That Peerless is lovely.
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It is time for an update, finally. Unusually for me, there aren't many pictures because we just got stuck into the job and I kinda forgot about the camera being there.
Today being my first bit of time off after starting the new job (yay, new job that pays cash money!) I thought it would be daft not to crack on with a job we have the parts to sort out. Since buying the car, the steering has been somewhat vague, particularly when it comes to going from a straight line to a bent line. I'd been led to believe that this was normal, but after today I think that was probably lies/misunderstanding of the actual problem described. Again, I'm amazed this car had an MoT, every serious problem I encounter has me shocked that someone deemed this car roadworthy mechanically.
So, anyway, the job itself... Track Rod Ends. I'd managed to score the parts just before starting my new job a week ago but hadn't had time to do anything more about it. We'd discovered during pre-MoT checks that there was a good 1 1/2" to 2" play in the front wheels which, coupled with the wandering habit on the motorway and general vagueness of steering at anything other than serious lock, led us to find that the track rod ends were, in actual fact, completely shagged.
First thing was to get them off, especially since we also had to fit a new steering gaiter rubber to the passenger side having already done the driver's side. All of the nuts were pretty solidly seized so we tried the old trick of hammering a slightly smaller socket over what was quite a crusty and slightly round looking nut.
This did not work, instead just making the nut more round when we tried to move it.
Instead, we had to resort to a combination of blow torch, penetrating oil (tip: WD40 should not be sprayed onto a naked flame, fire happens), an angle grinder and the largest Multi Purpose Tool we could find, a 6lb one in this instance. Eventually, it was free. Much heat and spanners were employed to free the other nut and eventually we had it all dismantled as required and the new one ready to go back on, which went much easier than it came off.
Worth noting that while the passenger side was a bit worn, the driver's side could be rattled around as though there were no resistance at all once removed. The rubbers were split and completely useless and the old ends were doing little more than holding the wheels on. It's a wonder I could drive on these at all and no surprise that anything above 50mph for more than 20 miles was hard work.
The other job I did was to remove the crud catchers which have been split, badly repaired and otherwise crap since I got the car. I wanted a good look behind them anyway as in my experience they're never good news on a car of advancing years.
As with the rest of the car, the inner arches have been 'restored' which seems to involved applying primer and overspray to the original paint and not attending to anything but the worst rust. It's all nice and solid with the exception of the bottom of the trailing edge of both front wings, which have trapped mud and rotted through a bit so will need repairing. There's also one small area of corrosion on the inner wing on the passenger side that should be easy enough to get fixed but is directly caused by those plastic rot makers.
I wasn't pleased to discover that the rot has spread from the bottom of the passenger wing on to the leading edge of the outer sill. Again, it's not massively serious, but it has been left unattended for too long and will need a patch. The black underseal/paint has caused more problems than its cured and seems to be applied directly over bare metal in places, particularly the sills, which isn't very good. The underside of the car looks in good order with a good amount of waxoyl all over. I have concerns about the rear of the driver's side sill where there's some obvious filler work, but this could turn out to be similar to the solid-but-ugly repair on the passenger side.
Peeling away the layers of this particular onion, I think I'm the owner of a 'traditionally restored' car. It's a bit daunting, because there's a lot that's been avoided in favour of the appearance of the car that I would have rather seen done right. Happily though, I have a more reliable wage to work with now at least for a few weeks, so I should be able to get the welding and mechanical niggles straightened out. I've also noticed today that the front end is sitting a bit low, but there's no sign of any fluid leaking out so I guess she's just a bit more obviously ready for a re-gas than she was.
In short:
Sort out that leaking tyre, again. Need to refurb the wheel really.
Get tracking done now it's been disturbed.
Price up getting small bits of welding done.
Regas
MoT, Tax and enjoy again.
