1948 Triumph Roadster Supercharged plus other stuff…

Changed my mind about sanding and painting the guards.
I decided to warm them out in the sun all day and let the primer shrink now rather than later…
That’s my theory anyway. Also, I’ve earned a break from them.

So I started on putting the passenger door back together.
I won’t say it was the simplest thing I’ve ever done but it co-operated in the end.





I had the mad thought of printing some grommets for the windscreen wiper spindles.
I say mad, because the pc and printer wouldn’t reliably hook up to the new-to-me phone ( refurbed iphone 7 )

I had already drawn a grommet and eventually got it to print.
But it wasn’t right, so I redrew it and then couldn’t get the buggers to talk to each other.
A real exercise in screaming frustration.
I’ll try it again tomorrow with a cable between the phone and the pc.
Then I’ll probably take a hammer to the phone!

So I walked away from the electronics and got the angle grinder out.
Cut the lifting frame apart and removed it from the body.





And mounted the door.





Much more satisfying than unco-operative computers!


Thanks.

Fantastic as ever, Gazza.

More work on the fuel inlet pipe.
Because the fuel tank is not in exactly the same place as before, the fill pipe needed altering.
I cut it and welded a piece about an inch long in the straight part and another piece about the same length on the end.
Forgot to take any pics, until it was painted.
As it is now, ready to go in.




Also drew a gasket to go at the filler cap end. It took about 10 minutes, but really should have taken about two. It just needs more practice.





And printed it.





Then realised that two would be better. So, printed another.
They fit on like this. The red bit is the steel washer that bolts to the filler cap box.





Also got the number plate assembly fitted.
It had a gasket made of about half a pound of rtv.
That needed to be removed and it went into place like it was meant to!
After a good clean of course.





Thanks.

Cheers Mark. Still a fair bit to do, but the end is in sight.

Finished the fuel fill pipe.
The eight screws that hold the fuel pipe and the filler lid, four each, are incredibly fiddly to get at.
You'd be surprised at how long it took, but it’s done.








The colour looks very different between those two pics. I’d say it’s halfway between them.
I’m pleased with it, I think it is very 'period' as they say.


Got the floorboards out of storage and gave them a scrub.
I’m pretty sure they’re original. They’re ply and in pretty good order.
This is the piece that goes under the rear seats. The hole is above the fuel sender.





Did a test patch to see whether this paint is suitable.





Also spent a fair bit of time on the door latches. Mostly the driver side.
It was about 10mm short of where I wanted it to be when closed.
Did a bit of fettling on the door and picked up about 3mm.





That’s the passenger side, which is ok, but I massaged the fit on the driver side to move the latch closer to the exterior.

The catch goes here, on the A pillar.





I’ve moved it as far inboard as possible, by redrilling the holes.

This is the catch, in pieces.





The next step is to make a replacement brass bush, circled, with an off centre hole.


As I said, passenger side is ok.





Thanks.

Looks great from where I’m sitting. I do like the colour.

Thanks, I think it will suit the car.
I should mention again that I was limited in body colour choice by the trim, as it was fresh and nicely done when I bought the car.

Thanks James.
I was asked about it a while back because there was a glimpse of it in a photo background. 
I had to look up what a 'G body' was…
Anyway an O ring between the turbo and intercooler had failed. Boost was awol. Fixed now.


Getting the floors sorted.
I’m going with the existing ply pieces, can see no reason not to use them. They just need to be painted black on the underside.





I’m short of fasteners, because where I replaced the missing captive nuts, there were generally nuts and bolts. Mostly different threads.

Lots of fun with the wire wheel on the bench grinder to get this lot cleaned up. That’s maybe half of the useable ones. All BSF.





Spent a fair bit of time getting this little beastie drawn up.





That’s the replacement for the wiper spindle grommets. I have one useable original, but need three.
I had the basic shape, that was pretty easy.
But it took ages to work out how to get the groove at an angle.

I printed one but couldn’t get it to fit, so I widened the groove and I think it’s now ok.
But when I altered a few settings on the printer, to try for a better finish, the computer said no.
I’ll try again tomorrow.

Had a win of sorts with my connectivity problem.
Put the SIM card back into my old phone, the one with a bad camera, and it hooked up to the desktop straight away. So I can have a camera or frustration free internet access, just not with the one phone…

Thanks.

Cheers Jimi, I’m finding it pretty easy to keep my old phone in the workshop and just change the sim over.

Good tip with the bolt holder, I was lucky to find one that pinged yesterday!


Found the problem with the printer.
The nozzle was blocked and there was a funny blob in the filament, inside the feed mech.

It was an easy fix, after watching a vid on the process, just a bit fiddly.
The printer came with a spare nozzle, so that made it pretty quick.
This is the feed mechanism and the filament with strange blob, after I cut it to get it out.





Then I spent a bit of time fiddling with designs and printing, to get the grommet to fit the car. The groove was the problem.

The failures. That’s the three original ones at the back. Only one is any good, the others have gone soft and gooey, almost liquid rubber.





Anyway, I finally got the size and groove right, and was able to fit it and get the spindle through it.





I'd like a better surface finish, but I can live with it.

Tried to print a third one, and the printer clogged again.
I’ll pull it apart again, but I have to work out how to clear the hole in the nozzle.
I hope this is not an ongoing problem, but I have read that flexible filament is prone to it.

In the middle of this, I prepared and painted the floors.





Then I tried to fit a headlight bracket, only to have one of the bolts seize and turn the captive nut.
I was able to get it out without too much butchery, but I’d better run a tap through them all.

I’ve had more productive days…


Thanks.

A more productive day than yesterday.

For some reason my new refurbished phone won’t send a wifi signal to the new refurbished desktop.
But my old refurbished phone will. (But it won’t take photos)

The old phone is obviously pals with the desktop, as it hooks up reliably with seconds.
Remarkable how much more you can get done when that happens.
And how much more stable your blood pressure is.

So today I printed a heap of stuff.
For the proposed CNC plasma cutter.
I bought some plans and have collected just about all the ingredients, bar the steel and the bolts and nuts.
One of the pieces I got printed today.





While that was happening, as it took two and a half hours, I got started on something I’ve been putting off.

The trim in the back quarters.
The trim generally, really.
But the back quarters because I thought they were going to be problematic.

Started with cardboard.





Had to replace this bit of obviously original wood.





With a much wider piece. So I can get a screw in to hold the new trim panel.






Who does work like that?
I know it won’t be seen, but could they not find something that didn’t look like a piece of scrap?
Most of the stuff I use is just stuff I have, saved in the hope that it will come in handy.
But at least I go to the trouble of making it look like it was meant to be used in that spot.
Anyway, rant over, used the cardboard to cut a piece of signboard.
Very suitable signboard actually.




And with a little fettling it looks like it might work.





Also got a lot of little bits plated.
I can now get some more big bits bolted up!





Thanks.

Thanks Andrew.
The thing is that initially the prints were excellent, as can be seen in the photo above.
I did change a few settings, but I then did a factory reset before the last print.
And I printed a heap of things before I had any problems.
I do put the roll of filament in a bag with desiccant when it’s not being used, but I still have to suspect it’s the culprit.
I think that’s all it can be.


Finished the pair of side trims for the boot area.




These were not nearly as difficult to make as I was expecting.
I now keen to get on with the trimming, but haven’t made a decision on carpet colours yet.

Also cut a couple of infill pieces for the corners of the boot.
These are made of the same signboard material and painted. They close the boot off from the outside. Sort of.




And in keeping with my policy of painting everything multiple times, this is the piece that goes in the rear bumper.




That’s not a reflection, but the white paint underneath.
It’s supposed to be warmer next week, (not that it’s cold now, 21C today) so I’ll repaint it then.


Also printed some more bits for the plasma cutter.
There’s only one or two bits left to do now.




Thanks.