203 in progress

luthier said:
I managed to get the 56er back home with the help of a friend. It was a fairly hard trip in a few days, must be getting old, but we made it. Lots of good parts but it's way past a resto. A shame, from the outside you might be deceived. But door pillars swing in the breeze from the bottom, and sills and doors are eaten out . Maybe not beyond Catshamlet, but certainly past my skill level. However parts of the floor will make nice donor inserts in the 49er and it has a smiths heater for my 53 model and an original radiator and motor for the 49er and the seat frames will restore, plus a very nice front spring and set of 404 wheels and probably a 403 brake setup.
So bits all round, and some very straight guards.
Here are some pics:

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Meanwhile back at the ranch the engine rebuild continues. Got the gearbox onto the engine to drop in together, but waylaid because of a failed helicoil on an exhaust manifold stud. Waiting for the next thing up, some solid self tapping thing, that I hope will work. Otherwise next step will be a stepped down machined stud that will be loctited into eternity.
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do you recall a bloke standing outside a petshop in parkes giving you a wave as you went past :D
 
pugrambo said:
do you recall a bloke standing outside a petshop in parkes giving you a wave as you went past :D
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Ummm, not sure. Was that you mate? We got a lot of looks on the trip, but unfortunately, similar to riding old classic motorcycles, the ones who wave are usually old bearded blokes, while the nubile chickadees don't give you a second glance.
Such is life.
:adrink:
 
luthier said:
Ummm, not sure. Was that you mate? We got a lot of looks on the trip, but unfortunately, similar to riding old classic motorcycles, the ones who wave are usually old bearded blokes, while the nubile chickadees don't give you a second glance.
Such is life.
:adrink:
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twas me and i had just finished unloading a pallet of seed and was talking to my mate as i saw this ute with 203 on trailer heading up the road
 
O damn, I would have liked to meet you in the flesh, and I remember saying to Pete that this bloke was waving at us, but on a trip like that there's always a sense of urgency to get the load home.
Next time I'll hopefully be driving the Blue Beast with plenty of time.
 
luthier said:
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img1374.jpg
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There nowhere near as big as they look. Look at how small it is on the trailer ... DS's are the opposite, they don't look very big until you winch them onto the trailer ..................... and you find they fill the trailer end to end and hang off the back :roflmao:

It certainly doesn't look to bad in the piccies.

seeya,
Shane L.
 
DoubleChevron said:
There nowhere near as big as they look. Look at how small it is on the trailer ... DS's are the opposite, they don't look very big until you winch them onto the trailer ..................... and you find they fill the trailer end to end and hang off the back :roflmao:

It certainly doesn't look to bad in the piccies.

seeya,
Shane L.
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they generally look good untill you open the doors,boot or run your hand under the sill covers

sometimes they get to the point where the bonnet hinges won't allow the bonnet to go up without damage

but from 10 yards away they look fine
 
The doors are swinging from the pillars which aren't connected at the base. The major members underneath are almost completely missing, the subframes under the sills are missing. The under edges of the doors are also missing and the bonnet is gone where the hinges mount so it has to be propped open. The plastic on the steering column has fallen apart. The motor is seized with rust and the plug tubes have rusted away. Apart from these things it's in really good nick.
But it's still worth the effort of getting it home because it has so many good bits. I'm thinking of replacing the cab on my Hilux with the front section to make a 4wd ute. I spose that would be called a Hi03.:banana:
But the front end is good, the spring looks in good shape although not sure what state the brakes are in. The front end will transfer entirely to the 49er and there's a set of switch knobs and a good radiator. So many little bits and pieces, I'm really happy to have it. It's a 56 203C. Spares for the blue car as well.
 
Great advances happened today with the blue car.
I've had a few dramas to cope with during the engine assembly. First I noticed after quite a bit of assembly that the welsh plug behind the camshaft was missing. I had already fitted the cam, had the head on, even done the tappets. Anyway I decided to knock one out of the block that had the crack, by simply using the spare camshaft. I was wacking it hard but it seemed really tight. Mal had said it wouldn't be really tight, but I was getting nowhere. So I decided to use the log splitter on it, and wasn't too surprised when bits of camshaft started flying about. It still wasn't moving so the block being buggered anyhow, I decided to wreck it for the welsh plug. So I started wacking the side of the cast housing and cracked it away till I got the plug out. Then I realized that I could have got it out without all the fuss if I had instead put a smaller diameter socket in first as there must be a lip that stops the camshaft from bearing onto the welsh plug. O well, I didn't need that camshaft did I?
Right, fitted that plug with some loktite and kept fitting things. The exhaust manifold studs had been seized and when the engineer asked me to remove them I had sheared one. So he drilled it out but ended up fitting a helicoil. This pulled straight out as I did up the manifold so I had to wait for him to post me the next stage post helicoil, which is a solid insert that taps it's own thread as you wind it in with a nut and bolt.
This seems to hold it's tension, touch wood, so tonight I hurled the engine back into the beasty.
Never having done it before with gearbox attached I was very nervous. Lucky I had a swivel arrangement allowing me to tilt it at different angles. But it didn't have quite enough travel for comfort as the initial angle it has to go in is nearly vertical. Then it started hooking on the solid handbrake cable pipe so I got a piece of ply in between gearbox and firewall for it to slide in on. Still it was resting the sump on the bonnet catch plate a bit more than I wanted, but managed to slip in with no damage, having already covered the area with a wad of cloth.
God knows how it would have gone if it had proved impossible to fit this way, but thankfully that didn't happen. I did have to remove the breather and then the engine mounts as they were resting out over the edge of the bonnet lip.
Then as I was doing this solo, there was a fair bit of grovelling under to align the drive shaft and get the bolts into the torque tube. But I will sleep happy with engine mounts in place and done up and a jack under the gearbox end, waiting for final alignment of the rear mount.
I began fitting a few other things and discovered the carb I took off had a serious warp in the mounting face, so I'm grinding that on a sheet of glass with 180grit paper. I guess the previous owner must have cranked it on a bit hard as the holes were a bit crushed as well. There was a fair bit of silicone slopped everywhere like round the head plate and the sump and so on, all of which I presume was leaking to some extent, definitely a fair bit of oil was escaping. So hopefully with nice new gaskets and clean surfaces and usually a bit of permatex, it should be fairly tight.

Not sure why it ran at all considering everything, 3 broken rings, badly fitting carb , leaking head plate, stuffed front main, tapered bores and so on. The valves weren't too bad, but there was corrosion in the headgasket area that would have blown pretty soon as well, and may have been leaking a bit. No wonder I got the impression it was a bit slack, and no wonder I nearly died of fumes during the trip home, although it didn't appear to use much oil.

Anyway, here are some snaps I took of the mill before she went in.

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d.jpg
 
Good to see the progress Dan , but I could give one tip for the next time an engine / gearbox has to be installed . Many cars , including 203's , 403's , roundy Benz and early Falcon are best approached by setting up the assembled front crossmember , engine/gear box on a temporary casterwheel base then lift the body with block and tackle , wheel the engine etc under and then drop down the body . It may sound like a lot of work to detach the engine crossmember but it is worth it . Been there , done that a number of times. John
 
Restorer said:
Good to see the progress Dan , but I could give one tip for the next time an engine / gearbox has to be installed . Many cars , including 203's , 403's , roundy Benz and early Falcon are best approached by setting up the assembled front crossmember , engine/gear box on a temporary casterwheel base then lift the body with block and tackle , wheel the engine etc under and then drop down the body . It may sound like a lot of work to detach the engine crossmember but it is worth it . Been there , done that a number of times. John
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Don't think I'd be up for that caper John. What happens with the steering column ?
How do you hold the body without damaging it? Then you definitely need a block and tackle setup instead of an engine hoist, well as well as the engine hoist actually. Really not a practical suggestion mate.

I may do that to the wreck to get the body off the engine though, as I won't be putting it back together.
 
Dan, it ran a lot worse when David first got it as the cam timing was out.
He drove it to Tumut like that, must have been pretty underwhelmed with it!
Graham
 
luthier said:
Don't think I'd be up for that caper John. What happens with the steering column ?
How do you hold the body without damaging it? Then you definitely need a block and tackle setup instead of an engine hoist, well as well as the engine hoist actually. Really not a practical suggestion mate.

I may do that to the wreck to get the body off the engine though, as I won't be putting it back together.
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I tried doing the engine and box together in my rally 203. Never again, box first then engine is the way to go.
Graham
 
I got the spin-on oil filter units in the post on Friday. Thanks Allan Horseley, a fine piece of work. Will be posting money next week mate.
And today I picked up some filters, so I now have everything I need to get her started.
Yes the excitement is mounting.

I think it was actually a good way to fit the motor with gearbox, but it just needs ultimate tilt as it has to be almost vertical as it first goes in.
And you need some ply sitting on the gearbox to stop it getting hitched in the handbrake tube or the speedo cable.
But because there is more clearance from the small sump to the crossmember, than with the 403, it is fairly easy to slide the whole lot forward once down at the bottom level, if no engine mounts are yet fitted, so as to engage the drive shaft. I did it all on my own with only a couple of moments of panic, so it's really not so bad.
Then once the bolts are started in the back of the gearbox the engine can be lifted enough to fit the engine mounts.
Yes there are some fine tolerances but it must have taken maybe half an hour to get in, while the body off scenario doesn't bear thinking about and the idea of grovelling with the gearbox under there, and propping it as the engine comes in, sorry, no. It would have to be the engine in, then gearbox, requiring the back end to be undone from the shockers.
So really I think the way I chose was the easiest by far.
 
You'll find the gearbox on the early car another matter with the narrow transmission tunnel. If you do a gearbox replacement the best implement to borrow is a sixteen year old.
 
Russell Hall said:
You'll find the gearbox on the early car another matter with the narrow transmission tunnel. If you do a gearbox replacement the best implement to borrow is a sixteen year old.
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Not quite sure how that would be viewed by the PC movement Russell. I think such a statement could be twisted disturbingly in a court of law, but we needn't go there thank dog.

Luckily on my old beast the gearbox already resides in place so the engine just has to be introduced.
However my wife informs me that I have been way too obsessed with the 203 theory of late , so once the blue 53 baby is finally past it's latest birth trauma, I fear I will have to let the 49er languish for awhile.
I think I'll still have a few angles, like, if it isn't baremetalled soon, there won't be any metal to bare, and such arguments, which are logical and can have influence on the female mind.
Thus I imagine I may get it to the undercoat stage before it is consigned to the back burner.
Still once I start on other moneymaking projects, there could be just a little movement in the right direction.
House renovation is going to be a big distraction soon as well, so wish the 49er lots of luck. She's going to need it.
 
I've taken her out three times now, only got to the tar once, giving her a good hard thrash to bed in the rings, she's smooth as silk with ample power, which I expect should increase a bit as she loosens up.
Very happy with it indeed. I took a local mate for a spin and he was very impressed particularly with the way it handles the rough dirt. He says it's better than his wife's Pathfinder4wd.
My only concern is it's running a touch too hot for my liking, round 180F up to 190F.[I just did a conversion and it seems it's running cooler than my 406 on these tracks.]
But I'll reserve judgement on that till I get her on the open road at cruising speed.
It could just be the slow speeds and slightly aggressive running in that's doing it.
That combined with tight new rings. If it's still hot on the highway I'll have the radiator cleaned out. I didn't do that as a matter of course because she wasn't overheating before the rebuild.
I'll take her into town for an inspection on Monday or Tuesday and then get some Historic plates which will allow some restricted driving.
Later I'll get full rego.
 
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203

good to hear 203 is mobile at last ,

Gordon Miller suggested most 03 overheat problems are blocked radiator
I have found a sock filter on rad. inlet catches a lot after a motor rebuild

have you tried bursts of compressed air in a bottom hose combined with rad full of water(as in the Video)?

that often moves a lot of muck

verify gauge is reading correct!

enjoy
 
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