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Sept 19, 2015 6:55:51 GMT
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Looking at the bare rolling chassis it's barmy to think that those were supposed to be four seater cars. I mean it's barely big enough for one person. How small were people in the 1920s? Good job by the way. Have a look at some of the WW1 uniforms in museums for an idea. The men were actually around 5ft tall. You're talking about the back end of the industrial age and unsanitary smog filled cities with not enough vegetables. Country folk were alright of course. I know of a museum organised event where the uniforms of past ages were brought out and worn - the early 20th century stuff was worn by 12/13 year old girls because no man would fit into them. 18th/19th century stuff was all normal size. It'd be possible to recore them, but it is properly expensive to have a honeycomb core, It used to be - our last one was £330 and had to be sent to Belgium, but I've just had one done a few weeks ago for £154 all in. I need my A7 rad recored, where did you get it done for 154?
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MK4 Ford Escort XR3i - Standard MK6 Ford Escort GTi - Track Car
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Sept 19, 2015 9:15:00 GMT
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As a species we are getting taller. At least in my family the men of each succeding generation are a bit taller than their fathers.
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Sept 22, 2015 10:48:35 GMT
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Have a look at some of the WW1 uniforms in museums for an idea. The men were actually around 5ft tall. You're talking about the back end of the industrial age and unsanitary smog filled cities with not enough vegetables. Country folk were alright of course. I know of a museum organised event where the uniforms of past ages were brought out and worn - the early 20th century stuff was worn by 12/13 year old girls because no man would fit into them. 18th/19th century stuff was all normal size. It used to be - our last one was £330 and had to be sent to Belgium, but I've just had one done a few weeks ago for £154 all in. I need my A7 rad recored, where did you get it done for 154? Local place near me in N. Ireland. As a species we are getting taller. At least in my family the men of each succeding generation are a bit taller than their fathers. This is fallacy. We are merely returning to our proper height since the industrial revolution stymied us. Minimum entry height for some British regiments in the 1600s was 5'10". Some of the Roman regiments 2000 years ago recorded an average height among their ranks of 6'.
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Sept 22, 2015 12:10:28 GMT
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Interesting project, keep us updated! I like the look of the half timber, half stone outbuilding its in as well.
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Sept 23, 2015 1:00:35 GMT
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As a species we are getting taller. At least in my family the men of each succeding generation are a bit taller than their fathers. This is fallacy. We are merely returning to our proper height since the industrial revolution stymied us. Minimum entry height for some British regiments in the 1600s was 5'10". Some of the Roman regiments 2000 years ago recorded an average height among their ranks of 6'.
I suspect you are right. I only have evidence from my great grandfather to my eldest son. This covers most of the period from the industrial revolution to today.
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Sept 26, 2015 13:45:12 GMT
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Unfortunately while I was doing the test runs I uncovered something amiss with the rear axle. I'm hoping it's simply one of the halfshafts as I always knew that one of them was past its best, and I have dug up a spare in reasonable condition. The car is now back to looking like this: It seems like quite a big step backwards, but the car can be put back together fairly quickly and I want to get things right while they are accessible
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Small update here, not made much progress lately due to a new job and unexpected engine/rear axle rebuild on one of the other Austin's. Closer inspection revealed that the knocking from the rear axle was simply due to one of the hubs coming loose - fortunately fairly straight forward to put right. It's currently looking like this: Not the most inspiring picture, but it should be going back together relatively rapidly now...
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foldy
Part of things
Posts: 710
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Just seen this thread. Now bookmarked
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Jan 10, 2016 12:57:35 GMT
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This is properly cool. But...how are you going to band those wire wheels?
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Jan 10, 2016 21:48:57 GMT
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I've been having a good look at the radiator situation, and I will definitely be going for a recore. The core I currently have is too short for the radiator surround as it is from a slightly earlier model like so: When I have the new core put in I'll just get them to add an extra inch which should be straightforward for them to do. I've given the steering wheel a few coats of varnish, and it now looks much better and not too new!
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Last Edit: Jan 10, 2016 21:49:31 GMT by rupertw
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Finally a bit of progress on this: I've had the radiator re-cored: I went for a modern re-core in the end as it was by far the more economic option - the plan is to use a dummy honeycomb, although I don't think it looks too bad as is. It still doesn't fit the shell perfectly although if I use the dummy grill the header and footer won't show as much: I did a trial fit, and although there is quite a lot of fettling to do it is not far off at all: Meanwhile I've redone the steering box and it's a huge amount better so that's another big step closer to making it drivable. Unfortunately I left some water in the engine over the winter, I didn't think to check as it didn't have the radiator attached. It's popped a core plug out of the head, and hopefully its not done any further damage, but I won't really know until I've put the engine through a few heat cycles:
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A bit more progress made - had it running again, started easily enough and ran up to temperature with no obvious issues, so it looks like I may have been lucky with the frost damage, although time will tell. It's mechanically mostly together now, I've got a few little bits of the transmission to finish properly, but then it'll be time for the body to go back on again!
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These are great, even more basic than my old sit up and beg ford.
I have a serious hankering for a c cab van, would end up pretty far from stock though.
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do the springs go inside the chassis rails and therefore cantilever ?
p.s do they have a rear diff or a freewheel system ??
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The springs do go inside the chassis rails so do effectively cantilever, they've got a proper diff as well. They're remarkably conventional for such a 'cheap' car from that age. The alternative cars you'd be looking at for the same price back then would be unlikely to have such luxuries as front brakes and differentials!
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tzeph6
Part of things
Posts: 211
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This is great , top work.
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Last Edit: Apr 9, 2016 17:08:21 GMT by rupertw
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Great to see this going back together, proper bit of vintage kit. That farm looks awesome too, bet its got some age to it, out of interest how old are the oldest bits?
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Apr 10, 2016 20:36:26 GMT
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Off the top of my head I think that the oldest buildings are getting on for 300 or so years! We still have various ancient Lister engines in 'daily' working use, you can see one of them powering the small sawbench in the last picture.
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Apr 11, 2016 18:53:53 GMT
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Spent a bit more time trying to get the dashboard to fit. Unsurprisingly it doesn't fit very well at all as it is too wide: And also fouls the steering column: It's nearly fitting now, and a little bit more fettling will see it in place properly. I should be able to get the petrol tank in place as well once it is in as the rear of the fuel tank attached to the dashboard. Meanwhile, there's plenty of rotten wood to replace: It looks like someone has fitted an external hinge in the past, probably due to the wood where the internal hinge would attach to being rotten away. Hopefully a bit of filler should sort it!:
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