0020 Things come together - Slowly

31st May 2020
She is starting to look like a car again !

Looking like a car again

Today is the 31st May - Last day of Autumn already !  Coronavirus still around, and America burning up in the riots - What a difference 3 months makes !
And its true too for Clementine - Although it seems that all these small things that still need to be done take much much longer than expected - I am starting to wonder if I will ever get her back on the road !  But at least she is starting to look like a car again - From the outside, anyway.

New SS exhaust fitted up

First thing to arrive this month was my new exhaust - A rather slick looking stainless steel piece that certainly looks good, and comes with great reviews.  But there is still no replacement unit for the original which had pre-heater pipes built in to it, so I have to make an alternative system by using heat resistant flexible hoses to move the warm air around.   So after a visit to the local airfield for this tubing, I was told they were out of stock so I went on line and got the right Scat 9 hose there.  Will fit it up later.

Heat shield between muffler & bellows

The exhaust is great - but the muffler itself sits very close to the big rubber "bellows" that connect the outside cool air intake to the engine, and I wonder how come the rubber hasn't melted in the past, as it seem that the original exhaust was just as close - we are talking about 2 cms here.   I decided that wile I am in here a little beat of heat resitant material might be a wise move, so I have made up a bracket that can mount to the muffler, and support some of the heat shield like I used previously on the Healey.  I will have to keep a close eye on this item in the future.

Panels drying at GC Restoration

While Clementine was over at SS Trimming, GC Restoration finally finished the remainder of the
body panels, and I took them home one by one (so as not to scratch them !)  I dropped in to see Steve at SS Trimming and he admitted that the roof liner had given him a bit of grief due to not quite fitting correctly, but that he was almost done, and she would be ready to leave the next day.   So Cheaper Towing came over and picked her up, and we headed home via the painters at GC Restoration, so we could pick up the front bonnet, which was too

Everything squeezed in garage

big to fit inside Troopie !  Finally I had everything at home and could start putting it all together.  I had also stopped in at Instant Windscreens and they had everything ready to go, with the rubber seals on the front and rear windows, and the light tint on all the other windows, so I picked them up and took them home.  I also checked in at Supercheap to check on paint protection sheets - The flat front of Clementine is a prime candidate for stone chips, so I intend to put some sheets onto the front panel to help protect it.

Lorikeet

We have been having a lot of fun over the past few weeks with all our

Honey eater in flight

birds that come to our garden for feeding.  We supply sun flower seeds which they all love, as well as honey water for the lorikeets, and get quite a selection of birds most mornings.  We get honey eaters, miner birds, and butcher birds regularly, as well as our magpies which all come over for a feed, and recently we have been getting a flock of corellas, which are not only extremely noisy, but also very destructive.  The other morning one just picked up a full dish of honey water, tipped everything out, and then threw the dish off the table !  Pretty to look at, we could do without them !!   But it is nice to have the birds coming round in the mornings for their feed.

Everything in the garage

With Clementine and all her panels back at home, I needed to put them back on the the body purely in order to make some space - With them all nicely painted I couldn't stack the panels up like I had previously.  So I quickly got the bonnet and boot on, and started work on the 4 wings / fenders.  The fronts were first, and I had to not only refit

Fitting first wing

the original intra-panel plastic beading, but also the wiring for the front lights.  The beading was pretty brittle (original, 50 years old ?), and quite difficult to position correctly, while the rubber water proof tube which protects the headlight wiring was from a Beetle, and was about 3 inches too short. (You cannot buy this part for a Type 3 VW)  So I took the Beetle part, and cut it in half, then using a strong waterproof tape I made the rubber tube 3 inches longer.   This then enable me to fit the waterproof ends into the headlight bowl, and feed the wired through.  I changed the 3 individual original headlight wires for a triple wire with a single bulb connection, and connected everything up.  I have also fitted halogen bulbs to try and brighten things up a little instead of the original old-style bulbs.

Eventually the left front wing was fitted, and I moved to the right front wing, which also includes the fuel tank filler cap and the connection down to the fuel tank, so is a little more complicated.  Once again the plastic beading was difficult to install due to its age, but eventually I had it all in place, and the fuel filler door fitted and working.   I then moved on to the back fenders, and they were fairly straightforward, although this time the plastic beading just wasn't working - It seems to have shrunk a little, and even broken in a couple of places, so rather than struggle with this original material, I went down to Clark Rubber and bought enough to do all 4 wings.  This made it much easier because

Rear wings on

the new material was so pliable and easy to work with.   So once I had both the rear wings in place, I went back to the front wings, loosened all the bolts again, and put new beading in both of them too.    Once it was all fitted, I shut the rear boot to test the cable opening - And it wouldn't work !!  And the boot was closed !!!    Luckily with no engine in the car I was able to crawl underneath into the engine space and release the catch from inside !!  After some exploratory work I realised GC Restoration had refitted the wire clamp the wrong way round, and once it was on correctly, it all worked fine.

Front windscreen in

Fitting rear window

Then the Instant Windscreen guys arrived with the front and rear windows, and set to
work. It always amazes me to see how easy these guys make it look.  They came with the cords already inserted in the window rubbers, and in about 10 minutes they had both front and rear windows in and looking good.  They also re-fitted the rubber seals for the rear side windows, but have left the glass out so the tint can dry a little more before installing them. I will try to insert them later, but if I have trouble, I will get the boys to drop by to help !  Not too proud.

Padding behind rear seat

Rear boot divider panel fitted

The front bonnet is going to take a while to get straight - It is never easy to get these
large panels to open and shut correctly with the right gaps all round.  But I will need a second pair of hands to get it straight so that can wait for a while.  Meanwhile I got the glue out and set all the padding that goes behind the rear seat in place.  I had pre-cut all the many pieces some time ago, using the original (and very smelly) panels before I threw them away, so it was just a case of spreading the glue and putting them in place.  I presume they are both heat and sound insulation, so

Dynamat strips in grooves

Dynamat fitted

we will see how it performs compared to Dynamat.  With that padding fitted, I moved on to fitting the Dynamat to the floor.  The steel floor is corrugated, and if I just put the dynamat straight in, it would be very uneven.  So I decided to cut lots of narrow strips and fit them in the grooves first, and then apply
the larger sheets over the top, giving a more even surface.   With the strips all in place, each side only needed two large pieces, so apart from the fiddly bit around the foot well, it didn't take long.  Looked great.  I also fitted dynamat to the two small floor areas underneath the rear seat, where the battery is located.

Carpet in front boot

Once the dynamat was in, I couldn't help myself, and although I will have to take them out again, I fitted all the carpets, just so I could see what it would look like !   First of all I took all the old plastic trimming that had come with the car, cleaned it up, and tried to work out how they all fitted.  They were really filthy so I first of all scrubbed them with soapy water, and once clean, because they were fairly stiff with age, and rubbed them all down with upholstery treatment.   When trying to work out where they all fitted, I realised I had too

Fitting interior carpets

many pieces - They had obviously put some spare ones in there !  But with them all sorted, I turned to the carpets, and soon realised that I didn't need to fit them both, one under the other.  So I rolled up all the original plastic panels and if I have the chance I will sell them to someone who needs them at a swap meet. The carpets look really good, and the ones that cover the wheel arches will need gluing in order to hold them in place, but the others will be fine just laid in there.  In the passenger area I had to cut holes for the brake handle to fit through, and also for the central seat belt bolts to fit through, but once that was done. they looked great.  Really pleased with them.  I won't glue any of the footwell carpets in place until after the mechanics and wiring are all finished, just in case I have to change something.  Makes the interior a really nice place to be, especially compared to how horrible and smelly it was when I bought it !

Seat belt drying on driveway

At this stage I turned my attention to the seat belts, which haven't been touched since they were taken out of the car and put on the shelf - And they were filthy !   So I scrubbed them down with warm soapy water and put them out on the driveway to dry.  I then tried to work out what I had !  I have 2 retractable belts for the front, but although there are 6 seat belt

Rusty rear seatbelt

holes under the seat in the rear, and two bolt holes up in the C pillar for a lap sash, they obviously had never been fitted - Looking back at original photos of the interior when I got the car, I noticed there were no holes through the trim of the C pillars.  The only rear seat belt in the car was a small central lap belt - And this was really filthy with rusted brackets due to it being in a very damp area of the car, below the leaking rear window.  I tried to clean it up, but don't think it is going to be too safe or usable, so I plan to buy two new lap sash belts for the rear, although I don't think there is room to fit retrtactable units.  I will go and visit a specialist seat belt place up in Brisbane and see what they have.  

Engine bay painted

One of the last jobs this week was to paint inside the engine bay, especially where the two engine mount brackets had been welded
up.  I used the same rust inhibiting KBS Rust Seal paint that I had used elsewhere and applied a couple of coats all round the engine bay.  There was very little rust in there, but with the welding, undercoat, and general wear and tear, it was just messy in there, and looks a lot better now its all in one colour.

Venetian blind fitted

And sometimes when you are feeling frustrated with progress, it is good to do an easy job - So I fitted the new rear window venetian blind which I found on-line some months ago, and just couldn't resist! It looks great - And very "period" !!  It will also help to keep the hot Aussie sun from coming in through the sloping rear window and baking the rear parcel shelf and the back of the car.  I don't know if you remember what the rear shelf was like when I bought the car ?  Baked, peeling, brittle, and really horrible.  Big improvement !


Starting to get ready to install the engine while I am waiting on the new door trim to arrive so that I can get the door windows fitted.  Also still waiting on carburettors to be refurbished, so can't do much more except fiddle.  May take the wheels to have them sandblasted, and I also have a tow bar which I don't need, and am going to get that sand blasted and powder coated so I can sell it.  So many small things to do that seem to take forever and a day - But I am making progress !!

Rest of the pics are here :-  https://photos.app.goo.gl/Cviq6eedbghSjQFH8