Boot Edge Closing Strip Replacement

I'm not enjoying myself in the garage as much as I should and begun to realise that it's because there's a great big elephant sitting in the corner.... I've been spending time with my head under the bonnet, but what I think I'm really doing is avoiding the job of painting the back half of the chassis........ well, I've done something about that. I've fixed a new sealing channel to the back edge of the boot.

The channel has a double fold. On my Pallas car, the channel should hold a plastic finisher that covers the spot-welded area you can see in the photo. And then a foam seal in the boot lid closes against it.

The original channels are made of quite thin metal as the idea is that they are crimped closed.being thin metal made them easy to crimp together. Unfortunately these channels also trapped moisture and tend to rust away to nothing all too easily. Mine was like that - starting to rust at the ends. It had also been 'dinked' and bent when it was in the barn for many years. With no bumpers on the car, that channel sticks out proud of the back of the car.

I bought a replacement......

The replacement parts are made of thicker metal than the originals - requiring extra effort to crimp them closed. Also, the double fold is not folded enough. It's the same on the replacement channels for the sides and the top edge of the boot - the channel edges aren't folded enough.

And because they're made of thick metal it dissuades people from trying to bend the edges over. With the result that if you just fit the seals to the channels as they are, the seals simply lie flat  - or worse fold in - and their fringe edges don't seal.

The rubber strips need to be crimped in so that they stand up. Like on this old car.

I reasoned that if I tried to close the channel up after painting the chassis, I risked cracking all the paint off. For that reason, I invested considerable time in first closing the folds in a vice, and periodically testing that my plastic finishing strip could still be slid in. When I was happy with the shape, I primed the inside of the double fold as best I could.

On the back of the car, I used a wire wheel on a drill to reveal where the old spot welds were, on the old channel and then drilled them out.

Drilling out spot welds

All spot welds removed

With the aid of a hammer and pry bar I was able to chisel the old channel off without damaging the boot beneath.

There was some surface rust underneath the channel but nothing serious. It was really only the remains of the old metal I was removing. I used a wire wheel to remove the rust, ground down the remains of the spots and applied some rust killer.

Luckily, you can access the underside of the boot edge and, after spraying the contacting surfaces with weld-through primer, I attached the new channel with a spot welder.

As a last job, I thinned some red oxide primer and flooded the line where the channel joined the boot - hoping it wicked into any gaps. When it come to painting, i'll probably use seam sealer along there as well.

I've finally started to turn my attention to the chassis and plan to paint it now the weather is warmer. 

Drive Belts again!!

Okay. I confess. When I refitted the HP pump last week, I also changed the water pup/ alternator drive belts again! I was still finding the '983' belts I'd fitted last August too long so....... I bought a pair of 975s in the autumn. They are 'Gates Delta Narrow SPZ975s' and - at last - they are *just* right. But i've said that before.

I'd already tried several different sizes of belts, but hadn't really been happy with any of them. You can read about that HERE.

It took me ages to set this photo up

On my car, the 975s give adjustment room on the alternator bracing bar.......

.............and don't put the alternator too close the the engine.

Now, although they are clearly marked '975' these aren't the same length as the '10 x 975' belts you can buy. The reference number seems to relate to the 'datum' length. The belts I'm now using are 975s, but have an outside length of 988mm. They are 10 x 988s.

Saga of my drive belt lengths

For a 10 x 975 belt, the 'datum' length (and so part number) is '962'.

'10 x 975' belts are ''962s'..........

For most Ds I believe that 10 x 975 belts sold by the D parts people will be just fine. It's the larger size of the pulley on my alternator that makes them too tight on my car.

Radiator Update

You might remember that back in the autumn, having secured a replacement from my friend Peter, I had a go at fixing a *tiny* leak in my radiator, with fatal results.....Having worked on the HP pump and steering rack over the last month or so, I found myself back at the point where I could refit a radiator.

Just waiting for a radiator again.....

The obvious solution was just to fit Peter's radiator, but, having killed my radiator, I reasoned that I would then be without a spare if his also turned out to have so leak. Also, the tapped bolt holes on Peter's radiator are different to mine because it's from a later car. yes - the 5mm tappings are 0.8mm not 0.75mm pitch..... 

Spare radiator from Peter

So......instead I took Peter's along to be pressure-tested and did the 'walk-of-shame' back to my radiator shop with my dead radiator and confessed what I'd done. It was a costly lesson. Yes - the radiator leaked anyway but I ended up needing a full re-core when (If i hadn't tinkered) a simple, cheaper repair might have been possible. 

So within the week I was appropriately poorer, but had a lovely re-cored radiator. As such - and despite having an alternative radiator from Peter, I've just gone and refitted that same old radiator again!

Radiator back on. Again....

As it's been re-cored at least twice to my knowledge, I can't really call it my 'original' radiator, but at least it has the right sized screw threads.

Changing the Drive Head on 123 Electronic Ignition

I finally got fed up with the look of my 123 distributor and decided to do something about it. If you read my posts HERE, you'll know that - when fitted - the angle of the 123 distributor and cap was different to the old Ducellier and cap. It now pointed straight to the oil filler tower. 

Largely this was aesthetic but did cause some minor practical niggles. The solution seemed to be to to change the angle of the drive head on the bottom of the 123.

When the rotors of my Ducellier and the 123 were aligned side-by-side, I reckon there was about 15 to 20 degrees difference in head angle.

Difference in drive head angles - about 15 degrees?

I had considered drilling a new hole through the drive head.....

Difference in hole positions - Ducellier and 123 - about 45 degrees?

.......but the diameter that hole would need to be, meant that it would leave very little 'meat' on the head between old and new heads - possibly weakening the head.

I also considered a straight swap of heads between the Ducellier and the 123. Unfortunately the diameter of the shaft through the 123 is smaller than that of the shaft on the Ducellier.

Difference in internal diameter - Ducellier and 123

I could have fitted the Ducellier head just as it was and pinned it in place - but it would have been very wobbly and maybe prone to giving inconsistent timing or premature wear? or both? 

In the end I decided to shim the gap between the 123 shaft and the Ducellier drive head. The 123 shaft is about 10mm diameter and the Ducellier shaft is about 12.7mm, so i bought a short length of 12.7mm external diameter tube that is 1.2mm thick - meaning the internal diameter is just over 10mm. Luckily for me it fitted both parts a treat.

Ducellier drive head on a 123 shaft - plus shimming collar

I made the holes through my new shimming collar only as big as the pin that went through the head and the shaft. That way i didn't introduce any additional rotational free play.  in removing and refitting the drive head, i had to pay careful attention to ensure I refitted the head with the small and big halves of the head in the correct positions relative to the rotor arm. The beauty of this solution is that it's reversible - I can still swap back and use the 123 drive head if I want or need to.

I refitted it and went through the timing process again. Now the distributor cap points more towards the carburettor, but you can see that the catch for the distributor cap is clear of the water pump bolt. the HT lead between coil and cap is not stretched and the other HT leads seem more comfortable around the oil filler tower.

Old 123 distributor orientation

New 123 distributor orientation

What surprises me though - having re-used a foot from a Ducellier distributor - is that the 123 distributor isn't pointing to where the old Ducellier did. I think what this must mean, is that even though the difference in holes through the drive heads is, say, 45 degrees, there must also be a small difference in the angles of the holes through the distributor shafts of about 30 degrees...... The combination of the two (Ducellier Drive head on a 123 shaft) results in a net distributor position about 15 degrees more towards the carburettor than the original Ducellier position.

So - compared to that original Ducellier position - I can have my 123 pointing an extra 15 degrees in one direction OR about 15 degrees in the other direction...... but I can't easily have it pointing where the old Ducellier did. Changing drive heads alone is not good enough. Getting it *just* right means drilling a hole through a drive head, or through a shaft.....

On the 'plus' side though, the clip for the distributor cap is further away from the water pump stud.

I'm going to leave things be I think.

Steering Rack Repaint

 One of the other things I've been able to cross off my list now is a repaint of the steering rack!

Repainted and ready to go (again)

if you read my post HERE, you'll know that  - as I wasn't sure whether the rack needed replacing or not - I simply did an initial cosmetic tidy up. The idea was to save myself work or the cost of a replacement if it was fine and didn't leak. unfortunately, it didn't turn out 'simple' at all. I had a paint malfunction and the colour looked all wrong.

The steering rack colour looked far too bright

Well at last I've rectified that. Investigating the leak in my HP pump meant I was going to have to repaint it. And that meant i was going to have to break out the compressor and spray gun. That being so, I took the opportunity to repaint the steering rack (again) too. I had to go through exactly the same job i went through before. I had to remove the pipework, arms, gaiters and shields, de-grease everything and then key it up for new paint.

keyed-up and all ready to go.

I sprayed it up (again) over the bank holiday weekend.....

Drying......

.... and then re-assembled it (again).

Track rods and steering levers refitted

And it's now back on the car (again). 

A MUCH better colour match....

I'm FAR happier with the colour! 

HP Pump Leak - New 'O' Rings fitted

Over the last couple of months I've investigated - and hopefully solved - the leak from my HP pump.

With the radiator already off the car, I had better access to the bracing bars and hydraulic connections on and around the HP pump and so pulled it off. With the pump on the bench, I removed the pulley and this is what I found!

Not what I wanted to see!

It looks like the leak is coming from around the inner edges of the green closing cup rather than from around the shaft itself. Maybe like this?

Possible leak routes? (part numbers from catalogue 648)

Not sure what I mean? The deflector and its seal (part 37) fit on the shaft like this.

Deflector seal on the shaft

Deflector over the seal

And then there is a thin metal 'closing cup' (a dust cover?) over the deflector and bearing - but it doesn't fit around the circumference of the shaft. its centre hole is considerably larger than just the diameter of the shaft. Its job seems to be to keep dust and grit out of the bearing.

'Closing cup' over the deflector

The grease and hydraulic fluid seems to be oozing from under the closing cup edge - not from the shaft. So it looks to me as though the deflector seal (37) is doing its job but that the seal behind it (part 35) and the seal carrier it sits in, might be the culprit. 

Seal carrier and seal (labelled as 'part 35')

After some investigation, I'd bitten the bullet and over winter had bought expensive accurately sized seals (you can read about those HERE) and so set about stripping the pump. In fact I also stripped my spare pump - reasoning that if it was going to act as a spare, it might as well benefit from new seals. I could also use it as a point of reference to check my previous work. That other pump had broken mounting brackets - so I got a couple of secondhand ones from a D parts supplier. And another three-belt pulley.

I've rebuilt this pump before. I covered it HERE. Disassembly meant pressing the main pumping parts from the end plate and removing the bearing to access the seal carrier hidden behind.

End plate, bearing, spring, seal carrier and seal
(credit unknown)

I couldn't find anything obviously wrong. Yes - I'd fitted the seal carrier the right way up. And - yes again - it's surface was clean and flat to provide good contact to the bearing.

Surface looked good - no burrs

After cleaning everything, I very gently 'dressed' the surfaces of the carriers on some wet and dry paper and did the same with the inner part of the two bearings. I fitted my new, expensive seals to the carriers and fitted the carriers to the end plates.

When fitted in its recess, the seal carrier still popped out (as it had done on the first rebuild) due to the force of the spring behind it - but not nearly so readily as when I'd first rebuilt the pump. A tighter fit was an encouraging sign.

The consensus of opinion is that, as well as the rubber 'o' ring seal needing to do its job, pushed by the spring behind, the brass/ bronze seal carrier itself also has to fit flat to the bearing to create a metal-to-metal seal. As such the bearing and seal need to be flat to one another when fitted.

For that reason - and as before - I slowly and carefully pressed the bearing into the end plate. I used a large diameter socket so that I was pushing on the outer part of the bearing. And as before I stopped as I went and 're-adjusted' the position of the seal carrier from the pin-roller end to make sure it was correctly positioned.

Pressing the bearing into the end plate

This is the view from the pin roller end after the bearing was fitted. At the bottom of the hole you can just make out a sliver of the bronze/ brass seal carrier and the bearing right at the back.

Bearing and seal carrier in the end plate

Everything looked to be in place. Unfortunately pushing the shaft on the bearing from the pin roller end tends to push the bearing back out again(!) so that it needs to be re-seated. Eventually everything was back together.

As well as the special sized seals, I also bought two new replacement big seals for the cases. I'd recalled from when I first re-built my hydraulic pump that it was hard to press the large outer case back over the seals and onto the end plate. Based on a tip I'd tried using a leftover cardboard inner from a reel of duct tape, but it still moved around too much on the domed end when force was applied and wouldn't push the casing on squarely. To hold it steady, anything used to press the casing on needed to fit around the sides of the casing as well as the end dome.

This time I was ready! I bought some clear resin and took a mould of the end of the casing. I set the casing up so that it was level in my mould and about an inch or so deep in the resin - more than just covering the domed end.

Making a mould of the casing end

I left the resin to harden

New tool for fitting HP pump casings....

I used a block of wood to pad-out the shaft end and my new resin tool to press the casing on. The mould holds the casing steady and spreads pressure on it across a wider surface as it is pressed home.

Pressing the pump casing onto the pump

My mould worked really well and made quick work of refitting the covers. After that it was on to priming......

.....and painting

I'd already planned ahead and bought new tab washers for the pulley nuts. One of the pumps pump is back on the car and the other one is sitting on a shelf - just in case it's needed. Once I get the steering rack and radiator back on I can run the engine and find out....