The Restoration of AYW709

[jeans_old_man]

The hood frame drawings are in the Gallery. Go to Gallery and search for 'hood'.

On my 1935 car I had to make some adjustments - see the following altered drawings:

Hood 3 corrected.png (210.01 KiB) Viewed 93396 times

hood 5 corrected - Copy.jpg (41.97 KiB) Viewed 93396 times

hood 7 corrected - Copy.jpg (57.86 KiB) Viewed 93396 times

[trialanderror]

Thanks, much appreciated
G

[mikeyr]

Hit a minor snag. The machine shop removed the oil gallery plugs on the block and I don’t have any to put in. Totally my fault but motor won’t go in today. So I can leisurely assemble it most of it. One plug is in the back so can’t put gearbox on either. I can get the oil pan and manifolds/ carbs on though. Just finished going through the carbs last week

[Peter McKercher]

Nice looking motor Mike

[mikeyr]

I know what all of you are thinking. Where did Mike get such gorgeous carbs? He lives in California surely you can’t get decent SU’s in California.

Well it took this many to get 2 good ones. Different year HS2’s so different vacuum ports (could have worked) or slight differences but all those bodies had one issue or other after decades in a junk yard (car breaker over there). Then the pistons didn’t go up or down as smoothly as they should or came down at different speeds. But I was able to get 2 perfect ones from all those.

[jeans_old_man]

I don't like to gloat but the carbs on the 1.5L Sport are brand new

[mikeyr]

gloat away, its well deserved. My carbs look new, the fall of the piston is matched front to rear and have all new parts in them, does that count ? if it was not for that stupid oil gallery plug (2 of them) that I missed, I would have put the motor in over the weekend, for hopefully its final time and been able to start the body work, the body is perfect but the front/rear wings I purchased from Hardwick somewhere between 15 and 20 years ago, don't really fit and the bonnet will need MAJOR re-work, it is 3/4" too tall on drivers side, it wont close at all with front wing I think where it needs to be. And over a 1" too short on passenger side, since my car never had front wings when I purchased it, I had no idea it was that far off. It does appear to be original for the car, so they must have made it fit at the factory, but I still have lots of guessing to do and try to fit it all. If I move the drivers front wing towards the rear of the car, then the bonnet fits but to make the passenger side fit, I have to move the wing forwards and end up with a noticeably crooked car and yes the chassis is straight and square. I hope/think I can get the rear wings to work. I would like to have all the major body work fitted and done this summer so I can start on the details on the rest of the car. I keep thinking I need to fly to the UK one of these Singer weekends so I can finally see another one of these cars and eliminate some of my guesses.

[Peter McKercher]

Just fly north Mike.

[mikeyr]

someone has to keep posting... So, my motor is ready to drop in. Finished it up last night, have to attach the gearbox and done. Waiting on FedEX to drop off a new pilot busing for the crank this afternoon and also the modified driveshaft that is supposed to arrive today but tracking for that still shows it in Van Nuys so I am guessing tomorrow. The bushing according to tracking is out for delivery, might get that in tonight and get the flywheel/clutch/gearbox attached so I can drop it in the car over the weekend. With the driveshaft installed once it gets here, I can finish up the welding on the front motor mounts and DONE, motor is in. Then its back to woodworking, have to get the fuel tank support frame done, its the last wooden thing that needs to be done and I can start trying to fit the front/rear wings. On track for a drive on the cars 90th birthday next year, maybe not completely finished but a drive around the block at least.

[Peter McKercher]

Yay Mikey

[mikeyr]

I planned on having the engine in by now but family got in the way. I also had forgotten that the front plate on the gearbox was not in since I had needed a shim between the plate and first motion shaft bearing. I ordered the shim 5 or 6 or 7 years ago but never installed it but of course I had assembled the rest of the gearbox, that meant taking a old clutch apart and using the splined part of the clutch, making it fit into a socket so I could torque the first motion shaft nut in place...would have been easier to do on the workbench before assembling the thing. Also took an hour to find the darned shim I purchased, but done...

Son-In-Law decided to fit the alternator...notice the water pump is not even bolted down yet, so fitting the alternator was very premature

Got my shortened and proper drive end driveshaft from the UK, a UK member was selling it and easier to buy then to make it myself The Sprite gearbox is splined and not bolted to the gearbox like the Singer one is. So you have to weld a Sprite drive onto the Singer shaft and also cut the shaft to fit.

The Sprite gearbox is shorter, so you have to reach quite a bit forward to shift the car...not anymore. 2 Sprite gearbox shifter extensions welded togehter, pretty neat eh ?

Back to hoping to get the motor in soon, I have turned it over and have good compression, every thing is timed, still have to re-prime the oil pump, I last primed it about 8 years ago when I built the motor thinking it would go in the car right away. Next up MAYBE be a rear axle swap, I want to fit a Sprite pumpkin into the Singer rear axle, that will allow me to easily change rear end gearing, I just have to make up special half shafts since the Sprite pumpkin has different splines. I read in a Australian Singer newsletter how they do that over there to play with easily obtained rear end gearing, looks pretty easy to do and i know Dave Hardwick also experimented with that to make it easier to get rear end gears. That is something I had not planned on doing but it seems so easy....famous last words. One thing to note, natural gas prices here in So. Calif have gone through the roof, I used to keep my garage at 62F (16.6C) throughout the winter but my gas bill this winter went from my usual $120 to $440 so I lowered the heater to 50F (10C) and WOW my unpainted front/rear wings started rusting almost immediately, also got rust on my table saw and lathe, so I have to get to painting the Singer pretty quickly at least the primer. Its amazing to me how much those few degrees more prevented rust in my shop.

[ColinB]

I run an electric dehumidifier over the winter for my little coupe here in the UK Mike. I have also found that car covers are lethal as when you have a very cold day followed by a warmer one the water in the air condenses onto the body and the cover keeps it nicely in contact with the paint! Your build is looking really good by the way.

[mikeyr]

Thanks Colin, really hopeful to get the engine in this weekend so I can finally start on fitting the wings, family got in the way last weekend. New spray gun arrives this Thursday, when I painted the Mini I got overspray EVERYWHERE in my garage, so I got a true HVLP gun and Turbine coming, they claim 30% less overspray with those guns (and besides in Calif. they are the law due to environment issues, but when the garage door is closed, no one knows what I am using). If I can get the engine in this weekend, I can start the next headache, fitting the wings after I shoot some epoxy primer on them. In the old days, i had a good friend who owned a auto paint shop and I would often use the paint booth on weekends as long as I was out by Monday morning, I had no idea how much overspray a gun can really output, it got all over my shop and that includes my S2000 (still have to clean that up). One year left until the car has to run down the road on its 90th bday, since I don't know the exact build date in March of 1934, I am going for a March 2024 deadline.

My car had been butchered with cycle wings so I honestly don't see how these that I got from Hardwick can fit, no matter what I try, it is wrong or interferes with something. I am half expecting to have to cut and weld them to fit, but people say they will fit.

[mikeyr]

Big day today. Should have been done a month ago but life (and death) got in the way.

Now I can absolutely see the issues people have with the steering gear with the a-series motor. It’s really tight and not sure it works. But big day the motor is in. So happy it’s in, with the main body tub done and motor in it’s a big step towards getting it finished

[mikeyr]

So after further review, there is almost enough room for the steering shaft. When I built the motor, I cut the motor's front plate as much as I dared to center the motor in the chassis and it is really close to center. The steering shaft just touches the distributor wires, but I can move the motor to the right a little bit (1/2") and give myself clearance. I have plenty of clearance from the carburetors to the sides of the bonnet (hood) and the driveshaft u-joints can easily handle the tiny little bit of extra angle as it will be minor. I have also decided to make a slot in the motor mount instead of welding it together, that slot will allow me to loosen the bolt and slide the motor over about 1 1/2" to allow removal of the distributor cap. A little compromise but this takes care of all the details and I can move forward. With the dizzy being electronic, I should not have to remove the cap very often anyway.

Motor went in pretty easily, fit is pretty tight with some immovable Singer original parts like the steering gear and the new motors distributor location but overall it looks good. The driveshaft I got from the UK is a little short though, still will work but 3/4" longer would have been better for the splines, it will work. NO modifications to the chassis at all, just new motor mounts, pretty easy. I should look into a new steering gear anyway, mine is rebuilt but pretty sloppy since you can't get new parts, a new gear would have u-joints on the shaft to move out of the way of the dizzy, but for now the goal is getting the car on the road, unless I accidentally find a steering gear that fits, I am not going that route.