Oh no, another Standard Ten

[eternaloptimist]

Here we go, start of a Standard Ten build thread.







What do we know so far?

It's a 1955 Standard Ten, 55,000 miles, probably genuine. A bit of work needed at the ends of the sills and in a couple of other areas, but generally, the shell is very sound and ihas not been messed with. The engine's the original - rebored and reshelled in 1992 and not run since, and not in the car as you can see from the nose up stance.

Owner no.1 was the archetypal little old lady; no.2 was her mechanic; no.3 kept the car in a garage for a long time not making much progress on a restoration; owner no.4 kept it in his garage for a year or so letting it rest; I'm owner no.5. I wrote to the addreses I had for owner no. 2 and 3; owner no.3 told me owner no.2 was once a member of Stirling Moss' pit crew in the 50's. No trace of owner no.2, might well be dead now.

Trailered it back to a lockup whilst I make space for it in the garage. Fortunately the car is only tiny, so it shouldn't be a problem to fit it in with all the other really useful stuff that's taking up space.

Plans?

Small crank Herald 1300 engine on Viva HA engine mounts - freshen up the engine with a Spit III head and cam and a single 45DCOE; Herald gearbox; Herald 4.11:1 diff and Herald discs on the front with Kunifer brake lines. Bought a spare front suspension clip which I'll use to mock up an ARB and a rack conversion. Might go dual circuit with a Spit dual circuit master cylinder. Wheels? I was going to use 4.5J steels (and still might) but picked up these



No idea what they are - my local wheel expert is 435 years old - he reckons they're some Chinese made pastiche of a Dunlop and Cosmic design.

[damien4884]

I did think there was something about Stirling moss in its history but couldn't remember what!

Can't wait to see some progress!

[eternaloptimist]

Hiya

Collecting bits at the moment; got an engine and box, diff, carb and inlet manifold, a load of crusty 4.5J rims, the alloys, Herald uprights, disc brake hubs, NOS Viva HA engine mounts, an NOS Viva HB rack, and this front suspension clip.



The bloke I bought it from had a bunch of other bits including a pair of pattern sills, all those bits have now been cleaned and sorted. And, wonder of wonders, I've found a Stanpart NOS outer sill. Sadly not a pair, but I can create a mirror image of the NOS one. Oh, and I've also picked up some original period sales leaflets including a leaflet for the Alexander Tuning conversion.



Still to get are a pair of calipers and the caliper brackets, maybe a Vitesse steering wheel. Top of the wish list though would be an original radio panel.

[anden]

nice looking base for a project,

take a look at my build thread, added pics of how ive approached fitting a rack to the subframe.

can probably help with some of the parts you may need to in due course.

[eternaloptimist]

Now with added front bumper and moustache. Fitted the moustache and the bumper to take photo's to support the application to retain the registration plate and get a V5c issued. It does irritate me a bit that I have to go through all this faff with the owners club and the DVLA when I've got a V5 for the car.



Unbolted the moustache after the pics and dropped it off at a localish electroplaters. It was one of 20 odd units at the back of a rather nice house not far away - the units look as though they'll fall over with one good gust of wind, but working in such squalid conditions must keep the overheads low. If they do OK with the moustache, I'll get the bumpers and overriders done.

Scored a new old stock offside outer sill....




.....which is getting a quick tickle with a grit blaster. Chances of finding one for the other side are slim to nil, but at least I can use this as a pattern.

[chrisdcapri]

Great looking project there fella. What are your plans for the bodywork - leaving it rat look or doing a nice shiny paint job? Those units sound like somewhere I know very well but I didn't know there was anyone down there doing electroplating.

[eternaloptimist]

I'm in two minds about the body. First priority is to get it welded where it needs it; won't take too much work. Then get the running gear sorted and tidy up the inside. I think I'll leave the paint as it is for the time being - I'll pop the wings and front panel off to get the inside surfaces sorted, and then leave it for a while. It will probably end up being repainted, but not anytime soon.

The electroplater is in unit 17 assuming the Thames stays at its current level. If it doesn't, he might still be in unit 17, but the units might all be in Pangbourne.

[triumphandy1]

Great looking project.  Could the wheels be these?
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOTUS-EUROPA-TWIN-CAM-WHEEL-/171247235228?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27df21709c#ht_25wt_1190
Lotus europa's had 95.25 pcd same as standards and triumph's.

[retrolegends]

Looking forward to updates on this, it looks like you know exactly where you intend going with it.
Best of luck.

[eternaloptimist]

Feb 22, 2014 20:22:39 GMT triumphandy1 said:

Great looking project.  Could the wheels be these?
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/LOTUS-EUROPA-TWIN-CAM-WHEEL-/171247235228?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27df21709c#ht_25wt_1190
Lotus europa's had 95.25 pcd same as standards and triumph's.

Spot on - that's the same as mine - great find!

[eternaloptimist]

Feb 22, 2014 20:30:50 GMT retrolegends said:

Looking forward to updates on this, it looks like you know exactly where you intend going with it.
Best of luck.

Thanks - really looking forward to getting started on it. Spending my time gathering stuff I need before I start picking it to bits.

[nmretro]

Another cool car we never see in the States. I voted for Steelies, more period looking.

[Oldbus]

Just caught up with this.
Nice project Nigel, looking forward to seeing you bringing it back to life.

[eternaloptimist]

Feb 23, 2014 15:41:13 GMT nmretro said:

Another cool car we never see in the States. I voted for Steelies, more period looking.

They were exported to the US - badged as the Triumph Ten. No idea how many were sold. Know what you mean about Steels. Doesn't help that I just bought a set of Appliance slot mags...

[eternaloptimist]

Feb 23, 2014 15:52:19 GMT Oldbus said:

Just caught up with this.
Nice project Nigel, looking forward to seeing you bringing it back to life.

Cheers Dave. Looking forward to getting cracking with it. Nice to be working on something where the bits are a bit trickier to get hold of than a VW!

[eternaloptimist]

Update time.

Went to the Triumph/MG spares day at Stoneleigh on March 2nd.

This Vanguard estate really caught my eye.




Picked up a few bits I needed - discs, pads, wiper blades to go with a few eBay scores including Herald drum uprights - disc hubs - seen below mid clean up - Freelander M12 studs to replace the weedy 3/8 UNF studs - new wheel bearings - and recently reconditioned calipers. That should make it stop better...





The week after, I took the Splitty to a local show to browse the autojumble - not rich much to be had to be honest. But an opportunity for a pic nonetheless.



Somewhat remarkably, I've found another NOS sill....that will make the jobh much easier.

[v8ian]

Another Standard Estate HotRod for your delectation ........

[Mike]

Looks like a great project, I really like the alloys you've got. Here's a shonky photoshop of them on the car:

[eternaloptimist]

A little progress today. Aided greatly by a bargain eBay purchase.



Which made short work of pressing in the bearings and new studs into the repainted hubs.




Bought the wrong backplates (foolish boy) which will have to go back for the correct ones. That stopped any more play.

Until the next update, enjoy a gratuitous photo of the carb and manifold that will be going on the ex-Herald engine.

[eternaloptimist]

It's been a while since I updated this....some progress, not much to be honest.

Stripped the Herald engine and found a good deal of ugliness - piston no 1 had partly seized, broken a ring. It made a bit if a mess of the bore.

Off to the reconditioners for a rebore and crank regrind. Clean up the block and the head, new bearings, pistons and rings, new ring gear and then balance up the crank, pulley, flywheel and clutch cover.



Ordered a few bits for the engine from Jigsaw Racing - a fast road cam, new cam followers and a duplex timing chain, sprockets and tensioners. Oh, and a 4/2/1 secondhand stainless steel manifold.

Got the moustache back after chroming - very happy with it.


So much so, that I took the best of the bumpers I've got and the overriders for chroming as well


I blasted the irons, they're now powder coated black, all ready for reassembly and storage in the garage loft until I need them again.

The standard facia always looked like there was something missing on the right of the speedo....


What's this in here? I love NOS boxes.



Why not do this?

(Pesky camera phone autofocus, but you get the idea)

Put a combined oil pressure and water temp gauge in that - cut a hole in the ribbed section, use the bottom section for accessory switches - almost factory.


On this side, maybe a clock to balance up the oil/water gauge on the other side of the speedo? Fit a factory radio panel if I can find one.


Oh, and swap the regular steering wheel for this.


And swap the rusty indicator stalk for this....


And put at least one if these in to reduce the chances of letting the smoke out of the wires.


Couldn't resist this for the new tax disc...


...or a pair of P700 replicas and an alloy rocker cover.