Lambda....the journey begins!

[Dikappa]

Nice picture!  I did the climb on foot, but good of you to take Kim and Bill along!

are these 21" wheels John?

[JohnMillham]

Yes, 21".

[Dikappa]

Still in doubt about the wheels.  With the 'classic' tyres on offer now they should be indeed 20" or 21" (to match the original wheel diameter)  I like the Blockley 21" 'A ford' tyre more (for looks) then the original blockleys, But 20" rim size is closest to original. 

Today major progress was made.  New lower tube welded into place!  I already blasted and primered the two halves, then fixed the frame togheter (while mounted on the body) with M5 bolts.  We this morning did final grinding and applied flowing agent before reassembly with the bolts.  Then the frame was fitted and fixed again to the body, and the 5mm holes drilled out to 6mm to hammer in 6mm steel grooved pins.  Then after dismounting again the lot could be welded.  A bit labourous but the only way I felt confident it would fit after welding.   The frame will now need some final cleaning up here and there before being painted (and then fitted!!!!)

With my very skilled welding friend over some other tasks were done such as tig welding a nipple to the rear of the aux fuel tank (which I will use to install an RVS float switch to control the fuel pump.)
He also did the soldering of some brass t-piece for the wire loom conduit, and the soldering on the radiator surround for the wiring.

Now very little excuses are left for me not to make good progress in the coming weeks.

A setback was that an untill today undiscovered crack was found in the left front wheel carrier, I have another one hope this one will clean up ok....better to find out about it now I guess....

[davidwheeler]

I think that is brazing, not welding.   It should be brazing anyway!

[Dikappa]

correct David, sometimes the words don't come....thanks for reminding me.

[Dikappa]

Today I did some dry building and checking of the alignment of the two rings (per side), to see if they need adjustment before painting the frame.  And off course as one would expect some 'adjustment' will need to be made, albeit not very much.  One side is very close to perfect (LHS of car) on the right side the top ring will need some carefull adjusting.  Next week I'll have better tools to check, and figure out the best way to correct.
Some pictures of the crack that was found in one of the stub axles.  There's in total 8 here, and must say that there is something to say about each of them....there is a very good reason these are made new.

[davidwheeler]

I had one of those on the VIIth torpedo but managed to limp home...   Lucky I had a spare but have just ordered new ones for both cars!

[Dikappa]

Big day!  Today I started final adjustments on the subframe, in order to re-align both rings to achieve a sliding pillar.  Good tooling makes the job easier, but still it takes quite a bit of assembling and disassembling to get it more or less Ok.  I will attempt to get it better still tomorrow, however I've now arrived at the point where I can easily slide up and down, but by turning the pillar some 'friction' spots can still be found.

I made supports to fix the frame to the shop floor as it takes quite a bit of force with the big lever do get the job done.  Last picture shows initial mis-alignment on the RH side....

After measuring up my original pillars and consulting John Wilkinson of New Vintage Parts it was decided to re-use the pillars and order new Stub Axles only.

Hopefully tomorrow will see the adjustments finished so I can get the frame painted and mounted, then the cable loom can go in!

Rear springs are still with the specialist firm to get corrected so no news there. 

[davidwheeler]

Please remember that the pillars need to lean about 3 degrees backwards relative to the ground when the car is on its wheels, i.e.3 degrees positive castor.    The contact patch on the tyre is then behind the line of the pillar/steering axis so the wheel trails a little and is stable - think of a bicycle front wheel.   This is not necessarily the same as 3 degrees backwards relative to the chassis frame.    You will need to look at the orientation of the front radiator frame relative to the road.    One of my cars was rebuilt with the frame and hence the pillars at right angles to the chassis and it took me 20 years to realise why the steering was unstable and needed my hands on the wheel at all times as the rear of the car sits higher than the front.     Camber is taken care of by the stub axles (or should be!) with the pillars vertical in the fore and aft plane.

[Dikappa]

Thanks for that David!  It is indeed difficult to check but I did some sort of a measurement today and with the car's back being 5 cm higher than the front the pillars are 2.5° tilted backward.  Relative to the radiator this would be 3.5°  This is on the LHS.  On the RHS the leaning back is slightly less with 2° and 3° relative to the radiator frame.  So it is not completely in one plane, but I this might also be a measurement error....

Today I spend more time on 'fine tuning' of the pillars and was able to still better it with very minor adjustments.  On both sides there is now still a very small spot with more, but marginal friction, and this is only in one spot on the 360° movement of the pillar (no stub axle attached) so with some planning and testing I will be able to mouint the pillar to the stub axle in a position so that the 'touching spot' is never reached in normal operation.  With this in mind I stopped fiddling, and will try to get it painted this week.

[DavidLaver]

"it took me 20 years to realise why"

Just how satisfying was it when finally right...  I can't imagine.

[Dikappa]

Today removed the subframe for painting, and made the necessary shim plates here and there.

I also trial fitted the headlamp/wing brackets, to which I made an extension to fir the indicator lamps. 

I then turned my attention to the damper pistons inside the pillars, as the pistons should get removed to change the diaphragm valves.

It is a normal right hand tread but it won't come.  I first made up an alu block to properly clamp the shaft, wich worked well but I found the force needed too big and feared for snapping the shaft (it is hollow)

I then filed two flat side on the wider part of the shaft just below the piston, and made up a proper tool to fit the piston holes, but again, I feel I used about the admissable force nearing to break something and gave up.  A little heat applied to the piston was also tried without avail....

Any tips?

Koen

[simonandjuliet]

If you are sure RH thread - and no reason why not - I would try (induction ?) heat plus impact driver and gently try shocking it ....

Do you have a spare ?? If not , do you ABSOLUTELY have to remove it ?

[Tony Stephens]

IIRC I held the damper rod in the lathe chuck tightly, locked the headstock, and then made a peg spanner to operate on the "thimble" holes. No reason for it not to be right hand thread, although I don't know for certain. The thread is fine, so can be hard to undo.

And yes, Simon, if you want to replace the damper flap valves, you have to remove the thimble.

[Dikappa]

It's off.
I knew it was RH tread as I have a spare loose piston.  But these rods are the best I had so wanted to use those, and the diaphragm was broken.  On Leo Schildkamp's advise made a more or less proper tool and tried the air hammer (gently) to no avail, so got out the big fellow.  This is a Facom hand power multiplier, and it has never, never let me down.  One tick and there it was, once loose it could be easily turned off by hand.  I wonder now how to tighten it again, as it is not locked in any way, and would rather not use loctite since those valves do break from time to time....

Just got word the stub axles are in the mail!