African RHD 1956A & 64C resto

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Ashley James
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#16 Post by Ashley James »

Matt

I didn't explain very well. On the outside of the car at the rear end of the sill where it joins the front of the wheel arch, which is presumably the lowest point, there's a hole. Therefore I'd decided to weld it up properly and then drill another, say 3/4" diameter and also at the front where it meets the wheel arch. These would enable me to spray the entire inside of the sills with cavity wax, probably Dinitrol.

I intend to plug the holes with rubber blanking grommets that I can remove to see if water is getting in and if so let it out. I may even leave the rear hole open as the best protection.

There's very little rust in the floor area inside the car, but I'll keep looking.

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Matt Kreeve
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#17 Post by Matt Kreeve »

^^ thanks Ashley ... yes that's what I realised you meant but thanks for the clarity - it's the finer details that help :clap:

lead pics post glass blast .. note how my metal shoppe uses clear coat while prep'ing and metal resto is done to ensure the reality of the underlying is visible and so its easier to see whats really going on than when body is under a sheath of primer - nice touch I think

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Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

Ashley James
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#18 Post by Ashley James »

The photos are very interesting.

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Norbert Drager
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#19 Post by Norbert Drager »

Hi Matt,
I live in Grahamstown and also have a 356 C, which I bought 20 years ago and restored. It also came via Lindsay Saker and is a late 64 Reuter RHD. My car's chassis number starts with 131, so your's must be an early 64 (starting with 128...). Yours also had the T5 petrol tank, while mine has the C tank with a filler flap on the right hand fender. Fortunately my car was in a far better nick when I got it than yours. It lived most of it's live on the highveld with one owner. The second one, I bought it from, had it only for 1 year.
I wish you good luck with the quite substantial resto.
Cheers Norbert

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Matt Kreeve
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#20 Post by Matt Kreeve »

Hey Norbert

glad to hear it - love your avatar pic cruising at speed on a long trip, leaving the clouds behind ;)

As you say I'm on a journey ... and thanks for the info. Yes car was invoiced in May '64 so likely built 2 months before I guess. I have the welded up hole on inside of car's rhs front fender for the filler as pointed out by Mike Smith. I must admit I have thought a bit about commissioning it as I'm not averse to making the C more useable (while the A will be rock stock ... but more later on that).

Thanks for the good wishes ... I'll need more patience, but the project is looking much rosier since floors are all good and less patching than expected. Can I ask what tires you've found here that work for you? I assume you're running 4.5in rims?
Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

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Matt Kreeve
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fuel sludge which wont budge

#21 Post by Matt Kreeve »

so a couple months of stripping and cleaning and sourcing and finishing my home workshop space has kept me busy but progress is imminent ;)

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The garage is however filled with parts in boxes and bags getting slowly worked through and improving the tags etc..

Right now the plan is split the elephantine task into baby specialist groups and get things all as ready as possible while the rotisserie is being prepped and while the bonnet for the C is sailing toward me from the US .. can't start the metal work (cutting etc..) without all the panels in place to check gaps and surfaces

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1. Brakes
take brakes discs, drums & shoes (off the A), brake lines to a specialist
- have new lines bent up
- skimming/mating of drums and shoes
- check discs else replace
- strip and powder coat then rebuild calipers (new pistons, bolts & rubbers) - kits?
- will take 2 weeks

2. Electrics
strip the 6V starters and other electrics (Volt regs, windscreen wiper motors, fuse boxes, generators)
- await new looms from YnZ
- have these refurbed - new brushes, tested etc..
- have headlight bowls re 'chromed' - more like a plastic silver coating
- will take 4 weeks

3. Anodising
- take all aluminium (door windows, trim, petcock (maybe), decklid grills) to be stripped down and anodised matching aluminium color
- should take 3 weeks

4. Powder coating
- already done the heater boxes which came out well ... now need to do trans carrier, other engine tin
- will take 3 weeks

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5. chroming
- taking all the chrome (handles, handbrake, light trim, bumper over-riders etc..) to be stripped down, copper coated and then re-chromed
- should take 8 weeks

6. Interior
- leather ordered (for C)
- OEM carpets from Germany on their way
- found a very nice felt to use as under carpet (over bitumen based sound deadener/liner)
- once begun will take .. as long as it takes ;)

any ways, it feels good to have the semblance of a plan now .. but a few tricky questions too! The books suggested have come in very handy although I'm only a quarter of the way through and have been mostly focused on the metal work side of things.

First one - petcock/fuel reserve switch:
mine was properly gunked up - the tank itself wasn't even vaguely saveble so I should be too surprised .. but with the help of thinners and petrol the parts all finally came apart .. however the two intake pipes (that sit in the fuel) seem blocked - i have tried blowing them out with compressed air but no luck when putting air into them from the tank side - also not sure which hole inside the body is fed by which tube?

Any ideas please?
Must I try thread some wire through them (hasn't worked yet)?
Or maybe soak the unit in petrol and hope the pipes soften up inside? Have tried penetrating oil but I think whatever's inside is a mix of the old hardened cork and fuel sludge which wont budge.
Or cut them off and have new pipes joined on (even possible?)

thanks for looking in,

Matt
Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

Brad Ripley
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#22 Post by Brad Ripley »

Matt, Not trying to sell spare parts .......... but several US companies can supply new parts at reasonable costs versus restoring old originals from your car.

I can suggest at least the following:

1. Brakes -- new steel lines (all pre-bent) are all available new at reasonable prices.
Caliper kits are available from everyone. Pistons are available from stock.

2. Electrics -- headlights are available new from stock but somewhat more expensive than careful restoration of originals.

3. Anodizing -- very difficult to restore windshield and rear window trim. New ones are not expensive. Engine lid grilles are usually still quite bright and are difficult to get re-anodized successfully. There are pretty good repros .

4. Great older oriental rug in your photo -- maybe Shiraz.

5. chroming -- again all of those things are available new as reproductions --but chrome plating may be less expensive in SA because of low labor costs.

Petcock -- may be less costly to purchase new from the US . about $135.

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Matt Kreeve
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#23 Post by Matt Kreeve »

thanks Brad .. yes a shiraz I think - inherited from a European holiday .. banished by the modernist wife to the workshop where it has pride of place in the 'relaxation' chamber which is currently as box store for the C.

I'm well on my way re new parts having ordered many new parts from Stoddards, Willhoit, Precision Matters, YnZ, Trevors Panels etc...
but due to distances and the basic nature of many parts, I'm quite happy to have some made here if we can match materials and fittings perfectly. Also I'm most keen on new mechanicals so pushing budget that way rather than to less drivetrain related bits. Refurbing steering, suspension, gearbox, lights obviously saves a huge amount.

Quite keen to see the quality of the rubber kits ... repro is great but can be useless for some!

Will look at the options for brake lines though as I'm shipping some big panels and that mean slots of 'free' weight.

Getting a quote for the chrome now - very unlikely it will be cheap but the end product will be original and of high quality.

Any other insight on clearing the pipes of the petcock? .... pity to throw the baby out etc.. just for the sake of some gunk in one pipe!
I tried heating it after thoroughly drying and stripping and a long snake of gunk popped out the longer pipe ... thinking of just cutting them off and soldering new pipe on if the pipe-cleaner/pressure after soak in petrol doesn't work. (I guess I'll add the question to an existing petcock thread to keep the info in one place)
Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

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Dan Kalinski
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#24 Post by Dan Kalinski »

Nice rug! Good to see them repurposed in your shop space. Likewise in my shop. Recently added a '55 Speedster to the collection and will be doing the same to it as you are doing to your car. Looks like you are making wonderful progress. Will be following along. Thank you.
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Matt Kreeve
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#25 Post by Matt Kreeve »

Hi Dan ... thanks for the inspiring pic - a work space closer to a grateful dead stage than a oil slop ;)

I'm glad the rugs are getting some love ... and 'glader' still that I tried acetone on the petcocks - 3 minutes later both pipes on each petcock blew out convincingly and my list of new parts shortened a little more ... with a car with all its matching metal it's nice to keep/refurb as many of the orig components refreshed and just put new wiring, pipes, rubbers and trim (as well as all the wearing parts in the drive train & suspension) and maybe some glass here and there.

Now back to the searching through the old loom to see what I had and what I need to order re the new loom - did the 56 A (or all A's for that matter) have dome lights, even on RHD? Sadly although I have a lot of pics of the car as it was found/arrived, I don't have that one! If there was just a rusty hole in the roof, maybe I could see it ;)

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Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

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Matt Kreeve
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#26 Post by Matt Kreeve »

I posted this originally as a intro and shout out for RHD & local-to-me members ...
but I'm finding the writing and logging useful for my own process so the thread will continue
but mostly as a journal and a record of what I've done (right or wrong!)

As such this should likely be in the [projects] forum rather than in the general discussion
.... would a moderator please move it there? (Greg or others please and thanks)

I should say that my focus is sharper than ever having spent the day recently driving a friend's lovely blue speedster with perfect mechanicals that made weaving in and around the mountains here a real joy.

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a little taste >> https://youtu.be/yC5YwsncAfo
Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

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Matt Kreeve
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#27 Post by Matt Kreeve »

so started working through the electricals today ...

Interesting to see that the seemingly unmolested windscreen wiper motor off the C looks like it's painted M*A*S*H/Jeep green....
odd as I haven't encountered this color anywhere else (car was orig Irish Green which is much darker) but I have seen this same color on other examples .. must have been bosch's color of choice at that time I guess.)

Attached to a 6v source it seems to be working well ... any other way to confirm its a 6V and not 12V unit? The bosch part number shows a 6A but can't seem to find a definitive answer and DerWhite's superb electrics page .. what a trove
(http://derwhites356literature.com/356Po ... rical.html) doesn't have the bosch p/n for the wiper motor.

Seems these are quite cheaply available in Germany too per ebay. But seems the part number (not like modern bosch 10 dig numbers) is [ WS/HAN2/6A1 ] or just [ HAN2/6A1 ] ... does the 6 refer to volts?

Will start cleaning and refurb and do some more searching later unless one of the brain trust stumbles in here ;)

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Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

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Matt Kreeve
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#28 Post by Matt Kreeve »

while we're in there here is the 56A & 64C windscreen wiper motor assemblies next to each other for comparison

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The A assembly mount isn't painted ... bit dirty obv .. just polish it up and give it a silver coat or just clear?

The A motor seems hardly worn and works too (A is def 6 volt as it had it original/old battery ... I suspect C is also 6V ... just double checking)
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The gearboxes on the A - in green, first to get cleaned - seem good if a bit notchy with grime
... cleaned out now - need to work out how to re-lube there - spray on grease?

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before
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after ... hope all the grommet/mount rubbers available though they're not very specific bits
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Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

M Penta
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#29 Post by M Penta »

Looks great Matt. Looking forward to following your work. Nice home shop, I only have one precious bay which I will finally have back after 5 yrs. finally worked on my car again today, been extra busy getting ready for winter this year.

Good luck,

Mark

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Matt Kreeve
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Re: African RHD 1956 C resto

#30 Post by Matt Kreeve »

thanks Mark - will pop in to your thread and have a look!

Any idea how to lube up those gears without drilling the rivets?
Currently working on two nut+bolt resto's in Cape Town
'56 A RHD 5606 Silver Met) over Green - delivered Nairobi (Cooper Motor Corp)
'64 C RHD 6406 (Irisgrun) w Fawn (rehbraun) - delivered Johannesburg (Lindsay Saker)

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