A Californian drying out in South Africa

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African Imp
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Heat is the key with many bonding systems, as I wanted to complete the repair today, I introduced some heat and went out to do some
shopping and visit a client.

He is building a 37 foot sized Hartley sailing yacht, I ended up buying his very nice 1968 Austin Mini, it has the wind down windows, I think its a 998cc too?

The licence disc tells me it only weighs 577 kg, should be quite quick?

Its a project and will be for sale :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

The glass work went well and the epoxy will be well hard by the morning, so I can then clean it up, apply the Butter Scotch primer and then lay the sound seal, job done.

The glass cloth is only 6oz weight so sort of becomes one with the clear epoxy when saturated.

The process has retained the floors profile top and bottom, more so underneath which was the intention and less so inside but once a layer of sound seal is
applied I will end up with a smooth surface for the carpet to lay on.

6.15pm, the epoxy has set, the floor will be quite usable by tomorrow morning :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

With the 1967 Singer Chamois collected and loaded and on its way to Johannesburg, my time was freed up to finish the near side floor on the 1967 Hillman Californian. I first needed to silver solder one of the front seat mount threaded holes, sand the epoxy and glass work of yesterday, then apply three coats of the etch primer that was used on the floor on the other side of the car.

When the paint is dry and with a temperature of 32c predicted that will not take long I can then apply the black sound seal on the floor and move on to whatever comes next.

Progress :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by rhydian_mason »

Great work - and an inspiration for those of us not confident as welders!
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by rhydian_mason »

Well, many new cars are 'stuck' not 'welded' together, and from what I can see the work you've done with the stuff is second to none. Far safer than bodging with filler, which, despite the best intentions is not an adhesive.

R.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

After many months and the sale and collection of the Singer Chamois today I have removed the cars picture from the forum header and replaced it with the Hillman Californian.

The Californian was not on the scene when I started posting on the forum, which will have been about one week into the by now famous JoLon Imp saga :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

IMG_6275.JPG
We have another warm day, it will be 32c again they say?

The floor hole forward for the passenger seat also needed silver solder, I stopped the heat transfer with a wet cloth rolled up :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

The sound seal starts today :)

It also ended today but with an unfinished nearside floor as I ran out of the black sticky stuff :(
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Luke likes my bench vice at least as much as the car behind him?
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by Dave ' Linwood ' Lane »

None of these repairs are legal here in the UK , does look very neatly done though :)
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by Dave ' Linwood ' Lane »

Wind the window down , knee on the door handle and pull , its the only way ive found
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by The Nun »

Ideally the seal should be fitted and tested before the car is finally painted whilst doing a full restoration then if the weld needs attention or remaking and paint needs touching up afterwards its not so much of a worry/headache. :wink:
Same goes for the stainless side strips, make sure the holes for their fixings line up by trial fitting the door locks etc as if they dont after finish painting youre a bit stuffed so to speak.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Parts posted by airmail from the Imp Clubs spares man Bob, arrived some months after he posted them but only after I made a trip to Capmail to find out where they were?

They were in our local post office who had had them the last two days and had failed to send out a notice to me.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Fitting the seal from Robs 1971 Imp Deluxe showed me a new and far easier way to meet the two ends in the corner.

I have always done a mitre and as you may know this requires a bit of skill and does not always work out that well?

This butt joint requires two simple cuts and a slot in the top seal only so that the seal can go into the corner.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Have you ever wanted to know the difference in the roof hight of the saloon to the coupe, the picture shows this!

The seal I have fitted is off Robs Imp saloon, so the difference is there to see.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

With the new passenger side door rubber on and an adjustment of the door striker plate, the door can now be closed but it is still not right :(

Time to move on, now to remove the carb closest to the transaxle again and see why the car will not start?

I prefer to work on the engine with the car reversed into the garage, the light is better at the rear of the car and all the tools are there also.

With help from some visitors wanting dragon boat paddles and Imp Club member Eric and his grandaughter, Maxine. We pushed (they did) the car out, I was steering, we turned it around and then used my old block and tackle to pull the car up the drive which is quite steep.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Mystery quiz?

The engine was running fine, I would drive it around, leave the engine running while I took the pictures and never had an issue.

I then removed the standard Sport exhaust manifold and fitted the Hartwell one instead, no problems and I went for a drive, same as before excepting at the
end of the drive the engine on idle stopped and would not restart excepting with a tow.

It turned out to be the carburetor closest to the transaxle, I found that the floats were binding and staying down, I assume that was the problem as once sorted the car started and ran fine.

It would not start the next day and when I had a tow it would only run on three cylinders.

Today I removed that same carburetor, found nothing wrong with it but stripped it down to a bare body and used an air line on all the galleries in case one was blocked. Back on the car and the engine started and while sounding better still fires on only the three cylinders, a run round the block to warm the engine up made no difference either.

Back at the garage I removed the plugs and tested each one by cranking the engine with the ignition on, they all spark but its plug number 3 that oils up, there is great compression and must be petrol as I can see it wet on the electrode when the plug is removed.

The picture shows the number three plug removed and with the engine running you can see a very bright spark at the electrodes, whats going on here I wonder :( I have of course tried another set of spark plugs, made sure the plug leads are secure, the points and condenser are new, the normal tests and that includes the petrol pump supplies as it should, have shown no results.

As a so called expert on the Hillman Imp engine I am stumped, could it be the inlet manifold gasket I wonder, I have re tightened the manifold nuts too.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by Dave ' Linwood ' Lane »

Air leak ? :idea:
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by Dave ' Linwood ' Lane »

African Imp wrote:
Noddy wrote:Air leak ? :idea:
Where, inlet manifold?
Yes , this would explain just one cylinder not working .Theres other causes obviously like a valve etc but as it was OK before id go with this .
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Its Sunday and Hamilton has just done his thing in China yet again.

By way of an easy start to the day I will leave removal of the inlet and exhaust manifolds to later and fit the new rubber seal to the drivers door frame, then finish the 1.5mm black sound seal to the same side and the floor.

With that done the car can be re trimmed once the paint works are finished :)
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

I will continue with other items on the car before removing the inlet and exhaust manifolds, I will have to fashion a Sport sized gasket made from the std Mk2 gaskets I have in stock.

With the job list at last becoming ever shorter and an end in sight, I have now fitted the drivers side door seal, this door shuts well and does not require any force, as this is the door that will be used most I am happy with this :D

I purchased a 3.5 meter long section just to be sure I had enough, the Thor brand copper and leather faced hammer was a good tool to fit the seal with.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

With the Summer Equinox passed some time back our days are becoming shorter and even by 6pm the Imp Californians Lucas lights were bright enough to make a difference :)
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

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The carburetor closest to the transaxle was given another strip down, this time I also removed the choke control on the side of the unit.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Hout Bay, RSA.

10.30am and the only thing to do was to fit a new manifold gasket, I am now profling the new Mk2 gasket to suit the Imp Sport gasket, was there a Sport gasket with more meat on it I wonder?

I note that while the exhaust needs opening out to fit the Hartwell small bore exhaust manifold, the Rootes Sport alloy manifold fits fine, the manifold could be fitted to the gasket rather than the gasket to the manifold.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Fitting a new manifold gasket and with the carbs still bolted to the alloy manifold is a hard job due to the weight of the two Strombergs.

Once removed from the manifold it was time to bead blast the alloy manifold clean, I have never done this with this one as the blasting cabinet
was not with me at the time I last owned the car and work was being done on it back then.

I tried some petrol then water soluable cleaner, then gave in and removed the carbs so that I could do the job best :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

The re fitting can take a day as the special silicone sealant made by Reinzosil that I have applied to the gasket faces will take around ten hours to cure.

So fitting the parts back again can take me the rest of the afternoon :)
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

So its one more sleep before I can start the cars engine and see if it fires on all cylinders?

A long time back I did experience poor starting on one Imp with twin carbs, was it this one, I am not sure, a new manifold gasket proved the case and
easy starting was the norm from then on.

Watch this space for the good news :D

The parts are as new as I can make them with what I have to hand.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Tuesday 8am 14/04/2015:

I started the engine, it still runs on three cylinders only :( Imp027 car, whats wrong with you?

I will change the dizzy cap next.

Looking on the positive side, we now know its not a leaking manifold gasket !
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

I have ( i think ) made some progress???

This is of course a process of elimination and I held off fitting the new manifold gasket as its a lot of work, as it turned out I have a nicer and cleaner engine now :D

Today and after starting the engine and finding that the new manifold gasket was not the cure, I started the day off with wiring up a spare dizzy cap, which is very handy to have of course, I copied the way the one off the car was wired, it is 1-3-4-2 but just to catch me out this motor is 180 degrees out timing wise! not to worry its the same thing when in practice and when known about.

I really thought I had found the problem, check terminal number 3, its half gone and this was a new dizzy cap?
The other three poles are as they should be.

The new cap made no difference really, I drove around the block and tried to get the revs up but no joy, so now what??
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by The Nun »

Have you checked the valve tappet clearances to make sure one isnt being held slightly open by a displaced shim?
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

With a spare Stromberg carb fitted to supply cylinders number three and four, the engine runs better, its firing on all four cylinders now, still not great and the odd back fire has me wondering why?
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

As the timing does seem to be involved I decided to get down to basics, first to remove all the plugs and test the compression with my finger, no issues there and I then removed the camshaft cover to test the timing line on the drive sprocket.

As I have removed both carbs this was an easy task.

The cam is the Sport type which uses the standard timing line, with the TDC crank pointer at its mark on the pulley, the line is fine, you can just see it in the picture which may enlarge if you click on it.

With the cover off the top of the motor I will re tighten the head bolts using my Churchill RG355 tool which was the correct Rootes supplied tool all those years ago.

This one was given to me by the son in law of an ex Stanley Motors employee, I met him a few times, he ended up with all the Imp parts when Stanley Motors cleared the Imp parts from their store. This included a brand new 998cc block, he would not consider selling it to me, even though I was actively racing my Mk1 998cc Imp then in Cape towns Killarney Race Circuit.

That is a brand new timing chain by the way.

With the return of the Californian, the Sport 180 series cylinder head became mine again, it was bought many years back from Vince Frost, it was bent top and bottom :( I had sent it to Ferdie one of the Viglietti Ferarri brothers who ran the cylinder head shop.

Ferdie fitted new guides and valves plus skimmed the top and bottom of the head, this saved the head, in the past I have Imported a shim to replace the material removed from the camshaft landing, we now have a local gasket shop who will make the shims locally. :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

The change to another carburetor on cylinders three and four did bring some result, the engine ran better but now the rear spark plug was not firing!

The plugs are in the order they came out of the engine, burning rich I know but unburnt petrol on one cylinder will cause that via the balance tube which connects all inlets.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by The Nun »

Must be electrical then I should think??
Either that or you have one of the new 1 litre 3 cylinder engines they put in new cars now :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

The day went ok, other work needed sorting for the morning, so it was mid day by the time I turned back to sorting out the cars engine.

As I may as well torque the head bolts down at the same time as check the camshaft timing, I did so and used the very same wrench I had back in 1970/71 when I built my first 998cc race engine.

The wrench is made by Repco and new parts are still available, I fitted a new spring and indicator needle some time back. I like this type as it gives a solid 'Click' as the limit set is reached, you could use it in the dark and still hear the setting has been reached.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by The Nun »

African Imp wrote: The engine started and quiet easily, runs ok but lots of black smoke so the chokes are open? is it possible the choke control which was opened for cleaaning have been re assembled 180 degrees out?? :(

This is still progress :D
Doesnt say anything in the carb manual but from the pictures it does indeed look as though it might? be possible to get the choke disc 180 degrees out, I dont think many folk ever take that part to bits when they strip the carb, its mainly jet and float chamber thats disturbed, maybe you have found something there??
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Those forum members who suggested an air leak were correct!

Not at the manifolds to cylinder head joint but at the Stromberg carburetor to the inlet manifold, I tried them without a gasket and they were rocking all over the place, hence the air leak and all the bother.

I have two more pairs of Strombergs here, they are nice and flat, seems as if whoever owned these originally was very heavy on the spanner work?

Once discovered the fix was easy enough, I also used the one new gasket I had in stock and the silicone sealant this time.

Now to sort out the chokes, or is it one choke? I will open a spare caarburetor and see whats possible, like can I switch the valves around with the carbs still on the car?

I really do not want to un stick them now.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by The Nun »

Didnt you have an over fueling situation though where fuel was building up in the manifold? was that cured before this current lean running fault? or is it all the same thing?
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

So where am I up to now?

Well the one carb had the choke control cover fitted 180 degrees out and that was my doing, I advise that you do not take that assembly apart unless you know what your doing.

Which I now do of course :D

The picture of the cover in the vise is how it should be, the picture of the carb and a gasket shows how I had fitted it, that is 180 degrees out and means the carb is on full choke right away :(
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

This has been a steep learning curve but one that has left me with a lot of answers to some questions about timing and Stromberg carburetors, given they were a new issue I would have had none the problems?

Using hand me downs and Ebay bargains does have a down side it seems ?

One thing always to remember is that the choke control cover can be fitted 180 degrees out :(

The engine is now fixed, its back on the dizzy cap and leads I changed over, since the picture was taken and when the engine was running at the time I have refitted the sport air box and I can now move on to some paint works?
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

I went down to the harbour for an hour, its sure got really cold outside :(

On my return I turned the ignition key without touching anything else and the engine was running perfectly :D

That was sure one very long weeks work but I do seem to have arrived where I wanted to.

The air box is now on the car, I have a leak where the oil drain to the cylinder head enters the side of the block, I need to fix that next and install the flywheel guard.

The engine is running in this picture.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

Oli,

With painting back on line and then the trim shop I wonder if the front head liner metal trim section was ever found?

Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa
Postby oli » Fri Apr 03, 2015 8:29 am

I may have a spare coupe front interior trim panel in my storage - I will have a look over this weekend.
oli
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by The Nun »

At least you found a definite answer as to the cause of the running issues, and can be now confident its fixed, better than finding nothing much and having a reliability problem that may or may not keep returning. :D
Also its a good tip to know you can assemble the carb backwards, so make notes and mark everything so it goes back in the same position, that should also be the case when refitting the top back onto the carb too.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

We have a SE gale today, blowing about 40 knots I guess (one knot is 1.1 mph) so a nice day to do some smaller jobs on the car as I mentioned yesterday :D

So I have just spent the best part of a week sorting out the twin Stromberg carbs, what a job but I found out that the base where they bolt to the alloy manifold was bent from others over tightening the bolts. This was then sucking in air, a long long story but its sorted now.

I used a flat file to correct that, a paper gasket and Loctite # 2 gasket sealant, the car now starts at the turn of the key and without me even getting into the car!
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by oli »

I am 90% sure I have one, just have to put my hands on it - will get back to you asap.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

I mentioned some small jobs, well they seem small at the time, as it turned out fitting the flywheel guard cover was not so easy as the holes were not in the right place, plus the plate needed about 1/8" grinding off its long edge.

Job done and a new hole drilled and tapped the plate is at long last on the car, its years since I have seen one of these, was the Rootes one just a wire mesh thing?

One picture shows the plate when bolted in place, check the oil leak from the cylinder head banjo bolt, that's my next job to fix :)
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by African Imp »

IMG_6541.JPG
IMG_6541.JPG
I have the alloy washers, the centers have long since gone and waiting two months and that's if I am lucky with the postal service, means buying them is not an issue.

I sanded two down on 100 grit paper and used a machine tool as a table to get a nice flat surface.

Now fitted and using the Loctite number 2 gasket sealant, the engine has been run and this far I see no leaks :D
I am finding the Loctite sealant easy to use and it works well, its black and messy but I can cope with that as long as it works.

Have you ever wondered how much oil will be lost when the banjo bolt is removed?

It was 2.25 litres.
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by The Nun »

Are you fitting any windows, or not necessary?
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by oli »

Door cards? :D
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Re: A Californinan drying out in South Africa

Post by oli »

:D

You'll be very pleased to know that I phoned my brother who had a look in one of our storage areas, and I have two of the interior metal trim panels that you require for your lovely Californian. The one I have for you came from a 1969 Californian that I cut up many years ago. A quick sandblast and a coat of paint, and it should be as good as new.
If you want to PM me, and we can agree price / transport / postage etc.

Oli
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