December 30th  2105

Hmmm. Done it again.

Bought a cheap car to fettle, a little bit.
Rob Winder's Cap (no 03) was sitting in his garage in Kendal. Rob has had it for about 3 years but a new daughter and another new sprog on the way (as well as a new home) meant that he was being distracted from the important business of running his car.

I knew the car (I looked at it before I bought my original Concord) but at the time I thought I couldn't get into it. That was merely a lack of appreciation of the finer points of cramming into a trials car.
Rob had been using it regularly and had changed it's appearance quite a bit. That's him at the top of the blog.

It looked like this when I first saw it, when Mike Salton was running it.

My plan was to do as little as possible, so that I didn't add much value. Then I could justify doing events now and then, as I don't much like the cold and wet events.

I seem to attract the snow somehow, and the wind. Oh! and the rain.

The Raybax, my last car, went Darn Sarf as I had had a belly-full of getting proper wet and cold. It stood me at more than I was happy with so it had to go.

The idea with this one is to keep it much as it is. Just go around it and repair or replace anything that it needed. 

It's running a 1040cc Imp engine. The Concord I bought originally had the same and despite the slight imbalance created by my passenger, it seemed to crawl up hills until my ham-fisted foot caused the wheels to spin. I have learned a bit more about feathering the right foot now and need to learn more about specific techniques to overcome various obstacles.

I fitted a 1600 Suzuki engine to the Concorde and whilst I enjoyed doing it and actually did it for little cost, as the Imp engine sold for a decent price, I think I may have wasted my time. The extra torque was merely a way to spin the wheels earlier.

I don't have a suitable trailer at the moment. I do have a braked trailer which needs to be a little bit longer, but it isn't long enough at the moment. Rob delivered the car using his trailer and I shoved it in the garage ready for a bit of inspection work.

I knew the exhaust manifold was completely knackered, but I built a new one for the Concord, so that isn't a problem.

I decided to strip out quite a lot of stuff Rob had put in. The ballast at the back, a built-in tyre pump, the footboard for the passenger. The wiring is added to in the way most cars that are a bit old seem to become. That needs a new loom making. The oil pressure gauge didn't work. The central "console" is superfluous, and the yellow stars are not really my thing. 

Then I began finding other things which could do with attention. The steering column had a bit of slogger at the top, There was a clunk when wobbling the front wheels (looks like a knackered rose-joint). There was an expansion tank on the cooling system actually in the cockpit, the rear axle pinion oil seal was trashed, the A-frame arms were corroded.

Oh. It could do with a sumpguard. It seems to have lasted quite well without one, but my driving style requires lots of underbody protection.

So, there is a bit to do really. 

I did get an oil pressure gauge from ebay for £15 which I fitted (luckily I had a thread adaptor from a previous installation I had done). I started the engine and had great oil pressure..... Then I didn't..... Then I did..... etc. etc.

I assumed the pressure relief valve was sticking so removed that and cleaned it up. According to the book of words you're supposed to do it annually. These old-fashioned engines, eh?

That's one little job done.

But you didn't think it would end there. Did you?

I know that the car has been a bit troublesome with the fiddle brakes. 

Rob had had a new fiddle brake lever assembly made by a club member, which looked really good, and were in fact the same as on the Raybax (same source).

However he had re-used the master cylinders, which were 0.70" bore and also had a remote reservoir feeding both cylinders. I don't like complexity.

I ordered two new master cylinders with 0.625" bores and integral reservoirs. Less pipery and as the piston moves less fluid the levers move further to get the same braking effect. This effectively means that it is easier to apply the brakes and they are more progressive.

The brakes themselves were a bit more needy.

I thought the discs could do with skimming, but when I took them into my engineering friend's workshop he hid behind his lathe. Seems it's an awkward job. Still, he did me a favour as he lent me a reference book and I identified the brake disc part number. Looked on ebay and got a new pair, post free, for £10.69.

The calipers are fine after a good clean up. The brake pads had come off their backing plates.

Some new EBC pads should make the bite better. (The same change of pads worked wonders on the Concorde. Some people reckon they aren't up to much. I spoke to the bloke who designs the pads and he explained Green Stuff pads are the most suitable. They are designed for low temperature with good initial bite at low speeds. He reckons they work well on trials bikes).

It was whilst I was floundering around cleaning up the mounting plate for the lever assembly that I noticed some corrosion on the chassis rail.

Removing the alloy side panels revealed all. More of which later.......