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Trunnion 74

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On 19/09/2019 at 21:03, mikeeech said:

Wow I had not thought to check mine.

I think it's one of those "out of sight, out of mind" parts Mike.  And i suppose condition would depend on how the car has been stored over the years.

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On 20/09/2019 at 12:25, silverfrost said:

I wonder why they never fitted one of those in the Esprit ?

Interesting question.  Having taken it out I have wondered how effective it would have been as there is no "plate" or fixing at the ends of the hoop it's just held in by four bolts and four "screws".  To my mind if it was pressed into action I would think that the forces would make the bolts slice their way through the fibreglass before the hoop made contact with the floor and possibly made its way through it.  It could be that this was how it was supposed to be as it would dissipate the impact force.  Afterall, they did win the Don SafetyTrophy 1974/5  for the safest car on the road....

I can only assume that the reason one was not installed in the Esprit was because the cockpit was a lot smaller and therfore a lot stronger?  That and they came to the conclusion that it would take some doing to get it to land on its roof!

 

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Refurbishment of the Distributor.

The first two pictures show the distributor as is and with points removed exposing the breaker plate. In the second picture you can see a spring that goes over a post that is on the breaker plate

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Removal of the breaker plate, (unhook the spring) revealing the weights and advance cam.  Just below the unhooked spring you can see the advance cam is stamped with a number.  This number indicates the deg of advance for the distributor, in this case, as far as I can tell it's 11

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The breaker plate is actually made up of two plates that rotate about each other and can easily be separated for cleaning.

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Next off is the vacuum diaphragm. Unscrew the wheel at the end, (there may be a circlip on it) you will need to pull the assembly as you do so to give you room to get it completely off. When you do remove the assembly be carefull not to loose the small spring that is on the rod.  The second pic shows a close up of the weights and cam. There are two springs one thicker (the primary) and one thinner (the secondary) The type/strength/placing of these springs is important as they are dynamically tested to go with the particular weights that are in each distributor.  To remove you would need to undo the screw in the middle, carefully remove the springs and remove the advance cam. The weights just sit on their posts and are easily removed.   Changing/altering any of these componants will have an effect on how the distributor acts and ultimately how the engine reacts/runs. Once the weights are out,  to remove the final plate requires the removal of a pin which is accessed at the bottom of the shaft on the outside.  be warned though, it requires a lot of force to remove.  As all was good with mine and there was no shaft movement I decided not to go that far.

Having checked for free movement of the weights I decided not to do anything other than clean in situ and lightly grease the pivot points.

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Points will be replaced with electronic ignition.   Everything cleaned up and replaced including a new vacuum diaphragm ( I am keeping the original diaphragm)  hooked up to the breaker plate

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                                     Electronic ignition fitted.                                                                                                              Another piece of the jigsaw complete!

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Roland

 

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... and where won't you be buying them from this time?

My old ones look ok - they have been extensively tested. I think I'll stick with them.

I'm also appreciating photos of your assembling the engine with the body off. I lifted the engine out through the engine bay and now i don't want to put it back that way🤨

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On 26/09/2019 at 20:37, EXCEL V8 said:

Love the black cam covers!  Good progress!  Very dodgy engine mounts - where are you hoping to buy better ones from?

Pete

Hi Pete, I had thought my options were limited, either SJ or Lotusbits.  That was until I came across these https://www.superflex.co.uk/proddetail.php?prod=SF228-0002KSS

They will cost more and who knows if they will last any longer.  I've used superflex poly bushes before and not had any problems, so might give them a go.

On 26/09/2019 at 22:29, tom kilner said:

... and where won't you be buying them from this time?

My old ones look ok - they have been extensively tested. I think I'll stick with them.

I'm also appreciating photos of your assembling the engine with the body off. I lifted the engine out through the engine bay and now i don't want to put it back that way🤨

Tom, see above ;)

 

On 01/10/2019 at 21:01, mikeeech said:

Looking good. Just remember to get the handbrake on and adjusted next.

Hi Mike, when I first read this comment about fitting and adjusting the handbrake next  I thought don't be daft!  Then I re read it and realised that adjusting it with the body on would be making things a lot harder than they possibly need to be.  I will be taking your advice sir.  :thumbup:

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More work done.  This time dismantling the dash and clocks.

786506161_Clocksgeneralviewfront.thumb.jpg.0bbaa1cd7bb08bacdc83896b9e9058f4.jpg

As you can see in the left of the picture I had already removed the centre panel.

This is what I found behind the clocks

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Must admit I was pleasantly surprised.  The only signs of scotchlokery were to do with the none standard radio that was installed.  Not come across any other evidence of bodgery. In fact, all the connectors still have their covers intact.  It appears that none of the previous owners has felt the need to  fiddle with the wiring, which I'm taking as a good sign.  Time will tell if i'm right.

Once all the dash was removed I was left with this.

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A very large Delanaire heater A/C unit!  Looks like a bit of surface rust in places. It does have both the main A/C conections as well, which is good news.  Haven't managed to remove it as yet.  It's been in that long I think familiarty is keeping it there!

I will need to refurbish the dials, nice indoor work, and the  heater unit as well.

Onwards and upwards.  I'll be up in Oban next week for a short break.  Work will re-commence when I get back.

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On 03/10/2019 at 17:51, Trunnion 74 said:

 

Hi Mike, when I first read this comment about fitting and adjusting the handbrake next  I thought don't be daft!  Then I re read it and realised that adjusting it with the body on would be making things a lot harder than they possibly need to be.  I will be taking your advice sir.  :thumbup:

Getting the cable connected to the handbrake lever is also a pita with the body on. When you put the body back on you can remove the handbrake from the chassis and leave the cable connected whilst you drop the body that last couple of inches before deciding the mechanism to the chassis once it's down.

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  • 3 weeks later...

More research.

As part of my recent break I ended up at a place called Barter Books in Alnwick, Northumberland.  It is a massive secondhand book shop based inside an old railway station.

I spent what seemed an eternity going through their selection of Giles Annuals, and came up with these.

This from  December 1976. Looks like the back end of an Elite

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This from March 1979.  Elite front end, complete with winking headlight.

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and this from September 1983._DSC0180.thumb.JPG.ce43af5eb1b059e9bb1a0149659167db.JPG

And of course there is the one I found previously which was from December 1986.  But still have not been succesful in tracking down the elusive Elite and caravan one!

The good news is they didn't have all the books that were published so the search continues.

 

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  • 2 months later...

Happy new year everyone!

I have started to re-furb my dash clocks so I thought I would put a how to up for those not sure how they come apart.  I have used the rev counter as the guinea pig.

As you can see it has suffered over the years. The outer ring is less than perfect and the case is in need of some rust removal. The rest of the clocks are in a similar state.

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First thing to do is remove the metal brackets

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Now you need to tackle the front ring. On the back of the ring you will/should see a rubber ring, remove this.  Looking at the back of the ring you will see some small tabs, the ring is a bayonet fitting.  Clean all around the edge before you tackle the next bit.  The object is to now loosen each tab.  To achieve this place a small screwdriver behind each tab and give a little twist.  You do not need to bend the tab up, you just need to loosen.  Go round each one in turn. After a few goes round the ring try to twist the ring towards the release pocket.  If it won’t budge keep going round loosening the tabs. BE PATIENT! It can take time to loosen enough to twist it, this one took me 20mins! If the ring is refusing to budge due to rust spray a little WD round the edge.

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When ready carefully twist the ring round to the pockets and remove the outer ring. Once the ring is removed you will see (in my case) a very old, hard mastic/sealant

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Start to remove the old sealant and with your small screwdriver carefully chase out any remaining around the edge of the glass.  If you look at the pic below you can see the edge of the glass another edge, which at the time I thought was an inner case and the outer case edge showing the ring release pocke.

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Now for the removal of the glass.  The idea is to walk the glass out as it sits on an O ring.  Using the screwdriver carefully  ease round the glass edge;  you may need to go round a few times.  As you go round you will hear/see it start to lift.  Don’t be tempted to shove your screwdriver under to leaver it off!  We don’t want to be searching for a replacement glass because we were to ham fisted in the first place.  Do we? 

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Mission accomplished!

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Once the glass and O ring have been removed you will notice another black ring that sits between the face of the dial and the top edge of the case.  .  Look at the edge of the case and you will see another edge, the one I thought was an inner case, it isn’t.  This is the beauty ring that finishes off the inside of the clock.  There is a small gap.  Carefully go round the case and walk out this beauty ring.  Take your time.

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O ring and beauty ring removed

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Now to remove the inner workings.  Place the front outer ring back on, no need to twist it back on, just place in the pockets.  Turn the clock upside down.   There are 4 screws on the back two brass (long) and two silver (short), remove them.  There is a plate and then a black rubber gasket that sits between the bottom of the workings and the back of the case.  You can see some of it on the right side.  The workings should now just gently drop.  If they won’t move you may also need to remove the two top hat washers the long screws went through and also gently press to release the rubber gasket/plate that you can see.

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Once you are sure  it’s free turn the assembly back over, remove the outer ring and gently take out the innards.

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And there you have it, the bits that make up a Smiths clock.

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 Conclusions?  The outer case, beauty ring and outer ring all need seeing to and re-paint.  The glass needs a careful clean and it needs a new O ring.  The inner workings all look okay, connections need cleaning and checking but all the circuitry is clean.

The methods used on this clock can be used on the others as well.

I'll post up the results of the re-furbished clock when completed

Roland

 

 

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That's a good question Pete.  I could also just lacquer it or give it a coat of Bilt hamber Dynax S50 wax, I haven't decided yet.  The first thing i need to do is decide how best to remove the rust without destroying the two stickers on it.

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Update. 

This is what I've been calling the beauty ring that sits inside the gauge. I was puzzled as to why it was painted white (poorly) on the inside.  Turns out it is actually called a reflector.  It helps to reflect the light from the bulb back onto the dial.

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I've had loads of re-plating done locally in Nottingham - always glad I've had it done.  Will the stickers not peel off - say with a single-sided razor blade, to be re-applied later?  You could then get it in Bilt Hamber's Deox-C to get rid of the rust ready for painting/plating.

Pete

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DDG plating.  They don't do chrome, but pretty much anything with zinc - bight, yellow passivate, green passivate etc..  Good service and prices.  I've got another small pile of stuff to go soon!

Pete

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Rev counter can fresh white paint on inside.  The one on the right is the speedo one, with old white and blue paint.  The blue is there to give a more neutral white glow, apparently.

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Rev counter can white and blue with internals in place.

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I managed to track down new seals. Available from Ebay,  LOTUS ELAN & EUROPA instrument refurbishment seals (14).   Long fat one is for the locking ring, thin round one is for between the reflector and glass, fat round one is for outside the case between bezel and dash.

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Before and after.  With dash seal on

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Before and after, face. When putting the locking ring on you need to compress the glass against its O ring and the locking ring seal against the glass, before you can twist it on. Takes some doing!

_DSC0183.thumb.jpg.4882b3cbd5a1f487a7dc621e43a020e1.jpg  _DSC0248.thumb.JPG.67bfb2db0729f600df6a056f1ab01589.JPG

 

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