Something rather odd happened today, spent an hour or two on the Healey getting the front wing lower repair section ready for welding and upon return to the computer I discovered an email from a BN1 restorer.  Someone is reading this, had better watch my Ps & Qs.

I've gone and entered a half Ironman next summer so need to cycle a bit at the weekends which has had a devastating impact on the Healey time.  Got to get work in line so I can get more time in the week.  I very much enjoyed the grinding today though.  I hope to get on the case on Saturday, will keep you posted.

Took a sneaky hour or so in the garage and cut off the bottom of the near side wing.  Started to line up the replacement section then got distracted by trying the sill on to realise that the door is a little twisted or just plain bent, either way it was enough to cause me to put down the hammer and scarper for the sofa.

I noticed that the lower section of the wing left after the rotten section was removed was rather bumpy and realised that it must have been filled with lead.  I took the Oxy-Actelene to it and the lead fell to the floor.  I can only presume that this repair was done whilst the car was new because the wing was very deformed and any panel beater would have been able to get it flatter than it was unless they couldn't be bothered to remove the wing to do it.  And in that case it would have been a cheap/fast repair and therefore unlikely to be done with lead, unless of course it was done in the days before modern filler was widely used?  Just in case you have a moment to ponder the likely causes of lead use.  I might put a lead kit on my Christmas list as a result though.  Talking of Christmas, do you like the look of Santa Paws?

I was pleased to get into the garage on a Tuesday as work is back to its most demanding and I don't want to leave the car to weekends only.


Until next time.

So I posted the list of parts and tempted as I am to say how much they cost I don't think I will.  I will show you what they look like though:

Doesn't seem right does it, two small boxes.  Oh well. The horn push looks good though:

So I managed to get the car out yesterday as the weather was sunny in London.  I think that my wing repair is ok for the time being.

If you follow the gap up to the top of the door/wing then you'll see that the door gap gets bigger, considerably so.  I put this down to poor craftsmanship on the part of the door manufacturer and I think the only way to solve it will be to get it welded.  I have quite a few aluminium bits and pieces that need welding so I'm thinking of finding somebody to come to me rather than me cart all the bits to a welder.

So anyway I decide that the lines on the car are a little inconsistent and fall back into that  state of procrastination that I know so well.

I didn't take any pictures of the other side for some reason and I know that it isn't possible to see the line of the side of the car on these photos but they are different.  So I think I'll get on with the wing and the A post on the near side and then take a view.

The door is sitting too high but I decided that this is the positioning of the hinges rather than the A post so I move onto the wing.  I realise that the front rolled edge of the repair section doesn't match the original so decide to leave the original rolled edge and cut the rot away from behind the wheel  arch. enough for today I think. 

Whilst I have been away from the garage I have made progress in other areas.  I visited John, the 100 register man, for some of his old spares.  I had a great time there, in fact it was a whole Saturday and then the following Wednesday morning, poor chap is probably sick of me.  I managed to buy so many parts and get my horn push repaired, thanks John.  I obtained:

LININGS & RIVETS-front (set)

BRAKE SHOES - REAR (EXCHANGE) - BR4500

BRAKE HOSE - FRONT - BR4390

RESERVOIR - SINGLE SUPPLY - BR4010 & pipe

STRAP-reservoir with bolt+nut

BRASS CONNECTOR - 3 WAY - BR4790

BRASS CONNECTOR KIT- 5 WAY & BRAKE SWITCH - BR4842

TAIL/FLASHER LIGHT (ORIG. LUCAS) - LG4013

SIDE/FLASHER LIGHT - FRONT - LG4010

GASKET - BOWL TO BODY (3 ADJ.) ORIG. LUCAS - LG4391

HEADLAMP BOWL - BULB TYPE (ORIG. LUCAS) INCL. ADJ. - LG4361

BRASS NUT - H/L (BUCKET TO BODY) - LG4330

INNER RIM ASSY. - 3 ADJ. - LG4490

HEADLAMP RIM - CHROME - LG4530

HEADLAMP PIGTAIL - C/W ADAPTOR - ORIG. LUCAS - LG4451

PACKING PIECE - MASTER CYL RHD - BR4061

100/4 Brake Pedal Complete RH Drive

100/4 Clutch Pedal Complete RH Drive

Pedal feet

2 Pedal shaft levers and spacer

SAFETY CATCH (COMPLETE) - BN4088

STRIKER PIN - BONNET CATCH - BN4010

STRIKER SPRING - BONNET CATCH - BN4020

SPRING CUP - BONNET CATCH STRIKER - BN4030

BRACKET - BONNET STRIKER PIN - BN4032

TENSION SPRING - BONNET CATCH - BN4040

Tension Spring bracket

CONNECTING ROD - CLUTCH (ADJUSTABLE) - CL4091

CONNECTING ROD - CLUTCH (NON-ADJUSTABLE) - CL4111

RETURN SPRING - CLUTCH PEDAL - CL4130

Clutch relay lever

BRACKET - BONNET STRIKER - BN4255

GUIDE PLATE - BONNET LOCK - BN4260

SLIDE PLATE - BONNET LOCK - BN4270

SUPPORT - SLIDE PLATE - BN4280

RELEASE ROD ASSY - BONNET - BN4190

BRACKET - THROTTLE PEDAL - FL5010

THROTTLE PEDAL - RHD - FL5080

BEARING - THROTTLE RELAY ROD - FL5095

LEVER - ACCELERATOR PEDAL SHAFT - FL5130

LEVER - ACCELERATOR RELAY SHAFT (3/8 SHAFT) - FL5132

BALL JOINT - THROTTLE LINKAGE (U.N.F.) - FL4922

CARBURETTER LINK RODS & NUTS (CUT TO LENGTH) - FL5050

LINK ROD - THROTTLE SWITCH - ES4320

Used Wheel spinner

Trafficator stator tube

CABLE - DOOR PULL - DR4140

KNOB - DOOR LOCK - DR4160

SOCKET - SIDESCREEN FITTING - SD4070

OIL SEAL - FRONT HUB - SF4360

WHEEL BEARING - FRONT INNER - SF4370

WHEEL BEARING - FRONT OUTER - SF4380

BOOT HINGE - RH - BT4010

BOOT HINGE - LH - BT4011

LOCK - BOOT - BT4050

STRIKER PLATE - BOOT LOCK - BT4150

TELESCOPIC PROP ROD - BT4060

PACKING PIECE - SEAT RUNNER - ST4050

BASE PLATE - SEAT RUNNER - ST4051

PACKING PIECE - SEAT RUNNER - Drivers Side

TUBE NUT - SEAT SLIDE - ST4070

AH BOOT BADGE - BD4050

So, I re-read the old posts and realise that I haven't made loads of progress but I have been enjoying what I have done.  I came back to the off-side A post and after a several attempts got it in a position that I am happy enough with.  I went to the Orchard Restorations open day before the summer and whilst I enjoyed going there with my wife and the dog I didn't see any 100's in the workshop.

Orchard Restorations open day

We also went to the Rawles Motorsport day and there were no 100's being worked on there either.  I have been very lucky so far in that those open days that I have attended over the years have had 100's being worked on in the workshops which has meant that I have been able to take measurements and make notes etc.  What I did note though was that the lines on the 100's in the car park were a little wayward.  The swage line was good on all cars but if one looked from the rear then the wings and doors tend to be a bit wavy.  This was a bit of a relief as I had been fighting to get mine perfect and it was just driving me mad but I now realise that where I am at with my BN1 is quite normal.  Hence I have moved on from the A post on the off side.

The above photos show the A post in place.  So I moved on to the wing, cut off the wrecked bottom section and welded on the repair:

This is what happens when teachers go on strike

I had to flatten the rear return to extend the panel from the BN2 dimensions to the BN1 size required. I needed to add an additional section in for the bottom corner.

Trial fitting the wing

When I bent over the extra metal to create the rear edge of the wing I got it miles out.  I was surprised as the edge was straight on the bench!  anyway, I fitted it on the car and was horrified to see how far out I was so I had to open the return out and reform it.

The edge after the first reforming process

The above photo shows that the second attempt was still out so I decided that I needed a beer to recoup my energy before having another go.

Once I have this sorted I intend to have a go at the rear wing which will need a lot of modifying then it is over to the near side to repeat the whole process, could take a while.  All in all it feels good to be getting on with it again.

Well it's been a long time.  Not because I haven't been working on the 100 but because I've been away for the summer and had a computer failure meaning that I couldn't download any pictures or make fresh posts.  In case you're interested the school did well this year and the Maths department held it's own so my wife and I had a few pitchers of beer in sunny Florida on the 22nd to celebrate.  I couldn't face Windows 8 so decided to go for a Macbook; the main issue with this strategy is that my laptop broke a month or more ago and I decided to wait for the new version to be released.  Only the second day of ownership so I haven't figured out how to post pictures yet, I know, I know, I'm slow.

Back to the off side panels with a fresh perspective and I spent many hours tinkering joyously in some spring sunshine. 

I started by moving the 'a' post forward to see if I could get any joy with the door gaps.  They improved but at the expense of the wing which was now pushed too par forward.  I have sold my MIG but not yet collected the new one as I am waiting for a Machine Mart VAT free day which just so happens to be next Friday so I got the Oxy-Acetylene welding equipment out.  This was fun as it was another thing that I have not done for 20 plus years.  I blew a few small holes before I got the hang of it and then rather enjoyed it, in some ways it seemed easier than the MIG was.  I decided to wait until the weekend to return the 'a' post to its last position as an excuse to test it.

I then removed a piece of the sill return and managed to get a much better fit of the inner wing which was good.  I then noticed that there is still some remnants of the wing bottom on the near side wing and that tells me that the wings were cut back on the inside to allow it to fit over the inner wing.  My repair panels are not shaped that way but I'm not sure I trust them to be truly accurate.  Either way I have two possible routes forward with this area which is good.

I then began modifying the wing repair to make it the required length.  At some point I fell into a deep ponder and spent several hours looking and measuring various parts of the body before I threw the towel in and went to pick up all the dog output on the lawn, until next time...