Web Forum for Singer Cars

By the way I have heard from John Griffiths that the headlights should be 9" after all.

Hi Colin,
It's looking good!
The doughnuts are available from Hardwick spares; they are the same as used on the 1.5, 14hp and 2 litres of thirties.
Hope that might help
keep up the good work
Bill
PS I'm back on my project too...photos soon I hope

Thanks Bill that is really helpful. I'll order some. I'm looking forward to seeing more pictures of your project.

Actually I got impatient as Hardwick didn't reply to my email and the sheet of rubber from eBay turned up. So I made the mounts and put the engine back in the chassis. It was quite a job as the floor is uneven so the engine hoist was hard to manoeuvre but it got there in the end. I carried the chassis outside and reversed it before the engine went in so the engine is near the door where I get better light. I also took the side off the steering box and drained off the old oil before refilling it with Millers 140 oil held in (hopefully) with a new gasket I made.

Tomorrow I will try and get the gearbox reattached although I find to my horror that I have to do some proper work too.

gee, Hardwick didn't reply...oh what a surprise

Agreed.
Since Dave passed away the children’s service is not what we were used to.
Roly

My order came through promptly I ordered from the catalogue, including engine mounts but I wasnt expecting a next day service. Daves family have had serious illness problems and have full time jobs as well, having seen the massive amount of stuff Dave accumulated I wouldnt want to sort it out.

Hi Colin,

The work you've done on the oil filler cap looks superb. What epoxy did you use? Did you make a mold? build up the epoxy slowly or all at once? and shape it after forming, or during the epoxy stage? Is it painted, and if so, did you need to prime before painting?

I would like to restore the steering wheel for my Nine Sports and think epoxy might be the best approach.

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Once again, fantastic work.

David

I used Milliput, David, which is a two-pack epoxy putty. It is self coloured and seems to cure through a fairly thick section. I have found it easy to shape while still pliable (a couple of hours) and it sticks like mad to anything clean. I repaired the wheel on my Grey Fergie some years ago with similar stuff and that has lasted really well. The oil cap just had a minor sand to finally shape it when it was cured and a brush over with a dry black boot polish brush.

Just to note by the way that I wasn't being critical of the Hardwicks in my earlier post - I was just commenting on my own impatience.

Gearbox back in and new head gaskets arrived which seem to fit very well. You can see the intermediate accelerator lever attached to the back of the block. I haven't fitted the head nuts yet but I may do that tomorrow, although I have friends coming round for Moroccan lamb which I'm cooking for supper so I have to keep an eye on my priorities.

Various bits loosely fitted just to see how it comes together - nothing tweaked up let alone torqued at present. The exhaust manifold has been treated with a special paint (baked on in a spare oven in an outhouse) but I'm leaving the inlet manifold in its raw aluminium. The head nuts will be cleaned and then painted once they are tight and the distributor needs a really good clean. I may take it to a local specialist Mel for testing as I will almost certainly have to take the dynamo which turns all too freely and may need an overhaul. Mel rewound the magneto on my Junior and did a great job at a very reasonable price.

Well Colin, it's come down to this: When you're done with this project, I have a Nine Sports that could well benefit from your ministrations.

Do you take on commissions?

Keep up the momentum. You're doing a tremendous job. It's inspiring.

David

no no no...after he is done with this one, he has my car to do...you can't cut in line.

I hope to be retired in 2 years 2 months, look out world, I will get both 34's finished in almost record time, Colin will still have the record I think.

Thanks for the really nice comments! I feel I have been very lucky with this car so far and as a result progress has been fairly fast and easy up to now. The really big jobs are to come with restoration of the body, starting with the missing or rotten woodwork, but I am strangely really looking forward to getting to grips with that.

I took the steering column apart and used my favourite chrome paint on the sleeve and hand throttle arrangement and painted the steering box black. I stopped the chrome short of the steering box as I didn't want bits of paint to get inside it. The hand throttle is very simple - a wheel on the column works via a long connector to move a lever up and down which in turn acts on the throttle lever.

The steering wheel had been quite badly splashed with primer when someone had parts of the car blasted and primed sometime in the early 80s, but fortunately this came off with a hard rub from a mildly abrasive pad normally used for rubbing down paint between coats. I have also mended some splits with glue and epoxy putty. The wheel smells like old 78 records and buffed up nicely with the friction from a hard rub with my hands when the paint splashes had been removed.

Just to let you know that Hardwicks came back to me with prices for the suspension bushes. I will buy them as I'm keen to retain an authentic car (despite the odd splash of chrome paint!). I also realise that what I called a hand throttle is simply a very complex way of setting the idle from the driver's seat - it would be a very dangerous alternative throttle as it takes quite a few revolutions to move the lever so you could be stuck at full revs while approaching a hazard...