.

Lanchester we're hoping to have back on the road properly this year. We only really get to work on it on the weekends so progress is likely to be intermittent until we get through it all.

Thank you for the link, Peter, one for the useful bookmarks should we need it when we get to resurrecting the Ekco.

Sometimes I think I have too many projects, and then I find another project and realise that actually, one can never have too many projects.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2021 7:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

A nice fresh video for you to enjoy.

https://youtu.be/Z6osO16UAoY

I'll do the proper write up and photos later.
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
Posts: 7113
Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Tue May 11, 2021 10:10 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you have enough spare length in the capillary tube it's good to coil it even one turn just to allow for engine vibration. The sensor bulb is out of sight but you can see the capillary coil on the left of this photo. Just be sure not to stress it where it passes into the bulb.



Peter
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2021 12:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I did wonder about this since it's a metal line and more likely to be prone to going work-hardened with vibration and then fracture. Unfortunately, there's not really enough length in it to get a loop, whatever route we take. Or rather, there is but the loop would have to be so tight you'd risk kinking the line, or worse.

Would some sort of sprung mounting point to the inner wing help do you think? Or would that exacerbate vibration issues?
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peter scott



Joined: 18 Dec 2007
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Location: Edinburgh

PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2021 8:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'd be inclined not to tie it to the wing. Possibly tie it to a point on the engine a foot or so back from the bulb.

Peter.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2021 7:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I suppose it could be attached to one of the carburettor-to-manifold studs, that's then a fairly straight route from water pump to temperature gauge. There's not really a point near to each end of the capillary tube that you can use, at least not that's obvious, it seems the third point needs to be about halfway down the line.
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Vulgalour



Joined: 08 May 2018
Posts: 473
Location: Kent

PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2021 9:09 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Instead of using a separate camera for photos, I'm trying out the screenshot function on the video editing stuff. It makes this part of the update much easier since I can use just the one device and footage and means I have one less thing to forget when actually working on the car.

The first job was refitting the rear door card that we hadn't yet. The video really highlights what this job is like, it involved making a lot of these sorts of faces.


Once all the edge screws were in to hold the door card in place, Pat fitted the wooden capping since he seems to be better at that than I am and we made sure nothing was binding on the door frame. Happily, everything was good so we moved on to the next bit.


Fitting the pull handle was easy, that's just two large screws, fitting the window winder was another matter. As previously mentioned, the window winders almost seem to have too short a post on them meaning it very difficult to get the escutcheon compressed enough (even on the original plywood cards) to get the pin to go in the locating hole that holds everything together. We found it impossible to do solo, instead it usually takes three screwdrivers, a lot of huffing and puffing, and a dash of luck.


The door release handle, by comparison, is a doddle, partly because the post for that is just a bit longer. All the door cards in and the windows etc. tested we could happily draw a line under this part of the renovation. No more flappy door cards. When it comes to replacing the carpet on the bottom, we wont' actually have to remove the door card to do it, there's enough flex in the plywood once the side screws are undone that you can glue and tack the new carpet on pretty much in the same way it was done originally. This is no doubt deliberate since the carpet is the bit that's most likely to need replacement due to wear. On to the dashboard then. We'd already fitted this but did it wrong, so it had to come out again so we could reinstall it correctly. Confusingly, the top rail that looks to be the last thing to go on is actually the first thing because once you fit the main dash board you can't get to the fixings that hold the top rail in place.


Visibility for the four screws that hold the rail in place is poor, opening the fresh air vent did help a bit, with the side effect that any dust and detritus you didn't want in your face got blown straight into it. The screws go through metal brackets on the car's wooden body frame and into the rail itself, the first attempt we misaligned and screwed into thin air. This turned out to be another two person job since I had to see where it was aligned and then Pat had to hold the rail to prevent it from moving until we got a couple of screws located.




You can make out where they're supposed to go in this next picture, spot the silver coloured crosshead screws.


Then it was on to the dashboard itself. This is held in with three screws, one in the centre and one into each A pillar through metal brackets. First though, the glovebox needed to be reattached. We'd had to unscrew this to get the dashboard moved enough to fit the top rail, now it was a case of doing some contortions to get around the various obstacles to put the screws back in. This time we got all of the screws in so the glovebox is a good bit more secure than last time, which was nice. Access is not great.




Everything was then eased into place and the final three screws put in and we could call the dashboard done. Hopefully it will never need to come out again. We can do the wiring without removing the dashboard, access to the relevant bits is actually quite good for what it's worth. Next up, the cables for the choke, starter, and fuel reserve were refitted. The fuel reserve system isn't being reinstated but to save the cable just flopping about it made sense to put it were it belongs. We may repurpose the pull knob for another function in the future, like the hazards or something, for now it's not a worry.




Then it was the turn of the temperature gauge and its fragile capillary line. The wire on the back of the gauge is actually a very fine tube, sealed at both ends, that cannot be removed from the guage or the sender that goes into the water pump. It works so we're happy to reinstall it and it keeps things nicely original.


It's held into the back of the instrument cluster with two stubby little flathead screws, like the rest.


It was nice to finally see the instrument cluster complete again. The speedometer cable was reattached too. We didn't attach the starter cable to the starter because the starter motor needs to come off for a service or repair and to do that it looks like we need to remove the exhaust to get access to at least one of the starter's bolts so that's going to be another fairly involved job.


We also learned that either one of the hose connectors or the non-return valve for the washer pump is leaking a bit. We know it's not the heater matrix as that hasn't been used or disturbed this time, and you can trace the water to the washer pump connections. That one at least is an easy fix using generic parts.


It's wonderful seeing all of these things coming together and we're eager to crack on with the rest as soon as time and weather permits.
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Rick
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PostPosted: Wed May 12, 2021 10:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

An excellent write-up, thanks!

RJ
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