Hello All,
Well, my Minor restoration is making slow but steady progress !! My engine gave up on me before I could even take a proper drive in the car and it turned out that it was in need of a complete rebuild. Now, a complete rebuild later, new pistons in place, the engine has finally started, so that's a big, big relief. It is now back in the car, complete with a brand new set of standard size pistons and valves. At the time of rebuilding, we had discovered a crack in the engine block which we had fixed. Thankfully, the work done on the crack seems to be holding well for the time being. The water jacket between the engine and the radiator had corroded completely and we had one fabricated locally.
We also serviced the brakes, fitted new brake master cylinder and wheel cylinder rubber and new liners. We discovered that the leaf spring joints had some terrible (oval) wear which was making the whole car wobble. That job is also on the verge of completion. We also re-painted the undercarriage while we were at it.
The gearbox was opened, serviced and cleaned up. The 4th gear was in such terrible shape that the previous owner did not even know it existed and I found it only after I learnt that my car was a 1934 model !! Now its all working smoothly. The undercarriage has also been cleaned and repainted. The starter motor, which at first could not turn the engine at all, is now working like a dream after a full reconditioning.
It has been quite a journey till now. What started with putting a new set of plugs and a new carburetor turned into a complete mechanical restoration !! But now I have a fully restored engine, gearbox, chassis and undercarriage, brakes, suspension system, steering system and starter motor. Most of what was not original is now replaced with original parts. So I have the original SU carburetor in place of the downdraft Zenith and plumbing pipe combo (not joking !!) that I had on the car, the original steering box instead of a Suzuki one retrofitted to the car, the original set of meters and switches and the original dynamo (though, with Ahmedabad touching 47 degree Celsius in Summer and never dropping below 15 degrees on the coldest winter day, I might retain the electric fan / alternator setup for everyday use in the interest of the car’s mechanicals)
Now, next in line is the radiator which would be going for a complete (and badly needed) rebuild. After that comes the wobbly wheel issue and a new set of tyres ! One of the wheels is completely out of alignment and the tyres are in a terrible state. I have 500-525 x 16 tyres which are not available in India. Now, to restore the wheel, I need to get the tyres off. Once off, they are not going to go back on again because they will most probably shatter in the process. So I thought it would be best to start the car, do a small test drive, see if everything works and then sort out the wheel – tyre issue. After that, its the interiors, the hood and the other cosmetic bits. Yup, still a long way to go, but there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel and a possibility of going for a ride in a convertible at some point in the not so distant future !!
Well, I will keep posted here about the progress. But if all goes well, I should be posting a link to a video which shows yours truly driving a lovely green 1934 Minor SV Touring with the silliest grin on his face !!
In the mean time, here is the link to a few photos of the progress:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25261868@N07/
Also, a (bad) video of the car engine running for the first time after the rebuild is posted on this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMQx8NfgbGU
Regards
Parth
Note: My car came with a DK4A automatic distributor rather than the original DJ4. But that seems to work well on the car. So, if someone is looking for an auto advance-retard setup, it’s a worthy contender. I, for one, am planning to switch to the DJ4 if I can only get my hands on one !!