A friend of mine has been restoring one of these over the past few months. He's in his mid fifties, and one of his old work buddies (in his 70s) used to work on these cars when he was a young apprentice mechanic. Between the pair of them the engine has been restored to former glory, the bodywork restored and all the timber framing lovingly brought back to lustre.
I've watched from a distance as the project took shape, and have been really impressed with the quality of the workmanship and the pride that has gone into their work.
So you can imagine how shocked I was that they were having some serious problems with the electrics, and asked me to help.
I've recently got back from a day on the car. First fault indicators intermittently working, dodgy earth to relay unit. Full beams not working and full beam indicator on dash not working, miswiring rectified to the schematic in the Haynes.
Finally, and the really interesting bit was the rear indicators. They worked ok, but also came on when you pressed the foot brake. I checked and re-checked the schematic, and it was correct. The indicators were also the tail lights and the brake lights.
But at the back of the car was a seperate indicator unit, and seperate brake light / tail light unit.
It turns out the earlier travellers had all in one units, brake light/tail light/indicator. The arse end of this car was not original and had been sourced from ebay. So I deduced this logically by asking the right questions, and then suggested a modification to the wiring to operate the two units independantly.
My mate was sceptical, but when I pointed out I had been spot on so far, and he had asked me he should place his trust in me. So 30 minutes later, with the new cabling pulled through and the mods made to the relay unit we fired up the car and went through the lights checks.
IT ONLY FLIPPING WORKED.
What an adventure, and a priviledge to be a part of that restoration project in some small way.
And to help out a mate was fab to.
I've watched from a distance as the project took shape, and have been really impressed with the quality of the workmanship and the pride that has gone into their work.
So you can imagine how shocked I was that they were having some serious problems with the electrics, and asked me to help.
I've recently got back from a day on the car. First fault indicators intermittently working, dodgy earth to relay unit. Full beams not working and full beam indicator on dash not working, miswiring rectified to the schematic in the Haynes.
Finally, and the really interesting bit was the rear indicators. They worked ok, but also came on when you pressed the foot brake. I checked and re-checked the schematic, and it was correct. The indicators were also the tail lights and the brake lights.
But at the back of the car was a seperate indicator unit, and seperate brake light / tail light unit.
It turns out the earlier travellers had all in one units, brake light/tail light/indicator. The arse end of this car was not original and had been sourced from ebay. So I deduced this logically by asking the right questions, and then suggested a modification to the wiring to operate the two units independantly.
My mate was sceptical, but when I pointed out I had been spot on so far, and he had asked me he should place his trust in me. So 30 minutes later, with the new cabling pulled through and the mods made to the relay unit we fired up the car and went through the lights checks.
IT ONLY FLIPPING WORKED.
What an adventure, and a priviledge to be a part of that restoration project in some small way.
And to help out a mate was fab to.
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