- new chassis.JPG (772.7 KiB) Viewed 9991 times
I have done a lot of talking on this forum, but, so far, you have seen little of my project. A note from Stu has prompted me to start this project thread.
I bought 23HF14, a Series 3 GS from a 517-strong batch delivered in 1979 two years ago. It had led a fairly boring life - with two TA regiments based in the London area, but it was in service for 17 years, being struck off in 1978 so relatively quite a long time. Since then... oh dear, I think a PO used it for deep-sea diving as it was full of mud and rust everywhere. I had the intention of running it for fun and doing little more than thorough servicing and a cosmetic refurbishment. I had, therefore, bought what I had hoped was a good un”. The vendor, a well-known specialist dealer assured me that it needed little more than a “Saturday morning with a wire brush and a bit of Schulz”. In fact, after a couple of hundred miles I took it off the road with a view to a complete rebuild. You could see daylight through the rear chassis rails underneath the spring hanger, the bulkhead and vent panel were like lace with holes hidden with Araldite, one fuel tank wouldn’t work and the gearbox started to do strange things without warning. Plus it often chose not to start - particularly if I was in town shopping! But, the engine was sound and it steered beautifully - which in itself was a bit bizarre! It had a Weber carb and 7.50x16 Michelins and it seemed to lack oomph.
My initial idea was to make it as comfortable and convenient as possible but, my ideas changed, not least through influence from the Forum: I decided I would return it as close as I could to original, not concours, but with reliability, tidiness and everything working as it should. But there would be one or two concessions to where I live: it would have reversing lamps and a heated screen! So, as I had no intention of repeating the work in my lifetime, I chose a new Richards’ galvanised chassis and Ashtree bulkhead, vent panel and front panel - all of which would otherwise have needed welding skills beyond mine.
So the strip-down began. Basically, it has been a matter of removing bits slowly and cleaning them up and preserving them as I have gone along, ready to put them back on later. So, that has meant very little obvious progress in that the old chassis still stands on its wheels and the engine and gearbox are in. But, the new chassis has been primed and painted and the rear wiring loom fitted. I won’t add anything more to the new chassis though until it is standing on wheels simply because, as it is, I can just lift it with help from another - if I add anything else, I shan’t be able to.
The major part of the work has been getting the old underseal off the bodywork and de-rusting. The tub floor was shot, so I have a new one to go in, but that is waiting for the new front cross-member which I still have to collect (along with those of others) from Neil which I hope to do in a fortnight’s time. But, the tub support brackets are de-rusted (I have been using cider vinegar as it is cheaper than Evaporust (though perhaps not quite as effective). They are painted and waiting to go back on. The wiring loom has been cleaned, tested, labelled and supplemented with extra wires needed for additions - I’ll wire it for front fog lamps, though I may not fit them, it will have reversing lamps, interior lights, extra power sockets and other bits and pieces, but nothing too obvious. Then the heater, the instrument panel, the headlamps, and towing eye have been overhauled and the fuel tanks cleaned, primed and painted. The brake and clutch hydraulic systems are in the process of being sorted, the steering gear cleaned up and the engine and gearbox are now ready for removal as one. The next major work is to get the axles off, refurb them and ft them to so that I will have a rolling chassis - that will be a big step forward and enable me to start fitting other bits on to the new chassis. I will then fit the new bulkhead temporarily onto the old chassis as a sort of jig so that I can make it up before adding it to the new chassis after the engine goes back in. As it will take two to lift it into place without scratching the new paint, it might as well weigh more than it does stripped which is a one-man lift!
Otherwise, I have been generally collecting the things I need - new springs, for example as someone had fitted parabolics, loads of new gaskets, fixings and so on, and lots of the little detail things which it lacked. I have also fitted it with a number-plate on the tailboard which I know is wrong for its age, but I do want to be able to drive it stripped down in the summer so it makes sense to do that retrograde step.
So, that’s where I am. I expect to get it finished sometime next year but there is no rush - provided I can bring it to the club 50th bash in 2018! I have tried several times to load photographs, but all the ones of the strip-down are too big (over 1MB), so I have taken a few low-resolution ones today to add, but, even they keep blowing the thread. The photos aren't great, but you can see the new chassis with various bits close by (the FFR battery box will be my cubbybox) the general view of the garage shows the old chassis, pedals and fuel tank being painted the tub and bonnet awaiting further work and then the instrument panel as proof I have actually got something to show! I’ll try once more...
Fred
I hope you can get the piccie issue sorted as we like piccies on here we do.
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