Is this the best project car you have ever seen?

[DoubleChevron]

Be carful not heat too much as all of top solder might melt and destroy it. Mine had same problem and I tried to blow torch silver solder but I Now I learned, normal solder should have been used. So mine was destroyed . I took mine to PRO and bill was over $400.00. Now I am scare of leaking radiator. Man put new copper core , he said copper is expensive now. No wonder people steal copper wires from power station.

Silver solder is WWWAAAAaaaaayyyyy to hot. Isn't it's melting point about 450degrees versus about 200 for normal plumbers solder you would have melted the solder in half the radiator before the silver solder was workable. I haven't used silver solder myself, it would be handy if you needed joins with strength (then again I'd probably use a welder in that case). You also need to use flux, the solder will flow where ever the metal is shiny and the flux has flowed.

$400 for a new radiator core with repaired tanks fitted sounds reasonable to me. The cost was your new core, not the tank repair by the sounds of it. If he needed to replace the core, you probably did yourself a favour .... A new radiator is better than an overheated engine

With regards to a level sensor ....

The level warnings on ebay seem incredibly expensive. I was thinking something like this:
Mini Vertical Stainless Steel Liquid Water Level Sensor Horizontal Float Switch | eBay

screwed into the top radiator tank, wired into a simple hidden buzzer inside the car would be perfect. You can buy buzzer/piezos cheaply.

12V DC Relay Buzzer | eBay

It would be less than $20 all setup and should be reliable being a simple float valve and buzzer with no electronics.

seeya,
Shane L.

 

[caparobertsan]

Silver solder is WWWAAAAaaaaayyyyy to hot. Isn't it's melting point about 450degrees versus about 200 for normal plumbers solder you would have melted the solder in half the radiator before the silver solder was workable. I haven't used silver solder myself, it would be handy if you needed joins with strength (then again I'd probably use a welder in that case). You also need to use flux, the solder will flow where ever the metal is shiny and the flux has flowed.

$400 for a new radiator core with repaired tanks fitted sounds reasonable to me. The cost was your new core, not the tank repair by the sounds of it. If he needed to replace the core, you probably did yourself a favour .... A new radiator is better than an overheated engine

With regards to a level sensor ....

The level warnings on ebay seem incredibly expensive. I was thinking something like this:
Mini Vertical Stainless Steel Liquid Water Level Sensor Horizontal Float Switch | eBay

screwed into the top radiator tank, wired into a simple hidden buzzer inside the car would be perfect. You can buy buzzer/piezos cheaply.

12V DC Relay Buzzer | eBay

It would be less than $20 all setup and should be reliable being a simple float valve and buzzer with no electronics.

seeya,
Shane L.

They are cheap and it is in my watch list. So Where would you put this sensor? On the cap? How are you going to seal this switch?
If you can put it in the cap, I am very very interested in this mod.

 

[DoubleChevron]

I just shake my head in disbelief when I see this sort of stuff. This would have been an expensive radiator with a new core ... many years ago when this car was rebuilt.

Here is where it's weeping from...

A quick wire brush shows this.... Bloody hell, i'm sure my 5year old could do a better job at soldering than that if I showed her how to hold a torch ..... And WTF are those rivets there ...... Damn...... Why didn't they tack weld or silver solder the sides on ....

The weeping was actually fortunate, look what I found .... A bloody bird had built a nest in the radiator shoot :roflmao: I had to pull heaps of straw and feather out of the radiator :roflmao:

2minutes of work and she's all fixed.

It done... I learnt something really interesting while bleeding the cooling system............ This car runs out of fuel when the gauge reads a fraction under 1/4 full Damn, that was nice to find out sitting in the shed rather than in the middle of nowhere !!!

seeya,
Shane L.

 

[IDear]

Thanks for the info Shane. I installed a heater in the Slough Safari with the original "sock". The car had many onlookers at the huge Marong display at Marong but I hadn't taken the risk to hook the hoses up yet. I'll do it today but after seeing your photos I don't give it much chance of working.
I have a couple of spares, so I'll see how I go. Thanks again ---- Michael

 

[donat]

Shane, that's why I fill mine up every 300 miles - I don't trust my gauge at all. I should probably do something about that.

 

[DoubleChevron]

Thanks for the info Shane. I installed a heater in the Slough Safari with the original "sock". The car had many onlookers at the huge Marong display at Marong but I hadn't taken the risk to hook the hoses up yet. I'll do it today but after seeing your photos I don't give it much chance of working.
I have a couple of spares, so I'll see how I go. Thanks again ---- Michael

DON"T HOOK THE HEATER MATRIX UP !!!!! . Unless you have had it rodded out, there's no way it's not going to be full of crap and blocked up.... It's had water/ancient coolant sitting in it for 50years after all You don't want all that crud flowing through your cooling system. The two I've pulled apart have been near identical inside. And they both started leaking (tested by pressuring to about 10psi of in in a bucket of water) once I cleaned them crap out of them. I should have another couple of heater matrixes here. Hopefully I'll be able to make two good ones out of them. The 2nd one I pulled apart had stuff tanks, and was so blocked I staked one of the tubes trying to clear it (it's still not clear).

When I get around to buying some steel wool to clean the matrix ends with, I'll likely be able to re-solder the tubes. There's no point trying until I can get the metal shiny and clean though.

seeya,
Shane L.

 

[caparobertsan]

Shane, that's why I fill mine up every 300 miles - I don't trust my gauge at all. I should probably do something about that.

Actually Mine works fine. Except many movement while on the move. The other day I was driving and I see the gauge was pointing "E" but I did not trust it. But my car stopped in the middle of road. It was empty. But I carry 5litre in the boot all the time so I did not worry too much. So I know my gauge works good.

 

[caparobertsan]

I just shake my head in disbelief when I see this sort of stuff. This would have been an expensive radiator with a new core ... many years ago when this car was rebuilt.

Here is where it's weeping from...

A quick wire brush shows this.... Bloody hell, i'm sure my 5year old could do a better job at soldering than that if I showed her how to hold a torch ..... And WTF are those rivets there ...... Damn...... Why didn't they tack weld or silver solder the sides on ....

The weeping was actually fortunate, look what I found .... A bloody bird had built a nest in the radiator shoot :roflmao: I had to pull heaps of straw and feather out of the radiator :roflmao:

2minutes of work and she's all fixed.

It done... I learnt something really interesting while bleeding the cooling system............ This car runs out of fuel when the gauge reads a fraction under 1/4 full Damn, that was nice to find out sitting in the shed rather than in the middle of nowhere !!!

seeya,
Shane L.

That is exactly the same spot mine had leak too!
Very good job shane. Do you use blue bottle torch or yellow one?

 

[DoubleChevron]

That is exactly the same spot mine had leak too!
Very good job shane. Do you use blue bottle torch or yellow one?

Blue I think.... I have a yellow bottle there too. I hadn't taken any notice of the difference. Do the gasses contained in them heat at different amounts?

seeya,
Shane L.

 

[caparobertsan]

Blue I think.... I have a yellow bottle there too. I hadn't taken any notice of the difference. Do the gasses contained in them heat at different amounts?





seeya,
Shane L.

Tool shop guy said yellow one is hotter than blue. I even silver soldered stainless steal pipe to replace rusted out exhaust pipe.
I was thinking about water level sensor. It can not be put on the cap. There is no room because pressure spring is underneath. Do you have solution?

 

[DoubleChevron]

Tool shop guy said yellow one is hotter than blue. I even silver soldered stainless steal pipe to replace rusted out exhaust pipe.
I was thinking about water level sensor. It can not be put on the cap. There is no room because pressure spring is underneath. Do you have solution?

I'm going to see if I can find a tiny float level for sale locally. I'll just fit it to the top tank while it's off. you could likely just drill a small hole in the top tank beside the cap and fit the float valve just there. It would need to be small so as not to interfere with coolant flow. There is of course the "electrical sensor" type, but these seem to give lots of false readings in normal use. The one in my CX is forwever switching on (yes there is coolant in it ).

Interesting about silver soldering up an exhaust. Wouldn't the exhaust get hot enough to melt the solder

seeya,
Shane L.

 

[caparobertsan]

I'm going to see if I can find a tiny float level for sale locally. I'll just fit it to the top tank while it's off. you could likely just drill a small hole in the top tank beside the cap and fit the float valve just there. It would need to be small so as not to interfere with coolant flow. There is of course the "electrical sensor" type, but these seem to give lots of false readings in normal use. The one in my CX is forwever switching on (yes there is coolant in it ).

Interesting about silver soldering up an exhaust. Wouldn't the exhaust get hot enough to melt the solder

seeya,
Shane L.

So obviously float switch can only fit near cap because mount from inside? Silver solder is must be very hot because Pipe had to get really RED hot for sliver stick to melt. I do`nt see exhaust get that hot( pipe after the silencer). But I really should have used proper welding meachine$$$$.

I might drill hole on the lower pipe install always close float switch. I am hesitant to drill hole on the newly repaired radiator.
I am looking forward to see what you will do to your car. Thanks for sharing!

 

[DoubleChevron]

I've driven the car a few times without the roof on ... Amazingly it's not gusty and horrible as expect, like any car with a big sunroof or convertible it sucks big time if:

a) the sun if out anywhere to cook the shit out of you
b) it's cold
c) it's raining ( )

It is however fun. My wife has still never been in this car due to lack of seat belts... So I figured I better stick some in the back so the kids to go in it ...... And of course got side tracked

As soon as the seat was out ... I spotted the fuel gauge sender and thought "gee's fixing that beats the shit out of running out of petrol again" ... I doubt it'll run out twice in my own yard after all ... Given my luck I'd run out the first time I took my wife out in the car :rofmao:

It's a very simple float unit... 3 screws to whip it out, with a variable resister on top back to earth. It appears the cork float no longer floated as the gauge moved on the dash if I moved the float....

this is the float from a DSpecial... yes it's tempting to just fit in, however it would need to be matched in resistance values to the dash gauge, so I just swapped the corks over....

Sweet, I guess I find out how empty, emtpy is on the gauge the day I roll to a stop on the side of the road ...

The lap sash belts are just mounted by a drilled hole through the wheel arch on the later cars that this tag tack is welded too.... A few solid wacks with a hammer broke these out of a later DSpecial for me to use. the seatbelts in the later DS's here are all not suitable for use ... to deteriorated. The matching colour belts are from a '76 CX2400 parts car.

Amazingly even this 1963 model has the indentation to show where to drill the upper seat belt mount in this 50year old car. I just need to pull the rear wheels so I can drill it and bolt the top of the belts down. This area is usually badly rusted in most DS's so I'm not sure how I'd trust the upper belt mount in a lot of cars. This ID is perfect fortunately.

There is only 4 lower mounts mountings rather than 6 of the later cars. I'm not overly impressed with the way this has worked out, to get the middle lower sash I've had to double up on belts on the middle two bolts. With 3 kids I need 3 belts though... These early cars were only designed for two lap belts. (It is amazing they supplied the threaded mounts to screw the belts into in 1963)

All done, I just have to drill/bolt the top lash sash mounts in and the child seat anchor for the middle, and the family can do some "topless" motoring over christmas

seeya,
Shane L.

 

[STALLED]

Looks good Shane!

Where did you get the sticker from in the last picture - I need it for the 406:

 

[DoubleChevron]

Looks good Shane!

Where did you get the sticker from in the last picture - I need it for the 406:

This one:

There on ebay UK.

seeya,
Shane L.

 

[caparobertsan]

Looks nice Shane. Actually it is not bad driving around like this without roofing in Summer time:roflmao:
Actually, your seats are exceptionally in good condition! Are they leather?

 

[DoubleChevron]

The seats are orignial 50year old seats... The cars two tone seats were cremated, these ones are compliments of Richo/Roger W ... And have made there way over from freezing soggy tazzie. It appears you can get a car with barely any rust, but is cremated or one that's rusty as buggery but has rubbers/seats that aren't cremated depneding on where you live. You just need to marry the two together. Every single rubber item on this car has been absolutely cremated. I reckon it must have lived at Alice Springs/Midura or similar for decades.

seeya,
Shane L.

 

[DoubleChevron]

I've noticed this car can develop a shimmy that feels like an out balance wheel at times (or more exactly given it doesn't always happen) maybe cracked front suspension tubes.

This has me confused as:

a) the tires are basically 99% unworn and new
b) this car has the tightest front end of any 'D' I've ever touched... It really does appear to have done next to no milage.
c) I've had it all apart and have already bloody checked everything

I decided to try swapping the wheels front to back ( if this failed, I was going to swap them between ID19s)....

These are the wheels off a parts car I found years ago and fitted new tires too....

Rear:

Nice and clean and rust free.

Front .... I think I've found the problem without even swapping the bloody things

This took me a solid hour of scraping with a sharp pointy screwdriver ... Gee's it was hard to get off.... There must be a couple of hundred grams of grease/dirt/bake on filth there.

Still pretty rough, but I've removed most of the mass. I'll go for a spin tomorrow and see what I find.

This will be why... What ever car those wheels were from ... must have had an owner that owned a grease gun, and certainly wasn't afraid to use it.... The outer driveshaft joints will just fling excess grease out ... and obviously heavily coat the insides of the wheels. Yes I'm going to pull the other two wheels and check them tomorrow.

seeya
Shane L.

 

[Bruce Llewellyn]

Perhaps we should start looking around for another project for our good mate here to fall in love with...

This one is nearly out of tricks!

 

[ScotFrog]

I think Shane could bequeath it to me. I have a virginal empty shed crying out for a D and it will clear Shane's mind and floor to allow him to focus his many talents on something more worthy. Shane?

Iain