The Restoration of AYW709

[mikeyr]

making progress...body is bolted down in its final location. About 1/2" back from where it was with the original timbers which hopefully will not interfere with the fuel tank and spare tires but when I moved it forward to match the holes in the original timbers (that were quite rotted) the hood (bonnet) did not fit right. It fit at the top of the cowl and radiator shell but the angle was off going down. It fits nicely now. Floor boards are made, moving right along slowly but very steadily. Son-in-Law works at West Marine (a marine hardware store) so he got me more stainless wood screws than I will ever need in my lifetime of various sizes and length. Probably 600-700 screws total as they were switching vendors and had to get rid of the old ones along with the display, he just brought it all home for $50 total. That will hold all the rear floorboards down and other stuff, I will go with those turn buttons for the forward floorboards that need removing. Son-In-Law also brought home, some stainless threaded inserts similar to what Brian posted above, so good to go all around.

I am working on the seat parts and then back to steering gear and getting the brakes finished up. I have the linings and the rivets but I have to figure out how to do that or have a shop do it for me. It sure looks easy but I don't have the rivet setting tool and wonder if its worth buying one. Looks like I turn one on the lathe pretty easy too, but I bet a shop will do it for only a few dollars.

[mikeyr]

In honor of Singer National, I worked on my car.
As I mentioned a while ago the body is bolted down. But I made mistakes on the beams in the middle of the car. I had to redrill new holes in the propellor shaft cover since the holes I initially drilled were too close to the edgeof the wood beams. Oh well I will weld the holes up before painting (maybe since they won’t be seen but they do bother me). And yes the floor pic looks similar to one I posted a month ago but now it’s screwed down and finished, until painting. I had to change things around a few times.

Having to guess how all this goes together since there was nothing when I bought the car. But big news to me is I finally removed the shipping braces that went from the rear of the body to the cowl to keep the door gaps and fit. And nothing moved so body is well adjusted. Now can finally try and guess the seating and build that. Still quite unsure about the seat back but will guess to my best. Hoped to be at this point a month ago but things got in the way. And let’s throw some eye candy in the pics with some chrome that recently arrived

[ColinB]

Looking great Mike!

[jeans_old_man]

Love the lamps! Where did you get them from? Did they cost the earth?

[mikeyr]

They did not cost the earth...they cost the Earth, the Moon and part of Mars also.

In a earlier post, I mentioned I had a friend who had a set from Vintage Headlight Restoration in the UK and he wanted to sell them, he was offering them to me at a really good price. Well I waited too long and he decided to sell his car and they went with the car, but by then I decided I had to have them (as we say in the U.S., I got a bug up my derriere and nothing was going to stop me, in the UK I think its bee in one's bonnet), so I went ahead and ordered them from Vintage Headlight. Austin Repro was less expensive but without stone guards that I really wanted, I would have to add the clip-on stoneguards and I wanted the hinged ones, also they didn't have the spot lamp, so while more expensive I got exactly what I wanted and the way I wanted it.

I have most of the goodies for the car now, I still need a steering wheel and going to get the Ashby 16" one, I am not the skinniest person so losing a inch on the diameter of the wheel may help with clearance in the car, besides 16 is all I can find in Ashby, I am still researching if it will fit the Singer hub, i assume it will.

I have a long weekend (4 days) to finish the seats and after that in next month or 2, start a dry assembly of the car to make sure everything fits. On schedule to be done by the cars 90th birthday (March 1934-March 2024), uh oh, did I just commit in writing to something

[jeans_old_man]

Ah! I have a quote for the L165s for the 1.5 from them. Not cheap, but probably worth it in the long run.

Mike, I have emailed you. Do you know the name of the previous owner of US8155? I believe his first name was Neil. I am trying to get the 1.5 registered with the original US8155 number and this informtion will help.

Regards Brian

[mikeyr]

Brian, I did reply to your email, did you not get it ? I will be hunting through boxes this weekend, but I don't think I have any information. I will let you know

and I am impressed by the quality of the lamps, it was worth it to me.

[Peter McKercher]

I thought Mike Smith was the original owner in the U.S.

[mikeyr]

never heard that, I was told by Neil who I bought the car from that his father Neil (sr.) purchased the car new in the UK. I thought I had sent everything I had over with the car.

[Peter McKercher]

Do you recall Neil's last name?

[mikeyr]

No I don't and I can't find any paperwork, brought down a few boxes from attic this morning and will check after work and contact Brian via email.

Ok, back to work

Trying to figure out something. There is the seat back adjuster, that looks awfully close to the bottom. My image scale says about 2" from bottom

But there Is no wood that low in the body to attach the other half of that seat adjuster. There is a block of wood attached higher.

Based on that, I would assume the metal plate that does the adjusting would be above the door latch into good wood, but it makes more sense to place lower over the latch. But I don't understand why the wood block is so high if that is the case...by the way the wood block is the same on my original body but none of the screw holes line up, so not sure what is going on. Above the latch where there is a lot of good wood that appears there for this reason

And even with the latch

Either one of those appears to be much to high for the other part that is attached to the seat back. UNLESS the seat back does not go all the way to the floor. I of course could go lower and only attach to the body card, but that in only 1/4" plywood and that block attached to the body pillar just seems made for this.

[jeans_old_man]

Here is a photo from Peter Kercher's post which seems to show the plate in the lower position over the door striker plate.

[Peter McKercher]

I did end up drilling through the latch for one of the adjuster screws.

[mikeyr]

Did you forget me ? I have not posted in a long time. Because, summer and more summer

I think I have the seats done and ready to go, I have to get some pics up so you can tell me what I did wrong. But the guy i was going to use for upholstery has lost interest for now. He is retired and just doing small jobs, he says maybe after summer he will do it. I am OK with that since I really thought it was too early for that step.

Been playing with the motor and gearbox as that is the more natural next step anyway. Have the motor assembled and gearbox will be done as soon as a few minor parts arrive. Then I have to build one good functioning distributor out of 3 that are bad and I have to find some carbs (remember I am putting in a A-Series motor). I stupidly gave away my 2 SU's to a friend years ago who needed them more than I did at the time, so now have to find some along with manifold and all the goodies, luckily its a A-series motor it wont be hard to find. Then drop the motor in

But first, son-in-law's Mini is back in my garage. We are doing a engine swap in it, we put in a Yamaha R1 motor in the thing because it is what he wanted, well 90MPH in second gear with 4 more gears to go is NO FUN to drive on city streets and the chain drive to the axles wears out quickly due to the extra weight of the body, and ...and ... too many other things, it might be fun on a race track where people normally drive R1 powered Mini's but not on city streets, so a full engine swap, not putting in the original Mk1 848 though, going with a 1275. Have to re-weld up the front end that we cut up to fit the R1 motor and that was all done this past weekend, now I have to re-paint the front end. Then the 1275 will go in the car in 2 weeks, then exhaust, new wiring since this motor has no computer it will be easy. Of course that 1275 has the carbs I WAS going to use on my Le Mans, so I guess I am giving away my second set of SU's, but Son-in-law will help pay for the carbs for the LM when I find some. Good part about this is, I am experimenting on his motor and then working on mine after I figure things out on his. Both motors were on the workbench at same time and there is the slight possibility that the newer or better parts went into my motor.

[mikeyr]

engine is assembled for BOTH the mini and the LM. We put the exhaust in the mini over the weekend, some minor wiring left and it should be done.

LM engine needs almost ready to drop in, I should have the engine in soon. The Mini should be going home to my son-in-law within next 2 or 3 weeks max. Then its ONLY LM. Engine was rebuilt and fired but then I had to remove the front plate to cut and weld it up to fit better. So minor reassembly and some paint and I even the exhaust ready to go.