DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

johnM wrote:

Hi John,
Love it!
Another lockdown project, here I come...
Cheers, Richard.

Back to the oil leak, which we'd established was not from the cooler. Nearer the top of the engine, toward the rear.

It didn't take much poking around to find a likely suspect:


Either my car had the ultra-rare wet sump MFI option, or it was leaking quite a lot of oil....
A little bit more poking around revealed that the leak was coming from the MFI oil feed pipe (good work again Graham!). In my case the pipe was fine but I'm guessing they seal better if you tighten them up. New copper washer and nipped up properly this time, and we're ready to try again.
No other obvious oil leaks, but let's see what happens when we fire it up...

I regret jumping to the conclusion that the leak was from the cooler - it would have been nice to diagnose and try a fix with the engine in the car. Lesson learned. But since it had to come out anyway to sort out the clutch, no real harm done.

The original plan had been to drive the car over to Garry's for carpet fitting and a few final trim jobs. But since I have no throttle bodies, DVLA are being a pain in the backside about registering it, and I'm quarantined, it looks like I won't be in sunny Newdigate any time soon. So to relieve the lockdown boredom Garry kindly sent me the carpet he had made, and I'm in the process of fitting it myself. Slow and steady.

Yes, I know, Dynamat is ugly as hell (and heavy). But based on previous experience it works pretty well, and this is supposed to be the versatile, fairly civilised car. I already have one old 911 with no soundproofing.

As the pics show, I've also had a first pass at the dash trim. Some tweaking required, but it's going to be OK I think. The interior mostly consists of original parts cleaned up. I'm not looking to heavily refurb or replace bits that work, and look like they've had 50 years of careful-ish use. Bits that appear to have spent the last 30-odd years in a swamp are a different matter...

Looks like the lock down is working in your favour Richard! On the Dynamat, I think they do a light version which is excellent. Lighter weight and blocks out a lot of the unwanted noise but allows more of the good noises through.

That’s great you are not refurbishing everything, a well patinated but clean interior sounds perfect.

Looking good Richard. Do you have any full pics of the car?

Ralph wrote:Looking good Richard. Do you have any full pics of the car?

Patience, young Jedi.
Looks shite at the moment. Engine still out, so the “stance” is comedically awful.

Hi Feroz
Bit late now for the light stuff.
Next resto!
Cheers, Richard.

I think fitting carpet is the most unexpectedly enjoyable job I've done on the car. Very satisfying.
Or perhaps the glue fumes have gone to my head.

It might be another of those jobs where the amateur, despite general incompetence, can take advantage of a lack of time pressure. To do the various compound curves in the sill - rear seat - rear wheel arch area, I've been taking baby steps. Stick a small bit down, let it set so I'm not wrestling with the whole carpet piece moving, stretch it into the next curve, careful little nips and tucks, glue down another small bit, etc.
Takes ages, but if it didn't I'd have to do the garden.

Carpets are as done as they can be at this stage. It's not yet time to properly fit the floorboards and floor carpets, or the bit at the front of the tunnel, since there will doubtless be some fiddling about with pedals and linkages when the engine (finally) goes back in. I've also not yet stuck down the rear seat bases, hence one them looking wonky.

Here are a couple of crappy iPhone pics, but you get the idea. It looks much nicer in real life, honest. The carpet fitted very well - thanks Garry.





So I'm going to award myself a fairly solid 8/10 for carpet fitting skills (if we ignore productivity - it did take me ages). I'm really happy with it for a first attempt. I might have some more attempts one day - as mentioned I found carpet wrestling, with a touch of confined-space solvent abuse, surprisingly enjoyable.

In other news the radio and glove box light now work. Must be getting toward the end now. No, wait, still no throttle bodies. Gah.

If anyone is still reading, I hope you're all well in these strange times. Lockdown has been good for project progress, and my cars are all clean. All of them, at the same time. That's probably the first time ever.

I really am going to have to do some gardening soon. I hate gardening.

Great job.

Think yourself lucky, some of us have to garden before we are allowed into the garage

I'm now in the garden 'stage'.
Saving clay bar/ wax on the Boxster, done some indoor painting, 5 hours in the garden yesterday in the shade, found rot in the little shed that has lasted25 years so far.

Shed painting very soon.
Garage as neat as I need it, race car written up but never to be used this year, dailies all ok.

Moments of relief with a new model aeroplane (balsa).
Keep it varied!

Impressive carpet skills, I found sticking mine tedious but the kit was the cheapest I could find 30 years ago.
Old evostik sure was tenacious back then compared to the green potion hey have to use now.

Great thread, enjoy every visit.

Nice work Richard, looking sharp

I hope everyone is well.
Lockdown has not helped progress on stuff that happens outside my own garage, but the throttle bodies are now being done.

Looks like they had already been partially worked on during the car's life, but the replacement nylon bearings are at the end of their life, and we see the usual wear to the magnesium alloy where the throttle butterfly fits:







So it's the standard refurb scheme you would doubtless expect.

Inserts:





Newly-machined spindles:





...getting there...
might have a finished engine fairly soon, fingers crossed.

Cheers, R

Lovely looking repair kit Richard....

Thanks Jonathan. Hope you are doing well. Does lockdown offer possibilities for E-Type progress? No travel must free up some time?

Meanwhile, back at the machine shop, a bit more progress:





I know the spindles should be yellow Zinc not blacked, but my throttle body guy is not at all keen on having a plated finish running in a bronze bearing.
I can live with that. This set should be a fair bit more durable than original, where the spindles running directly in the mag alloy quickly tended to wear and cause problems.