Austin Woodworm

[Al]

Have you any idea when it might make it back onto the road AL?

No clue just now as things seem to have hit a bit of a slow patch.

That said; I have managed to get the windscreen frame finished.
It had steel brackets in the inside bottom corners which had dissappeared so i have replaced with stainless ones.



Only one of the original 4 top outer gussets have re-appeared so i made 4 new ones and stamped them with the body number (Number 43 for this car)





Major and some minor (mostly the hand fitted bits) components have to be identified to the car for re-assembly after, for example; sending out for chrome plating or body panels returned from the paint shop. If not then they simply wont fit as probably 90% of the components are hand finished in some way shape or form.

Last job was to silver solder up the holes from the original badge which is lost.
Found a new badge from an Austin Seven is very similar but with slightly different hole centres.
If you cant make out the original holes then thats a good thing.



The steering wheel has been returned this week and looks very nice. I think it was originally bakelite over the steel frame but this is a modern treatment and really does look the part.



Clocks have appeared too and are in need of re-furb. Peter is going to get this under way soon.





Flash Gordon would have been at home with these!!

The servo turned up as well having been re-furbed elswhere!





It lives here:



It a Dewandre 4 wheel power brake vacuum servo from;
The Clayton Dewandre Company Limited. Titanic Works, Lincoln!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Telegrams to; "Titanic Lincoln"
Telephone; 1156







More updates as and when.

AL

[AD1]

Hi Al

Love this thread - any further progress?

One question, the AC Cars pic - Where was that taken?

A mate of mine whose a panel beater worked at the AC Brooklands factory and gave me a tour round once (late 80's/early 90's). I thought it was a brilliant place - proper craftsmen still doing their stuff building what's still an iconic car.
Also I seem to recall the the then owner had his own private m/cycle collection kept in a special humidity controlled room. And he was also using his very skilled employee's to build a WW2 Hurriacane! Which was almost complete when I saw it.

Going back a few more years I lived in Long Ditton not far from the original AC factory and used to deliver papers to the AC cars MD at his Manor House, a guy called Herlock I think.

Keep up the good work

Antony

[Al]

any further progress?

All gone a bit quiet i'm afraid. I believe the deadline may have passed also!

Pictures were taken in Frimley Surrey. The second to last incarnation before it finally collapsed.
Couple more here;
http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh86/zorded/AC/

Who was youre mate? I still work with a few of them.

AL

[AD1]

any further progress?

All gone a bit quiet i'm afraid. I believe the deadline may have passed also!

Pictures were taken in Frimley Surrey. The second to last incarnation before it finally collapsed.
Couple more here;
http://s254.photobucket.com/albums/hh86/zorded/AC/

Who was youre mate? I still work with a few of them.

AL

That's a real shame after all your collective hard work, although it will still look stunning when it is finished.

Those other pics are great - it still amazes me the skill you guys have when it comes to renovating these cars.

My mate is a guy called Danny North who lives in Chessington,
I think he did his apprenticship at Hawkers in Kingston before going to AC's,
he's still in the trade but self employed now. He's done some brillant work on the like of old Astons & Ferrari's.

Antony

[Al]

Small world, Danny is a freelance where i work. We worked in the same dept. at AC's in Frimley.

AL

[AD1]

Small world indeed - I had a feeling you two would know each other!

[Al]

Tiny update to keep it alive.

Rear seat boxes are finished and the trimmer has paid a visit.
New cushions all round in the back, next stop front seats, glove box. and thats about it.



Rear step arrangement now also completed with a recent purchase of some brass tread finisher strip.




Luckily there was enough to do the driver and passenger door thresholds also. This has only really now been possible because as you can see the rubber flooring is also down.



Peters' overhauled the dash and re-finished it in Halfords crinkle finish paint as original i believe.




Its a small matter but a significant one that the roof closing panels have had a makeover. The metal panels themselves have been replaced with new and there was a plan to 'line them in' as they were originally. This would have been a difficult enough job to do given that they are above your head but colour matching the timber would have been a nightmare.
Step froward Peter the wood genius. He trimmed pieces of off-cut Douglas Fir roof slats that were left over and steamed them in a curve and lined them up with the existing.
Brilliant and very effective.



This is what you would have seen above youre head had you looked up thirty odd years ago.




More as and when.

AL

[ADRIAN H]

Keep the pics coming. Brilliant thread.

[sanderz]

Craftmanship and quality all the way!

[Is Vic There]

Craftmanship and quality all the way!

Totally agree.

[paul doran]

looking forward to seeing it finally finished

[Al]

Thank you for youre comments. Peter does not have internet and to that end i have passed on youre thoughts. He does however get a print of the thread which he keeps in a folder and updates as it goes.
Paul never a truer word spoken.

AL

[Al]

A year is a very short time in car restoration!!

Quite a few wheel studs had suffered down the years and taking the extremely heavy wheels on and off skins the thread from the studs.
Terry (the owner) managed at great expense to get some studs and wheel nuts made to pattern.
For this they have had to make left and right handed threaded dies for the major and minor diameters, and left right handed taps have had to be bought to make threads in the nuts. (not cheap at all).





The studs are taper threaded into the hubs with opposite hand threads and the left side of the car has left handed nuts and studs
They are full circle welded and spragged also before welding.

I think the taps and die nuts will now be available to the club (Woody car club or Austin car clubs) for rent!!!

Peters been busy building a ski rack for the back doors.
Sort of like a trouser press, it opens half and half and is closely connected with Terry's business and the main intended future use for the car.
Terry owns a ski shop in Uxbridge, used to be in The GB olympic team and now instructs and sponsors the team and snow sports in general.
http://www.skibartlett.com/




The front windscreen frame hinges out on a piano hinge across the top and when it fogs up you just open the window / windscreen
cold No heaters on basic cars in those days!
Several of the complicated parts that operate the mechanism were missing /damaged and i have had to fill in the gaps.
These two characters below gave me a headache and eventually i had to have a pair of them made from scratch as material of the correct internal / external diameters was not available.
Boring out thin walled brass tube proved a non starter so the engineering company who have been sorting out my messes came up trumps with these.
Brilliant and pretty cheap too considering the amount of hours involved.
Think they charged one hour in total including material and that was after trying to fix the odds and sods i gave them to work with.
Thank you Bill and the guys, brilliant.
http://www.pegasusprecision.com/




This mess is yet to sort out. I have just got back from Pegasus eng. and they said they will fix that with no problems.
Its the spare wheel holder for the running board and as time has gone on more and more different bits have appeared.
Unfortunately they are all from different cars and dont have the same thread or even basic internal dimensions.
The engineering company will be dealing with this but for now they are snowed under with work.



The odd looking chromed thing half way up is a nut lock on a stem.
Originally i was going to make one but this has been bought as a second hand part and its perfect for length and wheel nut size.
Yep thats a padlock on the end of it!!
Slightly different diameter hole to the bar but it has a rubber grommett in it and with a slightly bigger version were all set.



Front seats finished and locked back against the new arrangement of bulkhead.



The original bulkhead / seperator, such as it was looked like this.
Thankfully the new one is 3/4 marine ply and makes a significant contribution to structural rigidity as its tied into the body each side.



Seat belt mountings and a few other bits left to go.
Engine is being assembled as i write from two dead ones where there is just enough left of each to make one good one and a load of paperweights.

More when its happened.

AL

[Pigford]

Fan-bleedin'-tastic Al

[paul doran]

Al good to see it moving on again