The Restoration of AYW709

[Peter McKercher]

I forgot about the chunk of wood for extra support on the steering bracket.

[mikeyr]

so kind of a dumb question that I am not sure people can answer over the net since there are too many variables and even too many differences between these handbuilt cars. I am trying to fit the body to the chassis, the builder said loosely assemble all the parts to locate the body on the chassis before drilling the main beams and bolting it down. So how much of an angle should the radiator shell (Front grill in the U.S) have ? When I bolt it up, it has a pleasing slope rearward but then the bonnet does not fit, if I move the rad shell near vertical, now the bonnet almost fits but the body is further forward than I think it should be by about a 1 1/2". I currently have placed the body "nearly exactly" where the original was. I have confirmed, that my rad shell is correct but it is a Hardwick replacement so I have a new body, a new rad shell and trying to fit old bonnet (hood in the U.S.). Pretty sure that the body is in correct place also because I fitted my original gas tank support bracket and it "looks right" if I move the body forward as much as I think it needs for bonnet to fit, there will be quite a large gap between rear of body and gas tank.

All I am trying to do right now, is get the body located on chassis and main beams drilled and body bolted. I want to get that done so body is solid on chassis. I really think its time for me to know what time your flights are in Peter and Colin, I will pick you up. Peter because you have done this step before on this year/model car and Colin because at the speed you work, we could be done in a few weeks. Phillip feel free to chime in also. Tim, the guy who built the body, said its no uncommon to have to trim or weld up a small piece on bonnets to get a good gap all around, but I need to trim over one inch currently so I know I am off somewhere. I know with all the new parts trying to fit to old parts, things could be sloppy and need fitting. I am going to try one more thing today, fit the front wing supports since they are bolted to the rad shell with the headlamp brackets, maybe that will answer my own questions.

I have the entire week off as vacation and coolest place around is my garage with the So. Cal. heat wave going on, I will be in garage all week making progress with the AC on.

[Peter McKercher]

Mike,
I would get the gap at the tank correct and then adjust from there. There a dozen or so possible adjustments for the bonnet, but primarily you are adjusting for length (front to back of bonnet) and angle (lining up the front and back angles of the bonnet so they align with the body and the recess in the rad shell. key adjustments are the bonnet bolts in the rail - they can move back and forth as well as up and down. Moving up at the back will pull the front bottom edge of the bonnet side back at the rad shell and the bottom rear of the bonnet side closer to the bottom edge of the cowl. You can also adjust the bonnet rail back and forth which will move the top of the rad shell out while leaving the bottom stationary. you can also move the bottom of the rad shell back and forth. You could, if needs be, also shim the front of the body so the rear of the bonnet is higher than the front to help adjust the angle of the fore and aft edges. It's a bit of a geometrical process, but not that time consuming. Did mine last week.

[mikeyr]

Let’s talk wing stays for a moment. My wing stays were welded to the chassis when I bought my car and there were no tapered thingies to keep the shock bolt parallel to the axle.

So there is a thick tapered washer and a thin one. Which one goes in the frame and which one outside the frame ? Second on the outside does the washer go into the wing stay or between the stay and frame ? I tried both and the wing stay against the frame sure makes more sense to me

[darcy]

Hi Mike, I did and do face the same problem with my bonnet radiator. At some stage somebody also cut about 1-11/2 inches from the dash end. Firstly I had a 2” strip tack welded to the dash end. But it still did not does not sit correctly against the radiator.

When building the wood work from scratch, I recalled from rebuilding my MGTD I was told to have the radiator etc fixed in position and then build everything back from there. So I put it as best I could in what I thought was a good position, attached the front guards as these help hold it there by way of headlight mounts. I then ran what I believed to be the correct length bar from the grill back to determine where the top of the cowling should be. That position gave a marker to build the cowling and the tool tray etc.

The bonnet is still slightly out. I was also told MGTC bonnets were trimmed on the assembly line to fit each car and I suspect the same was true of Singers. The flutes in the bonnet side should align with the cowling alignment and so this is my second checkpoint.

Eventually when I get mine skinned, hopefully soon, both ends of the bonnet will need to be trimmed to fit the car.

I hope this helps, you are not alone.

[mikeyr]

It does help, thank you to both of you. I have given up trying to make it perfect and working on other parts. Like fitting the wings to see how they will go. I will trim where needed and weld up strips where needed when I get everything else lined up.

I also put those tapered things inside the wing stays as it feels better, still don't know if the thick or thin one inside the chassis

On to other parts

[darcy]

Did you see this re the wedges?

[mikeyr]

Those are the wedges I am talking about, I was trying to figure out if they went into the wing stay or between the wing stay and frame, I chose inside and that is what Hardwick's drawing shows, I should have checked there. But one is thick and one is thin, I don't which one goes into the wing stay, for now I chose the thinner one, I will experiment with that when I actually put it together for good, at this point, I am just test fitting to figure out where to bolt the body.

[mikeyr]

Wives can be so mean sometimes

Wife came out to see what I am doing and said

“So basically 25 years ago you bought a Singer hood (bonnet) and now you are building a car around that hood”

Had to laugh… she is not far off

New rad shell, new front and rear wings, new body tub, new gas tank. But hey the frame and bonnet are original!

Ok enough playing around, I have the body located on the chassis. Time to take it back apart and start working on the running gear

[mikeyr]

Rear wings don’t fit. I wonder if I the wrong wings from Hardwick

My original wings were flat behind the body. These have a piece that sticks out so the gas tank won’t fit along with the wings pointing outward. More welding to slow down progress

[mikeyr]

Well I am told my new wings are correct and my original are not. Sure looks like factory welds. But ok.

How far should rear wings on 34 sit below the body ?
I am guessing about here. I drew the line based on my original wings

[Peter McKercher]

About 5/8"

[mikeyr]

thank you

[mikeyr]

I know it’s only September but look what Santa brought me today. All brand new stuff

[Peter McKercher]

There's a butt load of cash.