Yeah - the garage exploding would be a real bummer, especially this close....

For that reason, I am always very concious about vapour and fumes and only use that sort of stuff with both the front and rear doors wide open.

Brake cleaner would be just as good. I use the IPA because it leaves absolutely zero residue leaving a cleaner surface for the sealing wax to stick to, plus I can get my hands on large quantities of IPA for very little money and is easier to use in a pressurized garden sprayer for large areas.

Just come in from a night in the garage doing all the final checks.

Just to be safe, I replaced all the fuses with new correct white 8amp original style continental fuses which look great.

I also stripped down, thoroughly cleaned and rebuilt the battery cable and earth strap so I know the electrics are A1.

I tested everything several times and all is well.

Battery is now on trickles charge / cylce, tyre pressures are set, brake fluid checked / topped up, brakes adjusted, all nuts and fasteners underneath and on the steering checked, all lock tabs and washers folded down, rear hub nuts and wheel nuts checked and torqued...

I can do no more...

Oh, and for the record, going through my invoices, I've applied 18 full cans of sealing wax to it! :thumbup:

---

Good luck Andy, not that I think you'll need it.

Can't believe the 55 is not far from MOT stage too! :smile:

Wooo-hooo!

:D

MOT tester was a star and had a '62 Beach Buggy so knew what he was looking at. He said he couldn't believe it and that it might as well be brand new.

My only concern was the brakes, but according to him it sailed through and actually had more efficiet brakes than a fair few modern cars! I guess I'm just used to big servos and bin lid discs.

No advisories, no warning, no anything - sailed through without a hitch.

The girl at the DVLA tried her absolute best to obstruct me in my quest for registration and actually seemed a little frustrated when I produced every document that she asked for. It became a bit of a sport in the end.... "Ah, but have you got this....." - "Yeasm here, you go..." - "But what amout this form......" - "Yep, got that too..." - ok, but I still need this, this and that....." - "What, like these...."

She sighed, rocked back on her chair, pulled a bit of a face and admitted defeat.

I won - she lost - go and screw yourselves DVLA!

The law states I can only drive it home directly from the MOT station and must not pass go, or collect £200.... until my tax disc arrives, which should be by the end of the week.

Drive home was nice.... nice and slow.... real slow :lol: Poweful it isn't! More a case of trying to maintain momentum, but it gets you there and will just about keep up with steady modern traffic away from the lights, but I'm taking it very easy at the moment until everything has fully bedded in.

It seems happy to cruise at about 90kmh without having to put my foot too hard down, so I guess 55mph isn't too bad.

Brakes started to feel better and better, although they'll never be 'strong' in the modern term of the word.

I am happy.

---

Fantastic!

Can't say I'm one bit surprised, but Fantastic anyway!!

Mike :beer:

---

Norry House? If so, been there done that etc. I take all mine to Bangor now as a result... Three times as far but a lot less bother! Congrats on the pass. :thumbup: All I can say is, look out for errant 17 year olds in Fiestas at junctions... Going to Stanford, then?

---

Yes - Stanford is the first public outing.

Gives me plenty of time to fiddle and fettle and get it running perfectly. Still a few little bits n bobs to sort but in general, it's mechanically almost there now.

:thumbup:

---

Nice one really pleased for you, only good times ahead now LT:beer: :d

Well done mister.

---

Well done Andy!

---

again...well done Andy :thumbup:

The plan today was to just go out and drive the wheels of it, but as the saying goes "The best laid plans of mice and men...."

I'd kind of compartmentalised the job of fitting the number plates as a 5 minute affair, but it quickly developed into a longer chore.

The problem I encountered was that the original holes for the number plates were positioned rather inconveniently directly behind the digits on the new plates which meant I couldn't use traditional coach bolts to fasten the plates on without drilling another pair of holes in my deck lid and front bumper which I was loathed to do.





After staring at the plates and the car for a while, I whizzed out to the local B&Q (Home Depot equivalent, if you're reading this from across the pond) and bought some supplies.

I decided to make a studded mounting bracket that i could bond to the new number plate but still screw into the original holes on the car.

For this, I used a 25mm x 2mm strip of aluminium which I firstly bent to the correct contour of the deck lid, then roughened up the surface with 40 grit to give the adhesive a good key.





After carefully measuring their positions, I drilled a hole at each end and countersunk them to allow some M4 machine screws to fit flush.







Then mounted it to the car to make sure everything fitted ok, before I bonded it to the back of the number plate.





The adhesive I used was one I'd heard great things about called 'Rapid Steel' which is a type of 2 part epoxy resin suitable for bonding metals.





Once I'd roughed up the back of the plate and spread a thin coat to both surfaces, I offered up the bracket to the rear of the plate using marker pen lines as a position guide. One in place, I used large plastic spring clamps to hold them together for the 2 hour cure.





The front plate as an identical procedure. By the time I;d got back from the store, cut, shaped and bent the brackets followed my measuring them about a thousand times, it was already gone 2pm and I'd been called to a family get together so decided to leave my maiden leisure cruise until tomorrow, which at least gives the adhesive on the plates time to fully harden. Once back from the party, I mounted the plates and took thee pics. I'm delighted - it actually looks 'finished' now, even though there's still plenty to do.









Love it!

---

Well, the roads dried out and I just had to take the '57 out for it's maiden voyage...

All I can say is, never in the kingdom of awesomeness has there ever been anything so awesome, that was was better than anything that was previously considered awesome by awesome people amongst all other awesome stuff as my oval.

I've got the most stupid, ridiculous grin from ear to ear that is so big, if it got any bigger, it would join up round the back and the top of my head would fall off.

Here's the latest episode of LT-TV to capture the mood!

---

So you´re saying it was quite awesome then? Just so we´re clear.:d

Shame about the vid.

"This video contains content from Sony Music Entertainment. It is not available in your country"

---

Videos of motor vehicles etc. are generally much better without music in them, anyway. I'd much rather hear the engine noise than have to dive for the volume control when confronted by bloody Coldplay or The Red Hot Chili Peppers or whatever...

Still, on the road... Get in, eh? And yes, I'm massively envious!

---

Before I took it on it's maiden voyage today, I noticed the stack of hubcaps under the bench, and I suddenly remembered why I'd not yet fitted them - on one of the wheels, two of the hubcap retaining spring clips had broken off. I'd secured a set of nice original items a while back complete with original style steel rivets and thought I'd better get them fitted before I drove off.







These rivets need peening flat to make them work and the workshop manual shows a specific tool to support the domed part of the rivet whilst it is hammered from the rear... I didn't have one of these tools, so had to make a decision of whether to use standard pop rivets like a normal person, or go through all the hassle of making a tool and setting the wheel up in a jig just so I could say I used the correct bloody rivets..... you know what's coming next...

To make the correct tool, I took some hexagon brass stock and filed the clearance recess for the clip to sit in, them machined a dome shaped cup in the top to support the rivet.







To stop the spring clip rotating out of true with all the hammering, I taped it in the correct orientation first.





I then needed to find a way to hammer the rivet whilst holding the wheel over the tool in the vice. With no helpers on hand at this point of the day, I took a hobby bench and axle stands and arranged them in a fashin that securely supported the wheel whilst I hammered.







Then it was just a case of using a hardened steel drift and a hammer to flatten the rivet. Took some work I can tell you - soft ally they are not!









And there we go - all present and correct!





Took a long time, but at least I know it's right and not a cheap rush job with ally pop rivets.

Another job I've been meaning to do ever since I got my new ignition barrel was to have the door and deck lid lock re-coded to match so I could have one key that fits all.

I acquired two new sets of lock wafers and also a nice pair of NOS SG profile key blanks.... which was nice!

The process is the same for both locks, so here is how it is done on the door lock...

Firstly, the door handle is removed by undoing the two screws that are hidden behind the door seal - and yes, I've got a pair of NOS seals ready in the wings...







There's a hinge pin that holds the handle onto the housing which needs to be tapped out with a drift.







Which then allows the assembly to come apart along with the handle return spring.







Next up is to remove the actual lock barrel which is secured with a small grub screw...







The wafers are spring loaded so be careful not to lose the tiny springs. They pull out with tweezers from one side but might need a little effort as the edges of the slots they slide in can be slightly peened over to prevent them falling out. A sharp blade or jewellers screw driver is good for clearing the slots. Here are the 6 wafers laid out.





Here you can see the tiny springs sitting in their cylindrical holes.





And finally, the lock with all new wafers cut to match the ignition - one key now does them all. Assembly is the reverse of the above as they say in the manuals!

---

Another great vid Andy, well done!

I was out in my '57 today too so can share your joy, there's nothing better than driving a finally tuned, well maintained oval on a sunny day. Those little 30 horse engines sound like sewing machines and pull so smoothly and solidly, a real delight!

Marvellous, I'm really pleased for you, the awesomeness you're experiencing is well deserved! :beer:

Mike :thumbup:

---

The postman came today with what must be one of the better NOS finds I've come across, and many thanks to the very kind gentleman you saw my need and offered this rare and wonderful part for sale....

Get your tissues ready Mr Oakley....

How about a perfect NOS Oval trunk liner?







Most splendid!

---

For those that are interested, I've hit the (jackpot again) and found a box of NOS 36hp crank shims and also a full set of NOS king pin thrust and fibre washers - see the classifieds.

:thumbup:

---

IN OTHER NEWS......

I've just quality checked and signed off a production run of 36hp crank shims in 3 different thicknesses to supply the vintage engine market.

I've been inundated with requests for the NOS ones I found and the demand was enough to justify the investment.

Hope to have them available in a couple of weeks!

---

At last - the all important documentation that signs, seals and delivers it!











:D

---