59 RHD South African Queen

[JTR70]

Thanks Drew! This will be a helpful guide as I'll be doing the same thing here shortly on the coupster. Great job!
Justin

[Drew.s]

One other thing Justin.
Because the bucket is shallower the main cable conduit tube/horn bracket needs to be adjusted. I am going to move the hole in the battery box side forward so that it all lines up with the front fender bracket.
Will post dimensions and pictures soon.
Regards
Drew

[JTR70]

That's another good point Drew and I can definitely see the need for some forward adjustment to compensate for that difference. My project will be a bit more of a wildcard as I'm using a Trevor's nose panel, repro brackets and of course those buckets. Its more build-to-suit as you know because ultimately the end it just has to work and fit for your particular project. With the change you're talking about it might also be a good idea to mock up your original horn and pedestal assemblies (if you're running them) to ensure there remains clearance enough away from the nose after this change. You know how it goes, its a domino effect once you begin altering things.
Justin

[Jack Staggs]

Good point on those horns, Justin. They can be pretty close already.

[Drew.s]

Good points Justin and Jack, I will mock up the horns before I commit.

With the front end coming together I decided to work back along the wing to see what other horrors I could uncover...

The rear wing to door opening doesn't exist, it's just pop rivets and bondo sculpted to look like there's metal there.



So started hatching a plan to take the whole front off as I am going to have to replace the inner rear wings and get better access to the lower hinge area.



This is how it looked a couple of weeks ago, not pretty.
And here it is now...







The heater conduit has rusted through behind the door seal channel and will need replacing and of course the area behind the inner rear wing will need to be fabricated.
I have peeled the longitudinal away and to my surprise the heater tube is in really great condition, just missing the supports.



Before I go too far I am going to brace the structure, any thoughts on the best way to construct a rigid frame and where to weld it to?

Regards
Drew

[John Pierce]

Hi Drew,

You've got a coupe, which adds a lot of rigidity to the unibody. Look at the first part of Justin's blog, which shows how he braced his open body. When I took my longitudinal off I had my car in my rotisserie. I placed a brace across the door opening to hold it in correct location then added perpendicular braces to the rotisserie so things wouldn't move in the other plane.





HTH.

John

[JTR70]

Man, that is going side ways and deep in a hurry. I feel your pain Drew.

Here's my subframe once again. The plan was to have a structure that was square with the chassis so it could double as a point of reference. I also needed it to be able to stay in for the entire duration so it had to be out of the way for door fitment and open enough for pan install etc.

The car is close to being done and its still in there save for the rear section above the torsion housing. Most importantly the chassis shows no signs of twist after all its been through so its done everything that I've asked. The outrigger sections are the key there. A lot of ways to skin this cat so a combo of my design or Johns should do you fine.

[roy mawbey]

Drew,

That is some job you are doing there. But Justins forum with both his and now so many other great undertakings by our other forum friends must be (or will be) such a help on major undertakings like yours. Experience and the passing on of this, is priceless.

Watching your thread with much interest.

Roy

[Drew.s]

Hi guys here is an update on the 'African Queens' engine restoration.

This engine was running when I bought the car but as you can see it was cosmetically a mess so I took the carbs on holiday to Mallorca to give them a full rebuild.



I found the best way to clean the carb bodies was just straight lemon juice (and there are plenty of lemons in Spain).





Engine stripped of all it's tin-ware and cleaned.


Restored carbs and air filters re-installed


Fram oil filter top restored with new decal.

[Drew.s]

Next up was the fan shroud which needed stripping and a new rear intake screen fabricating.
I turned a wooden buck on the lathe and then pressed new wire mesh to the correct shape.



I cleaned up the original mesh holding ring and welded it back onto the fan shroud.
Thanks for watching.
Drew

[JOP]

Morning Drew,

You sure have been bizy over at your litle islands
So you are starting a 356 Mesh sale as well ?

I guess you need to pay for a extra bag or send a container with the banana boat so you have pleanty of parts to refurbish on Mallorca next time you come.

Looking really nice and that you are using ECO friendly and Swan marked products in your renovation.

Cheerio

[roy mawbey]

Nice effort there Drew, how on earth did a previous owner manage to get that mesh screen looking like that.Very inventive work and it looks perfect.

Roy

[Scott B]

Drew - great job. Nice time management doing work on the project while on vacation. I rarely have room for extra shoes let alone car parts - unless I'm buying and flying back with parts!!

[JTR70]

Sounds like you're having a very rough go of it Drew, but I am glad to see you're still making progress by working smart and not hard. The carbs turned out perfect. I've filed your procedure away for future reference, so thanks for sharing. Fantastic job on reproducing that intake screen too!

[Drew.s]

Thanks guys and happy new year.
The fan shroud finally got painted, so the engine can start coming together.





I have rebuilt the fuel pump, which turned out to be quite a project in itself as I had to turn a new brass seat on the lathe, I will try and post the full process if people are interested.

Once this engine is put to bed I can return to the bodywork on this RHD 59.

Regards
Drew