36 replies to this topic

[KEV@POWARTEK]

Austin is a 1989 Racing Flame, all original panels, a unmarked interior with original Handbooks, service History and a mountain of service recipts, Phillips cassette player and cooper style 3 dial dash.

As you can see from the pics hes just needing a little TLC as the common rust areas are well and truely eating away.

1st job was to run the car to the MOT station to find out how bad Austin was,

list of problems as follows

1. Exhaust has a major leak
2. Exhaust emissions exessively high
3. OSF incorrect indicator colour
4. Fuel Pipe Leaking
5. OSR fog lamp not working
6. OSF CV joint gaitor split
7. NSF CV joint gaitor split
8. NSF wheel bearing has excessive play
9. OSF wheel bearing has excessive play
10. NS windscreen washer provides insufficiant washer liquid
11. NSF front tyre below tread depth requirement


well in all honesty thas nothing bad at all, considering Austin has been laid up since the last MOT in 2004.

my Dad has been well on the case this week and credit to this legend and all the bits have been fixed, replaced or adjusted where required (exept bald tyre) all in record breaking time and to the highest possible standard.

Ive just ordered a couple of little bits for the outside work to start, namely teh sportpack arch kit and front clear lenses. Hoping to get some nice 7x13 Ultralite wheels on soon along with 4x driving lamps and a full RollCage. :thumbs:

Next week will bring some new body panels and then the work really begins bringing Austin to a good standard.

There is still alot to do but here are a coupel of pics from when I trailered him back 300 odd miles.

comments from the MOT man were warming too, as the underside is pretty dam solid, which is always a fear on these cars.

Edited by KEV@POWARTEK, 03 July 2009 - 03:03 PM.

[KEV@POWARTEK]

before and after wheel shots

[KEV@POWARTEK]

little updated pictures to enjoy, got all arches on, lights back in, bumper gone awol and ready for mot now.
I quite liek the bumperless and grilleless look, however anywater is going to kill my coil straightaway, not to mention cover the delicate lil A series. gotta think of something else, not sure how I stand with a MOt and no front bumper though?

[KEV@POWARTEK]

been busy this week, renovating the cibies and making the 2up 2 down style brackets rather than the usual 4 run of spots above the bumper .............run out of bloody mig wire for today so thought id post up the pics so far. all the back of the lights will be painted flame red rto suit the car, long way away atm as the wiring needs to be made up to run them along with teh old style flick switch mount.

[KEV@POWARTEK]

the switch panel is to be finished matt black, you will notice its rather big, but thats because it will also house the all important gauges.

[KEV@POWARTEK]

well after a stort period of no progress, yesterday morning found a quick and easy change. out with the old and in with the new!

[KEV@POWARTEK]

the weekend brought some more updates on austin, somehow I managed to get this lot done in the weekend yet my bathroom is still no further on 6 weeks later!!!!

one rotton door



after many attacks with a pin remover, pin remover snapped and with no oxy acetylene to hand, the next best came to hand



1 bolt was such a pain it needed drilling out, so with that out of the way we could get cracking by removing the outer skin.



The door bottom inner section always rots through aswell so this was replaced



Trial fit of the skin, all was well so I folded all the edges back to a near factory finish
then stiched round to keep it in place.



A quick fit up of the hinge bolts and supported by my assistant/bodyguard



All on with the lock mechs back in place



Austin is proud of his new door




next job...the drivers side!

[KEV@POWARTEK]

I tried to ignore it



I couldnt help it but i took it off again to see if it had magically gone away........obviously not



Trust grinder out



marked off from my new panel




A little fettle and a few tacks and we are there







stich welded from behind then removed outside tacks and cleaned up, will need to be filled and blended yet but that will come when all the panels that need repairing are ready.

[KEV@POWARTEK]

atlast we have made a move forward, from last time, the main rollcage hoop has been scrapped because its a pain in the ar$e to get oversize tube to sit perfectly within the original rear doorbins, so the door bins have been chopped out for access which will also allow me to put a stiffening tube across the floor behind the rear seats, almost fully enclosing the passenger compartemnt as a tubular frame.


Time is pressing on with this little project as work/family commitments have really started to pile up, so in a huge push forward the trusty angle grinder re appeared and done this












all that just because of that horrible scuttle panel. With the rest of that front coming off this week, Im now on the look out for a cheap 2 piece removable front section. The purpose of that being it will 1 save weight, and it will be easier to work on the forth coming engine transplant too.

[KEV@POWARTEK]

well, as I promised, got a fair bit done today. Front off, stripped and all spot welds flushed away, scuttle panel bought, and screen is out ready for the old scuttle to be cut out.






This needs to be repaired before the scuttle goes in.






this side is fine



Inner wings & bulkhead are just in need of a clean, took out al the moisture collecting foam and im quite pleased its not too bad.





Kev.

[KEV@POWARTEK]

No replacement panel is available for the section above the air vent, so a piece was fabricated. This panel will be hidden and boxed in with the scuttle panel when its fitted.

[KEV@POWARTEK]

Today saw more work being done.

























Took a backward step today, scuttle had to come back off due to the front wings and front panel not lining up correctly. After several hours of head scratching Ive found the wings to be at fault, there is simply too much of a radius in them. The NS being the worst offender, the top edge, if fitted correctly wont even fit on the inner wing lip. Also the front panel is out by a country mile!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[KEV@POWARTEK]

New subframe /front panel mounts bought and everything starts to take shape.



Using pattern parts, panel fit is ok but needs work as the rest of the pics will show











Im sure the wings have too much radius in them, this not only looks bad here, but that means there short at the bonnet lines making it look poor.









Bonnet is damaged, so I cant use it for a proper guide, have to wait till I can either borrow a straight one or can afford to buy the replacement.

[kalum]

hey

fair play you've done loads of work

and i like the " if its broken ... get out the angle grinder" approach

keep it up !!

[KEV@POWARTEK]

Got a new pattern part bonnet yesterday, sits very proud in the middle towards the scuttle, will get round to adjusting it and hopefully have equal gaps eitherside.