Thread: The restoration of Wombat

I was supposed to get stuck into things this arvo, but I haven't been well so all I did was stare with fear at the wiring under the bonnet and undo a couple of bits.

It's also too flamin' cold

Hi Crackers, I have just received my new wiring loom from Vintage Wring Harnesses (Vinwire) for my 997 Cooper, and it is very good, all wires labelled, correct braiding etc, good value. I now replace looms in my cars as the 500 - 600 dollar cost is good value given the age now on these cars. Also safer given frayed / brittle insulation, and more reliable as the copper wires do fatigue over time and can oxidize (green death).

Cheers

Thanks for that feedback. I wondered about labeling. I agree that replacing the old wiring needs little thought because, like I suspect you, I have suffered under old wiring. It's one variable you don't need.

Finished getting electrics and stuff out from under the bonnet. Was a little dismayed to discover that the wires to the rear run down inside the driver's side chassis rail. No biggie, I just tied a bit of light wire to the end of the loom, pulled it through and tied it off at each end - it's going to be a nuisance when cleaning and painting but it's only the chassis (doesn't need to be perfect) and at least I'll be able to get the new loom back down that rail.

The loom itself is a mess. Only a masochist (for real) would try to re-use it.

I priced high pressure cleaners. Karcher do one for about $150 - there's also one for $100 but I'd need to buy a $50 fitting that comes with the more expensive one. Not much by 'restore a vehicle standards' but I think the kids would prefer to eat this fortnight. However, I was digging around in the shed looking for (and failing to find) something else, when I came across a nozzle the screws onto a paint reservoir for my compressor - it basically replaces a cheap spray gun that came from somewhere (I've got a good one for painting). So with any luck, I've got a high pressure water gun. Sure, it'll only hold a couple of litres of water and will need refilling all the time, but if it works, I'll be able to clean her down with what I've got.

Yup, this restoration will be done along the lines of 'how much to do it properly, hmmm, how can I do it for nuffin'.

Actually, my MGB GT was done that way. I'd take a broken part into my MG shop. He'd look at it and say, 'that's had it'. Then he'd look at me and say 'I wonder what I can find out the back'. The front springs were a case in point - when I got them out, they were both different lengths. He led me out to a big box full of the things and told me to find two the same length - didn't charge me, just change over. Didn't get away with that for all things of course, but by cripes it made a difference.

But back to Wombat. I'll test out my compressor squirter tomorrow. If it works, I'll push Wombat out into the yard and give her a clean up. The lad's not here this weekend so I'll be doing it on my own - there's a good chance I won't get her back into the shed but he'll be home monday.

Now, what's on telebox?

Well, the squirter driven by my air compressor was a big fat flop - essentially, my air tank isn't big enough and the pressure drops off almost immediately. It's great for spray painting, just not for high pressure cleaning.

So I dropped in to Kennard's Hire. They'll hire me a high pressure cleaner ... for $90 a day Apparently it pushes through more water than the Karcher (same pressure) so it does the job more quickly, but for $150, I can have a unit in my shed to use whenever I need it as opposed to forking out $90 whenever I need it and being rushed.

And no, putting her on a trailer and dragging her to a car wash isn't going to work because I'd have to hire a car trailer and my little car doesn't have the towing capacity anyway.

The underside of the bodywork is going to need a lot of cleaning for which the high pressure cleaner will be ideal.

All I have to do is find some spare money. Wonder if the kids want to eat this week or if AGL want me to pay my electricity and gas bills?

Always worth a try.


I'm saving for a good drill press. It will happen. I'd love a good workshop kitted out with everything but have to chip away at what I need a bit at a time. I only ever hire if it is a one off.
cheers,
D

I don't like pressure washers for normal cleaning because they force water past seals. However, this is a whole 'nother exercise in getting rid of crud. Even just under the mudguards will need some heavy duty cleaning, and mine don't have a heavy build up at all, just lots of little, match head sized lumps of mud.

I haven't done much of note until today - bit of tinkering, poking, pondering the foolishness of the whole exercise.

The next big job is pressure cleaning the brute. Unfortunately, the engine head is loose (no studs either), the plate on the block covering the camshaft is missing altogether, the distributor cap is missing, etc. The more I play with this motor, the more engine parts I find missing or broken. This becomes relevant to cleaning because it means I'll fill the motor up with water if I'm not careful, so today we did 'the big wrap'.

The lad and I attacked the beast with weapons of mass dismantling to start with, removing the generator, fan, dizzy, fuel pump, then wrapped the motor with large plastic bags. Unfortunately, I couldn't just pull a stupidly heavy plastic bag over the engine and secure it... because you can't get bags big enough or heavy enough any more, so it was a case of cunningly using layers. We covered her up well, holding it all in place with a push bike tube used as a rubber band, then did it again. The tape you can see is only on the outer layer, holding the loose edges down and again, another bike tube as a rubber band. All openings into the engine are now covered and if I'm careful with how I handle the pressure cleaner, I should be right.

I'll find out in two weeks. Why two weeks? Because my son pranged an ankle playing football and I need his help to push her in and out of the shed.