Gussie's walnut is in a better state than Zara's! The Wheelskins leather stering wheel cover is a nice addition too - I've ordered one for Dame Zara as well ...
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Gussie the Hillman Gazelle is now definitely, officially, really for sale. See here http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/used-car/HILLMAN/GAZELLE/Victoria/1715584.aspx and elsewhere. If you're seriously interested, send Kathy an email at kathyahope@optusnet.com.au.
Friday, April 21, 2006
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Take 45 Daimlers and 100 Daimlerites ... and send them to Bendigo
Below you will see some photos of the 9th national rally of the Daimler & Lanchester Clubs of Australia, held over Easter in Bendigo, Castlemaine and the other historical gold-rush towns of central Victoria.
Oddly enough, of all the photos I took, none of them feature Dame Zara! But as many (many!) other photos were taken by John Spry, Richard Bowen, Domenica Ashworth and others, I'm sure I will soon be able to post visual proof that she was there.
As we were late in booking, and frankly a bit skint, we only attended for the Saturday and Sunday, but we still had a blast and full marks to the organising committee for a great program.
My garage sessions of the past few weeks have shown some distinct improvements in a number of areas - but of course there is still work to do.
Dame Zara is currently a rare Daimler in that *all* of her main electrical features are in full working order! Not content with having a Smiths clock that keeps near-perfect time, I have also stopped the heater fan making its 'chewing up a cat' noises (thanks to some mouse-pad derived rubber bushes on the motor and a good smear of grease on the fan shaft); have fixed the 'ignition' tell-tale in the speedo; have pretty much cured the speedo needle of its wobble above 50mph; the boot light works again; and - by the simple dint of plugging in a loose connector in the boot - I have made the 'low petrol' light work once the tank gets below 1/4 full. Both fog-lights now light up, and I was very pleased to find that the somewhat weak low beams of the headlights are more than compensated for out in the country by very good high beams - high beams which lucky illuminated a fox in the middle of the road as we were zooming back from Bendigo to Castlemaine on the Saturday night at closer to 70 than 60 mph: the brakes and steering are working very nicely too, thankfully, and the suicidal fox survived to stand in the middle of the highway another night.
On the 'not yet quite right' list: while I have freed up the heater temperature cable and reconnected the 'car/screen' one, I have connected one of the flaps around the wrong way, so while the heater is *trying* to put out warm air, it's not *quite* doing it while the car's at speed as fresh air is blasting through - but it's toasty warm once you slow down, though, which shows that the tap is working and the matrix mustn't be too gunked up. The 4lb radiator cap is doing a good job of keeping the radiator pretty full of green goo in short-trip, around-town driving, but after the long highway runs the header tank was pretty much dry and I needed to put close to 2 litres of coolant in before we headed back to Melbourne. I suspect there is also a pressure leak in at least one of the many hoses that run around the engine bay, as even when nothing comes out of the overflow pipe, there is still sometimes a puddle of coolant left on the garage floor.
Then there's still the 'hesitation waltz', which makes sustained highway driving at 3500rpm/60mph (and over, where legal and safe to do so!) rather frustrating. Having asked the opinion of 4 or 5 Daimler hexperts at the rally, I of course received at least 7 different possibilities - so I'm still going to have to look in detail at the distributor (points and condenser), fuel pump and filters, spark plug leads, etc. before I can cure it. Actually, I'm beginning to get a little suspicious of the spark plug leads, as I replaced the supressor on the alternator and still get interference on the radio that changes with engine speed ...
I'm in two minds as to whether I should rely on the expertise of the club members and host a 'garage day' so they can have a poke around; or take to car to Mike Roddy and get the once-over from a professional, including compression tests, etc. so as to put my mind at rest that there is nothing seriously wrong. The latter, of course, will not only cost money up-front, but I'm sure to come back with an even bigger 'to-do' list than when I started!
Oddly enough, of all the photos I took, none of them feature Dame Zara! But as many (many!) other photos were taken by John Spry, Richard Bowen, Domenica Ashworth and others, I'm sure I will soon be able to post visual proof that she was there.
As we were late in booking, and frankly a bit skint, we only attended for the Saturday and Sunday, but we still had a blast and full marks to the organising committee for a great program.
My garage sessions of the past few weeks have shown some distinct improvements in a number of areas - but of course there is still work to do.
Dame Zara is currently a rare Daimler in that *all* of her main electrical features are in full working order! Not content with having a Smiths clock that keeps near-perfect time, I have also stopped the heater fan making its 'chewing up a cat' noises (thanks to some mouse-pad derived rubber bushes on the motor and a good smear of grease on the fan shaft); have fixed the 'ignition' tell-tale in the speedo; have pretty much cured the speedo needle of its wobble above 50mph; the boot light works again; and - by the simple dint of plugging in a loose connector in the boot - I have made the 'low petrol' light work once the tank gets below 1/4 full. Both fog-lights now light up, and I was very pleased to find that the somewhat weak low beams of the headlights are more than compensated for out in the country by very good high beams - high beams which lucky illuminated a fox in the middle of the road as we were zooming back from Bendigo to Castlemaine on the Saturday night at closer to 70 than 60 mph: the brakes and steering are working very nicely too, thankfully, and the suicidal fox survived to stand in the middle of the highway another night.
On the 'not yet quite right' list: while I have freed up the heater temperature cable and reconnected the 'car/screen' one, I have connected one of the flaps around the wrong way, so while the heater is *trying* to put out warm air, it's not *quite* doing it while the car's at speed as fresh air is blasting through - but it's toasty warm once you slow down, though, which shows that the tap is working and the matrix mustn't be too gunked up. The 4lb radiator cap is doing a good job of keeping the radiator pretty full of green goo in short-trip, around-town driving, but after the long highway runs the header tank was pretty much dry and I needed to put close to 2 litres of coolant in before we headed back to Melbourne. I suspect there is also a pressure leak in at least one of the many hoses that run around the engine bay, as even when nothing comes out of the overflow pipe, there is still sometimes a puddle of coolant left on the garage floor.
Then there's still the 'hesitation waltz', which makes sustained highway driving at 3500rpm/60mph (and over, where legal and safe to do so!) rather frustrating. Having asked the opinion of 4 or 5 Daimler hexperts at the rally, I of course received at least 7 different possibilities - so I'm still going to have to look in detail at the distributor (points and condenser), fuel pump and filters, spark plug leads, etc. before I can cure it. Actually, I'm beginning to get a little suspicious of the spark plug leads, as I replaced the supressor on the alternator and still get interference on the radio that changes with engine speed ...
I'm in two minds as to whether I should rely on the expertise of the club members and host a 'garage day' so they can have a poke around; or take to car to Mike Roddy and get the once-over from a professional, including compression tests, etc. so as to put my mind at rest that there is nothing seriously wrong. The latter, of course, will not only cost money up-front, but I'm sure to come back with an even bigger 'to-do' list than when I started!
In Maldon on the Sunday of the rally (to whence we were conveyed by steam train, a form of transport predating even Daimler). We couldn't be arsed doing another quiz, so after perusing the many Junketeria in this historic gold town, and having a tasty lunch at the Lions Club while watching the local kids' billy-cart time trials down a steep street (complete with the local copper and his radar gun as timekeeper!), we thought a pint at the Grand Hotel was by far the better way to wile away the afternoon.
Kathy admiring a Majestic Major - sure it's stately, but it wouldn't even fit up our driveway! Among the other limos on show, David Waugh's beautiful Majestic Major had suffered an unfortunate garage accident just in time for the rally thanks to some falling tiles, and had to appear with big scrapes and dents in her bonnet, mudgaurds and grille ...
Even Kathy's diversionary leg show (in her 'Suzy Wong' get-up, which got her plenty of admirers among the chaps, a not-surprising number of whom had fond naval memories of Honkers in the olden days) can't draw attention away from my chins! David, to our right, who I'd never clapped eyes on before, surprised the hell out of me by goose-stepping across the dining room and giving me a most convincingly martial salute!
This 1954 Conquest Roadster (I think? I'll admit that I'm not yet up to full anorak status when it comes to model-spotting) was among the 45 or so Daimlers that attended the national rally held in Bendigo and Castlemaine over Easter, along with 100 or so Daimler-owning humans. (Just visible next to it is a car reportedly known as 'the Yellow Peril', NSW club president Peter Grant's 1951 Special Sports.)
Thursday, April 13, 2006
new Rootes Group site
The Rootes Group Car Club of Victoria (RGCC) has finally moved its website and is beginning to update it.
The new address is http://vic.rootesgroup.org.au/ - I daresay we'll be putting a profile of Gussie the Gazelle up there before too long ...
The new address is http://vic.rootesgroup.org.au/ - I daresay we'll be putting a profile of Gussie the Gazelle up there before too long ...
Sunday, April 09, 2006
it's now 6 o'clock on an autumnal Sunday eve, and a few hours aside, I have spent the entire weekend in the garage. I set out yesterday morning 'to tick a few thing off the list' and, many, many hours later, I have succeeded in a few little tasks:
- the little light in the boot now works
- fitted the new spat rubbers I bought ages ago at Scott's
- cleaned out the jacking tubes and liberally sprayed them with fish oil
- succeeded in making the driver's door fit a bit better (but the compromise is it's a bit stiff to open and needs a good slam to close ...)
- made the windscreen washers actually point at the windscreen and stay there (thanks to Loctite super-glue: how on earth do you get to the underside of the washers to tighten them?)
- and, after dismantling much of the dash, I have fixed the tell-tale 'ignition' light in the speedo. Actually, it probably wasn't broken in the first place, but what I did discover once I got the speedo out was that the lens for the light had been obscured by some melted plastic - the remains of the bulb surround which must have melted for some reason when the bulb got too hot.
What I haven't yet fixed is the heater - but I have worked out that it is missing a spring and a control wire (at least), so I've left it jammed into 'screen' position now so it'll demist the windscreen if necessary (it's not yet cold enough that I really need to worry about my toes!).
And as the battery pack for my drill has given up the ghost, I haven't yet drilled out the broken weld so I can try to re-affix the stud for the dash pad - I'm hoping that if I countersink it a bit it'll hold with epoxy glue. If not, I'll have to get it welded back on.
And what's all this industry in aid of, you cry?
The Daimler (and Lanchester) National Rally at Easter, of course!
Expect many a photo of Dame Zara's first appearance on a 'national' stage - although I think she'll demur at any suggestion she be entered in the Concours ... yet
- the little light in the boot now works
- fitted the new spat rubbers I bought ages ago at Scott's
- cleaned out the jacking tubes and liberally sprayed them with fish oil
- succeeded in making the driver's door fit a bit better (but the compromise is it's a bit stiff to open and needs a good slam to close ...)
- made the windscreen washers actually point at the windscreen and stay there (thanks to Loctite super-glue: how on earth do you get to the underside of the washers to tighten them?)
- and, after dismantling much of the dash, I have fixed the tell-tale 'ignition' light in the speedo. Actually, it probably wasn't broken in the first place, but what I did discover once I got the speedo out was that the lens for the light had been obscured by some melted plastic - the remains of the bulb surround which must have melted for some reason when the bulb got too hot.
What I haven't yet fixed is the heater - but I have worked out that it is missing a spring and a control wire (at least), so I've left it jammed into 'screen' position now so it'll demist the windscreen if necessary (it's not yet cold enough that I really need to worry about my toes!).
And as the battery pack for my drill has given up the ghost, I haven't yet drilled out the broken weld so I can try to re-affix the stud for the dash pad - I'm hoping that if I countersink it a bit it'll hold with epoxy glue. If not, I'll have to get it welded back on.
And what's all this industry in aid of, you cry?
The Daimler (and Lanchester) National Rally at Easter, of course!
Expect many a photo of Dame Zara's first appearance on a 'national' stage - although I think she'll demur at any suggestion she be entered in the Concours ... yet
This ain't no SU! Some sort of after-market fuel pump has been fitted (it still ticks like an SU, though), along with a Purolator Pro-fuel regulator - I set it to 3psi, so we'll see if perhaps fuel starvation was the cause of the 'hesitation waltz.' (And the discolouration you can see in the photo is dust, not rust - a sponge-down and a good spray of fish oil should keep it nice and clean)
The process might look a little undignified, but now Zara's rear spats have brand new rubber seals. And both rear wheel-wells are thankfully completely rust-free. However, the right-hand spat has some bubbling near the fasteners, and there is a little patch of surface rust on both rear door closes where the spat meets the body - must deal with that before it gets any more serious ...
I keep finding evidence of how unmolested Dame Zara is - here is the speedo, with a hand-written label from Bryson's, the biggest Jaguar/Daimler showroom in Melbourne in the 60s. Was the speedo sent out to be serviced? Is it a replacement? Who knows ... (the needle still skips about like mad above 50mph!)
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