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SaxMan's Winter 2014/15 Project Thread

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SaxMan said:
I'll look there next! I wear gloves 99% of the time out of habit.

I have two books: One is the British Leyland manual, the other is a "Restoring Sprites & Midgets" by Grahame Bristow. Is part of the LBC experience having to read extraordinarily vague instructions and take your best guess at figuring out what they mean?
Click to expand...

well Duh - why else would you do it?
 
Geez, you weren't kidding about those four bolts! They really didn't want you to take that dashboard off! I had to loosen up the radio box to get access to one of the bolts. But, it is off, although the steering column is preventing it from coming off completely. I only need enough room to get access to the bulbs to convert them to the LEDs, which I now have.

Curiously, the back of the dashboard is red. The Heritage Certificate indicated the car was Mineral Blue. I'm wondering if the dash came from another car?

Of course, now I have to go back and fix all the stuff that I didn't need to loosen up to get the dash out, like the posidrive screws. I am glad that I have the seats out of the car right now. It makes moving around the interior a LOT easier!
 
You can drop the steering column down after you remove the 4 screws yes 4 on the column surround. Loosen tge three bokts and nuts and you can get the dash off. You ought to simply be able to flip it over versus pulling it completely out to change those bulbs. I also think you can buy LEDS that just screw in place without resorting to pulling the dash totally out but you are learning something along the way.
 
By the column surround, do you mean the three bolts that are fastened to at metal brace under the steering column or the screws in the plastic part that holds the turn signal and wiper blades?

At this point, I'm hoping it all goes back together with everything still working!
 
I fiddled a bit more with the dash tonight. I found I was able to get more movement with the steering wheel surround closed back up, but loosened up the on/off switch for the dash lights so it could be pushed inside the column. For my purposes that gives me more than enough room to play with.

I ordered my LEDs from a local supplier: Joseph Parlanti at Veloce Solutions. He's charging $5 for the same bulbs that Moss is charging $8.50 for. Better yet, since he is local, he is taking his Sunbeam out for a spin and will hand deliver the bulbs to me just to make sure I have the correct ones that will fit. We're meeting tomorrow afternoon.
 
While you are in there and have the dash turned around. Time to clean the green off of all the electrical connections of the vack of the dash. Preventative maintenance.
 
As promised, Jim brought the LEDs and his Sunbeam Tiger to boot. And yes, it was a genuine Tiger, not an Alpine cut up to be a Tiger. I've never seen one up close before. The restoration was immaculate. In place of the stock 260, he had a built-up 302 that dynoed at 300 hp, 375 lb ft of torque. When I heard the car fire up, all I could think was "Holy @#$@#$@#!!!!!" Of course, I told him about BCF!

So, it was a successful afternoon in that I got the LED bulbs, got to see a Sunbeam Tiger and made a new LBC friend in the process.
 
Got the LEDs installed tonight. Wow, what a difference! The only hiccup was the right turn signal indicator was working fine when I tested it just in its socket. When I put it back into the dash, it stopped working -- but the exterior turn signals were working. I'll futz with it a bit more once I get everything back together. Otherwise, I was a bit impressed that as much as I was messing with things that everything else was working properly. The only thing I'm waiting on before I button up the dash is a new choke cable the associated hardware.
 
Sounds like a good day all around. You're making good progress, makes me feel even lazier for not having started the needed work on my MGBGT... :smile:
 
While waiting for parts to finish up the dash work, I went ahead and dropped the fuel tank. Yikes! Yes, I would definitely say it was time for a replacement. Pics will explain the story. Since the tank was out of the way, I went ahead and serviced the rear differential. It's a LOT easier working on the rear diff when the gas tank is out of the way. Dropping the gas tank also exposed more of the repaired damage the car once had in a rear end collision. To fix those areas properly would require replacing the trunk floor and rear fascia...probably not worth it at this point in time. Pics coming soon.
 
Pics from my latest adventures:

Drivers side floor pans. The rusty areas in the pedal footwell was surface only and cleaned up:
DSC_1409 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Cleaned up. I'd love to find a supplier for the brake, clutch and accelerator pedal pads:
DSC_1411 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Before and after of the seat rail hardware:
DSC_1413 by onyxsax, on Flickr

I used a headlight restoration kit on the center button -- worked pretty well:
DSC_1424 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Painted steering with with the center button. I'm going to be replacing the steering wheel cover:
DSC_1490 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Some more housekeeping - replacing the heater core return line and the vacuum line to the carbs:
DSC_1502 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Dashboard pulled away - you can just make out the different paint color behind the dashboard. It looks more reddish in person. I'm not sure if this was an undercoat or if this dash came out of a different car.
DSC_1505 by onyxsax, on Flickr
 
Sorry for the blur. I didn't have a tripod with me. This is the dash with the new LED lights. A considerable improvement to say the least!
DSC_1508 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Back of the trunk and inside the rear fascia -- looks like I have some cleaning up to do. It looks a bit like bondo as well.
DSC_1520 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Slightly different angle. I guess I could do the magnet test to see if it is bondo:
DSC_1521 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Deformation of the trunk floor from old accident damage:
DSC_1524 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Gas tank after removal. Yup...it's in pretty bad shape.
DSC_1529 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Bottom of the rear fascia -- looks like some more clean up work to do:
DSC_1532 by onyxsax, on Flickr

Underside sans gas tank. The trunk floor deformation is right at the rear muffler mount:
DSC_1535 by onyxsax, on Flickr
 
New gas tank went in tonight. That turned into quite an ordeal. Two of the studs that hold the gas tank had become bent, which meant the holes on the new tank weren't lining up properly. I was able to use a vice grip to straighten them out just enough to get them through the holes. What should have been a 30 minute job turned into a 2 hour one. Now I have to do a bit of work on the filler pipe and hose to get it to fit properly.
 
The red behind the dash is the factory color for all of the padded dash's.

Kurt.
 
nomad said:
The red behind the dash is the factory color for all of the padded dash's.

Kurt.
Click to expand...

Thank you. I did not know that. It is interesting the mysteries that get opened up when you open up parts of the car for the first time and take a look around.
 
After a run of five gigs in the last six days, which is very unusual for this time of year, I got a chance to dive back into the Sprite this evening. I installed the new choke cable and began buttoning the dash back up. I can honestly say that removing the dashboard is something I really don't want to do again! However, it was rewarding that with the dash buttoned up, everything still works (although I haven't started the engine to check the tach). The new LED lights look amazing. Of course, now I'm going to have to upgrade the headlights to make the car a safer night driver so I can enjoy the new dash lights!

Psychologically, it is definitely a better place to be knowing that you're now in the "Closing up" stages of the project. A couple of times I was thinking to myself "Am I ever going to get this done?" Now that I'm over the hump, I feel like I've got my second wind.
 
Adding a set of Relays for Headlights will make a major and I mean major difference in Night Driving, I added halogen lamps and I actually was the guy who was getting headlights flashed at men to dim my lights. A far cry from my original driving at night with a 2 D Cell candlepower Flashlight equivalent as my headlights. Easy to install relays right on the cover plate on right side. Access to the Blue/Red and Blue/White leads is right there as they come out of the front harness bundle. Easy to tap into them, mount relays on the cover plate, a soldering iron, some Heat Shrink Tape, a couple of fuse holders, 20 A fuses, a couple of heavy duty ring terminals to connect to solenoid feed from battery, and some heavy duty 12-14ga Red wire to go up to pick up power, tie wraps and you are done. The whoe relay project took a few hours and I was done. Purchasing one of those relay kits from MOSS or VB gets you everything you need for $29.95 or so.
 
SaxMan said:
After a run of five gigs in the last six days, which is very unusual for this time of year, I got a chance to dive back into the Sprite this evening.
Psychologically, it is definitely a better place to be knowing that you're now in the "Closing up" stages of the project.
Click to expand...

Funny, this is my busiest time of year for gigs -- difference working in a ski town makes, I guess.

You'll feel even better in the future if you need to get back into the dash again. Nothing like having personal experience with a system in the car to help your confidence a bit. It's a good feeling.
 
X2 what Jim said. You won't believe the difference though you still have the generator so at low speed and idle an alternator will do more. I'm sure you will be happy with the change though.

Kurt.
 
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