Xbolx tat blog, Jan 2016 'FLEET UPDATE'

Wotcha gang! IN between eating doozer constructions i've done a bit on the ARGENTA. First off I took the front brake calipers to bits (no photos like), cleaned em out and refitted em which made the brakes work reasonably well, I suppose i'll have to do the back ones as well but so far so good, its defo driveable now. So much so that I took it for a little blezz up the lane and established that it drives freakin great!!!!! Pulls really well, steering and suspension is a bit floaty, its no Caterham but I think thats probably fairly normal.





I LOVE IT!

I also boshed some new wipers on, thats how close this thing is to an MOT.

Something that does need looking at is the interior. Its filthy and the headlining is saggy as owt, so sagy in fact that it must be fixed without delay. SO today I started stripping it out:



PLan is to shampoo the seats and get the years of 'barn dust' out of them. Hold on whats that?



FUGGIN MICE!



Taking the headlining out was a right war, its one of these with a backing board made out of reconsitituted digestive biscuits. Its also gat a metal frame to carry the ridiculous pull-put sun visor arrangement at the front. I could not get the headlining out through the door aperture (i think it must go in through the windscreen when the car is being built) so I had to saw this frame thing in half and fold the headlining a bit to get it out. It should live through the ordeal though.

I wanted to take it back to the house to get Ms_Bol on it, she is a whiz with owt made of fabric (i deal with the metal stuff). How do you transport a headlining though? it was too big to go in my Rover. I could put it on the roof, but had no rope to lash it on. Then I hit on the most awesome idea of all time!



Chuck the headlining on the roof then lash it down with my overalls, trapped in each window.

I took the headlining home and showed it to Ms_B, who had never heard of sponge-backed headlining material. However you can buy it off eBay for about £50 for a big piece plus a couple of tins of aerosol glue (GR8 4 SNIFFIN)



So I think the plan is to buy some of this shiz, probably changing from blue to grey, re-cover the headlining, squeeze it back in the car, weld the frame back together (hopefully without setting the fuggin lot ablaze) and fit it to the ceiling. I hope we can make a decent job of it! It will probably end up wrinkly as hell like

Having finally driven it, I am supa excited about getting this heap on the road now. Theres not a lot to do really apart from sort the interior out, polish the paintwork up, maybe get some new tyres on and lash a load of waxoyl everywhere. I have also ordered some 'beam bender' things to go on the headlights to hopefully point the beams where the MOT man wants them as the chances of finding some RHD headlights are pretty slim I think.

That material looks like it's in good nick- the headlining fell off the hardtop of the Sprite and it was done in a similar fashion- foam-backed as it was fabric straight onto fibreglass.

We vacuumed the old foam off the fabric, bought a couple cans of spray glue and an offcut of thin foam from a furniture store and stuck it in.

Total outlay was about fifteen quid and it took over 15 years to begin to sag again

Just a thought

--Phil

Wow, congrats on getting the Argenta running!

Interesting stuff. What power does the fuel injected Fiat twin-cam put out, and does it have that lovely low-down torque of the carb version?

hairnet, I don't think the cheap ultrasonic cleaners you can get from Lidl, Maplin, etc., are anywhere near as effective as the proper industrial type used by fuel injector specialists! Though they are quite good for cleaning odds and sods - I mostly use my £30 Maplin one for watch restorations.

What BHP should the injection engine provide then? I'm guessing about 120 or so.

Re the headlight beams....if it takes H4 style bulbs, a quick n dirty fix is to use snips to cut off the 3 locating tabs on the bulb, and refit it in the holder turned a few degrees round from its standard location(cant remember which way - experiment infront of the garage wall to get a passable pattern) It doesnt take much....just along the lines of shifting from 12oclock to 1oclock kind of thing. Infact, some H4 holders have wider slots for two of the three locating tabs, so snipping off the third one allows you to rotate it to exactly the right position.
Done a few UK cars to EU spec this way and it passes CT, so should be fine in reverse.
The boingy clip is enough to hold the bulb steady without these tabs.

YO!!!!

Hey i've had a great garage session today. Nowt much happening with the Argenta as I am waiting for some new fabric to arrive for the headlining, so today I pulled the REVENGER into the garage.



I havent done any welding for ages so decided to have a crack at the bonnet forward edge.



First thing to do is get that crhome strip off, I had visions of irreplaceable plastic clips busting as i twanged it off but to my surprise it was bolted on:



Didnt hold out much hope of those coming undone, and sure enough:



every single one snapped off. Ah well I think I can make some new captive nut things later so no big deal.


At least we can see the rot properly now. I decided to dop one side at a time, to reduce the chances of welding in something that was completely the wrong shape:



There was a little bit of grot in the frame, soon fixed that:



Probably should have painted all that but I didnt bother, i'll lash loads of waxoyl in when its welded up.

Now I set on making a patch. My garage marra has been building himself a pretty neat steel workbench, which I found made a much better metal folder than the actual metal folder I bought earlier on in the thread. So out with the G-clamps:



Lovely.

After some pizzing about I had a patch, slightly wavy like:



I was a bit concerned about that gap at the rear edge of the patch, I folded the steel as best i could but wanted to minimise the gap. So, I drilled some holes in the bonnet frame so I could apply a bit of pressure from beneath if necessary:



then stitched it in:



A bit of distortion, buit not too horrific fortunately.

Not having a door skinning tool, I folded over the bottom edge with a hammer and handy steel block which appeared on my desk one day at work, and which has now moved into the garage:




Foldy foldy!! Its the BEN FOLDS FIVE.


Alright! Now we're getting somewhere.

On with the other side:


Theres a separate bit of grot on this side which i'll have to deal with separately:


This side seemed to go a lot smoother than the first side and I used my joggler thing to give the patch some ledges to sit on:



BZZZZZZZT




Looking good!

I linished it up with the flap wheel (forgot to photograph that) and slathered a bit of red oxide on, I envisage some shenanigans with the electric spray gun when I have finished titivating the bonnet and wings.



Looks OK though, I am canny chuffed with how thats turned out.



THANKS FOR READING!

That's mega impressive panel work! My Stanza's bonnet is just as bad, I've been waiting for a better one to turn up. Might just get it done now I've seen that.

Sadly i've already chucked £50 at the bay for some fabric and cans of glue!!! I thought it seems a bit pricey but could not find a much better deal, so I just paid it so i could crack on quickly!