1974 Daimler Double-Six VDP (higher axle stands)

Thanks for comments again guys. The good thing about doing this in retrospect is that the updates come much quicker

Tali The previous owner.....I kept him up to date at the start and he was a real gent. I live for the day I drive it back through to show him it

Anyway. Back to the story.......

IIRC my original plan was

• patch up the sills using only new outers
  
• refurb the calipers
  
• refurb the carbs & fuel pumps
  
• replace water pump & any burst hoses etc
  
• bodge the rear arches with filler
  
• tart up the wheels
  
• replace missing/damaged exhaust parts
  
• paint repaired areas with any paint available
  
• drive - with thrash punk blaring out sound system
  

So looking back at the pictures and the receipts that is basically the plan I stuck to. I have a sandblaster and used it extensively on the Polo project but didn't bother on the VDP inner sills.
I didn't buy a new panel for the inner sill and made up my own for the front jack-point. I
did buy one for the rear as this is a pretty crucial area and I wanted a safe part. I got an old one of Ebay (which was nowhere near as good as the ones you can by from all the recognised outlets and not much cheaper)
I stripped the front calipers down and got seal kits and same for the carbs, fuel pumps and exhaust (all drivers side to start with).

The receipts I have are as follows:

Rossleigh, Perth 04/05/2001

• C43397 front RH downpipe
  
• C35402 olive for downpipe to exhaust pipe long section
  
• C43429 exhaust pipe long section RH
  
• BEC9888 2 x downpipe to manifold sealing rings
  

Total £88.92

I rememeber driving up to Perth for these before work one morning and my Polo broke down at Cumbernauld or somewhere on the way back. The reason I chose the Perth dealer is that they were one of the dealers appointed to run the new JDHT Trust Classic Parts scheme. The guy was extremely helpful actually.

next one is

Burlen Fuel Systems Ltd, Salisbury 29/06/2001

• EPK 300 2 x fuel pump repair kit
  
• BDR125S carb damper oil
  
• B20379 carb needle adjusting tool
  
• CDSK14 carb service kit
  
• 019654P new screws for carb tops
  
• B20767 carb bowl plug and sealing ring
  

Total £109.64

Looking at this receipt now it looks like I only had enough cash to refurb one carb and both halves of one twin fuel pump


a couple of months later it was

Rossleigh, Perth 06/08/2001

• C41353 4 x hoses for induction manifold
  
• C25321 6 x exhaust manifold studs
  
• C30787 12 nuts for above
  
• EBC10199 6 exhaust manifold gaskets
  
• C2369 8 manifold to downpipe studs
  
• C17916 8 x nuts for studs above
  
• C34112 2 x gaskets for induction manifold
  
• C33281 2 x thermostat gaskets
  
• EBC35762 x thermostats
  
• C34063 3 x water gallery gaskets
  

Total £78.30

I don't remember driving to Perth for these but I think but that's maybe because I didn't break down that time. I must've been scrimping to only replace 6 of the exhaust manifold studs instead of 12 and god know why there is an odd number for the last gaskets.

next up were a parcel of fuel & brake parts from established dealer

David Manners, Oldbury 29/08/2001

• ARA1502J* 2 x fuel tank sealing rings
  
• AAU3380# 1 x rear caliper seal kit
  
• C28080* fuel filter element
  
• RTC1116# 1 x front caliper seal kit
  
• JLM536* 1x front pad set
  
• JLM1539# 1 x brake pad pin/clip set
  

Total £67.45

Again it looks like I could only afford single kits but maybe they were axle sets. I remember sand blasting the calipers and painting them in silver caliper paint but haven't bought the new pistons yet.

next up were a couple more fuel system parts and 'The Bible'

XK Engineering, Coventry 03/10/2001

• XKPUB88 S2 XJ12 parts catalogue
  
• C44665 1 x fuel tank sump
  
• CBC5649 1 x internal fuel tank filter
  

Total £73.17

It was £50 for the part book photocopy and another £8.50 for delivery so an expensive read but it is a great item. Not sure what the sump is. Maybe I lost one of the fuel tank drain plugs and I do remember one of the filters being knackered. Probably the one on the pipe mentioned before that took the beast off the road effectively.

Next purchase was years later. I reckon everything stopped in early 2002 when I got the unit and started restoring the black Polo. I then recommenced on the VDP as shown above.

Martin Robey, Nuneaton 24/08/2005

• JH AKP381 inner sill LHS
  
• MS 12136RP left hand rear box section
  

Total £118.09

I reckon by this time I had done the drivers side inner sill and box-section and was planning ahead for the passenger side. I went for the pukka box section because of the reasons mentioned earlier. It is a really good heavy duty part incidentally. I think I decided on a full sill to compare if that was better or worse than repairing the old one. The answer to that will come later.

Next buy was probably to finish of the drivers side

Martin Robey, Nuneaton 07/04/2006

• MS MRXJ26RH drivers side outer arch repair panel
  
• MS 12510* sill end cap
  

Total £28.32

Despite what I said earlier about filling the rear arches with filler I gave in on this because when I was working on the sill I kept catching on the twisted remains of the outer arch and it came off. Why I only bought one sill end cap is a mystery as they were only £3.10

So that summarises all the work done and parts bought prior to moving onto the next premises. That will be next instalment....


getting ready to leave Uddinston unit with one side's repairs done and primed

Cumbernauld, now that's a place that brings back a few memories

Cracking work on the car, I keep meaning to throw some time at my long term love affair but room normally depicts other wise as mums tiny tin garage is just to small

Ok. This is the last of the 'archive' era - before I had a digital camera. We're in summer 2006 and in the barn and I started by removing the badly rusted outer sill from the passenger side and have a couple of pics of that


possibly only shot I have of passenger sill before rotten outer removed


passenger side sill front after outer cut away



rotten box-section/radius arm mount panel revealed


From here on I have quite detailed pictures etc so will post all that up over the festive period and hopefully be up to date come January

I've been reading through this thread, enjoying the car a LOT and also your determination to see this through despite the lack of space/facilities/money/time at various stages.

You impart a real passion for this car where others would have given up a long time ago. I've loved looking at the old pictures, the film ones (pre-digital)...they have a very endearing quality to them.

The car is just lovely, the colour is sublime, the interior superb. A brilliant story for a brilliant car in the hands of a brilliant owner. WELL DONE!


^ THIS ^ however, nearly brought a tear to my eye. Even though I wasn't there, I feel like I was. A true moment captured without pictures, but still very clear. I can see it perfectly, I can hear the song and I can feel the emotion.....we've all been there I'm sure, but you really summed it all up so well right there

The caption on the last picture in the previous post said 'let repairs commence' but in the interests of chronological correctness it makes sense to put up a few pics of the repairs I did to the driver's side inner sill in the old unit.

At that time my remit was 'patch it up as best you can' and I'm still pretty happy with the work I did to the floor edge and bottom of the inner sill. There were some pretty rusty bits at the front and rear of the upper part however and these will show in the pictures (and will be addressed later) but the intention here is just to show the initial patch up job to the inner sill bottom half area



reasonably easy and neat repairs to bottom of RH inner sill after putting new edge on floor pan. inner sill has horizontal flange which sits on, and is spot welded to, floor pan edge



corrosion at upper (front) part of inner sill harder to repair as connects to more panels here



small circular marks are where spot weld cutting tool was used to separate outer sill from inner. there are further spot welds holding inner sill to body in front of A post. These need to be disturbed to do neat repair on upper part



picture is dark but this is A post showing holes where spot welds cut out to remove outer sill



RH inner sill at rear. easy to repair bottom part. do you repair more complex upper area or hide it with outer sill?



same area from wider angle



remains of original outer sill still attached to B post. only light surface rust here



these two spotwelds are where outer sill connects to front curve of B post



heavy plates for front seatbelt anchorage points difficult to replicate so repair patches worked in around them



remains of outer sill can be separated from B post by drilling out spot welds but it is also spot welded to inner sill inside the B post structure. not easy to get to


Looking at the pictures above has got me wondering what order the car was put together in. I reckon the inner sill was welded to the floor and front & rear of body then the outer sill with outer shell of B post was added then the top of the sills were spotted together and finally the inner part of the B post was put on. Please feel free to disagree. Before you think about it ask yourself how the spot welds were made connecting the B post to outer sill

richw82 I never thought of that. I thought the holes in the S3 inner sills might have been for rustproofing access but, as you say, could be for spot welding arms access


Series 3 inner sill below remains of Series 2 inner sill


Getting back to the repairs detailed in my previous post. I was quite happy with them but always intended to weld them again from the inside to double up on the welds done from the other side. There aren't many part on a car where you get the chance to do this as so many parts are restricted in access. I still could I suppose but have now put some primer on which would need taken back a bit.




repairs to RH inner sill viewed from inside car. don't look to bad here



a bit messier at the back where there were more obstacles



a few bits missed round seat belt anchorage points



but after a lick or primer look fine



and at rear including small repair to upright part of rear seat pan area

Last time I did a series 3 I found it difficult to get the floor, toeboard, and jacking point to all meet up at the front. How did you find it on this car?

I've been looking to see if I have any pictures kicking about, but it seems I have precious few of the car, let alone the work! A722 JRW, a Series 3 in Cobalt Blue and my first car.

I rebuilt it, had a crash in it, scrapped it. The sill job was the passenger side, the drivers side was fine.

The inner sill, floor edge and outer sill had gone along the point where it all joins together... I'd also lost most of the toeboard and jacking point at the front. The corrosion was caused by water getting in around the windscreen edges, then wicking along where the sound deadening foam was placed.

I replaced the floor panel in its entirity, inner sill, and outer sill. Problems I had were the outer sill panel didn't have a sharp enough fold front the doorstep onto the curved face, and the jacking point panel I had didn't quite meet up where the floor and toeboard come together.

I didn't have any panel issues at the rear. Looking at how these cars are built it appears they vary quite a bit from one to the next, for a mass production car...

I'll keep looking, if I find any photo's I'll post them.

Regards,

Rich

Although I have no pictures of the outer sill when it was still in place I still have the old outer sill

I kept it for reference and recently dug it out to check where the holes originally were for brackets that the aluminium 'Daimler' tread plates screw on to.

This was an ideal photo opportunity and I clamped it up to the inner sill and took a few pitures of the 'unit'

I will throw them away one day....honest! I'd like a picture of the finished car with the pile of scrap cut out of it. A bit like those weightwatcher ones where the slim guy re-visits his old slacks



view from under the sills. was there really this much metal missing?



old inner sill retains most of its bitumen sound deadening(?) pads. valuable reference point for getting OEM look with new stuff




tread plate brackets on top of old outer sill in their original locations. reference for transferring to new outer sill. welds on step show where cover sills were fitted at one time