On removing the crank I found that the end bearing shell was marked with 0.030 which means that it's 30 thou over sized. What I don't know is whether the crank has been ground to match so more investigation needed. The pistons came out with a satisfying pop as they were withdrawn and the pistons and...

Back to the strip down... Having taken the crank, con rods and pistons out this morning, I returned to trying to get the cam shaft out. It turned out that the central bearing had seized in the block and was not sliding out. The tapping noise that I heard was the adjacent cam shaft lob pushing agains...

Hi Norman, thanks for the offer. I was wondering how I was going to do it without calling on your engine building knowledge. I'm really glad to hear that you recovered from the virus. Unfortunately, I know others who were not so lucky. I think that I would prefer to have more confidence that those w...

Next step was to take the cyliner head off. I'll come back to the condition of the head in another post. Interestingly, it seems to have new pistons and they have 0.060 written on them, so it's looking as though the engine has been rebored to +60 thou. Hopefully the staining on the tops of the pisto...

Next step was taking the oil pump cover off. Although you can see that the plate is polished where the gears turn, it's not worn and the gears look almost new. The main body of the pump was stuck to the block and took a bit of getting off. Maybe because there was not gasket. The gear shaft was very ...

Having finished the tub I have moved on to stripping and rebuilding the engine, so I though that I would start a thread and keep adding progress. No doubt there will be specialist things that I need to farm out, but I want to do as much as I can myself. By way of background, when I bought the car I ...

Old cars are always going to be one job after another. Just have a look at the routine servicing requirements. The mileage between some of the minor service items is such that if you took one on holiday you would probably have to plan in some servicing at the mid point! I still remember going campin...

I've finally finished the body tub. It will need to be flatted and any dings filled before final painting, but I have a lot to do before that. The tub is sprayed with 2K primer so it is preserved until I'm ready. As per my previous thread, some radical surgery was needed on the scuttle top to remove...

Hi Ray, there should also be rubber between the chassis mounting supports and the scuttle. The rubber kit that I bought had those pieces in, made from the same rubber strip as the scuttle to body strips. Sorry, I don't know about the toe board.

Yes, just a couple of tacks/pins hold it in place.

That's interesting Duncan. The edge of the tub that it mates against is defintely supposed to be straight, so it must be the rubber that is used to take up the difference. Looking at the rubber that I have, 3/16" (4.5mm) is right on the limit of what the rubber can be adjusted to without the trailin...

Thanks for all the replies guys - a good discussion that shows the value of this forum. Picking up the various points i) Duncan, the edge of my lower bonnet section is a straight edge, not a slight curve. I don't know if this is natural variation from the factory or an indication that someone else h...

Having mounted the radiator shell on my TC in recent days to align the bonnet fit (see my thread in the other section) I've found that my chrome radiator shell is not suitable. It has new chrome on it but had been badly restored by the previous owner (why on earth they spent presumably a lot of mone...

I've not fitted the rubber yet but I have made allowances for fitting it when measuring up. I've also manually held it in place to assess the gap required and I have put little spacers between the wood and the bonnet to simulate the thickness of the rubber. As you can see from my last picture, the b...

Hi Herman,

The answer to your question is that the wood does need to be cut to allow the rubber to sit flush. It's kind of hard to get a decent photo, but hopefully this one will give you an idea.

Hi Herman, Thanks for the measurements. Chris Blood also took some measurements for me and both you and he agree on the total length across the scuttle edge (43"). However, I notice that if you double the length of the edge of your upper bonnet, you get a number that is larger than this so does this...

Hi Herman, I have that fitting guide that you have copied for me, but thanks anyway. There are a couple of measurments that I would be grateful if you could take for me: i) The length of the rear edge of the upper bonnet pieces (i.e, where it meets the scuttle top). ii) the length of the front edge ...

Hi Steve, you are right, lowering the front of the bonnet would close the gap a bit. Before I start to mess with the height, could someone confirm whether or not the top of the bonnet should be horizontal if the chassis is also horizontal. As regards the line from the scuttle top, I think that my on...

Well, it was with the car when I bought it, but the previous owner bought it in bits and reassembled it to sell, so who knows? If they were cut to fit on the assembly line, I don't feel too bad about potentially having to do some welding to get the lower section to the right angle to match the tub, ...

So the new season of me trying to do a full restoration of my TC has commenced (progress is about as rapid as on 'The Curse of Oak Island'!). I'm at the stage where I have to trial fit the bonnet (hood) before fixing the scuttle top in place, so I have mounted the radiator and grill. In short, the b...