Thread: What have I done! IIa sitting out front.

Still waiting for the adapter, with the supplier not answering my emails

Bit peeved about that, but there is a bright side! I'm attacking some of those jobs you just stick on the back burner.

My passenger side footwell has a plate bolted over it, so I was presuming it covered up something nasty. So I pulled it off...
...and it was.
The upper part to the pan had a few holes where the rust had got through, but they were up behind the splash guard in the wing so you couldn't see them from the other side. my initial reaction was to cut out the section and re-weld a section in, then I looked at the back side of the plate that was covering the holes and I could see reside of many colours of paint. So this was a 'repair' of many moons standing, and whilst there were holes in the bulkhead there was no sign of rust. I attacked the area with a hammer and screwdriver and it was solid, so I rather than trying to fold myself in half cutting and welding in the footwell I decided to reinstate the 'repair'.
First thing was to pull out the floor and gearbox panels, degrease them, etch and hit with 2 coats of POR-15, then did the same with the footwells and under the wings, once that was dry, I refitted the 'repair' panel with a layer of Sikaflex marine in the area where the holes were in the foot well, and roughly bolted it in to position. Then working from under wing I added Sikaflex into the holes and made it good.
I could have used bondo but as its not showing, I like the fact that the Sikaflex is waterproof and flexible. And now the footwell has a double skin its most likely stronger than the original pressing.
I don't have a photo atm, but with a new coat of paint it looks pretty good.

Another thing I've decided to do is refurb my Zenith, and this is where I need your help.
I've bought a Zenith service kit and had a look at the list of contents and checked them against what was in the kit, and I've got way to many bits and they don't seem to tally with the parts diagram.

Parts listing. The circles and squares are the parts in the kit.

Parts diagram.

Parts corresponding to the listing and diagram.

Parts that seem not to correspond to anything in the diagram.

Some of these a pretty specific - the volume control screws must be depending on manufacture date or something, but the copper washer for example (I'm presuming it must go somewhere affected by fuel inside the carb)
Maybe it will all become self explanatory once I open it up, but does anyone have any ideas??

Nice bus. I love those late IIa's

G'day Ozdunc

In regards to those tie rod ends,yes,the Series 2/2a and from memory the Series 1's all have shouldered tie rod ends originally,the tie rods also have the thread countersunk back into the rod,the shoulder is where you place the clamp,BUT,the Series 3 models did away with the shoulder/ countersunk and went to a full thread rod and end,this then made the clamped surface as the peaks and hollows of the thread,and if worn would cause problems.


There is a possability that you vehicle could have a mixture, the 2a's had shouldered units,being a " suffix "G" vehicle it may have a fairly straight gear lever that should de-note a full synchro gearbox,but age will negate the synchro/baulk rings the more cranked gear levers were the standard earlier 2/2a units which were non-synchro on 1st & 2nd.

When tuning a 36IV Zenith carby the mixture needle is IN=weaker and OUT= Richer opposite to a early Holden Stromberg ! They also have a habit of warping at the air horn join from being over tightened,face up using fine wet & dry on a piece of glass,a louvre will do,float lever I'd critical 1/2 inch from top of float bowl face,adjust by bending float ears up or down to suit,but do it evenly,and the centre large "O" ring must be in good condition and seal correctly.


cheers

Thanks for the info on the rods and the tips on the carby Uncle Ho.

I've got the cranked gear lever so its definitely the older non syncro box

As promised here a few pics of my painting

Under the wing, you can see the splash guard had been already chopped for the original fix


The new plate, and the new paint job. It looks a little rough, but I wasn't after a pristine finish as its going to be covered with a mat, and the super shinyness should fade with time

I should probably paint the bellhousing cover and the ugly plate on the bulk head

Originally Posted by UncleHo

G'day Ozdunc

,BUT,the Series 3 models did away with the shoulder/ countersunk and went to a full thread rod and end,
cheers

Early S3's had the shouldered TRE; that is why it is so important for us all, to see what is actually on our cars before replacing them,

Cheers Charlie

Well its all change with Bill at the mo.
These forums are dangerous. I picked up this at the weekend



The current engine needs a rebuild, which I still intend to do, but getting the time and having the old boy off the road meant I was avoiding doing the necessary. Then the engine above came up for sale. It was just meant to be.

It should be a fairly simple swap as the engine came with all the ancillaries. I'll document the job as it goes along. I've never done an engine swap before, so feel free to stick an oar in if I appear to be getting it wrong (which is more than possible )

First thing was to remove the grill and disconnect the LHS side lights in the wing. First problem - no connectors. So I added some

I removed the bonnet - this is really easy to do alone IF you have no roof. Disconnect the bonnet stay, and remove the split pin from the hinge. Lean the bonnet against the windscreen, and go stand on the front seats. Grab either side of the bonnet and side it sideways, once out of the hinges its light enough to lift up and out of the way. I stuck mine in the tub on a bit of cardboard.

Remove the floor and gearbox covers.


Drain the coolant, disconnect the top and bottom hoses, then unbolt the front panel from the winds and front support, lifting it off with the rad still attached.



And thats pretty much where I'm at today.

The new engine came with an electronic dizzy.
Now my current Ducellier dizzy only seems to have 2 connections to the coil - the high tension lead and a thin wire (lo-tension?)from a +ve terminal on the coil. I'm presuming the dizzy grounds through connection to the block.

The new dizzy has 3 leads - hi-tension, a red wire (lo-tension?) and a black wire - do I just connect as before but run the black wire back to the -ve terminal on the coil?

There also a wire connected to the -ve spade on the coil at the moment. I've tried to trace it but it just disappears into the loom, any ideas what that might be?

Finally do I need a certain type of coil for electronic distributors?
Its got an Echlin GX80 atm, with 'No external resistor required' written on it

OK next question

Currently my brake servo gets its vacuum by plumbing into the inlet manifold just under the Zenith


The new engine is a series 3 donk and has a basic EGR system to catch blow by and its plumbed into the same port below the Zenith




Can I use the same port for both purposes, by adding a T-piece between the PCV and the inlet and connecting the servo pipe to it?