Barn find TC

Had a productive day today. After work I set about stripping the front end panels off the car. about 45 minutes later, all panels forward of the windscreen were off. Only bolts that gave me any trouble were the inner bumper mounts, everything else came off easily. :)
After a quick trip home to feed the cats, I was back down at work and ready for the greasy stuff. I'd forgotten how much fun it was pulling 4 cylinders out of these things, haven't done it for a while but even with the added complications of the AC and stopping all the time to take photos, it only took a couple of hours to get the motor out. Again with no problem bolts. :D
A bit of an inspection has not revealed any more horrors anywhere yet. All the inner wings and the bit below the windscreen are completely sound with little more than surface rust around the place. I gave it a quick waterblast around the engine bay and inner arches before I went home but it was getting dark so I don't know how well it came up but I will find out tomorrow. I suspect a lot more scraping and degreasing will be required.
Oh well, not bad for about 3 1/2 hours work!
4.30pm
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5.30pm
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8.30pm
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Lots more activity on the TC front, thanks to warmer evenings and my beloved's busy social life. :) Another couple of evenings saw the small bits of rust by the bonnet hinges welded and the engine bay cleaned a bit more thoroughly. Then a thorough coating of smooth Hammerite was brushed on everywhere I could reach. Most of it is now painted, I just have to clean and paint a bit more around the firewall and heater box and down by the master cylinders and then the engine will be ready to go back in.
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As for the engine, I pulled the sideplates off an this is what I found.
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Ewww! Still, it all cleaned out well enough and hopefully that is what was making it run hot.
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That's a bit better. I'll clean up the side plates tomorrow and refit them, also clean and paint the ancilliary brackets and pulleys. I've got a polished rocker cover and dashpots somewhere too. Tempting. :D
 
hopefully that is what was making it run hot.
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Certainly won't have helped !, make sure you flush out the heater matrix and rad as well, that crud could be everywhere.

Looking good !
 
Don't worry, I'll be flushing out everything. The side plates seem to be all right and cleaned up ok, unfortunately the small plate on the back of the head perforated when I cleaned the crud off so that will be replaced shortly. I pulled the rocker cover to check the internals and while all looks healthy, two of the cam bearing caps are cracked. :( Hopefully I can swap them without causing any trouble.
All the ancilliary brackets were cleaned and painted on Sunday and hopefully tomorrow I will find time to reassemble the motor.

Tonight I spent a pleasant couple of hours in front of the TV with a roll of masking tape and a razor blade. :shock: :LOL:
I thought I might do the grille in NADA 'S' spec, blacking out the flats and polishing the faces so a couple of hours was spent masking them up. Tedious but not difficult and I really liked the effect on my NADA.
Anyway, hopefully tomorrow will result in some fresh pics of a clean, complete motor.
 
Unfortunately, work keeps on expecting me to work. :shock: It's quite annoying really as it keeps on interrupting my own little projects. Oh well...
I did get some of the engine done. The sideplates are back on, as are the engine mounts, brackets, pulleys and ancilliaries and a bit more paint was touched up but it's not done yet so no piccies.
I discovered something else unusual yesterday too, I hadn't noticed this before but
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I've never seen a strip speedo in kph before, must be rare!
I also managed to get the grille painted with a couple of coats of aerosol satin black. Looks good, just need to polish the shiny bits. :)
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Hopefully finish the motor tomorrow.
 
Thanks Richard! It does look good doesn't it? Got the motor pretty much finished today. I might do a bit more paint touch ups if I can find time but I am on a bit of a schedule now. I intend to refit the motor on Friday. I finished cleaning the last nooks and crannies of the engine bay today so I can finish painting it tomorrow hopefully, then on Friday, just a wee bit of welding to do down near a suspension mount and I can drop the lump back in. Next job will be some welding in the sills. I can hardly wait. :(
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Friday went pretty much as planned. One more small patch of welding and a bit more paint and the engine was dropped back into the hole! All went smoothly and according to plan, still a wee bit more to do though. The rocker cover needs bolting down properly, oil pressure switch needs replacing, I still have to replace the plate on the back of the head (first replacement was a bust), hook up the choke cables, clean, paint and fit the starter, fan and air cleaner, fit the radiator and rest of the AC bits etc, etc. But the hard parts are all done.
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and because I couldn't help myself and wanted to see how it looked, I fitted the grille. :)
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Tomorrow I will try to get the other minor bits cleaned and painted and my next free evening will be spent on sorting the rust in the front of the sills.( which doesn't look too bad the more I look.)
Also, my red TC arrived back from the paintshop on Friday. :D
 
Yeah, I think the old stuff was banned globally. Although I think regassing the AC might be a way off yet, the condenser is pretty tired and a few other bits are looking quite crusty.
 
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