The revival of a 1937 302

What a great story! Find some period photos is my suggestion. They carried all sorts of things on those roof racks....

Here's a 4CV in France just last year. Fishing tackle on the side and anything else on top.

Is your car before the time Peugeot had built-in roof rack mountings?View attachment 121704

I have plenty of period photos - everything from artillery shells to gas converters were mounted om them. I started a Facebook group for theses cars and it's amazing what photos show up! There are no permanent mounts on the roof. There was factory accessory rack but I'm not sure how it was mounted.
 
You're ahead of me then. I'll put you on the list for next NZ visit!!! Good to have the rack, but it'll look nicer without it. :)

Here's an MB 130 (the rear-engined one) with a neat German gas generator on the back. I've seen photos of large gas bags on the roof, as you have I guess.

Mercedes Benz 130 Sinnsheim.jpg
 
The 302, cleaned, with it's little sister which it shared a shed with for a couple of months before sending ut
You're ahead of me then. I'll put you on the list for next NZ visit!!! Good to have the rack, but it'll look nicer without it. :)

Here's an MB 130 (the rear-engined one) with a neat German gas generator on the back. I've seen photos of large gas bags on the roof, as you have I guess.

View attachment 121760

I know where that photo was taken - Auto und Technik Museum at Sinsheim. Been there many times...

Roof rack is on at the moment because I don't have anywhere else to put it
 
Well, well. Not many would have picked that! What a place eh?

:) re the rack!
 
It's one of the best museums in Europe. I go there pretty much every year
We found it by accident a few years ago. Absolutely outstanding and it has the most extraordinary range of items. They must have a very switched-on collecting team. Deficient labelling though, as they don't mention that the Moon Buggy has Renault R8 brakes. :)
 
We found it by accident a few years ago. Absolutely outstanding and it has the most extraordinary range of items. They must have a very switched-on collecting team. Deficient labelling though, as they don't mention that the Moon Buggy has Renault R8 brakes. :)
Have you need to the sister museum, just down the road at Speyer?
 
Speyer museum excellent - very good car and motorbike collection, also a Russian space shuttle

Well worth a visit

And only a hop, step and jump from Mulhouse as well :)

Andrew
 
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Ah, Mulhouse..... Sigh. And Cite du Train, not just the car museum. Think Bugatti railcar!
 
Well... shit....

Just had a call from my brother who has been at my father's place. The small problem was that the four cam followers closest to the repaired area of the block don't want to go back in the holes from where they came. I suspect that the heat from welding the crack has distorted the holes silghtly. So tomorrow the timing cover comes off again, timing chain off and camshaft out and then we can run a reamer down the offending holes.
That then just leaves the small issue of the other crack we have just noticed in the block, from a stud hole to water jacket. It's bloody hard to spot - so hard it was only seen today when the sun was coming in on a different angle. But it is there...
 
It has been a while since updated progress...
cam follower holes were reamed and now all eight fit and move up and down the way they are supposed to. With that done the engine was completely reassembled and after a few deep breaths the time came to re-install it. Taking it out was a complete shit of a job, surely putting it back couldn't be any worse. Could it?
Oh yes it could. Cutting a long story short it took three of us seven hours to get the engine and gearbox back into the hole from whence they came. Bearing in mind the same task for a 203 would take two of us 45 minutes, and just over an hour for a 404. Nothing is simple, nothing is logical and if you aren't thinking five steps ahead at all times, you are in trouble. Did I mention I love my American cars? Hell, even my Porsche 944 is a paragon of logic and ease of access compared to this thing!
But, we got it in... and with all the ancillaries back in place and connected we put a battery in it (like a 203 it should have two x 6 volt batteries but if you have seen he price of those lately you will understand why we went for a single 12V one) and started testing all the electrical systems, which has already been done before anything was pulled apart. All worked well until I turned the ignition on. A couple of seconds later and there was the unmistakable smell of burning electrical wire, and smoke from beside the engine. The generator seemed to have some sort of internal issue - bearing in mind that at this stage the motor was not running. Not what I needed to see as I have absolutely zero spares for the car and the cost of freighting another generator from France is something I didn't want to contemplate.
Fortunately the local auto electrician does actually know what a generator is and even better, managed ton find the problem (a bare wire) and sort it out without needing any parts.
While this was happening I was able to refit the transmission tunnel, in order to be able to put the rest of the new floors in
 
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