Gotta post some updates to keep a check on myself
I've been slacking off whole week, so I've spent half a day in the garage today.
First point of business were the brakes. The leaking brake line had to come out. On the following picture I encircled the part that was leaking, and the arrow points at where this line goes. This car may be simple, but it is also small, and some things can be surprisingly hard to access.
(must've covered the flash with a finger :/ )
And there's the 3-way joint the line goes to, behind the fuel filter (arrow on prev. pic).
Undoing this whole shit was pretty laborious. And even though I left caliper valves open, there was brake fluid in the system. Ooooh boy, was there brake fluid... My hands are all yellow, and it doesn't wash off easily.
Anyway, ripped the copper line off, and sure enough, the problem was the flange. I made that flange, and clearly I did a shit job. It was so weak, I actually cut it right off with the nut when tightening the joint. I will make someone else do the flanges on the replacement line this time.
The brake line went along the bottom tubes of the chassis, this is the way it was originally, and this is the way I re-built it. But after reading the build manual, it seems the official way is run it along the top, under those crossed braces. As well, inserting a copper line bent in a particular way back from underneath would probably be impossible, so I mocked up a shape for the replacement line from the old one to fit along the top.
This was quite an iterative process
Probably took me 2 hours to get a perfectly fitting shape, and make sure I can get it in and out without removing anything of the cooling system. So the plan is to get some copper tubing, replicate the shape, and have someone do the flanges next week.
Next order of business, I was planning to install the popper-fasteners along the rear of the car, the ones that keep boot cover closed and where the hood attaches to. To do that, I had to install the hood sticks first. This is because the hood for the car is soft, and doesn't have the hoops sewed in. Instead, the hoops are attached to the car, and are lifted up when needed, so the hood can be stretched over them. And when the hoops aren't needed, they lay flat on top of the rear compartment. Like this:
Obviously, this has an effect on where the fasteners for the boot cover will be, as the thing will have to be rather tight, so that water runs off to the back instead of getting into the boot. Again, the problem was... it didn't fit. Well, it did, but when attached through the existing holes, the sticks wouldn't line up with the boot in resting position. British cars, precision engineering :lol: It's one of those things that didn't come pre-drilled from the factory, and had to be measured and adjusted by the customer (at least according to my 80's build manual).
I had to make another hole for the bolt, after taking that picture I've sawn off the extra bit. I have no idea why it didn't fit, maybe it was never fitting well before either, I just didn't pay any attention. And the boot cover wasn't even that tight before. In any case, it fits perfectly now
That's how it looks when the hoops are up. The rear hoop is attached by 2 straps permanently to the chassis with 2 self-tappers, and the straps between two hoop are adjustable. The idea is that when you put the hood up, you tighten the straps, it brings the hoops closer, making them higher, and that tightens the roof.
(cockwheels!)
Hoops down, boot covered. Now I can measure up and drill holes for those popper-bases.