Restoration of 26/0086 unit 3067

[vstibbard]

Rod, its looking good, I'm envious of your Borne plate, mine was lost I suspect when the car had engine bay fire in 60's when raced, as it ran without air box.. the holes are visible in back of old firewall... all attempts to confirm the number so far have failed..

I'm hoping to have my S1 and 26r back on road for the 50th....

Look forward to seeing you out there

Cheers

Vaughan

[rodlittle]

A great day for me.
After 20 or so years inactive the engine ran again for the first time today.

Started very easily and everything seems to work OK oil pressure good rev counter works no dire leaks, yet,!!

[RotoFlexible]

Sweet!

[RedS4]

I am so impressed! Well done - i love reading threads like this

[rodlittle]

Heres another milestone, the body going back on

All the parts together

Chassis out of the way

Up she goes off the trestles where shes been for the last year

Chassis moved underneath

And down comes the body to fit

Slings away and hey presto we have a car

Well almost

[jk952]

Rod,
Congratulations, impressive work, thanks for sharing. That lift looks like a slick way of doing the job, (at least a lot nicer than numerous axle stands and a service jack )

Jack

[elansprint71]

Excellent thread Rod! Thanks for taking the time to photograph the build stages and for posting here.

Have you decided to make your own loom?

[rodlittle]

Hi Pete
Loom is already made and installed
rod

[rodlittle]

Next job:: Dashboard.
The original is beyond repair and anyway has a great chunk hacked out for a radio

I cant find any teak veneered ply to make one so Ive ordered one from http://www.classical-dash.co.uk
Theres still one snag though, the trim strip that goes round the edges is unobtainable and mine is broken into little pieces.
After a lot of thought I decided I could make what I need from this piece of ally tile trim from B&Q, its polished and clear anodised so should look much the same as the original plastic chrome trim

All I need to do is cut it down and use the small edge.

File the edge smooth and form it round the bends in the dash

This is what it looks like on the old dash

Hope it fits as well on the new one, pic to follow when the new one is delivered.

[florawills]

That's really excellent Rod...well done.

[rodlittle]

Well heres the pictures of the new dash with the edging fitted, Held in place by brass gimp pins around the edge
Its all worked out fine

And here it is with a few instruments fitted.

[gino1]

Nice job Rod with great attention to detail.
I'm starting my S2 resto now and wish I were already at the stage you are.
looking forward to seeing more pics..

Gino
Milano
Italy

[RedS4]

I love the black bezels.

[rodlittle]

Next job collect all the control cables which pass through the dash, only one or two problems, 1 the choke knob is wrong and 2 I only have one bonnet lock cable and handle.
The choke knob was easy to get but bonnet lock handles are unobtainable, I bought some replicas from Matty but they are nothing like the originals see pic

As you can see, no engraving

and they're the wrong shape and size.
Only way I could see out of this was to make my own from the one pattern I had, Made a mould with silicone rubber

and Im very pleased with the results

The one on the top is my pattern, at least I can use the cable assy from the Matty ones.
Now at last I can put my new dashboard in.

[ardee_selby]

Only way I could see out of this was to make my own

Great stuff Rod! What material was used? Pigmented casting resin?

Now where's my hat ? So I can take it off to you!

Cheers - Richard