Dikappa
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Posts: 501
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« Reply #210 on: 20 November, 2020, 11:59:54 AM » |
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Today I made a trip to the local radiator man here with my radiator. It was newly made and came with the car, however it does not fit in!!!!
It turnes out the used grid (more modern than original and NO honeycomb look) was ordered too big, so apart from some items we would have to rebuild the complete radiator....
Before we venture on this: is there a supplier where one can simply order a complete 8th series radiator? (so for a separate radiator surround, as opposed to the earlier ones)
It it true that even the original radiators used a sort of a fake honeycomb grid? (I have a very old example here that has a honeycomb look but straight tubes behind it....)
Because if we're going to do this it might as well be right first time.
Many thanks,
Koen
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« Last Edit: 20 November, 2020, 04:56:35 PM by Dikappa »
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Mikenoangelo
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« Reply #211 on: 20 November, 2020, 02:46:53 PM » |
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Bad luck Koen. When buying a restored or part restored car it's best to expect the unexpected - at least then you won't be disappointed! The Augusta has not been too bad in that respect but I once bought a car which turned out to have a broken kingpin in the front axle which had been "repaired" by brazing.
Mike
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davidwheeler
Permanent resident
Posts: 1270
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« Reply #212 on: 20 November, 2020, 10:13:56 PM » |
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Yes, the original radiator is a gilled tube with a honeycomb effect on the front. I do not think it is possible to order a "Lambda Radiator" off the shelf as it were. Vintage Car Radiators http://www.vintagecarradiatorcompany.co.uk has in the past rebuilt a couple of mine and Omicron got a new one for my VIIIth car when it was crashed some 25 years ago but I do not know from where. Both were true honeycombs as I do not think it is possible to get the fake honeycomb front any more. A shame because it blocks more easily. A couple of places to start! Expect to pay a lot of money, my last recore was in the region of £3000 I think. |
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David Wheeler. Lambdas, Aprilia, Fulvia Sport.(formerly Appia and Thema as well).
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Dikappa
Megaposter
Posts: 501
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« Reply #213 on: 25 November, 2020, 10:18:14 AM » |
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A fresh problem has unearthed....
I had the rear spring packs checked over and new main leaves made. On return they would fit the dumb irons at the front but would point heavely upwards at the back. Not having dissambled a Lambda I knew no better then that the eyes on the new main leaves had been made wrongly.
However further investigations now have led to the conclusion that there have been different generations of dumb irons, and that I have for unknown reasons early ones with a flat bottom, as opposed to the latter ones which present a sloping bottom.
Could this be confirmed? As if this is correct I will have to track down correct ones....
Pictures show my ones, and another one with a heavily slope. Standard later ones have a slope, but not so steep apparently...
Any info or additional pics most welcome!
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Dikappa
Megaposter
Posts: 501
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« Reply #214 on: 25 November, 2020, 06:54:20 PM » |
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Did some spring testing the past couple of days...
The aim is to get the springs to match the (low) weight of the car as good as possible before cleaning them and painting.
At the front I want to use consortium LT rated springs, in fact intended for the early cars. I did some checks and found them to be stronger than they ought to be, which is now investigated by the suplier.
The rear spring pack will probably loose one or two blades, to arrive at the intended 420kg for a fully flattened spring.
I also tried inversing a bottom leave and put it on top to avoid weakening the pack but this does strange things...
A time consuming business as it requires the pack to be taken apart and reassembled time after time...
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Dikappa
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Posts: 501
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« Reply #215 on: 06 December, 2020, 06:31:56 PM » |
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Don't get too exited looking at the pictures, as it is just a quick trial fit!
I wanted to learn where exactly the exhaust pipe would end up, and it seemed easier to just drop in the engine quickly then measuring it all up. The reason I wanted to know is that I wanted to find an alternative routing for the thick cable running from the battery to the starter motor. Originally the trajectory is through the inside of the car at the passenger side (battery is below the driver seat on an 8th series), but seen I want to add brake lights, direction indicators and an electric fuel pump there is quite a bit more cabling running to the back of the car, resulting in too little free space for the 35mm² battery cable to pass....
I now routed it in a steel conduit underneath the car, made up of a U-profile, and just enough out of the way of the exhaust (and almost out of sight)
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Dikappa
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Posts: 501
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« Reply #216 on: 13 December, 2020, 06:00:48 PM » |
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Yesterday and this afternoon prepared the conduit with the wires to the rear. Quite a few more wires than original, as I added stop lights, direction indicators and a fuel pump. As I did not want to make connections at the rear I decided to have one wire (and fuse) per lamp. I used a matt nickel plated flexible conduit, and made brass T-joints. No wire is visible which is in fact a shame with the AES supplied cotton braided wire...
At the same time I fitted a brass 6mm pipe for the nivex fuel gauging system, and an 8mm fuel line on the right hand side of the car.
As I did not like the look of the plated brackets I bought for fixing conduits and pipes, I made 'm off plain 1.5mm steel and will finish 'm with a matt clear paint. So they will have to come out again....
I could not resit making an 'original' look wire conduit for the right hand side of the car, where normally there is none fitted, but since temperature capilaires, and oil pressure contact etc will be there, I thought they might better be protected (or hidden)
Fuel tank fitment is temporarily, it will need to come out again when the rear chassis tube, rear electrical conduit and rear licht brackets are finally fitted. But it will now give me a good chance to measure up and design the filler tube.
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simonandjuliet
Permanent resident
Posts: 2285
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« Reply #217 on: 13 December, 2020, 08:18:54 PM » |
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Beautiful - as always !
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S1 Aprilia Cabrio, S2 Aprilia, S2 camioncino, S2 furgoncino, , R4 Sinpar, R4 Rodeo, '65 Mini Moke,R60 Tractor,R60 S, Moto Guzzi Ercole, Disco 3, Mini ALL4 JCW, Moto Guzzi Cardellino 63,Fulvia Berlina GT, 2019 Royal Enfield Himalayan,JTD Ypsilon - Mathilda
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Dikappa
Megaposter
Posts: 501
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« Reply #218 on: 15 December, 2020, 06:41:15 AM » |
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Thanks Simon! I'm just trying to meet your standards....
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Dikappa
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Posts: 501
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« Reply #219 on: 18 December, 2020, 04:05:02 PM » |
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Small stuff can take time! How many brackets does one need to fix in one car? All in a row it is quite an impressive number. Home made out of 1.5mm steel and now coated with RX5 after de-greasing....
The good new is that now they go in to stay put for hopefully a very long time!
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Dikappa
Megaposter
Posts: 501
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« Reply #220 on: 26 December, 2020, 04:19:48 PM » |
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Today I tackled one of these jobs I just kept postponing: making some brackets to fix the side panels in the car....
The problem was that whoever built the body did not make any provision at all, so something had to be made up. With the sides curved in all directions not an easy task. Long while ago I made an attempt in wood, which only confirmed what I already knew: I'm not a wood man...so I put it aside.
So this morning I bade some L-profiles out of 1.5 mm steel, and shaped them carefully to fit the body by schrinking or stretching. Measuring and fitting, and welding them together ate away the rest of the day, but pleased i left this behind me...
The idea is now to bend some clips in spring steel band so that on top and around the entry the panels the panels have to be slid in place, and that only at the bottom some screws will be visible....guess that will eat away another day!
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Dikappa
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Posts: 501
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« Reply #221 on: 16 January, 2021, 07:46:53 PM » |
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Sorry to keep you idle for so long but it were busy times professionally, and there was only very limited Lambda time.
Good news came however, Bill Jamieson found the missing dumb iron in his spares, so that matter is resolved. I was very, very happy with this news!
Yesterday the first batch of the nickel work came back, and I must say I'm very pleased with the result! Furhtermore nothing seems to have gone missing.
Following Simon's practice I used the dinner table for a display, and no comments were made! (I sort of sneaky started out by putting some small screws on the table, and before the misses could react half the table was taken....
For the rest the few hours available this week I used for making up the oil line between engine and pressure gauge, and incorperated a (2CV origin) oil pressure switch, as I feel my degraded brain will better respond to a red lamp then to a gauge when something goes really wrong...
This involved making some tiny brass conical conection pieces on the lathe, which took me off course way to long.....but without practicing I'll never learn!
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Dikappa
Megaposter
Posts: 501
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« Reply #222 on: 31 January, 2021, 04:25:57 PM » |
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a little progress today...one of the todo things still on the list was the bases for the windscreens...as I'm meanwhile preparing parts like headlamps, reservoirs, claxon etc to be professionaly painted I felt it would be best to do this all in one go...and then it struck me I would have to get the supports for the windscreens ready too! As I plan to make two interchangeable solution this means a bit of work....
Today I made up the support for the full width screen, or at least the start of it. It just takes a lot of measuring and fiddling to get it to follow the shape of the body, but in the end it all worked out more or less as intended.
To be continued....
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Dikappa
Megaposter
Posts: 501
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« Reply #223 on: 07 February, 2021, 03:26:17 PM » |
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Good progress today on the folding windscreens. The parts for the pivot points came through from the laser man, and I could not wait to see if I did better this time...(first ones I designed incorrectly)
After some trail fitting all looked well so I welded the lot together. I also had some engine cover lock hooks lasered, as the ones I had were either very poor or already bad reproductions. I had the hooks lasered and welded a piece of tube in, then sanded them into shape.
A third project this weekend was finding a way to bend a 180° turn in 2mm aluminium, to make covers for the bases of the folding windscreen. This required a purpose built bender, as the stuff I have here won't do this. 2 hours to built the bender, 5 minutes to bend the two plates. Another tool I'll keep forever and probably never use again....
Next step is fitting them to the car!
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Dikappa
Megaposter
Posts: 501
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« Reply #224 on: 11 February, 2021, 04:39:52 PM » |
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Good day today!
After a lot of measuring and trial fitting got the small windows on as intended. Lot's to do still, but at least now I have a hint on how it will look. The fill width screen has been on as well, but forgot to make pictures...
Tomorrow I'll try to fit the alu panelling under the windows, that will give a more finished look...
Best not to count the hours that went into this so far.....
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