Vintage Minor Register

Halbe,

One thing to watch is the main mounting bolt - on the right in your photo - three areas of wear can sum to give you a loose box in the chassis - wear in the ali steering box where the bolt goes through, waisting of the bolt and wear in the two lugs in the chassis bracket. Any movement of the box in the chassis will add to the play in your steering. My fabric saloon WL 7995 failed an MoT because of this once. I took the car home, wound the nut up a turn or so and took it back the the garage - it passed!

Does your car have the folded sheet steel locking washer for the plain nut on the steering bolt? Being such an original car, I wouldn't be surprised.

Hello Ian,

There is no play in all the areaś you mentioned, Itś a really tight fit
And yes I still have the folded sheet steel locking washer !
Ill also use locktite with these sort of parts



Itś such a joy to work on a car that is so original and unmolested

Regards,
Halbe

Halbe, it's all looking fantastic. Well done.

Thank's Toby

Halbe,

Keep up the good work.

progress report,

The steering is ready
There was not a lot to do except cleaning and having most of the parts nickel plated.
The result speaks for itself,





Anybody out there with a nice knob for the retard/advance lever?

Regards,
Halbe

Halbe, this is looking splendid.

There are a couple of options for the advance retard knob. The original was a Bakelite item and all the ones I have had have been pretty well cracked and crazed on the surface and can shatter easily if over-tightened on the rod. I have in the past used wooden balls bought from a bead shop (then filled one end of the hole and painted it black), and also black plastic balls of virtually the same size that I bought at Beaulieu many years ago and were supposed to be MGB heater control knobs, but I've never seen such a thing on a B. I have heard of others machining them up from bronze or aluminium, which is probably a good solution - specially if the aluminium could be black anodized.

The odd thing is that the rod is 9/32", but the thread is 1/4" BSF. I managed (with some difficulty) to source some 9/32" brass rod here in the States when I did Bed-Pan. becuase its rod was well worn around the steering column clamps. Then I carefully ground the end down to 1/4" diameter on a bench grinder before tapping it 1/4" BSF. Luckily, it still retains the original ball, which hasn't shattered - yet.

Incidentally, the two side hinges of the bonnet also take 9/32" brass rod, and I actually cannibalized my ingition rod to replace one of these side rods in my bonnet.

Halbe

Try http://www.coburg.co.uk and search under " plastic ball knob ".

Not perfect , but close !

Tony G

progress report,

After a busy season rallying the Aston its back to the garage.
Before starting the body rebuilt it was time to take some pictures of the restored rolling chassis.
Later this month I'll take the steering and bulkhead of the chassis ,take the body down from the ceiling and hoisting the chassis up there
For now I'm working on the gearbox , cleaning and painting the small bits before having the internals cleaned and checked.
Does anyone know the correct thickness for the hand/transmission brake lining?





Regards,

Halbe

Halbe

The transmission brake linings are 4 3/8 inches x 1 inch x 3/16 inch.

I have a new original set in a box [ no rivets ] if you are interested.

Tony G

Halbe,

Completing the rolling chassis marks an excellent milestone - well done. And the quality of your work is superb, made all the better, I am sure, by the fact that you started with a complete and wonderfully original car. The body will present a quite different set of challenges, but I am very confident that you will make an equally good job in that department. I look forward to a drive in her once she is back in her rightful place out on the open road.

Halbe, Is that your downstairs bathroom that your Morris lives in?!!!!! Your Garage is a credit to you as is all your work on your cars - well done, Highlander.

Yes,
Starting with an unmolested and very very original car makes it all worthwhile
It also encourages me to keep as close to the truth as possible , I have a lot of pleasure doing all the tiny jobs to the best possible standard I can achieve.
Highlander : Thanks for your kind words!



Great little cars

Regards,
Halbe

Progress report,

So it was back to the garage to swap the body and chassis.
The restored chassis is now hanging from the ceiling and the body is ready to start working on



The wood is remarkably sound with only the floorboards needing replacing and a little bit on the right front pillar.....
Replacing all the fabric will be more work but i have taken over 100 pictures to try and get that right



Regards,
Halbe

Halbe,

Do you intend to unbolt the frame at the rear, where the fabric is tucked into the two vertical joins? I imagine this could be tricky - particularly if the bolts are rusted. I guess you will have to do this to conceal the fabric join anyway?