Grinding tappet heads courtesy of Heath Robinson thinking.

My Heath Robinson set-up of grinding them flat, in lieu of a surface grinder.
High speed bench drilling machine fitted with a grinding disc then diamond cards for final finishing.

Tappet heads - Before:


Grinding by sliding the tappet under the grind stone, but by not more than just over 1/2 Ø:




End result:


Good contact with valve stems after a rub on the diamond card:






Cam followers look fine but will use marker pen to check contact areas during trial assembly of engine.

Time to use the TIG welder to repair body parts.

Geoff - If only I could do the same with my body parts!

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

Nick,
Had another look at the ply, and it's just the edges that break away so I may be lucky, but only time will tell.
Will take lots of photos and measurements just in case it behaves like an Egyptian mummy.

Bryan,
Springs look fine, but haven't tried removing that Coir yet. Talk about dust, so that must be original.
The string was looped through holes in the Rexine below the leather, thus holding everything in place.
The filling for the seat cushion comprises of a fat piece of foam

Simon,
Your mention of that ply reminded me that I stocked it in my hobby shop, for model aircraft use.
Will keep it in mind if needed.
Thanks.

Geoff - Champing at the bit to get the body off now.

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

Back on the job after far too long an absence sorting out an issue with the lathe, then replacing Summerhouse felt amongst other things.

Engine cover vents.
Could only remove one of the 'hinge' rods as ALL the others had rusted in place and just would not budge even with the help of THE usual persuader, so resorted to using the ULTIMATE solution - FIRE🔥
From the end of a Blowlamp of course.

Hinge rod rusted in place, so heat applied after overnight dose of penetrating fluid.


Heat and penetrating fluid did the job.


Interior ready for final clean and DTM undercoat.


Exterior ready for final clean and DTM undercoat.


One more rear Mud Shield to do and strip the doors of glass, mechanism, strip the paint from the OS door, then apply DTM undercoat to all the loose body parts.
I can then get the body back into the Carport for repairs, especially making good the horrible mess done to the NS door lower hinge area, ditto the NS B-pillar bottom section, final stripping of paint, then application of DTM undercoat, then decide how to proceed.
May apply the top coat/s to the body with the doors attached, but not sure.

Advice please from anyone who has done a bare metal repaint, especially on sequence used.

Geoff - Progress at last.

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

As far as I can tell from the photos Geoff, the block looks cracked to me? There appears to be a crack from centre stud to pots 2 and 3 and to the waterway.

Great pics and videos

Location: Farnham

Tappet screws have often been refaced many times. Worth checking with the edge of a file that still hard. Various simple ways of flattening; precision unnecessary.

Location: Auckland, NZ

Updates soon as I've just got the MIG machine I bought years ago up and running.
Had to remove the cover and re-seat all the spade connectors as the wire feed motor was dead.

Beginning to see why MIG is so popular.

Geoff - MIG practice day.

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

Time to let everyone know what's been happening,.
S*d all on the Ruby unfortunately.

The heat and humidity has made the Carport nigh on impossible to work in, especially welding.
I did do quite a few practice beads using the MIG before the heat 'stopped play' though.
Plenty to do in the Workshop to keep me occupied though.
Machined backplates for smaller lathe chucks, made a rear tool post and now busy with backplates to mount chucks on the dividing head.

Other half dumped a DOA Dyson Telescope in my lap, having procured it for a fiver at local car boot, with the words "You are a man, you should be able to fix it"
My response was "I have the three parts that confirms my gender, albeit the middle one not as vigorous as before", receiving that look only a female can give.
She then bu**ered of on her yearly 3-week jolly visiting family.

Took a while sorting out how to strip the machine, but eventually had it in parts only to find one carbon brush wasn't making contact with the commutator and that meant bending three tabs back in order to get the brush housing out.
As I pulled the brush clear of its tube it promptly broke in half with that loose bit crumbling in my fingers.
Never experienced this before.
Found a suitable replacement in my electric spares box and used the RSU to solder the lead on and then reinstall and power leads back.
Quick check with motor free and good as new.
Not bad for a fiver and a few hours work.
A well thought out design to make it easy to assemble in the factory, BUT not for carbon brush replacement, so bin and buy a new Dyson.

Was hoping for cooler weather, but 80% humidity in the Carport and not much less this last month is not comfortable.

Geoff - Workshop only slightly less humid

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

Update with photos of my first attempts with the MIG and progress on the Ruby.
Hope the photos show this.
As mentioned previously I can now see why MIG has become the de facto method to use.
Quick and fairly easy, but need more practice though.
I think that minute tube from the gas bottle to the nozzle is restricting gas flow as I can only get 5lt/min, so may need to do some surgery to not only fit a larger dia one but also longer power cable as both are far too short for easy working on car bodies, or much else in fact.
The earth clamp was replaced PDQ.

MIG:
















Been busy on the lathe machining backplates for and fitting the smaller chucks I bought 7 odd years ago, plus ditto for two chucks for the dividing head.
Had to do some screwcutting in the lathe for the first time, external to make a thread gauge to do the internal on the plates, and surprised myself no end in not making a dogs breakfast of it.
Did have a brain fade with the change gears on the lathe though, finding I could only get 11.5tpi instead of the 12tpi I needed to thread the backplates for the dividing head, so gave up, had lunch and the minute I looked at the lathe on returning saw I had to replace one of the two change gears with a similar 40tpi, then proceeded, sighing with relief.
I had looked at the information on the lathe detailing what gears to use for what thread umpteen times, but on occasion wood gets in the way of trees, as happened on this occasion

Ruby:
Started cleaning some of the loose body parts prior to applying epoxy primer, and suffered no end with the heat and humidity in the Carport.
September was just too hot and humid to do any work in the Carport so spent the time in the Workshop.
Ground the valves in, machined the flat surfaces for the water outlet and inlet/exhaust manifolds, then draw filed the head and block and they are as flat as I expected.
I need to edit the videos I took and clean up the photos, but the heat and humidity has effected me far more than I ever expected and only now starting to get back into the swing.

Geoff - Never ever thought I would look forward to cooler weather![/quote]

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

I would try turning the wire speed back some what, that will remove the garden slug looking weld. the spots you have done is the right way just over lap them more.
good luck. and keep the posts coming I have learnt alot.

Location: Switzerland

Offside door:
I've recovered from the marathon of getting all the links for the NS door into the last post.
The OS door isn't in as bad a state meaning nowhere near as much work needed on it.
There where varying degrees of rust between the wood frame and steel panel ranging from minor to quite severe rust pitting under the horizontal centre piece.
The bottom lip is very much 50/50 whether it's worth keeping or replace either some or all of it.
Will need to come up with a solution to replace the perished rubber rollers that the glass runs between, but will add a photo once I have removed the 4 tubes that the rubber is mounted on.
Will get a cost for blasting before trying myself.
Cannot be more messy compared with soda blasting can it!?
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Geoff - Next lot will be of the finish painted small parts.

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

Hi Geoff,

There is a very good blaster just down the road who does wet blasting and dipping, would you like his number?

Keep up the good work,

Tom

Location: Eye on the Norfolk / Suffolk border

Yes please Tom
Fersfield by any chance?
Do you per chance have access to sheet metal rollers?

Geoff - 5year old's school Christmas Party at 1330h, so girding my loins.

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

If you weren't so far away I have a well equipped sheet-metal workshop you would be welcome to come along to.
This offer extends to all in the area...

Location: Ripon

Much appreciated Duncan.
I used to do Bradford - Diss - Bradford regularly when I was Enginering Manager at Klockner Moeller, so yes a tad too far

Geoff - School party went well, if somewhat noisy.

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

Hi Geoff, the Fersfield company only do coarse grit dry blasting, I was thinking about a company near Stanton on the Bury road. I can’t find there contact details at the moment but I will email you.

Yes I’ve got some sheet metal rollers and you’re more than welcome to use them or give me a ********** sketch and I’ll roll them for you. If you haven’t got the material yet let me know and I can get it pre-cut for you.

Tom

Location: Eye on the Norfolk / Suffolk border

Thanks Tom, much appreciated.
I will need to pop round with the rear Mud Shields as they both need the area that fits flush up against the inner arches replaced, as do the corresponding sections of the inner arches, that said Mud Shields bolt up against.
They have what I can only describe as being well and truly done over, as with the NS door.
Do you have suitable sheet I could purchase?
If not will get some cut at Roy Allen.
Hope the above is as clear as mud
Some time next month with any luck, as I'll have the body back in the Carport then.

Geoff - Inside today catching up on other things as Carport too 'bleep' cold

PS:
The school party went well

Location: South Norfolk - Next to Suffolk

Been using the MIG to weld patches in the front Mud Shields.

Whenever I read about how hard MIG welds where in comparison with OA/TIG, I always thought 'How much harder can they be?'

'Add your favourite AngloSaxon here' HARD that's what!

Couldn't believe it when I tried a file and it just skated over the weld blobs.

Used TIG to fill holes then ground the welds down and the difference in the quantity and type of sparks produced was eye opening, with MIG winning hands down.

Photos to follow when done

Geoff - TIG from now on especially for panel work.

Location: South Nordolk - Next to Suffolk

Out of sequence, as I've repaired the front Mud Shields, modified the Running Boards and given them and other smaller parts a coat of 2k zinc primer.

This is 4 months later than I had hoped for, so nothing unusual then.
My DIY Car Trolleys made the move out and now back in a doddle.

Ruby body into Carport

Tried to embed this video using the BB Code, but no luck, so what am I doing wrong?

Geoff - Bodywork at last.

Location: South Nordolk - Next to Suffolk