My 3500S Restoration Project

Here's a few more pictures of my progress so far;

A couple of shots of the diff, most of the oil came from the breather when the car was rolled on to its side to remove the diff.
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Having had a few questions answered in the technical section and picking Jeff Unwin's brain i reached the decision that the backlash/play when turning the diff was within an acceptable tolerance, but decided to replace the bearings and oils seals as a precaution. I did take some photos of the gears which came out very blurry, a mobile phone is great for general photos but not up to much when taking close-ups. The gear splines showed no obvious signs of wear, but only time will tell.

I had to make a Jig to pull the thrust collars off the axle drive shafts, plenty of heat was needed along with a 25mm bolt to wind the shaft out.
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New bearings and oils seals are easy to change, once the thrust collars are removed.
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A couple of shots showing the brake calipers being stripped down, they look more complicated than they are. The main piston bores were OK so full overhaul kits was sufficient to re-build them.
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A couple of shots showing the diff & brake assemblies after a good clean up and re-paint.
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The disc were in pretty good shape, just surface rust to clean off. Brake pipes to finish on the left caliper as pictured then it can go back in the car. :)
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A quick update. I am now entering the third year of my project. (CORRECTION, i must be in denial? Its actually my fourth year)

Diff now installed, have got everything tied so as not to put too much strain on things whilst still on the rotisserie.
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Front leg and brake calipers now re-fitted.
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Another view of front leg & brake caliper, just needs a wipe down to get the copper grease off, the slightest bit on your fingers and it gets everywhere.
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Fuel tank is next, the fuel sender is past saving.
The tank got a good clean with tank cleaner and several stones from the beach, being turned and shook around over a week or so.
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The tank now re-fitted after a good slosh with tank sealer from Rustbuster.
Not happy with the compression fittings and copper tails, but its all i could find that would do the job, as the old tails and fuel lines were solid with rust and tar.
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Power steering box is next. The car did not have power steering originally so i reverted to eBay for this.
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Some of the steering box contents ready for cleaning, generally the inside was not showing any major signs of wear, but only time will tell?
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Now fully serviced with new seals etc.
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I won't know if its any good or adjusted correctly at my current rate of progress for a couple more years.
PS. you Spurs fans out there will be pleased to know my tea cup didn't last past this picture. Sob. :(
 
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Wow, this looks really good. You have digged deep into the Rover i can see. When do you expect it to be finished?
Regards, Barten
 
Wow, this looks really good. You have digged deep into the Rover i can see. When do you expect it to be finished?
Regards, Barten
No stone unturned.
Its difficult to put in the time needed, i can see another couple of years at least.
 
Very thorough job. Why leave the base unit tilted at this stage? I don't see what's left to do that is preventing you from returning it to wheels-to-the-ground.
 
Very thorough job. Why leave the base unit tilted at this stage? I don't see what's left to do that is preventing you from returning it to wheels-to-the-ground.

Yes, your correct. This was an interim photo whilst i finished off the front brakes.

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Now back on its own feet. :)
 
Well done iwish , I commend your dedication on the car.
I have been restoring a 1970 Morris minor tourer for the last 5 years. I made a rotisserie and spent a year cutting out all the rust that had been just plated over and over again for a pink slip (rego test every year in Ozz).
Now fitting up all the panels and nothing fits very well, so to keep my interest up, I bought a rover 3500 sedan recently and here I am ready to do battle with a different beast. this one is going onto club plates and will be
used every month as inspiration to tackle the Morrie. :rolleyes:
Peter
 
Well done iwish , I commend your dedication on the car.
I have been restoring a 1970 Morris minor tourer for the last 5 years. I made a rotisserie and spent a year cutting out all the rust that had been just plated over and over again for a pink slip (rego test every year in Ozz).
Now fitting up all the panels and nothing fits very well, so to keep my interest up, I bought a rover 3500 sedan recently and here I am ready to do battle with a different beast. this one is going onto club plates and will be
used every month as inspiration to tackle the Morrie. :rolleyes:
Peter
A different beast indeed, i assume a tourer is what we call a Traveller with the wooden back? depending on the level of work required to your sedan i would think it would be easier to continue with the Moggy. :)
 
Time for a quick update on some of the work you can see has been completed in the pic above.
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Brake servo overhauled and ready for re-assembly.
A quick note of warning, i used the Red Rubber Grease to lubricate the bore and new seals, what i found a few months later when trying to bleed the brakes and clutch that the grease had thickened and caused the pistons and seals to stick internally which stopped the system from pressurising, and had to strip them down to free them up. Probably would have been better to smear them with brake fluid. :(
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A quick shot of the completed servo ready for installation.

Next was the heater matrix.
Most of you will have read the article in driving force which gives a detailed account of what is involved. I've got to tell you that its a real bitch of a job.
What ever possessed Smiths industries to assemble the unit with a mix of screws, rivets and spot welds i don't know.
The screws and rivets are easy, but the spot welds are inconsistently placed and at times impossible to find making the job very difficult to dismantle without wrecking it.
A couple of photos showing the general state it was in.
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The article in DF notes to take care when removing the Mazak links, a very quick blast with a blow lamp quickly expands them and they practically fall off.

As the rubber drains and seals perish its very likely that there will be an element of rot inside. If you have got this far then a few repairs should not be beyond you.
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A shot taken during the assembly process. What the DF article didn't mention is that assuming you drill out the spot welds its easier to rivet the whole unit back together except for the obvious panels that need to be accessed, you will need around 130 rivets to do the job. I filled and soak the heater core with a toilet de-scaler and thoroughly flushed it after a few hours with no obvious signs that any harm was done. You can see that the rivets are all over the place.
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Now installed along with a few other parts. Not sure what to do about the insulation as it was completely smothered in oil and falling apart.
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That's it for now.
D
 
Nice work iwish. A shame nobody will see your fabrication skill once installed, but all who come here will appreciate it!
My two pence worth: don't bother with the small retaining screw (or screws, I can't remember) along the lower edge of the cover for the heater matrix. That way if you do need to get at the matrix again, you don't have to remove the whole heater box to get at those screws underneath! Funnily enough, I was contemplating having to get at my matrix earlier, fearing it had sprung a leak, and I glanced at the spare heater box I once dismantled but never actually put back together. I wondered if it could all be done with rivets, as I can't spot weld.
 
A different beast indeed, i assume a tourer is what we call a Traveler with the wooden back? depending on the level of work required to your sedan I would think it would be easier to continue with the Moggy. :)
the Morris is a tourer (convertible) it just need assembling and painting, ( in the fullness of time Minister)...
Peter
 
Nice work on the heater box, and thanks for clarifying for me that there are indeed hidden spot welds. I have taken one apart in the past, but probably memory fails me and i was fooled to believe that it was much easier than it really is.
 
Here's the latest instalment.
The engine is next, although i had the engine running on a temporary fuel supply before i started my restoration it was in a sorry state and soon started to over heat and definitely warranted an internal investigation.
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A little clue why it started to overheat, the water pump was solid.
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A shot looking into the manifold through the thermostat opening showed the blockages were rife.
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The engine block looked severely wounded too.
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Inside the sump wasn't looking to good either.
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The rockers didn't look too good, but i believe charcoal build up is normal?
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The top of the valves had a lined ridge worn on some of them which you can just make out on the second one in.
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The rocker shafts had up to 2mm wear on the under sides.
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The block now completely stripped ready for cleaning. The cylinders looked pretty good?
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Some of the parts ready for cleaning. The crank shaft and bearings didn't look too bad but the cam shaft was un-evenly worn and quite rounder in places, the hydrolic tappets were very un-evenly worn and hollowed. But not all bad as i must have had a bit of luck as not 1 bolt sheared off. :)
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Out to the de-greaser next.
 
Really good work there. Do you plan to do any upgrades to your engine, I guess you need new rockers anyway.
One tip seeing you have replaced parts of your gutter railing is to ensure the it is even on the top. That makes it easier to install the stainless steel railing without distorting it. How do I know? Well I got a small dent in mine when I installed it and I had replaced some of the gutter too. Quite annoying when you have a new stainless steel rail.
Regards, Barten
 
great work there, I want to replicate the underside paint job on my car.

what is the treatment for the engine? have you though have having it ice blasted?
 
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