Austin 1970 pickup from Guatemala

[GBond]

For originality's sake I heated up the place with the acetylene torch and brought out the hammer again.[frame][/frame]Doesn't look exactly like it did but it'll do the job. (I measured against another sump and it's really really close)

I blasted the rocker cover.[frame][/frame]
Ready for primer.[frame][/frame]
All primered up![frame][/frame]That paint dripping of course was on purpose to add authenticity. (the actual original paint was even worse!)

Tomorrow I'll do some sanding and finally paint green.

Right now I remembered I forgot the chain cover so I'm guessing that'll be tomorrow as well; the block and head will just get a good cleaning and then painted with a brush but probably until after fitting the new valve guides and bearings.

[les]

Paint runs, original-----yes I'll have to remember that one!!!

[GBond]

Timing chain cover, this is the last day for the original paint runs.[frame][/frame]
And now all primered up! I'll probably add the runs when I'm painting the color.[frame][/frame]The parts in the back are something my dad's working on, 1,000 internet points to whoever guesses correctly what it is. (Hint: It's British)

And I'm off to ESM's website, I had to wait to have more balance on my credit card. Mr David Manners and them have been taking all my money lately but it's all going to be worth it once I get the pickup going.

[GBond]

I received my membership package from the LCV Register today; Brian was kind enough to send me several issues of the Minor Commercial magazine which will come in very handy since I've just caught a very bad flu.

Still, I managed to assemble the steering column today. First I put everything together off the car without tightening.[frame][/frame]That's a reproduction switch under the cowl I fixed, it doesn't have screws in the terminals like the original did but other than that it looks pretty good. I think my dad bought it from Moss a few years ago so I'll give him the one I ordered from David Manners when it arrives.

And everything assembled inside the car, I had triple checked that the return mechanism for the indicators worked but it seems to have gone out of alignment when I fitted it into the car.[frame][/frame](And yes, it's in the correct side.)

[DaisyMayFozz]

](And yes, it's in the correct side.)

No its not

Looking Good!

[GBond]

Haven't posted in a while, I spent the weekend out but progress hasn't stopped. The parts for the engine rebuild along with quite a few other spares should be on their way now and hopefully will get me up to the point where the engine goes into the car.

Thankfully the fact that the car is LHD doesn't change much parts-wise but I do have my doubts regarding the exhaust. When bought, the pick-up had a straight exhaust like the saloon's and as far as I can tell it's the original one. I've been investigating and the cross through exhaust was home market only but I haven't found much information on LHD pick-ups. I'd like to go for a stainless steel exhaust but I don't know which one to get or if the saloon's will fit or interfere with the chassis.

I managed to get the return mechanism for the indicators working, wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, just had to line up the round screw on the steering column with the little pegs on the indicator mechanism and it's working like a charm now although it doesn't look very robust so I'll have to remember to treat it gently.

The picture is of the bracket that holds the steering column to the dash; I've seen in diagrams there's supposed to be a metal plate reinforcement between the screws with the arrows but my car didn't have it and the screws are not long enough to have that and locknuts. I'll probably just fit longer screws but I'd like to know how it was originally assembled.[frame][/frame]
That's it for the moment, I promise the next posts will be less boring.

[jaekl]

The exhaust on LHD trucks exited on the left side in front of the rear wheel. In the parts book the RHD tailpipe has a joint in the middle, which leads me to think that the same front half of the tailpipe is used for both RHD and LHD and is just rotated. Just the same the tailpipe should go straight back and then turn outward at maybe 30° shortly past the hanger.

[GBond]

Thanks for that info jaekl, do you happen to know of any supplier that has them available in stainless steel preferrably in the US? Don't know how much it'll actually cost to ship it but I want to explore that option since I'm not so keen of having it made here.

Anyways the engine covers are all painted now.[frame][/frame]They came out great, some paint runs on the oil sump and the timing chain cover but the rocker cover came out perfect!

I had already painted the two side covers, the starter and the dynamo before so there's only the block and head remaining but that's after the rebuild.

Started with one of the seats today, the original straps were completely gone.[frame][/frame]
But I managed to recover the clips.[frame][/frame]
Had a big roll of really nice elastic material.[frame][/frame]
And there it is! One seat done, another to go.[frame][/frame](Are you done yet?)

The rest of the work will be done by a profesional upholsterer along with the new door pulls and the covers for the tailgate chains; after that I'd only be missing the carpet. I'm thinking of splurging for one from Newton Commercial but that'll have to wait at least a couple of months.

As for other work to do while the engine parts come I'm going to try and restore the glove boxes.[frame][/frame]
I'll try to straighten them by getting them moist and then placing some weights in them and then get some flocking fibers to leave them nice and fuzzy on the inside. (Hopefully the man in customs doesn't get the wrong idea.)

[MarkyB]

I would suggest you double up the strap above the bottom one on the backs of your seats.
This shouldn't affect the look of them but will give better lumber support to your back when you use them.

[GBond]

Thanks for the idea MarkyB; I might do that as well with some of the bottom ones to get a firmer seat.

Please keep those ideas and suggestions coming!

[GBond]

No pictures today, but a couple of small victories nonetheless.

I moistened one of the glove boxes and using some weights I'm managing to straighten it pretty well, I'll take a picture tomorrow to post.

Fitted the interior light today and checked the wiring (It's still the original loom but it was cleaned and reinstalled by a man who works for my father who is very good with wires.) Only thing not working is the little green light on the indicator stalk and it appears it's the relay (original too) that's not sending current to it. Otherwise the indicators work perfectly.

When fitting the interior light I tried putting a piece of cardboard with duct tape to reflect the light better and protect the headliner from the heat of the bulb. This, however, shorted the lamp so I blew a fuse. (I'll put it the other way round.) When I went to change it to my surprise there was still an original Lucas fuse with the little paper inside the fusebox!

[GBond]

Recent progress; the seats are with the upholsterer, it's not a rush job so it'll probably be a couple of weeks at least before I get more news about them.

I disassembled and sandblasted the parcel tray bar, I'll have to make a new tray since the one in the car was missing.[frame][/frame]
This is the original interior light which for some reason began to disintegrate on its own.[frame][/frame]My dad said he can fix it but I doubt it so I bought a reproduction one made in Sri Lanka.

It's missing the "WINGARD" branding and the lens and switch could be better quality but once installed it looks OK.[frame][/frame]
On.[frame][/frame]
I managed to straighten the first of the two gloveboxes, trial-fitted it and it's not looking bad at all.[frame][/frame]I still have no idea how it's fixed in place though, I know there are a couple of clips with screws on the bottom but there are no holes on the top part of the glovebox though there are in the metal so I don't know if there's supposed to be something there. Also there are a few other holes in the glovebox that I'm guessing are for more screws but I'm still unsure where those go.

On the top of the right hand side glovebox hole there's a rubber strip on the inside to help hold the glovebox in place (I think).[frame][/frame]
It's not there on the other side.[frame][/frame]
More on the glovebox repairs, there were some holes and tears on some of the corners which are going to be fixed with some carpenter's glue.[frame][/frame]
And reinforced with cardboard.[frame][/frame]
The spare parts for the engine are in Madrid now so I should get them by the end of the week. I can't wait to get the engine in the car again after so long!

[MarkyB]

They are held by spire nuts on the edges of the boxes over the holes.[frame][/frame]

I suggest you make some effort to waterproof the tops of the boxes as water often finds it's way though the hinge holes or wipers and damages them in the way yours were.

A few strips of gaffa tape might be enough.

When I've fitted them I put them in carrier bags then trimmed off any bag that showed at the edges.

[jagnut66]

Keep going, you're doing well!
Best wishes,
Mike.

[jaekl]

Along with the screws that would also hold the doors onto the glove boxes, there should be a 'Z' shaped bracket with about a one inch rise that supports the back of the box. I believe the box was also riveted to this bracket so you should find the old hole.

[GBond]

Thanks MarkyB, thanks Mike, thanks jaekl!

I can see the gloveboxes have four small holes on the bottom edge of which I think only two are used to keep it in place.

I also found the small hole in the rear of the glovebox so I'll search in my parts for the "Z" shaped brackets or find a way to make them.

Can't find any holes in the upper edge of the glovebox though, maybe it didn't have anything there but I'll fit some clips and screws if I can.

About the waterproofing, I still have some POR-15 lying around so I was thinking of painting the outside of the gloveboxes with it to protect them. Did the same with the door cards and the front scuttle panels and it seems to have sealed them pretty good. I hadn't figured out why they were so damaged but your explanation makes a lot of sense.

[GBond]

My parts finally arrived!!![frame][/frame]I sent the engine over to the machine shop with the rest of the parts so that's why the box looks so empty but before the end of August there should be an engine in the pick-up for the first time in many years.

Meanwhile, more glovebox repairs. Applying basecoat.[frame][/frame]
Inside[frame][/frame]
And out[frame][/frame]
Dried up really hard and the trial-fitting went well.[frame][/frame]
I'm repairing the left hand glovebox now, and I'll apply the final color to both and maybe even some POR-15 on the outside to make them last forever.[frame][/frame]
More details, I installed the fuel filler tube.[frame][/frame]I'm guessing the rubber goes on the other side but I'm thinking of leaving it like this since I think it seals better this way (not that it's very relevant, as the other side is open to the elements as well), and also covers up the ugly welds in the tube and doesn't look that out of place once the cap is on.

About the rust on the inside, I'll take any suggestions. I tried zinc plating the tube and it's fine on the outside but there's still some surface rust forming on the inside. I hope once in use the fuel will somehow stop this from continuing.

And I also fitted the cover. I know there's supposed to be a rubber seal between the floor and body but I can't figure out how to get it in there.[frame][/frame]
Long post today, I found a starter motor with some old MG TD spares my dad had lying around so I'll be using the spares I'm missing from it.[frame][/frame]MG TD parts on a Morris!

[GBond]

Gloveboxes are finally done![frame][/frame]That's the POR-15 drying so they will be basically waterproof (and maybe even bulletproof).

It's a far cry from how they were originally.[frame][/frame]
I used some as well on the back of the door cards to make them bulletproof.[frame][/frame]
The story behind it is a friend of my dad's bought quite a lot for an Austin Healey he restored, but with the high humidity here they had a lot of problems applying it and some of the cans even hardened before being opened. The product has a limited shelf life and for the parts I'm using it in the surface finish isn't really that important so that worked out perfect for me.

This is me and my dad's friend on the very first test of the Healey.[frame][/frame](The grille looks just like my pick-up's!)

Other recent work on the pick-up has been painting green the last parts that weren't painted, installing the bulkhead sound deadening and all the rubber grommets and tidying up the engine bay to recieve the engine.

Unresolved problems for now are the driver's door that keeps locking itself, getting correct size tires and figuring out which screws go where. If anyone has any idea on the door locking problem or on why my flashers work perfectly but the green bulb on the lever does not (bulb and connections all the way to the flasher tested OK) I appreciate the help. Tips and suggestions are also always welcome.

Have a fun sunday everyone!

[GBond]

Haven't had much progress these last couple of weeks since I was out on holiday.

However my rear lamps finally arrived:[frame][/frame]Bought them from a small U.S. supplier, the single contact lamps are excellent quality but the double contact ones don't look too great although they work.

The glass and chrome rings I bought used not to save money but to get better quality.

The original sound deadening was in remarkably good shape so I'm just going to glue the broken part together again and refit it. If the car is too noisy that just means I won't need a stereo.[frame][/frame]

[GBond]

Good progress today, first the upholsterer came by bearing gifts.[frame][/frame]
So I finally got the covers for the tailgate chains. He did a pretty good job copying the originals down to the way the stitching was made.[frame][/frame]
The time came to clean up the interior.[frame][/frame]EDIT: By the way, does anyone know what is the correct route for the dipper switch wiring? The tourer has a hole and it comes through the bulkhead but here on the pick-up I suppose there should be at least something holding the wires so they don't interfere with the pedals.

Glued some rubber insulating strips to keep the water out.[frame][/frame]
And finally trial fitted the gearbox cover and seats.[frame][/frame]
The upholsterer did a really great job with the seats as well, they look great and feel firm and supportive.[frame][/frame]As a curious note, I'd never sat inside the car before! I was surprised by how small it feels having the rear window right behind my head and also by how much echo there is inside the car. I'm guessing the echo will be less once the door cards and carpets are installed but still it's definitely going to be some interesting motoring.