2 door VAE 306H

[POMMReg]

Page 66 of "Bristol City Buses" (think that's the title), there's a colour pic of VAE 308/9H.

Look to have reversing lights, make any sense?

Mike Walker is the gent to contact, nice bloke too.

[kevin s]

I have not seen any evidence of reversing lights being fitted, it has previously been "restored" so evidence may have been lost in this.

I have ordered a copy of the book so we can have alook.

[kevin s]

Finaly found some time to work on the minor, I made a repair section for the rear floor and sill bottom and then welded it in along with some small patches to the boxing plate.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

We then removed the door and wing to reveal this lot.[frame][/frame][frame][/frame][frame][/frame]

Strangely the hinge pillar is hardly rusty but everything around it has decayed to nothing, so hopefully I may be able to re use it.[frame][/frame]

Didn't quite finish the floor repair as I ran out of gas, next I will move along and finish the sill and floor edge, then work up the A pillar.

I also tried out the pot blasting kit, it works pretty well, but makes a real mess in future I will have to push it outside for this.[frame][/frame]

[kevin s]

Progress has slowed due to other car and house / garden projects, but we are slowly moving forward, I have fabricated and fitted a new end for the centre Crossmember, deliberatley stagering the joint to the old one, it is made out of 2mm galvanised steel so should last

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Just need to get some steel strip for the bottom and make the slot for the torsion bar reaction plate.

No photos but I have also pulled off the remains of the door post and repaired the rear edge of the wheelarch, the door aperture i snow braced so I can cut the bottom of the kidney panel away (rust and a big hole hacked in it presumably to gain access to the lower hinge nut plate) I will probably replace this and the front of the boxing plate with a single repair section.

[kevin s]

Spent an hour or so on it today so I cut all the rusty metal away from the front corner and welded new metal in.

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In the interest of improved strength I plan to fill in the large rectangular holes at each end of the boxing panel, this is the highest stress area of the sill, I suspect they were there for weld gun access, but I am using mig so that won't be a problem, so the repair section was made without the cut out.

Next up finish repairing the boxing panel then make and fit a new front floor /sill bottom followed by the outer sill which is only clamped on in the picture, I can then work up the A pillar and round the gutters.

[kevin s]

Got a couple of hours on the car today, welded in the front floor /sill base repair section I had knocked up a couple of weeks ago, the lower part of the rear seat kick panel and the outer sill, this pretty much completes the floor and sill repairs, I still need to cut the seat mounting plate off the old floor but that is pretty much it.

Next up is the A post I can then hang the door and finish the repairs to the lower part of the bodyside.
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I will also give the repaired areas a coat of paint tomorrow as well.

Kevin

[kevin s]

Haven't really done much on the minor lately, too many garden projects to try and get finished before the winter, plan is to finish the body over the winter, I am even making a log burner for the workshop to keep me vaguely warm.

I did pick up one item to see if I can make fit on the minor:

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It is an mx5 gearbox which cost a whole £20, the plan being to make a new back plate to fit it to the engine. The biggest problem is the clutch, the smallest 22 spline clutch I can find is 8" but this won't fit on the minor flywheel, I have now found that the marina /ital uses a 8" clutch so am looking for a marina flywheel and backplate, I will then drill the two extra crank holes to suit the minor engine and start on the backplate.

[chesney]

I have a Marina backplate and flywheel in Leeds if of any use? Also have an Owen Burton conversion plate which may suit your needs better with starter motor in a different position.

[kevin s]

I would be interested in the Marina parts just not sure how I would get them to Chelmsford, the starter is an interesting one, the mx5 position wipes out the distributor so I will stick with the standard marina position and cut the bell housing to clear, fabricating a steel cover to enclose it, it looks like the mx5 clutch actuation will fit just below it.

[chesney]

Well, if you can find a way of getting the backplate and flywheel to yourself, you can have them!

[kevin s]

With many thanks to chesney I now have the flywheel and back plate, it looks like for most of the gearbox to engine bolts I will just have to drill additional holes, only the top 2 will need metal adding,the flywheel will need some machining to fit to the crank the mounting face needs enlarging slightly as does the centre hole, I will then turn up a pilot bearing and use this to line the engine and box up before drilling the holes.

The other problem is the starter, in it's current position it wipes out the mx5 clutch release, I need to work out which is going to be easier to move, or possibly go to a concentric slave cylinder, I did this on the lotus when I fitted the type 9 15 years ago and it has worked superbly.


Otherwise I have done a little more on the A pillar, I hope to get back onto this in anger soon, as with the nights drawing in I can't do much outside, on the new parking area and greenhouse.

In the meantime I have been making a gas cylinder based log burner to keep the garage warmer in the winter.(it has brick chimney already),

[kevin s]

Finaly found time to work on the minor, I have made a complete new kick panel and fitted it.

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It was also nice and cosy thanks to this.

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I have also ordered new hinge plates etc so next up will be re-fitting the A post and hanging the door.

[TvdWerf]

I had put a floor heating in my barn , 2 years ago, took some time, but brings a lot.[frame][/frame]
Before:[frame][/frame][frame][/frame]
And after, with never enough place to work ;)

[kevin s]

I would love under floor heating and it would work well with a log burner and a heat exchanger but most of the garage has limited headroom so there is simply not the space.

Kevin

[TvdWerf]

I have build this one by myself, but as usual, always to small....
Just space for 2 cars

[kevin s]

Progress has been slow but I have managed to do a little more, I have cut out made and welded in a repair section at the base of the A pillar.

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I have also removed the gutter and the return panel which goes to the door seal flange which will be replaced as well, the lower part of this which transitions to the door post will be shot blasted repaired and re-fitted, the rest made from new steel. Jus need to finish making my blast enclosure first.

I also uncovered some of it's history, the Terling green paint from it's Bristol omnibus days is visible in the gutters.

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Hopefully the next few weeks should see most of the passenger side finished.

[kevin s]

A bit more progress, I managed to get my blast cabinet up and running and cleaned the door post and lower rear face of the a pillar up, these were both the rusted original parts,

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I then cut out the rusted areas and welded in new, a few areas of thin metal were also built up with weld.

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The rear face was painted and the nut plates fitted.

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Next the door was aligned to rear and the post welded in with a seam weld down the front edge where it is hidden so that the door shut still looks original.

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Then the door removed and the rear of the a post plug welded in.

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Next up will be to clean up the welds, paint the inside of the post and make and fit a closing panel, before then working around the rest of the door

[kevin s]

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[midget]

Following your thread with interest, very interested with your mx5 'box plan. How is it progressing?

John

[kevin s]

I Think I have worked out how to do it, but have not really started:

plan is to re-drill the Marina backplate to the MX 5 bolt pattern and use the marina flywheel, this will need one extra crankbolt hole drilling and some machining to take the MX5 pilot bearing or if this can't be fitted in a bronze one turned up, then the clutch actuation will be via a modern CSC and I will need to get a prop made out of the Mazda / Minor ones. the clutch will be the marina cover with mx5 disc

First thing to do is the flywheel/pilot, then I can use the pilot to align the gearbox to engine (after shiming the first motion shaft rigidly into the centre of the gearbox nose) and drill the holes in the backplate, after this I will cut the bell housing to clear the steering rack as per the original and make sure it fits in the car the rest will follow pretty easily afterwards.

For the moment though I want to focus on getting the main body shell finished so I can put the suspension back on and move it around, When my daughter passes her driving test and I don't have to spend half of my weekends taking her to and from work progress should improve.