Dame Zara Moneypitt

Doubling Dame Zara's horn factor

2009-05-30T14:42:00.004+10:00

Amongst the box of spares that came with Kathy's Morris 1300 Nomad was a pair of Lucas 9H horns -- something that Dame Zara lacked. I could only make the 'Low' one work, so I wire-brushed off the rust, gave it a spray of satin black, and voila!

Parp, parp!

Now, I have two broken 9H's (and a pair of older Windtones as well) -- how do I fix them?

busticated bracket fixed

2008-08-16T16:28:00.006+10:00

I'm happy to report that the broken alternator bracket has been repaired and everything refitted.

My neighbour Jason is making a 500bhp drag-racing monster out of some old grandad's mid-60s Ford Falcon. The Falcoon of Doom is fitted with all sorts of shiny hot-rod bits, many of which have been fabricated in aluminium by one of Jason's mates. So I handed over my broken bracket and two days later Jason knocked on my door with it all fixed.

Next up I couldn't find studs to replace the two broken ones on the rack at my local Burson's parts place, so I bought some long 5/16" UNF bolts and gave them to my Daimler club friend Michael, who was kind enough to cut the bolts down to the correct length and cut UNC threads on the other end.

The studs screwed in easily, with some Loctite on the threads, on Friday night and I left them overnight to cure.

It is a freezing cold, wintry Saturday, but after a bracing walk back to Burson's to buy some spring washers (why is it you *never* have all the little bits you need?) I was ready to get going.
Firstly I had to drain the radiator -- which of course meant I got as much coolant all over the garage floor as in the bucket.

Then it was surprisingly easy to undo about 8 bolts to get the top branch of the water pump off.

The four bolts to hold the alternator bracket were easy to get to with a socket once the water pump branch was off, and from there I put everything back together, refilled the radiator and started her up.

There was one small coolant leak at the small-diameter pipe that takes coolant from the water pump into the manifold, but loosening and re-tightening the clamp seemed to cure that.

So that's another problem solved: next up it'll be time to take off the rocker covers and do the tappets (there's a nasty tappety clatter on start-up on the left bank), and I need to check the right-hand exhaust, as I think it's blowing where the manifold joins the downpipe (which is of course directly under the steering box and hence almost impossible to get at!)

Broken alternator bracket

2008-08-03T20:11:00.004+10:00

I haven't updated in ages and I have a huge backlog (I assume I can fiddle with the dates and post in reverse order? I'll find out ...)

But to the present: Dame Zara made it back from a 450-mile round trip to The Grampians in western Victoria last weekend without incident, but by the time we got into the outskirts of Melbourne and it was dark and rainy, one couldn't help but notice that her fanbelt was squealing like a stuck pig every time we had to stop and pull away from traffic lights. In the past this has just been due to a loose alternator belt, so this afternoon I set to to tighten up the belt.

However, the alternator was at the top of its travel and the belt was still rather loose, and I'd noticed before last week that the whole alternator seemed to be moving back and forth more than it should, so I slackened off the alternator altogether and found that indeed there was lots of movement of the alternator on its bracket. 'No worries,' I thought, 'I'll just have to tighten up the bolts that hold the alternator bracket onto the front of the engine.' No such luck .... I soon found that the bracket itself is comprehensively broken (as you can see by the pix below).

It could *possibly* be welded up, but I'm not confident it would stay together for very long.

So I'm hoping that someone out there might have a spare alternator bracket hanging around in their shed (I'm not even sure if the V8-250 one is the same as the earlier 2.5-litre, as the earlier cars had a generator), or have an inkling where I might find one. Even if I do find a spare, the fun isn't yet over: as I have a Bosch alternator not the original Lucas, the bracket needs to be modified to suit (as you can see by the welds on the old one), so I'll need to find someone prepared to do the required welding.

Even more fun: two of the four studs that hold it on to the front of the engine are broken -- and I suspect previous owner/s haven't been bothered to fix them as it seems I'll have to take off the whole fan/water pump assembly to get to them and to re-fit the bracket. Oh the joys!

But on the upside, I did get the chance to clean up the front of the engine that's usually obscured by the alternator ...

Brochure scans

2008-02-15T19:59:00.006+11:00

SP250 engine
2.5-litre saloon engine (side view)
2.5-litre saloon engine (front view)
Majestic interior
Majestic front view

2.5-litre saloon engine from the first fold-out brochure

Majestic Major -- from a brochure; below, Majestic Major (4.5-litre) engine

Tunnels and ... Daimlers

2007-11-11T22:14:00.000+11:00

Today's little Sunday drive was a jaunt to Yarra Glen, Yea and the Cheviot Tunnel.

The keen-eyed may note that the white car to the left isn't a Daimler, it's a Jaguar 240. (You may now play spot-the-difference.) It belongs to David and Aimee, who are friends of our friend Ann (keeping up?). David has only just bought his Jag (partly from his winnings from a 30-minute appearance on a TV gameshow!) and aside from a small issue of getting up hills (likely to be due to some fuel pump &/or distributor problems) I think he enjoyed tagging along with a bunch of Daimlers on a mad 150-mile jaunt!

Ian and Joyce's SP-250 heading toward the maw of the Cheviot tunnel ... it's an impressive all-brick tunnel, built in the late 19th century for the railway that serviced the growing pastoral and logging industries in the area. Actually, the scene reminds me of one of the classic Heidlberg School paintings ... is it a Tom Roberts? ... of a the entrance to a mine. I won't claim to be any great shakes with a camera, but this shot captures the colours of a hot Australian summer day in the bush ... set off nicely by the British Racing Green sportscar, of course!

Marilyn and Dennis in Marilyn's SP half way through the tunnel. Needless to say, the SPs sounded fabulous in the confined space!

10,000 miles with Dame Zara

2007-10-22T20:54:00.000+10:00

Another highlight of last weekend was watching Dame Zara's odometer pass (1)61,700 miles, indicating that she has carried us for 10,000 trouble-free miles* in only 21 months.

(*well, there was that one time when she conked out at dusk, in the rain, but only 200 metres from home due to a dodgy alternator--but luckily I cruised to a halt at the 7/11 petrol station where all the local African cabbies hang out, and I got a jump-start straight away then crept home through the last two sets of lights and up the hill with just my sidelights on!)

A nice view, a hint of the transatlantic and a diplomatic Sceptre

2007-10-22T20:38:00.000+10:00

More pics from the Rootes GT Day/Hillman centenary at the Point Cook Homestead.

The view from behind the wheel of an early Alpine—one day, Roger Phipps!

A 1936 Humber Hawk demonstrates that even before WWII Rootes’ styling mixed British tradition with hints of brash Americana--maybe even a hint of Mercedes?

We’ve always coveted Leighton’s perfect 1966 Humber Sceptre—it was a special order for the wife of the then Australian High Commissioner in London and comes with every option: automatic, tinted glass, special upholstery, etc, etc.

Getting back to our Rootes

2007-10-22T20:18:00.000+10:00

Last Sunday morning Kathy and I climbed into a very dirty Dame Zara (the combination of water restrictions and a dark colour makes for a very spotty car after the merest shower) and set off a few hundred metres up the road to Melbourne University to meet up with an assortment of Rootesmobiles—on this occasional all either Sunbeams, Singers or Humbers—who were setting off on an observation run.

Our destination was the historic Point Cook Homestead (est. 1857) south-west of Melbourne, where the Hillman side of the Rootes family was hosting a big display to celebrate their marque’s centenary.

We set off among the numerous Alpines (including one 1954 Alpine that possibly had a Grace Kelly connection!), two Singer Gazelles (including our RGCC friend Helen in her rare station wagon ‘Essie’), a Sunbeam-Talbot or two, a cute pre-war Singer and a big 1940s Humber Snipe on a torturous route through Kensington and Footscray, then into the windy flatlands down Laverton/Hoppers Crossing way.

We were clearly an inner-city bunch, as everyone got progressively more lost the further we headed into the industrial backblocks and suburban developments—led astray mainly by a red Harrington Le Mans Alpine, which we kept seeing coming on the other side of the road. ‘Where’s he going? Are we lost?’ was the cry as the stragglers stopped at each intersection and roundabout.

It was the first really hot (30-degrees-plus) day of the impending summer, and everyone’s windows were down and many an anxious eye was directed at temperature gauges—even the normally cool-running Dame Zara was getting into the middle of her gauge.

Eventually we all got back on track and ended up on the long, dusty, corrugated dirt road that leads to the homestead. At the end of the drive we were greeted with dozens of Hillmans lined up around the open ground between the homestead buildings. Most of the observation run participants aimed for a shady spot under the trees by the water.

Enough words, some pics:

From top to bottom:

Did Grace Kelly once sit behind the big steering wheel of this 1954 Sunbeam Alpine?
A racy-looking Singer Gazelle fitted with Alpine wires (I note that it wasn’t just Gussie who had something a bit odd about how her rear wheels fitted under the arches!)
Red ones go faster, as the convertible Super Minx and pair of Alpines (including a rare Harrington Le Mans coupe) show
Hillmans everywhere! Husky aficionado Neil looks determined to get … somewhere (into the shade, most likely).

In which he recaptures some lost Lucas Magic Smoke

2007-08-04T18:09:00.000+10:00

Many moons ago (over a year, actually), I scared myself half to death by accidentally shorting out one of the Lucas Fogranger lamps that adorn Dame Zara's snoot and releasing a big cloud of acrid Magic Lucas Smoke in the process.

Today I finally got around to fixing it, taking out the melted, crispy wire and replacing it with fresh new wire, well-soldered connections, a new globe and ... wait for it ... an in-line fuse! Oh, the technology. After a little bit of fiddling with some pretty rotten (hence highly original) wiring connector blocks under the bonnet, both fog lights worked again!

While I was in an elecktrickeral frame of mind, I also half-succeeded in fixing the windscreen washer, whose motor had refused to work the last time I hit the switch ... it now buzzes away again and sprays the driver's side convincingly enough, but barely widdles on the left. The left-hand nozzle must be blocked somewhere - I poked a fine pin down the end of it, and it seemed clear at the nozzle, but who knows where it could be crudded up.

I also plugged the radio back in - the experiment with the portable CD player was pretty much a failure, and until I get around to doing something elaborate and rather expensive with an iPod, a power amp under the seat and hidden speakers - not to mention refitting a period Radiomobile in the centre of the dash - AM radio is better than nothing.

But one little gremlin continues to elude me: the inside light on the driver's side went bung the other week and I can't for the life of me work out what's wrong with it. The bulb's OK; it gets power; the other two lights work fine, so the door switches are working fine ... it's a mystery.

Speaking of gremlins, I gave in to temptation and poked a screwdriver into the little patch of bubbly paint next to the front bumper on the right-hand side. Unsurprisingly, bits of paint flaked off, but I was somewhat reassured to find that there is solid metal underneath and not air! It looks as if the previous owner who repainted the car more than 10 years ago had used quite a lot of filler around a part of the car that I understand was originally pretty heavily leaded in order to get a smooth line.

To repair it properly, I'll have to take off the bumper and sand/grind off any loose paint before rustproofing, priming and repainting ... this could take some time, so at the very least I'll give the bit I exposed a coat of POR15 rustproof paint to protect it.

Misty mountain hop

2007-07-25T22:24:00.000+10:00

July's monthly DLCV Sunday run took us into the Yarra Ranges north-east of Melbourne. It was a cold, foggy, drizzly day... and as we climbed higher into the mountains toward the Upper Yarra Reservoir, it was like driving straight into the clouds. The picture shows Michael's V8-250 and Marilyn's SP250 at the top of the climb.

The reservoir had benefited from the recent rain, but was still well under capacity.

An escape from the cold and damp was promised at the Reefton Hotel, an old pub that was built to serve the lumberjacks who would cut down trees, have some lunch, etc, etc in what must have been incredibly rough and remote country way back when.

Having missed the start of the run, Keith Vaughan raced to the meeting point in his 1948 Special Sports, then promptly raced back down again when the word 'lunch' was mentioned!

How to recreate the Exxon Valdez at home

2007-07-25T21:41:00.000+10:00

Dame Zara was overdue an oil change, and there were a few other service jobs I'd not got around to, so a few Saturdays ago I was determined to get them done.

First job: replace the alternator belt, as the old one was beginning to show its age. It was easy enough to undo the four bolts holding the fan and to rest it loosely inside the cowl, then to loosen off the alternator and get the old belt off. I had two spare belts in the garage, one unmarked one I'd bought ages ago from a well-known Jag/Daimler spares guy, who'd assured me it was the correct size. Too short by miles. Number two I'd picked up at the local Autobarn, whose 'computer said no' when I asked for a 10A0660 belt, so I bought the nearest they had, which was wider (13mm instead of 10) and, as it turns out, waaaayyy too long. So I set off into the 'burbs in Beryl the Galant in search of the correct belt. On the fourth try, at Repco in Airport West, I found one 10A0665 on the rack ('what's it for, a washing machine?', asked the gormless yoof who served me) and luckily there was enough adjustment in the alternator bracket that it fit. For good measure, I'd asked shop #3, which didn't have anything in stock, to order me in two spare 11A0660s, which came in later in the week, so I now have about 20 years worth of spare alternator belts!

Next job was to fit new spark plugs. Following a conversation on the Daimler Forum, I'd found a box of 20 NGK BP6ES plugs on eBay for a good price. Despite the fact that they come in 'Nissan genuine part' boxes, the pundits think that they are the ideal plug for the Daimler V8.

A few months ago I'd follwed a tip from DLVC stalwart Jack 'Fast Eddy' Edmonds and put used toilet rolls into the long spark plug tubes to soak up the inevitable pools of oil that form at their bases.

As you can see from the photo, some of the tubes had their work cut out, and were completely black and sodden with oil. (One day, in the fullness of time when the rockers come off for a tappet job, I should unscrew the tubes and seal them proplerly). The old plugs (I have no idea how old, as there is no indication in the service records I got with the car how long ago they'd been fitted) were a little black, but none were wet/oily or excessively burnt.

Next up was an oil and filter change. So I fired up the engine--starts first time with the new plugs--and go for a quick drive to warm up the oil. Once I got back, I jacked up the front, emptied the sump and took the old filter out. Easy. By now it was getting late in the afternoon, and Kathy and I had an early dinner date with some friends. I'd just screwed the oil filter back on with its new canister inside when Kathy came home from shopping in the city, stuck her head out the back door and asked when I'd be finished. 'Just have to refill her with new oil and clean myself up and I'm right,' quoth I.

So, make sure the sump plug is nice and tight (with a bit of teflon tape on the thread to help prevent leaks). Check. Filter screwed up tight. Check. Slowly pour in five and a bit litres of Penrite HPR30. Check. Stick head under car, no drips. Excellent. Check dipstick--almost there, but the car's jacked up, so I'll give it a final top-up once she's on the level again. Get in, turn the key, press the starter, look at the oil gauge as the engine fires. No movement whatsoever. Mild panic! Switch off engine and wonder 'what's that thick, drippy noise?'

You guessed it--as I had rushed putting the filter on, I hadn't checked the seating of the rubber sealing ring, nor 'primed' the ring with some fresh oil to help it seal. But at least I proved I have a healthy oil pump--I estimate two litres pumped out of the filter onto the floor in a matter of seconds!

Needless to say, we were running very late for our dinner date by the time I'd attempted to clean up my very own oil slick ... but you'll be pleased to hear that with a quick loosening of the filter (spilling more oil, of course), two turns to seat the seal properly and re-tighten, continence was restored. When I started up again, the oil gauge swung quickly over toward 60psi and there was nary a drip to be seen.

You make me dizzy

2007-06-23T16:49:00.000+10:00

It seems like ages since I've updated - actually, it is: over two months. In that time Dame Zara has been behaving nicely (on the whole - see below), and we're now showing (1)59,910 or so on the odometer, meaning that we've covered over 8200 miles since February 2006.

Another nice day in the country

A few weekends ago we joined the monthly DLCV Sunday run and headed off with a strong contingent of cars (nine Daimlers, including Keith Ashworth's rare Regency Sportsman, in the centre of the lower pic) into central Victoria to visit experienced restorer Roy Shelton, who's currently working on a 1930s Daimler 15. It looks like a massive job, but Roy's well on the way and is confident he'll have the 15 back on the road before to long - to join his nice blue Daimler V8 saloon, Ford Model T, Delahaye (or was it a Darracq?) and 1931 Chev ...

Dizzy spells

It's well and truly winter now, and I'd been noticing that Dame Zara was a bit reluctant to start from cold, needed the choke on for longer and had a tendency to miss, hesitate and 'chug' a bit under load until she was warmed up.

Poking around under the bonnet, I thought to check the distributor and found that the central brush of the dizzy cap was completely worn down and had no spring left whatsoever. Whether or not that's the cause of the problems (and I suspect it might be), it needed sorting out and I thought I might as well track down a spare cap, even if mine is repairable.

The distributor used on the Daimler V8s (Lucas 20D8) is shared only with the Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow and its Bentley equivalents, so spares are rare and expensive. Luckily, a bit of ringing around found me a complete spare distributor for the price some places are asking for a repro cap! So I pootled out to darkest Ringwood this morning and picked it up from Jag Prestige Spares. A quick clean-up of the contacts and I put the 'new' cap on, and even though all I've done is a quick test-blast around the park, she seems to start more easily, idle smoother and pull better.

I'm not sure what I'll do with the spare distributor - perhaps I should get it set up with an electronic ignition system, and keep the original one with points for 'best'? Anyways, I've got it now and it can be raided for bits if needed - the vacuum advance widget on mine is very dodgy (it's held in place - poorly - with a short woodscrew!), and the one of the spare is perfect, so that's one thing I might swap over when I get the chance.

Keeping the green goo in

Ever since I bought Dame Zara she's lost coolant. I've tried both 4lb and 7lb radiator caps, fitted all new hoses, and had some weepy core plugs replaced, but still I have to top up the radiator on a regular basis. I've long thought of fitting an overflow container, but never got around to it. Then, a clever SP250 owner posting on the Daimler Forum said that he uses a cyclist's water bottle - cheap (mine was $8 at Big W) and easy. For the moment it's just held on with cable ties around the radiator drain lever, but if it proves successful, it came with a bracket that will be easy enough to fit.

Most of the colours of the rainbow

2007-04-15T23:05:00.000+10:00

An impressive spectrum of V8 Saloons made it on the DLCV April picnic run to Anderson's Mill, Smeaton. Not the entire colour range, but with Sable, Regency Red, Masons Black, Silver Blue, Silver and Gunmetal Grey examples on show, it made for a very handsome display ...

I've been to Smeaton ... have you?

2007-04-15T22:39:00.000+10:00

Daimler custodianship has certainly taken me to some interesting places—terrifying credit card debt, for one, after paying Ralph the suspension doctor’s bill the other day … But on a more positive note, now that finally I have Dame Zara back, she and I and Kathy joined a goodly number of our DLCV buddies for a little Sunday pootle out towards Ballarat to the historic Anderson’s Mill, near the charmingly named hamlet of Smeaton.

Anderson’s Mill is a handsome and substantial building dating from the early 1860s, and is centred on a very impressive (and still functional) cast iron water-wheel.

Arrayed in front of it is the Coventry-built portion of our touring party: (from left to right) three 2.5 litre V8s, three V8-250s, a Conquest Century, a Consort, a DB18-based special, XJ6 SII Sovereign and early SP250.

A very successful Display Day - even without Dame Zara

2007-03-20T18:43:00.000+11:00

So, the Daimler Display Day I'd been doing so much work helping to organise went off pretty much without a hitch on Sunday. It was a beautiful, sunny day, but not too hot (even though I did get a very sunburnt neck!)

We had over 40 Daimler and Lanchester cars, and about a dozen 'visitors' (including a good showing of Rovers, a Triumph Dolomite Sprint, a Wolseley 6/110, V12 E-type, lovely late 60s Mercedes convertible, 1924 Buick, MG TC special ...) . There were also plenty of general public visitors wandering by, so I'd say well over 100 people attended.

Among the very special Daimlers were a 1936 Straight-eight limo with Edward VIII lineage; two DS-420s from the Carwood wedding fleet; the 2nd prototype Special Sports, owned by Keith Vaughan (bottom picture); an Empress; and a Conquest Roadster. There were also about 10 SP-250s, a strong turnout of V8 saloons, plenty of DB18 varieties and a fine smattering of Majestics, Majestic Majors and Regencies (well, at least one of each, and two Majors - that's a big showing for these big and now rare cars!)

Richard Bowen's Conquest Roadster (driven on the day by Tony Porter as Richard couldn't make it) won the People's Choice award (top picture); a recently restored pre-war Lanchester was Ladies' Choice and the DB18 register took out the Best Registry Display prize (abve, showing Peter Towns' Empress and Russ Monger's Consort).

Just a few photos here - but I've put the full album up on my Flickr account and Steven Rowlandson has posted his pictures here.

At the suspension doctor's

2007-03-19T21:45:00.000+11:00

Dame Zara has been off the road for the past week, in an inelegant yet elevated position up on the hoist at Trutrack Suspension in North Melbourne.

Under the caring eye of Dr. Ralph, head suspension surgeon, she has undergone a number of (in)delicate procedures, all of which are beyond the skills, equipment and experience level I can muster at home.
At the front end, upper and lower wishbone bushes have been replaced, the steering linkages are all being renewed and everything else has been checked, adjusted and cleaned up. New Koni Classic shocks are to be fitted all 'round - the front ones hadn't been installed when I took these photos.

Ralph has also sourced a reconditioned brake servo from JagDaim (from whence many other parts have come - all those not supplied by dad and his mates in Canberra), so we will now stop better as well as going over bumps and around corners in an unruffled manner.

At the rear, both leaf springs have been re-set and re-bushed to cure sagging and creaking (which is how I feel most mornings). The Panhard rod and link arm bushes had all been replaced just before I bought the car last year, so they were OK.

Ralph has been impressed at how sound, straight and rot-free the underside of the car is - no hidden horrors have come to light! He's even offered to replace the weepy core plug hidden under the left-hand exhaust manifold while she's up on the hoist: mainly I suspect because he was sick of coolant dripping onto his nice clean floor.

Quite a few weeks transpired between the original inspection and quote and the beginning of work, and once things got underway last Tuesday, Display Day was imminent. We had hoped to have everything finished by the end of last week, but it wasn't to be so and Dame Zara spent the weekend in 'hospital' awaiting track rods, wheel alignment and a final fettling, which meant that she missed Display Day.

However, Dr. Ralph's latest diagnosis is that all will be finished by this Wednesday and that the driving experience will be entirely transformed.

I'd love to say 'will be entirely transformed or your money back,' as this process will be costing me a four-figure sum ... but I suspect Ralph's terms of trade are rather more pragmatic!

But Trutrack is a very professional setup, and they know from all sorts of cars old and new, as the Lancia Monte Carlo, modern Ferrari, '75 Camaro, 50's Caddy, assorted rallying Subarus, and other exotica parked in the clean workshop attest.

I expect that Dame Zara will be back to her best - quite possibly the best she's been for decades - within days. If I don't update, it's because I'm having too much fun driving around roundabouts!

Happy first anniversary (is that oil?)

2007-02-14T22:43:00.000+11:00

Dame Zara and I have been acquainted for just on a year now. It was 11 February 2006 when I tool possession. Since then we've covered 6,230 miles together, an average of 120 miles per week.

If you average the (1)57,930 miles now showing on the clock over 37.5 years, she's done an average of 80 miles/week througout her life. But, if you consider that when her engine was rebuilt in April 2000 she was showing (1)34,700, from 2000 to 2006 she only averaged 55 miles/week, almost all of them pootling around the Mornington Peninnsula, from what I can tell.

So we've been exercising the old dear quite hard in the last year, covering more than double what she's been used to, and over many an inner-Melbourne tram-track and pot-hole, as well as some long runs including a 1000-mile long weekend to Canberra and back.

As a result, it's not surprising that some major suspension and steering work is next on the list.

I have to hand a slightly scary piece of paper - a quote from Ralph at Trutrack Suspension. I will get Ralph to do the heavy work, such as replacing upper and lower wishbone bushes at the front, getting the steering sorted, and re-setting the rear springs. Some other jobs, such as front roll-bar bushes, I'll do myself.

Luckily the Pater Familias has been on the hunt among his Jaguar mates in Canberra and has sent me one of his wonderous care packages - this one contains a track rod and drag link (helpfully labelled!), track rod ends, some bushes for front and rear, and a spare SU fuel pump that is original but looks as if it's never been used ... (the Post Office must wonder).

Check out that 'Guaranteed Factory Replacement' tape! This is a completely brand-new, 35-year-old SU pump.

Now, that's what I call shock absorbers! I bought a set of Koni Classic adjustables just after Christmas from GT Suspension, and they're certainly going on along with as many new bushes and other bits as Ralph at Trutrack deems necessary.

Within a week or three we'll be travelling like new - but it might take a bit longer for the credit card to recover!

Daimler (and Lanchester!) Display Day, 18 March

2007-02-02T12:52:00.000+11:00

Come one, come all!

RACV Rally

2007-01-26T14:40:00.000+11:00

Each January, the RACV holds a rally from Melbourne to Mornington (the Mornington Penninsula makes up the eastern side of Port Philip Bay, south of Melbourne). There are four starting points around the city, and hundreds of diverse classics travel together to all meet at the marina at Hastings (on the western side of the penninsula) before traversing the narrow and winding roads to the eastern side. They then travel along the beach road to Mornington, gathering for a display at the racecourse.

There were suprisingly few other Daimlers on the rally this year, but we did see this gorgeous 1930s Light Twenty.

Dressing to match your car is the order of the day, so Kathy and I and our friends Alison and Steve did our best to look late 60s. Kathy and Alison (who had very big hair - must have been industrial-strength hairspray!) did a lot of Twiggy-and-Shrimp-style lunging and posing. And while it's not a Daimler, Kathy does coordinate nicely with the blue 60s Fairlaine.

The weather was a bit wild, so our picnic ended up being eaten in the car - who needs picnic tables when you have the glovebox lid to balance your bubbly on?

We parked next to a close cousin - a Jaguar 240 which had evidently had no expense spared in its restoration. Plenty of people were walking past playing 'spot the difference'.

A fine day out was had by all, and Dame Zara enjoyed the run - despite carrying four passengers and a boot full of chicken and champagne, stop-start traffic as we headed from Melbourne to Frankston, and then some quite hilly going in the drive from Hastings to Mornington, we used just on half a tank on the 120 miles or so: close to 20mpg.

On the straight and narrow

2007-01-10T20:07:00.000+11:00

Now, that has to be one of the easiest jobs I've done so far! Four screws and I now have a shiny black steering wheel centre instead of the motley-brown, sun-damaged one.

Before:

After:

The replacement came courtesy of eBay, from a 1966 Jag Mk10 being parted out in the US, and thanks to the slow period between Christmas and new year, it cost me less than a quarter of the price the parts places want for a repro.

The leather steering wheel cover, by the way, is from Wheelskins, and I heartily recommend them. For thin, sometimes slippery steering wheels, they add a nice amount of grip and some softness. I've actually bought four of them now: one for Kathy's previous car, Gussie the Hillman; one for her current car, Beryl the '75 Galant coupe; one for Dame Zara; and one for my dad for his '66 S-Type Jag 3.8.

I get them from this eBay seller in the US, who is very quick in supplying custom orders (Wheelskins doesn't have a retail distributor in Australia).

Sharp eyes might note the flouro orange markers on the tacho - they match the cruising speed of the car at important speed limits: 50, 60, 80, 100 and 110 km/h. The speedo is none too accurate at the best of times, and at the moment the needle is wobbling around like no-one's business!

The clock, which I used to be very proud to report worked - a rarity among Smiths clocks in cars - stopped for no apparent reason sometime before Christmas, but started up again the other day (for equally mysterious reasons) and is now keeping perfect time. I'll leave it well alone!

It was a dirty job but someone had to do it

2006-12-30T14:17:00.000+11:00

By the time I'd finished installing the exhausts I looked like a coal miner! Amazingly enough, I was allowed back indoors and after a very long and thorough scrubbing I returned to a near-clean condition. A few days on, and some of the scratches and grazes are healing up nicely, my fingernails are *almost* presentable, and many of the strange aches are passing.

If only I could have driven the car over the new exhausts and had them magically ascend into place ...

Exhaust-ed!

2006-12-28T22:27:00.000+11:00

The next time I get the bright idea to do a big job underneath the car - on my own, in the garage, with one jack and two axle stands - please all advise me to pay someone else to do it!

After three afternoons of work (it's not really the time of year to be bounding out of bed at early o'clock), I have finally finished fitting the 'new/old' stainless steel exhaust system I bought just before Christmas. The exhausts came from a sad, sickly yellow V8 that was being wrecked by local parts gurus Jag Prestige Spares .

As you can see from this picture, the old - I think, except for the mufflers, original - mild steel exhuasts had just about had it.

Getting the old system off was a messy enough task, but then I decided to be a bit more thorough than just bolting the replacements straight on:
- first, I took off the exhaust shields - three per side, and not all exactly the same - and was surprised to find once I'd given them a quick once-over with the wire brush that they were actually silver. It just so happened I had a spay-can of high-temperature silver paint handy, so they got a re-spray.
- then, looking at the underside of the car, I decided that some of the underseal needed attention. The centre of the car beside the driveshaft and the back under the rear seat pan were surprisingly good, but I ended up repainting much of the main beam that runs the length of the car (lots of underseal chipped off at various points where the car had been jacked up), one rear wheel arch and the underside of the floor on the left-hand side (the right side and the other three wheel arches can wait for another day!)

The end result was pretty decent, if I do say so myself:

Jag display day

2006-11-28T23:25:00.000+11:00

Five DLCV members accepted the kind invitation of the Victorian Jaguar Club to attend their annual Display Day, held in the grounds of Wesley College just off St Kilda Road.

Long-time DLCV member Keith Ashworth has an amazing collection - today he chose to come in his Regency Sportsman: the only example of this rare model in Australia, as far as he's aware.

There were a number of Daimlers among the Jags - this 420 Sovereign caught my eye.

Dame Zara had had a good wash and polish, and sparkled in the sunlight.

2006-11-28T23:13:00.000+11:00

a hole in the right-hand exhaust patched with a bandage ... but I've just located a near-new stainless steel system from a car that's being wrecked, so I'll be replacing the whole rusty set-up soon. (note to self: must repair that patch of underseal I've taken off with the jack!)

The lower photo is of the front valance panel (which goes under the front bumper). It looks in a pretty sad state, but a going-over with a wire brush and two coats of POR15 rust-proofing paint now has it looking pretty spiffy.

Fresh sandwiches, no more leaks and a (pretty) full service

2006-11-28T22:06:00.000+11:00

Current mileage: a hair over (1)57,000
Costs since last time I totted them up in July: $700

It seems like ages since I've updated, and plenty has happened of late.

Let's see ...

Firstly, I've replaced the front suspension 'sandwich' mounts, as DLCV V8 guru Jack 'Fast Eddy' Edmonds was correct in his telephonic diagnosis that they were had it (old one on the left).

This still hasn't cured all the clonks in the front suspension though, so there will still be some ball joint &/or bush replacing to go, and most likely shock absorbers too.

Next up, I had the rear window seal replaced - which turned into a bit of a runaround when the guy who was doing the job got the window our and discovered that the reason the demister had never worked for me was that both wires were broken off the element. So I picked up the window and took it to Connections and had then re-solder the wires, then took the window back and had the seal fitted. The window no longer leaks, but he didn't do a great job with re-fitting the chrome strip ... And as I took out all the water-damaged headlining around the rear window, I'll also need to have that re-made - and the parcel shelf and a few other bits of trim while I'm at it.

Last Friday I took the day off work and set to doing most of the tasks on the 2500 and 5000-mile service checklist, including:

oil change (decided to try Penrite HPR30 this time)
fresh oil filter
went around pretty much the whole car with grease gun, oil can and WD40, lubricating everything from rear springs to door hinges to carburettor pots

I also took off the front valance panel and repainted it with POR15 rust-proofing paint, and fixed a leak in the rusty exhaust with a bandage (pics in a separate post above, as I can't seem to add more than two images to this post).

I also took the opportunity to re-fix a few things I thought I'd 'fixed' before, such as the front passenger door-handle, the stud on the dashpad and the left-hand handbrake caliper.

Put your pedal to the the metal

2006-10-12T14:12:00.000+10:00

... as long as you're wearing nicely shined Oxfords and turn-ups on your tweed trousers!

International fame!

2006-09-26T14:09:00.000+10:00

I was deeply chuffed to find that this humble little blog was picked by Matt Wright, the editor of UK magazine Practical Classics, as his 'site of the day' (see the 6 September entry here). Not that I'd necessarily call 5000 carefree miles of motoring in eight months 'one man's battle' ... but you know journos and hyperbole!

Her Laydship was also pleased, but she has been expressing some concern lately about the state of her undercarriage: a nasty 'clonk' is heard/felt in the front when one is forced to hit a large bump, pothole or tram track; and she's developed a tendency to pull to the right under brakes.

The Pater Familias suspects it could be 'merely' a lower balljoint, but having poked my head underneath and seen the state of some of the many bushes and other rubbery bits that cushion the various bits of the front suspension and steering, I think a more thorough going-over may be in order. And given the 'bouncy-bouncy' way she responds to a sharp prod to any side, some new shock absorbers might also be on the list. I looked up the price of four Konis* - then I lay down for a while in a darkened room!

While she hasn't yet lived up to the 'Moneypitt' moniker, the day may soon be upon us ...

*that would be more than A$800.

All brand new

2006-09-03T21:46:00.000+10:00

There, that's better. Safe, flexible fuel lines that won't split suddenly and pump petrol all over the engine; and a t-piece that won't burst. (I probably should have done this before driving 1000 miles last week!)

I did have a bit of a 'moment' putting it all back together, though. After carefully tightening everything up and reconnecting all the throttle and choke linkages (or so I thought), topping up the radiator to replace the coolant that came out when I undid the t-piece, and turning the ignition on to pump fresh fuel through the filter and into the carbs (and checking that it wasn't leaking anywhere), I hit the starter ... and vroom! She was 'idling' at about 2000rpm!

After scratching my head for a bit, I worked out that I'd connected one of the short throttle linkages the wrong way around and it was holding the throttle open on one carb. After putting it back to rights and giving the slow running screw the tiniest tweak, all was serene.

But just to test, I went for a quick spin around Royal Park, including (I must admit) a few fish-tails in the gravel carpark at the rear of the Zoo ... don't tell anyone! Definitely plenty of power getting to the back wheels ;)

Why fresh rubbery bits were required

2006-09-03T21:40:00.000+10:00

The old t-piece was in a pretty poor state - I'm grateful that it held out this long. The fuel line was sound enough, but very hard, so I think it was a good idea to replace it.

Some important rubbery bits refreshed

2006-09-03T21:28:00.000+10:00

I've just spent a quite useful few hours out in the garage doing a few jobs that I probably should have done months ago - namely replacing Zara's old (original?) hard plastic fuel hose with new rubber ones; and finally replacing the other t-piece.

To get to the t-piece I had to take off one carburettor. I'd been warned that this is a hideously fiddly job (which is why I didn't do it when I replaced the other cooling hoses), but actually I found it a doddle. No knuckles grazed, no bolts lost down into the darkest recesses of the engine bay ...

The carb was rather grotty, but a quick spray with some carb cleaner had it looking much shiner. (Actually, the engine bay isn't going to win me any concours awards - but Zara is a car in frequent use, not a show pony, so as long as everything works and nothing leaks, I'm not that fussed about how shiny it is.)

I told you she was famous

2006-08-30T20:06:00.000+10:00

How many cars have a street named after them? When I found out there was a Dame Zara Street in a new suburban development on Canberra's outskirts, we just had to call in on our way home!

Aside from a minor overheating incident on the way up that wasn't repeated (the needle of the temperature gauge stayed in the lower third all the way home), Dame Zara behaved impeccably on the 1000-mile round trip.

Passing a digital speed-checker on the freeway just out of Melbourne, I discovered that 76mp/h on the speedo is really 'only' 108km/h. As the speed limit on the freeways is 110km/h, an indicated 80mp/h became our maximum speed (when safe and appropriate, of course). Zara had absolutely no trouble keeping up with the modern traffic, and we did our fair share of overtaking slowpokes, even pulling up hills at 4000 rpm-plus in order to pass trucks.

What's even more impressive is that our fuel consumption for the trip averaged out at about 23.5 mpg!

An 'ambitious restoration project'

2006-08-30T19:56:00.000+10:00

Another thing we did in Canberra was to call in to see dad's friend Jim, who has had a Daimler SP250 'Dart' sportscar lurking in his garden for some years (that's Jim with the all-white beard - mine's only a third grey!).

It's a very early, A-spec car (maybe even a 1959) originally delivered to the US in left-hand-drive. Jim has done quite a bit of work on the chassis, engine and suspension; and the car seems complete (even has a spare engine and bonnet and an original hard-top); but it's still a long way from getting back on the road.

Jim's not too worried, though: he has an XJ6 and XJS Jag in the driveway and a bright red Mini under restoration to keep him busy ...

The ol' home town

2006-08-30T19:50:00.000+10:00

We went up to Canberra to visit my parents and sister, and to belatedly celebrate my mum's 60th birthday.

On Sunday we went to Gundaroo, a village about half an hour out of town, for lunch and dad drove his recently acquired 1966 Jaguar S-type. It's a 3.8 litre manual/overdrive and after teasing us on the outskirts of Canberra by cruising along at 90km/h, he gave us a very convincing demonstration of its quite awesome acceleration by shifting down to third on his way out of one of the many roundabouts and flooring it ... we caught up eventually!

It's a very solid-looking car: completely restored interior in red leather with new carpets and polished wood; engine probably reconditioned; and decent paintwork and body. Being a very canny bargainer, dad bought it for, oh, not much more than the cost of the retrim and engine work, so he got the rest of the car 'free'!

To the Manor Born

2006-08-30T19:46:00.000+10:00

Dame Zara has just taken us on a 1000-mile round trip to Canberra and back. On the way we stopped off at Rutherglen in northern Victoria, (yet another) renowned wine region.

The faux-Scots castle at All Saints winery (built by some homesick Scotsmen who used to work for Queen Victoria in one of her little hooses in Scotland) seemed like an appropriate background for a pic.

The lemon-drop Dart, the Beast and a Kathy amid the Dames

2006-08-18T19:29:00.000+10:00

The Little River Band

2006-08-18T19:09:00.000+10:00

Some of the DLCV gang atop a hill in the scenic You Yangs on our way to Little River

Climb every mountain

2006-08-13T22:43:00.000+10:00

This month's DLCV run was to Little River and the You Yangs, south of Melbourne down somewhere between Geelong and Bacchus Marsh. We shan't mention 70s soft-rock legends the Little River Band, but we will mention that Marilyn attended in her early SP250, a car I've heard of for the last few months but never before seen in its striking yellow fibreglass self. We followed 'DART 60' for quite a way, and she sounded grand!

Our host for the run was Trevor, whose intriguing beast is a sort of reverse Special Sports - I think it began its life as a sedate DB18 saloon, but in a mysterious transformation in Trev's shed it became The Beast - with a handmade aluminium sports body, a wicker picnic basket for the boot and a stonking 4.2 litre Jaguar XJ engine with triple 2" SU carbs under the bonnet.

Oh, hang on 'Help was on its way' when the Lanchester of newly elected club prez Tony Dixon failed to proceed on top of a hill at the You Yangs - had to fit a Little River Band reference in there somewhere. Everyone stopped and peered under the bonnet while he churned and churned and eventually we just all got out of the way and let him coast down the hill for a hill-start.

(Speaking of high office, one is slightly humbled to admit that one has been elected to the committee of the DLCV as some sort of Minister without Portfolio ... that's what happens if you turn up to two AGMs in a row!)

We enjoyed a surprisingly good lunch at Trev's local - a sure contender for Ugliest Pub in Victoria (from the outside) - and Mizz Kathy took the big 17" wheel for the ride back up the freeway and home again (and, no, one didn't imbibe more than a single light beverage at lunch - Kathy is a certified Daimler Dame and is more than happy to be in charge).

Pictures will follow when the InterWebThingy is being more cooperative!

Seventeen monkeys, six Daimlers

2006-07-23T20:31:00.000+10:00

The DLCV holds an annual winter weekend run for V8s, known as the Brass Monkey. We joined our fellow 'monkeys' at early o'clock on Saturday in suburban Melbourne and headed through the Yarra Valley and over the Black Spur toward Beechworth: a historic town famous for its associations with the gold rush in the 1850s, bushrangers a few years later (Ned Kelly was tried there in the courthouse) and as the site of an imposing Victorian asylum. Nowadays Beechworth is the home of award-winning 'snot blocks' (vanilla slices) from its bakery.
Five V8 saloons and one SP250 Dart sportscar came on the run - two Daimlers 'failed to proceed' and their owners were reduced to driving modern cars.
A fair bit of eating and drinking took place over the weekend. Actually, I suspect the route was actually plotted with the food stops in mind - the scenery and fantastic driving roads were just a bonus!

Here we are in the Tatong pub at lunchtime on the Sunday. I'm looking very pleased with my lamb shanks; Ian is chewing his enormous burger manfully!

Pub dining rooms featured heavily: the Mansfield Hotel for Saturday lunch and Saturday dinner at the Hibernian in Beechworth. Kathy was foolish enough to take on Jack in numerous post-prandial Sambuccas at the Hibernian, so she was feeling a mite delicate on Sunday.

More Brass Monkey shenannigans

2006-07-23T20:23:00.000+10:00

Don and Norma's remarkably original Sable V8-250 has always belonged to their family and still has under 50,000 miles on the clock. Kathy dubbed it 'the chocolate drop.'
Jack and Phyllis' Gunmetal Grey 2.5 Litre, with a grey interior. Complete with two fuel pumps - more on that later ...
Michael and Pat's glossy black V8-250 with red interior and wire wheels. With a stainless steel exhaust and rebuilt engine (twice!) it sounds as good as it goes (except when not ... see below ...)

Next to it, Ian and Joyce's SP250, in British Racing Green with tan interior.
Oops. Yours truly was honoured to swap keys with Michael and get into his pride and joy 'Phil' for a drive. Michael's car is noticably more lively than Dame Zara, with better acceleration and tighter handling. I was really enjoying the comparison. Sadly, the SU fuel pump had other ideas - after I conked out pulling up a hill, the Chaps managed to get the pump going again, but it kept cutting out, so a roadside heart transplant was in order.

A bunch of Brass Monkeys go to Beechworth - no bananas to be found

2006-07-23T20:11:00.000+10:00

The monkeys, from left: Michelle and John (who bought along their young son Kai, or 'tadpole' as he became known); Kathy; Brian and Vera; Pat I, Norma, Don, Clyde, Pat II, Jack, Phyllis, Ian, Joyce and Michael. Your humble correspondent was manning the camera.
Clyde and Pat's Old English White V8-250, with a tan interior.
Dame Zara, of course, who aquitted herself very well. Tony's minstrations did her the world of good. I think we can state with confidence that the Hesitation Waltz has been cured. She pulled hard at all revs, on the flat or up hills, and on one clear, straight stretch with no other cars in sight for miles I floored it and watched as the tacho rose to well over 4000rpm and the speed to, well, quite fast indeed! (I believe that my car is set up to do 17.7mph per 1000rpm. At 4200rpm, I'd expect to be doing 74mph; at 4500rpm a hair under 80 ...)

Look ma, I can sing!

2006-07-20T13:02:00.000+10:00

The CD player and its power pack sitting in the parcel shelf. As you can see, I performed some over-enthusiastic dismantling in order to get the cassette player out! In my defense, I did need to unscrew the whole radio/heater console in order to put some padded, double-sided tape along the edge - it was making the most annoying squeak ... Some hours later, it was all back to rights and the CD player even works without skipping - most of the time.

Power up

2006-07-20T12:58:00.000+10:00

It might not look all that elegant, but this is the 12-volt power adaptor that can power the portable CD player. The cigarette lighter socket is both switched (via the ignition) and fused, so it's safe and can't accidentally be left on to flatten the battery. If it becomes a permanent fixture, I'll hide it behind the dash somewhere and just run the power lead into the parcel shelf.

How to nobble a cassette deck

2006-07-20T12:53:00.000+10:00

In my attempts to deliberately 'ruin' Zara's not particularly good 70s Eurovox cassette deck, I snipped this drive belt, then cut the power to the motor and eventually stuffed a bit of folded-up Gaffa tape in an essential crevice! The result: one reasonably good-sounding line amplifier into which one can plug a portable CD player, iPod, etc. I still haven't managed to work out how to disable the auto-reverse switch, so it clicks a bit, but it'll do for now.

I'll eat those modern pods for breakfast!

2006-07-20T12:48:00.000+10:00

Dame Zara meets Tony and Ennio the Diagnostic Technicians

2006-07-20T12:40:00.000+10:00

Dame Zara went this morning to meet Tony & Ennio the Diagnostic Technicians at Kingsway Autocare. Tony used to own a 2.5 Litre V8, so he knows what's what with dual points, dual carburettors and all the other interactive complications to be found under the bonnet. He set up my fresh points, checked the timing and that the carbs are balanced, etc. $50 well spent.

T-pieces

2006-07-19T20:12:00.000+10:00

The left-hand t-piece went on without too many problems. I cleaned up the two pipes as I went - the front one coming from the water pump and the rear one going to the heater. I left the right-hand side t-piece for another day: I'll need to dismantle the entire carburettor on that side to get at it. The next sunny day, I promise! The old one doesn't look too bad - a bit perished but not showing any signs of leaking or imminent explosion - I hope!

2006-07-17T00:17:00.000+10:00

New points about to be fitted now that I finally have the Elusive Screw

2006-07-17T00:16:00.000+10:00

What shiny aircleaners you have (looking so much better than they used to): next things to get a go with the silver spray paint will be the radiator cowl and throttle linkages.

2006-07-17T00:15:00.000+10:00

Distributor with only one set of points

Swings and roundabouts

2006-07-16T22:54:00.000+10:00

It's after 11pm on Sunday night, and I have again had a full afternoon and evening of 'fun' fiddling with Her Ladyship.

First of all, I was struck with a (very) minor revelation last night. As we're going on a long trip next weekend (more on that later), the subject of Dame Zara's troublesome sound system has returned to the top of my mind. In the fullness of time, I plan to buy a newfangled stereo that I can hide under the seat (or even in the boot) and control with a remote, and to put the original Radiomobile radio back in the dash - working or not! However, for the moment we are stuck with a 70s Eurovox cassette player that makes everyone sound like The Chipmunks; and with abysmal radio reception, particularly on FM (I'm beginning to suspect my sparkplug leads). Hence my brainwave: back in the dawn of time when portable CD players were new and most cars had cassette players, one could buy a mock cassette with a playback head in it and a line-in lead to connect an external CD player. Kathy has an old CD walkman - I wonder if one can still buy these cassette adaptors?

Well, as it happens, since the more recent dawn of the iPod era, it seems they have come back into fashion, as people try to use their iPods in cars that still have cassette-based stereos. So, for a measly 20-something bucks at Dick Smith, I bought a cassette adaptor and a ciggie-lighter-powered DC adaptor. And does it work?, you ask. Well, somewhat ... The power pack does indeed power the CD player, but it's a rather ungainly box sticking out of the centre of the dash, so I have cannibalised a spare cigarette lighter socket from the spare Galant dashboard sitting in the garage, and I will endeavour to mount that in the parcel shelf. The cassette doohickey does work, and the sound quality is fine, no interference from the engine, but the cassette player still thinks it has a 'real' tape in it, and the auto-reverse mechanism kicks in every 30 seconds or so trying to change 'sides'. This wouldn't be so bad, except that (as is common with auto-reverse decks) one direction has much worse audio quality than the other, and the mechanism is quite loud. So, some time this week I'll get into the guts and see if I can disable the motors of the player - it's useless for cassettes, anyway. The larger challenge will be to see if the CD player can cope with the vibrations of the car - we tried it way back in Gussie and it was hopeless - skipped all over the place. Anyways, if I can perfect the system, it's all ready for when I buy an iPod or similar MP3 device.

The next task was to finally fit my new set of points. One of the pictures above shows one of the pair sitting on the bench, looking all shiny and expectant.

And there's a closeup of the distributor, clearly showing the post for the second set of points.

(By the way, I did get around to painting Dame Zara's aircleaners the other week, and they're looking much better, making the whole engine bay look much more presentable ...)

Anyways, the points went in without too much trouble, and I adjusted them roughly, checked that the engine started and idled, and moved on to the next thing: the cooling system.

In my previous instalment, I had filled the radiator with plain water and a cleaning solution. It was now time to empty that out and refill the system with proper coolant.

First of all, I disconnected the two hoses leading to the heater and got the garden hose ready to flush it out (thanks for the tip, Brendan!). Using the longer piece of heater hose as a drain pipe, aiming at a bucket so as not to flood the driveway and drains with coolant, I put a fair amount of water pressure through the heater, blowing out some rusty crud on the first pass, and proving to myself on the second that the heater tap isn't doing too bad a job: there's a clear flow through the heater, and the tap does open and close, cutting the flow to the extent that you could hear and feel the pressure increasing in the garden hose when it was closed.

Next job was replacing the left-hand t-piece, which wasn't too fiddly a job (pic above). I chickened out on doing the right-hand one, as that entails removing the entire carburettor from that side, and while the old one is showing some age, it's not leaking at all or in imminent danger of exploding (I hope!).

The radiator was drained of its cleaning solution by opening the tap (actually, I removed the tap, as I couldn't twist it open while it was in place - but once off the car it moved freely: typical! Anyways, it went back on with some fresh silicon sealant on the thread, so I hope it won't leak), and a fresh mix of 50/50 Castrol coolant and water was added, along with extra corrosion inhibitor and a dose of Bars Leaks.

One final 'little' job: I noticed when I fitted it the other week that the new fanbelt was coming perilously close to rubbing on the brand new lower radiator hose. Now as I was poking around further in that area, it was clear that it was actually touching and that the fanbelt had started to chafe away at the hose and its clip where it enters the water pump. So I put the old, tighter belt back on ... once I'd unbolted the fan cowl, and loosened the alternator so I could slip its belt off first ... Anyways, the old one is sound enough, and there's now a good two finger's worth of clearance between the pulley and the hose, so no more chafing.

After a spot of dinner, it was time for a test-drive. By now it was about 9pm, dark and raining on and off. I started her up and nosed down the driveway. I pretty much coasted down the little hill of Church St to the lights, but as I pulled off up Flemington Rd it was clear that something was amiss: a bad misfire on the slightest acceleration. I slipped back around the corner into Southgate St and home, chugging up the little hill at barely 20mph.

Opening up the distributor, I discovered that my rough setting of the second set of points was way off - the gap was visibly too wide. So I narrowed it down (using a cut-down laminated business card as my approximately .015" feeler gauge - my proper feeler gauge set has rounded, 'Paddle Pop-stick' ends that are too wide to fit into the Dame's distributor) and took off again, this time around Royal Park toward the Zoo. Better, but still a little hesitant on accelaration or pulling up even the slightest hill. On the upside, the temperature gauge happily tipped into the lower third of the dial after a few minutes' running and climbed no more and - shock, horror! - the heater started working to the extent that I had to open a quarter window for some cool air on my cheek.

But I have to get the misfire fixed once and for all and there's nothing for it but a trip to visit the Diagnostic Technicians. We need to be in fine fettle to make it to Beechworth and back with at least eight other V8s next weekend: it's the DLCV's annual 'brass monkey' run.

Rubbery bits and happy birthday

2006-07-02T22:25:00.001+10:00

Current milage: (1)53,970 (2270 miles since purchase in February 2006)
Latest costs: $240 (radiator hose kit, thermostat, fan & alternator belts, petrol filter, etc, etc.); $550 (registration renewal and third-party insurance)

Dear Diary,

The next time I take it upon myself to drain the radiator and begin undoing cooling hoses at a late hour on a wet, wintery Sunday afternoon, please stop me.

Firstly, it's a happy 37th birthday to both me (on 1 July) and Dame Zara (on 3 July). Sort of.

A number of witnesses (not the least of whom are my parents) and the NSW Register of Births, Deaths and Marriages will attest to the fact that I definitely entered this world on 1 July 1969. As Dame Zara's registration falls due on 3 July, the rego label says '1969', and I am assuming she still carries her original number plates, it's a not unreasonable stretch to say that her 'birthday' was 3 July 1969.

I daresay she was conceived quite a few months earlier at Brown's Lane, and spent some time at sea before landing on this strange shore - but short of shelling out an unreasonable amount of Sterling on a Heritage Certificate from the Jaguar/Daimler Heritage Trust, the gory details of her construction remain a mystery and we hereby declare 3 July her birthday. OK?

In early celebration, on the afternoon of *my* birthday Kathy & I undertook an entertainingly mis-navigated (by me) journey to Middle Urbia (Clayton, to be precise) to make the acquaintance of Mr Gary Ayre at JagAyre. Amid the carcasses of any number of Jaguars, Daimlers, and the odd 70s Roller &/or Bentley, the charming Mr Ayre disappeared into his dim and cavernous warehouse and returned (eventually) bearing a Trevor trove of rubbery bits from my 'to do' list, including: top and bottom radiator hoses, T-sections, a fan belt, an alternator belt and (in the not-rubbery department) a thermostat in its original green Jaguar box and a fuel filter element.

After not buying the slightly raffish Mk2 parked on his forecourt, we navigated our way back though the 'urbs and - once suitably dolled up - headed back much the same way for a slap-up dinner at Mizz Charlotte's in Brighton.

Not at all bright and not particularly early on a very rainy and miserable Sunday I ventured out to the garage and started on the 'easy' jobs: the fuel filter went in without much complaint; next was replacing the fan and alternator belts and fitting the replacement tensioner pulley that dad found for me...

Some hours later ...

The pulley was on (hurrah!), the fan belt was on (double hurrah!) and, after much swearing, the new alternator belt can wait and the old one will do for now. Short of taking off the whole fan and viscous coupling, and the fan cowl, and most likely not only the radiator but the grille as well, it wasn' t going in there. I known when I'm beaten.

Somewhere in the midst of all this belt action, I'd wandered (by virtue of the 59 tram) off to my favourite branch of Repco in beautiful Moonee Ponds and picked up some lengths of 3/4" and 5/8" heater hose (to make up the various lengths that join up the manifold rails and heater cables), and some noxious chemicals to flush out the radiator.

Despite the lowering sky and late hour once I returned, for some stupid reason I decided that this was the perfect time to not only pop off the hideously bulbous lower end of the exant bottom radiator hose and let all the coolant exaunt stage left into a cunningly placed bucket, but to undo not only the upper end of the lower rad hose but also the top hose and the thermostat housing. Oh the horror. Brown gunge everywhere - at least the thermostat housing came off with minimal levering and cleaned up (after a fashion) with some sandpaper.

But as darkness fell, I was faced with the unenviable task of putting it all back together - did I mention that another birthday jaunt was to take Beryl the Galant down the road to Suspension City to have her undercarriage dealt with, so if I wanted to motor anywhere on Monday, then it had to be in Dame Zara?

At this juncture, let it be said that I have never before tried to fit brand new radiator hoses to a car.

I have certainly never before tried to fit brand new radiator hoses to a car with a notoriously cramped engine bay as darkness falls, in the rain, in the dark, when it's about 10 degrees, largely lying - admittedly just within the comparative safety of the garage - in a pool of spilled, ancient green sticky coolant. And I got my hair cut yesterday.

Not to blow mine own trumpet, but - by dint of a bucket of boiling water and a tub of Vaseline I found in the hall cupboard, somewhat less skin on the back of my right hand than I am used to, and quite a number of rude words, I finally managed to return the old dear to continence, to refill her with water and the Bars Leaks radiator cleaner (which I found was rather caustic by the clever application of my rather chafed finger as a stirrer - ouch, that smarts!) and to sucessfully start her, get the noxious concoction flowing, and and get her to operating temperature without undue incident.

The astute reader (if any such has stayed the admittedly rather long course) will note that there are a few crucial steps yet to go before the job is really done - I still need to dismantle much of the manifold and carbs if I'm going to replace the T-sections (and I'd be silly not to); I haven't yet flushed the heater matrix (and seen if I have to return to Mr Ayre clutching $110 to purchase a new heater tap if mine is beyond the pale); and I will need to empty out the cleaning solution in a week ot two and replace it with a proper mix of coolant, anti-corrosion solution and Bars Leaks (to see if I can cure my weepy engine plug - I really don't fancy trying to get to that or to pay anyone else to ...)

All of this needs to be done before the weekend of the 22nd/23rd July, as we will be heading off to Beechworth and therabouts for the Daimler Club's traditional 'V8 Brass Monkey weekend' ... oh, and Gary Ayre found me The Screw to finally fit my second set of points! Perhaps the Hesitation Waltz will be cured!

In which he releases some Magic Lucas Smoke

2006-06-17T18:29:00.000+10:00

'Twas a matter of time, really, until the Prince of Darkness made his malevolent presence felt. One of Dame Zara's foglights has always been dodgy - tap it and it works; switch off, switch back on - doesn't work. Bad earth, thinks I. Pulled it apart once, cleaned off one of the contacts with some wet and dry. Worked for a bit - next time I switched it on, nothing.

So today, after finally giving the dusty old dear a good spongebath and vacuum, I took the ailing foglight light apart again, gave both contacts a good scratch with some coarse sandpaper until they were shiny, cleaned off the general grot, put the light back together, switched them on ...

One worked, the one I'd just cleaned up was dead.

Then came the smoke! Acrid, grey smoke billowing out of the 'fixed' light, from under the bonnet and from the left-hand wheelarch. Mild panic on my part, but I had the presence of mind to reach in and switch off the lights.

Heart going at about a million miles an hour, I gently popped the bonnet and, some wafts of smoke aside, no flames shot up to greet me and it seemed nothing had been seriously fritzed. Closer inspection showed that I'd burnt the original cloth insulation of the wires leading to the left-hand foglight to a crisp, and half-melted the heatshrink cover over both wires all the way back to the connector on the inside of the mudguard.

I disconnected the fried wires at both the connector and inside the light, taped their ends just to be double-sure, took the bulb out of the offending light, put it back together, and left well enough alone and came inside to drink wine and eat smelly cheese!

The care package

2006-06-07T23:09:00.000+10:00

The Pater Familias sent another of his distinctive care packages the other day - it was constructed from two empty wine casks and a lot of packing tape and was full of all manner of goodies, including:

a non-squeaky pulley wheel for the fanbelt tensioner
a big box of assorted electrical connectors and a crimper
a timing light
the mysterious missing screw for the second set of points
an odds-and-sods socket set in an old metal case, including a 1/2" socket handle and a hand-modified square socket to use as a jack handle
a spare carbie dashpot piston
a radio interference supressor to fit across the coil

Almost every item was hand-labelled with little black engineer writing on masking tape, just to make sure I knew what it all was. Thanks dad!

After getting home from another long, challenging day at work (oh the joys of launching a new website!), taking Niven the 15-year-old toothless cat to the vet for his flu jab, and heating up some leftover risotto for dinner (did I mention that Niven and I are bachelors gay for the next fortnight, as Kathy is off in Oslo for a work junket?), I ventured out to the cold garage for a spot of fiddling.

First up, the radio supressor went on the coil, once I worked out which side it went on (positive is the battery/ignition side. What did we all do before Google?). But the f*%^@ng radio still picks up engine noise, and much more on FM than AM, so now I'm convinced it's the aerial ... (there's now a suppressor on the coil, another on the alternator, a noise filter in-line with the radio's power supply and a fresh ground wire earthing the radio case to the car's body. Surely that's enough!).

Next, I fixed the 'low brake fluid' warning light by dint of a few fresh connectors - strangely enough, 37 years' worth of brake fluid fumes and damp had corroded the ends of the copper wires.

A fresh spring was fitted to one of the heater flaps for extra 'sproing' when you lever the lever in the appropriate direction. (The heater, by the way, begins to noticably warm the car after about 15 minutes on these colder mornings - about exactly the time it takes me to get to work if the traffic's good. So I shiver until just before I turn into the carpark! Beryl the '75 Mitsubishi Galant is fulfilling her proper role as daily driver much more often of late - her heater fires up like a sauna after about 5 minutes, then you have to turn it off lest you pass out !)

Then, emboldened, I decided to open up the distributor and attempt to fit the second set of points. Unfortunately I was foiled straight off. The screw dad found is exactly the right thread, but is too long, so fouls the distributor base long before it's tight enough to do any good. So I'll have to lop it off before I can go any further. (Hmmm ... might need a vise for that - have a hacksaw to cut the screw, and a file to smooth it off, but nothing to grip it in as I work on it ... oh, Cash Converters, can you hear me calling?)

The dashpot piston went straight in the right-hand SU, and screws in much more securely than the previous one, which had stripped its thread and had a habit of popping loose every now and then (you could tell it had happened as soon as you put your foot down - instant flat spot, then surge).

By now it was getting late (10pm), misty and cold, so it was time to come inside. I made good my threat to Kathy to turn the kitchen into a workshop while she was away, unscrewing the two left-hand door caps and bringing them in to sand off on the kitchen table in preparation for a revarnishing. A glass or two of passable red and some nice music on ABC Classic FM helped out.

I also found a can of 'hammer look' aluminium silver spray paint yesterday, so am now all set to finish off the air cleaners the next warm weekend day that comes along.

Another to-do list

2006-06-02T12:09:00.000+10:00

Really for my reference, but my flock of readers may be interested ...

the old dear really needs a clean & polish! She's been out in the rain a few times in the last month and is looking very mud-spotty - a flaw of the darker colour, I suppose. But as it's getting wintery, it's hard to find a time when I'm free and it's not cold, raining &/or dark!
the air cleaners were sanded off and primered the other week, now I need to get correct-looking silver paint (Hammerite?) and a warm-ish, dry day to finish them. I painted the fusebox cover and starter shield gloss black - a big improvement on the chipped, rusted appearance they had before. I might do the fan cowl as well once I have the silver paint.
more painting: I should do the front valence 'box' and clean/rustproof/underseal the 'crow's feet' and everything at the front of the car. There's a rust hole at the base of the grille that I should get seen to, and the front bumper is quite rusty on the inside (although the chrome is very good on the outside).
Dad has been busy on my behalf: he's found the missing screw for the distributor; made me up a socket so I can use a common-or-garden socket handle for my jack; found a new fanbelt tensioner to replace my rattly-squeaky one; and I sent him a wish-list of little bits and pieces to look for at Dunsters, a Canberra-based Jag service/wrecker place that's going out of business and having a big clearance.
The front passenger-side door lock has gone doolally again (already!). Which means I need to take the door lining off again. Which means I should buy some plastic sheeting and take off all the door linings and have a good pre-winter waterproofing/rustproofing session. If I was really organised/dedicated, I should also get some new rubbers from Scott's - at least the main window strips if not the quarter-light ones - and organise some new unbuckled backing boards for the door linings ...
something is rattling/resonating in the dash all of a sudden and it's very irritating. I suspect it's something in the radio/heater bit, which means I'll probably have to pull it all apart (again!) and make sure it's all tight.
I have a bit of 'spare' money now that Kathy's sold Gussie (a long and complicated financial tale I won't bore anyone with), so I can finally get a few things done that require paying other people - a new rear window seal is top of the list; then a service for the auto. Next will be some quotes for replacing the headlining around the rear window (I'm hoping just that piece can be replaced and not the whole thing).
Tony & Ennio the 'diagnostic technicians' at Kingsway (who have done work for us in the past on both Gussie and Beryl) are drooling at the prospect of putting their heads under Zara's bonnet - Tony used to have a V8 himself once upon a time, so he knows from Daimlers. Once I get the crucial screw from Dad, I'll fit the second set of points then perhaps entrust her to them for a full tune-up with all their machines that go 'ping!', checking the dwell angle, timing, tune of the carbs, kick-down, etc. Fingers crossed we'll finally get the 'hesitation waltz' cured by the time we've done all that!
the left-hand exhaust is banging on the underside of the body somewhere when the car's idling. Need to get under there and see what's up - probably needs a new rubber washer of some sort. The exhausts are pretty rusty all over - I suspect I'll have some holes before too long. How much is a stainless steel system, I wonder? I think I'll be wondering for quite a while before I can afford it!
I'm still losing coolant. I know I could do with new top and bottom radiator hoses, and I'll have to take off the fan and alternator belts (both of which need replacing as well) when I fit the replacement tensioner, so I think now it's *really* time to flush the radiator and heater and check all hoses for leaks. I suspect, though, that I might have weepy plug on the engine block - when the car's been sitting in the garage for a few days there's a little puddle of coolant that seems to be coming down the left-hand side of the engine from somewhere under the exhaust manifold. Tricky to get to and messy (hence potentially expensive!) to fix, I fear.
when dad was poking around the other week, he noted that my spare tyre is a near-new Kumho and that I have three Kumhos and one Hankook on the road wheels, so I should probably put the spare with the Kumho on the back and use the Hankook as the spare ... but the spare wheel itself is the grottiest of the five, with chipped paint and some rust.
the brakes are pretty good but I noticed that the vacuum tank in the right-hand front wheel-well seems to have a pipe coming out and back in to it in a loop, so I suspect it might not be connected into the system at all. It's more than likely that the tank was leaky from rusting out, so that will also need to be replaced in the fullness of time.
I still haven't succeeding in completely quieting the buzz in the radio, despite replacing the suppressor on the back on the alternator, putting a noise filter in line with the radio's power supply and running a new earth wire from the radio body. It could well be that the stereo itself - a 70s Eurovox AM/FM/cassette player - has just had it. I had been thinking that I would buy an iPod and one of those FM transmitters and just use the existing radio for now, but more and more I'm thinking I should put the original Radiomobile back in the dash (working or not) and get a brand new stereo with a remote and put it under the passenger seat (or maybe in the glovebox - but I don't want to lose the storage space for 'stuff'). There are already two speakers in the front footwells, and they seem quite decent, so I'm sure they'll cope with a new CD player. The rear parcel shelf is so narrow I don't think even 5x7" oval speakers would fit there - where do other V8/Mk2s put rear speakers? I'd rather not put holes in the rear door linings ...
in the longer term, I will get some colour-matched seatbelts, hopefully with period-correct metal buckles (At the moment she has ugly black 70s ones in the front and none at all in the back).
winter nights seem like the perfect time to start on sanding back and revarnishing some of the simpler interior wood pieces - I'll start with the door tops, which are just like rulers. Even I can't mess those up!

Gussie's really gone now

2006-05-27T13:03:00.000+10:00

At the last minute, Kathy tried to wrestle the keys back from Bruce, but sadly we had to concede she was really going ...
Gussie's pert little bum disappears down St Georges Grove for the last time ...

Farewell Gussie!

2006-05-27T12:55:00.000+10:00

Today we bid farewell to Gussie the 1967 Hillman Gazelle, who has been Kathy's pride, joy, and bank-balance emptier for the past three years. We got up *hideously* early on a cold, foggy Saturday and topped her up with BP Ultimate for the last time ....
After 39 years, Gussie had to lose her original black and white Victorian number plates as she's moving to NSW. (My George V-inspired winter beard's coming along nicely ...)
The ghostly imprint of JSC-917 will be there forever!
Meet the Copes of Newcastle, Gussie's new custodians. Bruce (the beardy bloke who isn't me) already has a Sunbeam Rapier and an MGA, and they've been brave enough to own Citroen DSes in the past, so they passed Kathy's strict vetting. Assuming Bruce can bear to hand over the keys, Gussie will become the first car for their daughter Jess, who couldn't come on the great journey, as she's at home studying for her HSC.

Moorabin Air Museum wheels'n'wings display

2006-05-14T17:56:00.000+10:00

The Air Museum at Moorabin Airport - an institution I'd never heard of until last week - was having it's annual Wheels'n'Wings display the weekend dad was here. There were plenty of classy motors parked among among the planes.

But I think if I could have driven home in any car there (other than Dame Zara, of course!) then I would have picked this immaculate Aston Martin DB4GT.

2006-05-14T17:55:00.000+10:00

There were three Alta sports racers there.

2006-05-14T17:54:00.001+10:00

We've met this classy 30s Alvis tourer before (http://damezara.blogspot.com/2006/02/whats-collective-noun-for-alvises.html) and know that she's not a show pony - she can climb hills with the best of them.

2006-05-14T17:54:00.000+10:00

This Type 37 Bugatti was among the vehicles on display - and we know it got there under its own power, as we saw it's 83-year-old minder reversing it into position!

2006-05-14T17:53:00.000+10:00

Kathy and my dad look at a Bristol Beaufighter - one of many historic planes, both military and civilian, on display at the museum (website here:http://www.aarg.com.au/).

The Pater Familias comes to visit

2006-05-14T17:15:00.000+10:00

If I am Chip, then the gent known as Old Block came down from Canberry for a visit, just in time for his 65th birthday. Having recently sold the Bugeye he rebuilt from a box of bits, he has just bought a 1966 Jag s-type - 3.8, manual overdrive, white with a freshly (and expensively!) restored red interior: looks very tasty in the photos he bought with him.

We went out to JagDaim and he bought a few face-palingly expensive bits and bobs (a new grille badge, the brake reservoir top, etc.) and to Scott's Old Auto Rubbers, where he failed to find what he was after, but I spent an indulgent $10 on some grommets for the fuel filler flap and a few more 'cones' for the door and boot edges.

Friday night I took him to meet The Chaps at the Daimler Club, where Jack Edmonds gave us some more very useful advice on the points setup.

Saturday saw us ensconced in the garage (after a quick trip to the scenic Repco in Moonee Ponds to buy an impressively huge shifter to turn the engine), attempting to fit the new set of points and condenser I'd bought on my previous journey to JagDaim - fitting the condenser was easy, but it turns out I'm missing the mounting screw for the rear points, so I'm still running on one set until I find the right screw ('3/16" Whitworth,' quoth dad confidently, an assessment based solely on looking at the empty hole!).

I successfully fixed the front passenger door lock, which had stuck on me the other weekend, almost stranding my only ignition key in the process! The key was wrenched free with pliers, but I had to take the door lining off to get a look at the innards - was very simple to fix, and a good opportunity to scrape off a bit of surface rust around the drain holes and make sure the drains were clear. A quick spray of rust converter and a good go with the aromatic fish oil, and I put the buckled old door lining back on - one day I'll get new backing boards!

Fuel pump and regulator were tested and found to be AOK, pointing more and more toward points/ignition problems being behind the misfire problem.

Dad had found me an almost-authentic jack - he thinks it was originally from a Rover - and we put it to use jacking up the front so I could change the oil and filter. Once we had her nose in the air, we tested the front wheels and suspension for play and found that the left-hand front wheel bearing was rather loose and tightened that, and that the ball joints and rubbers generally seemed sound.

Oil and filter replaced - I even got the canister filter to seal first time (tip: if you get the Ryco filter, it has three different rubber seals included in the box: the thinnest one is the one to use).

We did discover that the brake fluid warning light doesn't work, but it just looks like poor connections - the switch itself works, and the feed is getting 12v ... similarly the heated rear window shows a sound circuit through the glass and voltage through the switch, so if it doesn't work next time we fog up, I'll declare that it was always crap and wouldn't have worked even when new!

2006-05-14T17:10:00.000+10:00

Here's my progenitor with a pressure gauge in hand, having checked that the fuel pump and pressure regulator do what they're supposed to do.

2006-05-14T17:08:00.000+10:00

Fresh Penrite oil and a new oil filter fitted - and no leaks!

2006-05-14T17:07:00.000+10:00

This rather dark photo doesn't do much justice to the original Smiths Radiomobile radio, which the previous owner found and sent to me - thanks Ros! If I ever do get around to fitting it, it will be largely for show - I think a hidden amp/iPod-based setup will be installed in the fullness of time ...

2006-05-14T17:05:00.000+10:00

Rusty air cleaners really let the engine bay down, so I must get around to repainting them soon. Daimler pedants will note the Bosch alternator instead of Lucas; but only the really keen-eyed will spot that the screenwash bottle is held on with a dog collar!

2006-04-26T22:15:00.000+10:00

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 ...

2006-04-26T21:52:00.000+10:00

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.

2006-04-21T12:48:00.000+10:00

'And there's even an ejector seat button!' Majestic Major owner David Waugh gives Dame Zara a once-over [pic: RB]

2006-04-21T12:44:00.000+10:00

Is this my good side? (and, no, I didn't drive down the bank behind, despite what looks like tyre tracks!) [these photos by Richard Bowen]

2006-04-21T12:41:00.000+10:00

Here's a very shiny Dame Zara in the dappled sunlight at Castlemaine during the Rally, next to the newest car there, a 1975 Double Six (V12) Sovereign coupe with a manual gearbox (perhaps the rarest of all XJ-based models?)

Take 45 Daimlers and 100 Daimlerites ... and send them to Bendigo

2006-04-19T19:44:00.000+10:00

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!

2006-04-19T19:43:00.000+10:00

'I *am* a laaadie!'

2006-04-19T19:40:00.000+10:00

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.

2006-04-19T19:36:00.000+10:00

The very models of modern Major-Gen ... oops, I mean some NSW Daimler bods doing their best Fu Manchu impersonations!

2006-04-19T19:34:00.000+10:00

More goings-on at the Chinese dinner: this is two-thirds of the rally organising team - (from left) Ian and Joyce Rowlandson; and Domenica and Keith Ashworth. The remaining third, John and Christina Spry, were no doubt running around taking photos!

2006-04-19T19:29:00.000+10:00

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 ...

2006-04-19T19:25:00.000+10:00

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!

2006-04-19T19:22:00.000+10:00

The Chinese dinner: yours truly was trying to convince people he was Chairman Mao. I'm looking rather more like Leonid Brezhnhev here as I chat with Jack Edmonds about jazz 78s and pesky fuel pumps ...

2006-04-19T19:19:00.000+10:00

One of the oldest Daimlers at the national rally; the most recent was a 1977 Sovereign V12 coupe ...

2006-04-19T19:17:00.000+10:00

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.)

new Rootes Group site

2006-04-13T10:14:00.000+10:00

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 ...

2006-04-09T18:05:00.000+10:00

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

2006-04-09T18:01:00.000+10:00

I emptied what was probably 35 years' worth of dust, cobwebs and dead moths out of the rear light unit and gave it all a good polish ... and got the boot light working again

2006-04-09T17:58:00.000+10:00

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)

2006-04-09T17:56:00.000+10:00

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 ...

2006-04-09T17:55:00.000+10:00

All this to get at one tiny little 3 watt bulb! And I still can't see how to undo the right-hand side mount for the instrument panel ...

2006-04-09T17:54:00.000+10:00

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!)

the 'to-do' list

2006-03-28T22:32:00.000+11:00

So, Dame Zara was bought as a 'usable' car, registered, roadworthy and a going concern.

Thus far, only five weeks in, we have covered over 1000 miles (1600 km), so there's not that much fundamentally wrong with her.

However, tonight I sat down and typed up a little 'to-do-list ... it's not so little!

the Dame Zara to-do list, as of late March 2006

Radiator/heater
• empty coolant and flush (use cleaning agent?)
• check all pipes and connections for splits/leaks (where is leak on LH side of engine?)
• chk thermostat (71 degrees?)
• use ‘water wetter’ or similar?
• add overflow bottle? If so need different cap
• remove heater and flush matrix (Coke?); chk heater valve and fix flaps/levers
• fix heater fan
• when re-mounting, chk that heater box is sealed on all surfaces

Electrical
• bulb for ‘ignition’ light
• bulb for boot light
• does rear screen demister work?
• chk self-cancel on indicators (works in one direction but not the other!)
• buy/fit radio suppressor: buy iPod and FM transmitter or get CD player?

Engine
• oil and filter change due
• buy/fit new points (and condenser?)
• chk all spark plugs and leads
• chk static timing
• tune carbies (idle speed about right now but dies on choke – too lean?)
• chk for oil leaks, any serious?
• cosmetics: clean and polish alloy parts; paint air cleaners, electrical box cover etc

Fuel system
• chk fuel pump (points, filter/s etc)
• new ‘doughnut’ mountings for fuel tank
• chk tank for leaks; does it have filter/trap to clean?
• does ‘low fuel’ light work?

Suspension/steering/brakes/underside
• chk front suspension for source of ‘clonks’
• chk all suspension bushes, ball joints, etc and replace where needed (rear should be OK - pretty much all new)
• RH exhaust rattles: new mounting needed?
• generally clean and chk for rust; underseal?
• remove and rust-proof/paint front valance
• chk brake vacuum reservoir for rust
• squeaky brakes: binding?

Body
• fit spat rubbers
• reglue/replace door rubbers
• clean up rear window seal and chk for leaks
• treat rust: spat, boot lid, under grille, RH side front bumper area—other rust?
• cut and polish paint; touch up chips
• buy and fit new window rubbers (incl quarters)
• try to improve front door fit, esp. RH
• lubricate/chk door locks (esp RH rear)

Interior
• try to fix speedo: needle and trip meter
• fit replacement headlight switch surround
• clean headlining, carpets and vinyl
• replace headlining around rear window
• fix rattly dashpad
• strip, polish and revarnish all woodwork
• repair/replace door linings
• seat belts: install rear belts; replace all belts with period/colour-matched?
• interior light lenses (x3?)
• fix/replace glovebox lock

Spares to find/carry
• points
• condenser
• HT leads
• spark plug/s
• oil filter
• alternator and water pump belts
• original jack (c/o Dad)
• other original tools & tool box

Other
• JDHT Heritage certificate
• any other paperwork/photos from previous owners, DLCV

blatting around the block ...

2006-03-27T16:54:00.000+11:00

I went up to Canberra last weekend to visit the Parental Units and the Sibling Unit, which was fun.

Pater Familias let me drive his 1959 'bugeye' Austin-Healey Sprite around the block, which was a hoot. It really is a rollerskate with a Mini engine! He has rebuilt it literally from a few boxes of bits into a great little car - not concours-perfect, but loads of fun.

The experience was made all the more fun by the fact that I haven't tried to drive a manual car - let alone one with no synchro on first - since about 1990.

For the record, I only stalled once, and that was at the top of a steep hill when I didn't quite co-ordinate brake, clutch, gearchange and accelerator ...

Meet the rest of the family ... part the second

2006-03-21T18:29:00.000+11:00

Gussie (below) has been Kathy's pride and joy for the last three years, and she is responsible for making my dormant, genetic old-car mania come into its current florid state.

It's a long story, but in short Kathy found Gussie after a long search (involving a Ford Zepyhr, a 'finnie' Mercedes, a Humber Vogue or two, an Austin 1800 and a few VWs, among others ...). Kathy has spent *a lot* of money on her in the last few years, and I've spent a lot of time fiddling; and we've had some great motoring adventures, including driving around Tassie, and over the Alpine Way to Canberra.

But now that Dame Zara has come along (and Beryl is nominally Kathy's car too), Gussie is very relucantly for sale.

So if you're a true enthusiast who is willing to take on a near-perfect example of a rare (if not spectacularly rarified) British car, get in touch ...

2006-03-21T18:28:00.000+11:00

Then there's Gussie. Gussie is a 1967 Hillman Gazelle, an Australian-only concoction consisting of a Series VI Hillman Minx body mated with the luxury interior of a Singer Gazelle and the 85hp 1725cc alloy-head engine from a Sunbeam Rapier.

2006-03-21T18:26:00.000+11:00

Beryl the Galant in dappled sunlight ... (which hides a few of the dings and lessens the funny panel gaps!)

Meet the rest of the family ...

2006-03-21T18:02:00.000+11:00

Despite the healthy mileage I've totted up in my first month of Daimler-ing, Dame Zara isn't really intended to be everyday transport.

Therefore, meet Beryl. Beryl is a 1975 Chrysler Valiant Galant hardtop coupe (what a mouthful!). She was made in Japan by Mitsubishi and was a limited-edition import in her day (in Japan she would have been known as a Mitsubishi Galant, in the US a Dodge Colt). We bought her for a very reasonable price last year from a dealer who had in turn bought her from the deceased estate of a nice granny called Beryl. Beryl (the granny) had only managed to rack up 52,000 kms in 30 years! So Beryl (the car) is in remarkably fine health for her age. Her body's not 100%, but after a bit of mechanical work (reco carby, new fuel pump, new front shocks, new alternator regulator ...) Beryl is a faithful daily driver ... if only we could get her to be a bit more sprightly on the acceleration ... she's rather sluggish, especially when cold.

Where the bloody hell is Toorourrong Reservoir?

2006-03-19T19:43:00.000+11:00

Well, we found out today, as Dame Zara had her boot filled with barbeque picnic supplies and we headed off for the exotic meeting place of Doncaster Shoppingtown carpark - just where you want to be a 9.45 on a sunny late-summer Sunday morning.

A party of close to a dozen Daimlers - mostly V8 saloons, but with one SP250 'Dart' sports car and two pre-Jag takeover 50s Conquest saloons added for variety - set off at 10 am for a gentle run through Melbourne's leafy outer northern suburbs and thence past Eltham, Diamond Creek and Hurstbridge as the houses thinned and we headed into hilly country on the way to Kinglake.

A bracing, upper-arm boosting climb followed, as I wrangled Dame Zara's 1500 or so kilos around many a hairpin bend as we climbed the range.

As we hit the top (the suicidal motorbike riders had gone off to terrorise other motorists) and swooshed through the sleepy little town of Kinglake, we were rewarded with a wonderful view over the thickly wooded hills before we zoomed down the far side - Dame Zara's brakes were well-tested as the convoy hurtled to a stop and took the near 180-degree turn-off to the reservoir.

With an attentive kookuburra looking on, anxious to pounce on any leftovers, we engaged in the great Aussie tradition of burning sausages, falling off camp chairs and, errr, perusing the spare parts catalogue of the NZ Daimler Club. Phwoar, rubbery bits!

Despite Toorourrong being one of Australia's premier platypus conservation sites, none of the mad little critters were to be seen today, despite Daimler Club stalwart Tony Dixon helpfully calling out 'puss, puss!' at every opportunity.

Oh, I must add that an investment of a whole $7.99 on a new 4lb radiator cap seems to have cured Dame Zara's embarrassing little problem with losing coolant (after pouring about $40 worth of the stuff onto the garage floor and various other surfaces over the past month ...).

In other quick fixes, nudging the idle speed up a hair has worked wonders - no stalling at the lights and even the 'clunk' of the auto is less (not gone, but better!). A rather hasty go with the caulking gun on the back window yesterday wasn't so successful - it'll keep the rain out, but it's a rather messy job.

2006-03-19T19:36:00.000+11:00

hmmm ... maybe we all parked a bit close to the hedge!

2006-03-19T19:34:00.000+11:00

Some of the DLCV BBQ crew at Toorourrong, with Kathy in the red t-shirt - if you look closely, you can see the kookaburra in the gum tree, waiting for scraps.

2006-03-19T19:32:00.000+11:00

An assortment of Daimler rears at Toorourrong Reservoir, north of Melbourne.

2006-03-15T20:27:00.000+11:00

Kathy behind the wheel on the way back from Bendigo with special guest passenger The Strunkster.

First month's report

2006-03-14T11:55:00.000+11:00

Well, I've had Dame Zara for just over a month now. In that time, I've racked up 900 miles - so much for 'occasional use only'! The most recent trips were to Lorne on the Great Ocean Road (for a work do) and to Bendigo (to see the Cecil Beaton and Charles Rennie Mackintosh exhibitions).

The only real problems we've identified so far are that she loses quite a bit of coolant on longer runs - which should be fixed with a new radiator cap &/or an overflow bottle - and what we're now calling the 'hesitation waltz'.

The 'hesitation waltz' is an odd one, and something I suspect might take quite a while to sort out. Basically, around town and at speeds up to 50mph/80kmh she runs fine. But on sustained highway runs at 60-70mph (100-110kmh), she will occasionally jerk and surge - the rev counter doesn't budge (it's at 3300-4000 at those sort of speeds) and the road speed hardly drops, but there's definitely something wrong. But whether it's fuel starvation, an electrical quirk or something else, I don't know. What I do know is that she's never come close to conking out during one of these episodes and that if you back off the accelerator for a moment and then floor it, after a bit of a hop and skip she comes good.

Fuel consumption on these longer trips is good, though - I estimate about 23 mpg for sustained 60mph runs (much less around town, of course!)

Speaking of conking out, though, I do need to nudge up the idle speed as she stalled three times over the weekend - once hot and coming to rest at traffic lights, the idle (at about 500rpm cold) drops to under 200 rpm and the oil pressure to pretty much zero. A quick fiddle to get the idle up to 500 rpm in gear when warm should sort her. I also need to replace the little tell-tale 'ignition' light in the corner of the speedo - as she's so quiet, it's hard to tell when she's stalled!

She's also in need of a service to the Borg Warner 35 auto 'box. A trip to Pringle Automotive in North Melbourne should sort out the jerky shift from 1st to 2nd in D1; the 'clunk' from top to 1st in D2; and her reluctance to kick down from the accelerator.

I had my first 'leave well enough alone' episode on Saturday - after cleaning her, I decided to try to tighten up the dash pad, which is a bit loose and rattly. Easy enough to get off, but once I saw how fiddly it would be to get both dash panels off, I decided to leave it for another day. When putting it back together and re-tightening the bolts that hold the pad on, I stupidly gave the left one 'one last hoick' to make sure it was tight - and the stud snapped clean off! At least it's invisible under there, so if my fix is somewhat unsightly, no-one will ever see it.