Early HPE restoration

[peteracs]

As an aside, with the Spider I spent countless hours cleaning parts sat on the floor with a bowl, brushes and Jizer. This time I decided I am getting too old for that and reusing the degreaser would be a good thing, so have bought an SGS SPW200 45litre parts washer. Looked at second hand, but at £119 new and delivered it was not that much more than what folk were asking for used ones. Should make cleaning stuff a whole lot more enjoyable. I have also bought aqueous based degreaser which I have so far used on my bike chain and tools I used to strip the suspension which works really well.

Peter

[JohnFol]

What's the deal with disposing of the water / oil afterwards?

[peteracs]

Hi John

Good question, one reason for getting one is that there is more reuse of cleaner, however I will have to enquire how to dispose of it once it is deemed no longer effective.

Peter

[mangocrazy]

You also need to fight the urge to leave anything temporarily on the closed lid or it will be out of action for six months minimum.

Ask me how I know... 

[peteracs]

Hi Graham

Yes, makes a good table (temporary…!)

Back in Jan I ordered a new screen from Pilkingtons, the last one came in 10 weeks, so expected it within the quoted 12 weeks. It finally arrived yesterday. The manu date on the ticket said during May, so their original timeframe was somewhat out….

I had it delayed for delivery in July as we were away, but that still made approx 6 months to get it. The other odd thing was the delivery. They simply left it by the front door with just the blue outer protection no other wrapping unlike the previous one which was well wrapped.

No idea why the difference, but not as impressed this time round and have let them know, will see what their reaction is.

Peter

[peteracs]

Another delivery today, this time from Mark as well one item he did not have stock of, one of the rear hub bearing retainers. It will be interesting to see how his new version of the wishbone bushes fit relative to the Ferrari 355 ones I used on the Spider.

Also had a note from him as I asked if he had any of the rear strut spring metal supports and the bonnet liner coming in. He was hopeful he will get them available over the coming months as they will be required as will a number of other parts.

Peter

[peteracs]

Hi

A good day on the parts cleanup and sort out.

Sorted out the parts I aim to have powder coated (modern epoxy method) and the parts I aim to clean and paint myself.

Also removed the inserts from the two rear struts which are now ready for the scrap run.

Lastly stripped the adjustable rear tie bars which were pretty gummed up with dirt and rust, though did all come apart after some effort with WD40 and time…..

Peter

[Nigel]

Hi Peter,

The screen I collected was exactly like yours. The only protection is
the blue foam, no wrapping at all. Industry standard?

Are your front struts also capped with similar nuts?
What shocks/inserts are you fitting at the front?

Regards
Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

The previous screen came with more wrapping, just a bit miffed about it being dumped on the doorstep like that.

The front and rear OE struts have the same nuts so same tool. Remember the later struts are sealed, so not nuts and you need the collar from Mark to modify them.

I bought some new front struts complete from a guy who had bought them about 4 years ago and never used them. I will hang onto the original fronts just in case I ever need to replace them as the inserts are much cheaper than buying new struts complete normally.

I spent the afternoon cleaning the carpets I have, lots of water and carpet cleaner after hoovering. Not sure how effective it will be to get rid of the old car smell, hopefully reasonable. The carpets are all faded to varying degrees, so going to have a go at dyeing them. Anyone managed to successfully do this on brown carpets?

I also have a n other carpet set waiting for me in France as the current main carpet has a couple of melted sections where someone decided it was ok to weld under the car and leave the carpet in place, idiots.

Peter

[peteracs]

Had a call from the bodywork guy who has had a guy cleaning up the car to get rid of the crud to reveal the full extent of the work needed. I knew the inner wings and around the foot wells for the front seats were bad, but on inspection it appears the front subframe was providing the only real strength to the front of the car.

So a decision had to be made, repairing what is there will be super expensive in time, so it was decided to utilise the front end of the donor coupe I have bought. A bit of a shame as was hoping to just use it for measurements etc, but needs must, so the HPE is now going to be a bit of a Frankenstein car I guess. The bonus for this is that I now get power steering as the Coupe has that.

 I therefore spent a long day stripping out the engine which is now in my garage. I was amazed just how complicated the injection version of the engine is compared to the carb version I am used to. If this engine is ok 9n strip down I will most likely use the block etc as a basis for the engine I aim to build.

Peter

[Neil-yaj396]

Interesting. Are you happy that the front of the Coupe is good? Some of the later cars didn't hold up that well, reference Alan Cooper's VX.

[peteracs]

Hi Neil

I do feel a little guilty doing this as the body on the Coupe is very good, there rest of it not so, ie mouse visitors etc from it sitting for 20 years in ‘ventilated’ garage. My guy has had a good look and is happy with it and definitely not happy with front of the HPE.

I am going to strip the engine down and do not need any of the IE specific parts, so if anyone needs any spare parts from one let me know.

Peter

[Sandro]

Hi Peter,

I'm curious only ..with no ambitions of adding to your guilt ..but when you say the rest of the IE coupe you bought was too far gone was it interior seats, fixtures and so on ?   
As you mentioned ( and as it appeared from the photos ) the body looked quite good, how was it's engine ? 

as I said curious only following this thread with interest.

Kind Regards Andrew.

[peteracs]

Hi Andrew

This is from stripping out the interior a little while ago, so memory is a little vague. The seats will need fully retrimming and probably some new foam. Carpet has had some mouse invasion. Parts inside are rusty in places. So a mixed bag really as some parts will clean and be fine. It has electric windows as per late cars. Dash etc looked ok and complete.

The only real serious rust on the car was the rear panel where the number plate goes which was had a hole. The lower part of the doors would need some attention.

As to the engine the PO reported that it was Smokey before being laid up, which I take to mean valve guides or bore issues. I did find some oil just after the air filter box in what I assume is a Throttle body(? Not too clued up on this IE setup) which I thought was a little odd, though being sat for 20 years I guess anything could be now wrong with it. I will be just interested in the block and crank assembly as I have a VX head, new inlet manifold, throttle bodies and plan a 4 branch exhaust for it.

Next time I go over, which will be in approx 6 weeks due to visit to France, I will get some photos.

Peter

[Sandro]

Peter thanks for your reply,

'Photos' are always great. I look forward to seeing them.

Those electric windows would be a nice addition, mine are manual ( despite the car being produced late, in 84! )
and my passenger side window is disengaged somewhere inside, which is something I haven't gotten around to fixing yet.

I probably need to move this job up the list of priorities as it doesn't make for the best introduction to the car when passengers are unable to get their window up or down.
( unless of course you're in a 037 or something similar )

;-)

Thanks for your reply, and good luck with the project.

Andrew. 
 
 

[Nigel]

Peter,
Sandrew [sorry, had to!] makes a good point there regarding the power windows.

Although you'd have to find the upper binnacle above the wooden centre part
that had the two switches either side of the ashtray.

Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel/Andrew

Sorry, manual windows is how it is going to stay. I also like to look of the door cards with the winder and definitely do not like the blank used to cover what I assume is the emergency manual hole.

On another topic I have been looking for a while for a carpet set from an early car, ie the brown carpet set. The reason is that some idiot (before I purchased it, and probably a few owners ago) decided to do some welding with the carpet still installled. Result as you would expect are two large melted holes in what is otherwise quite a reasonable carpet.

My searching led me to look in Europe and found one on leboncoin.fr in France earlier this year, but thought it was too much being asked for and the photo of it made it look pretty faded and not inspiring. I left it then, but last visit to France in July, I enquired as to his best price and settled on 110 Euros inc shipping to me in France which I still thought expensive, but I was out of options. The guy shipped it to the wrong village (right postcode, the French have a crazy postcode system which in the sticks can cover villages for 15-20 Kms radius) and By the time I managed to get it delivered I was back in U.K. and it went to one of my neighbours.

So back in France now and I opened the box with tripidation, thinking it would be a pile of xxxx, but no his photos were crap and the carpet is in great condition and colour, so will be able to sort out an original carpet out the two which is a great result.

Here are my crap photos of the carpets, they look much better in real life!

Peter

[peteracs]

On the Spider I replaced the wheel centres with new Lancia badges. They came complete and and comprise if a central disk and outer plastic holder which has fingers to locate in the wheel centre. When I eventually used them the fingers on the new caps started breaking due to rubbish plastic, so I had a look at the original caps and manger to remove the old L centres and tidy up the plastic and insert the new centres into the old outers. These old outers are made of much better material even after 40+ years. So for the HPE I managed to find some new discs and have bought a stock of old caps to choose from. I have yet to find new discs with L in them.

[SanRemo78]

I have yet to find new discs with L in them.

These Peter?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/403858409211?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=CjwKCAjwvsqZBhAlEiwAqAHElaifv7rMkasGzPc6uSGI0o3CpOxIQsFUZevZKU9dVuw9XZ6YzAVXzBoCkP8QAvD_BwE

Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

I had not seen them before, I assumed they existed, but only found the Lancia ones, again in Italy.

Thanks

Peter