Page Seventy-Three - A Huge Steaming Pile of Mistakes

 

Where to begin?  What follows started with a stuck knock-off spinner, on the left front, the spinner with very expensive new chrome on it…

I noticed a pronounced grinding on one of Alphie’s little outings – he has 2 new miles on his little odometer.  After investigating the situation, I discovered that the front left wheel was loose, so I went to remove the spinner with my homemade wooden spinner wrench.  It wouldn’t budge.  More force, you say, sure, and I broke it, the wooden wrench, not the spinner.

I tried soft hammers, a dead-blow mallet, my small sledge hammer with a chunk of hard wood, no direct sledge to spinner contact, nothing.  I made another wooden spinner wrench, which I thought was stronger, broke it too.  Various levels of depression and despondence.

Next thought, apply some heat, not with a torch but with my heat gun (a hair dryer on steroids), a Teflon hammer between my small sledge and the spinner.  This time it budged and off it came, phew!

Mistake One: (There are a pile of mistakes, but we’ll just call this one mistake #1.) The grinding was between the wheel’s inner hub and the disk brake caliper.  Not knowing that the backspacing was the problem, I thought,"Simple enough, I’ll grind off a bit of the caliper for some extra clearance…" HUGE MISTAKE.  I of course took too much metal off and ground through the caliper.  

You’re right, a smart man would have thought, “but the caliper wasn’t in the way of the original wheels, why would it be in the way of these?”  “Smart” wouldn't show up for a while yet.  No worries, I’ll weld up the hole, dress the weld a bit and no one will know.  More on this in a minute

I started thinking about how to give the caliper more clearance because grinding the caliper backfired so spectacularly.   I tried adding some washers to the back of the caliper to move it back towards the disk a bit – that bound it against the disk, and the wheel would turn at all.  I tried the washers between the brake disk and wheel adapter to push the adapter out a bit – that also bound the disk to the caliper, and the wheel wouldn’t move.

Next, I tried a shim on the adapter to push the wheel out some.  When I put the wheel on, I noticed that the wheel never touched the shim.  Hmmmmm…

A feeling started sinking, much like the Titanic.

Mistake Two: I had made this mistake about a year ago, when I bought the wire wheels.  A smart man would have compared the backspacing of the original to the new wheels.  If he had, he would have noticed that the wheels I ordered were for a Triumph Spitfire, which needs lots-o-backspace, unlike a Sunbeam Alpine.

My backspace problem - the wheel of the left is the original
(Looks pretty good right?  It's not very round however.)
The one on the right has A LOT more backspace, way too much!

To be absolutely fair, British Wire Wheels has a set that they say, right there in the catalog, are for Sunbeam Alpines.  A smart man would have ordered THOSE wheels because they have the correct backspacing.  Not me, I thought the ones for a Spitfire would be better since they were a bit wider… More on this in a minute.

Mistake Three: With a hole in the caliper weeping brake fluid, I removed the caliper, stripped it of all the new parts and tried welding the holes, yeah, more than one.  It was a valiant effort involving a lot of MIG wire, but though I filled the hole, I couldn’t seal it enough to keep the brake fluid in.  I would weld it up and think I had it, then I would pour in a bit of mineral spirits to check, and it would leak through the welds.  I repeated this routine several times and soon understood it probably would never seal.  Found a towel; threw it in.

Fortunately, I have another front left caliper from the Organ Donor (remember him?) that is caked in rust, but working with embarrassed fury, I was able to clean it, paint it and swap the new seals and piston from the caliper I destroyed, I got it back together.

The Organ Donor's left front caliper - copious WD40 later

Do NOT Do This!
One destroyed caliper

The backside of Do Not Do This!

After all that, I'm back to where I started  
with one working front left caliper.

What to do about the wrong wheels?

Truth is, I can’t fix the wheels.  I have to order two new ones with the correct backspacing and eat the expense.

I can’t in good conscience ask the folks at Classic Car Performance (who sell British Wire Wheels) to take back a set of wheels that have tires mounted and balanced, especially when it’s all my fault for not reading what they were trying to tell me and COMPLETELY missing the backspacing issue.

Fortunately, and it’s a small dispensation, the back wheels work even with the extra backspace.  They butt against the brake drum, and the splines engage the adapter, so they are snug and secure.  No rubbing.

The fronts, however, will never work.

Mistakes on Mistakes

I have made mistakes with Alphie before – remember, I had to paint him twice - but somehow this one is more embarrassing because I should have, and actually did, know better, but I merrily screwed up anyway.  This one will cost me somewhere north of $1,000 bucks.  Not only the price of two new wheels but swapping the tires and rebalancing them, the cost of being the Chief Bonehead in Charge!

I'll get back to you once I've ordered the correct wheels.

Page Seventy-Two - What I've Done for Alphie Lately

 

Gotta say, I like the hard noggin better than the soft one!

Hard Noggin Head Liner

I had the hard top on a rolling dolly for months and finally got to the head liner.  I followed the guidance of the boys on the YouTube Alpine Channel, very helpful.  When they tell you to keep your hands clean, listen to them.

Each headliner bow is color coded, but Alphie’s only had a small chip of paint left on a couple of them.  I used some colored electrical tape to be sure I had the right bow in the right place.

Front – blue

Second – green

Third – red

Rear – yellow

In case you were wondering.

Yeah, they tell me the wrinkles will go away somewhat on their own.
If not, I'll have to figure something out.

As the Alpine Channel boys suggested, I collected (and ordered) a pile of metal clips so that I wouldn’t need glue.  The boys said they used very little glue, I didn't use any, so I hope Alphie’s head liner doesn’t sag, fall down or come lose.

Installing the head liner is tedious but not very difficult.  Take your time and wash your hands.

You’ll note in the pics that Alphie’s head liner is loose in several places, but the boys tell me to put a small space heater on the floor board and heat the interior up a bit and when it cools, the wrinkles will tighten.  I haven't done it yet, but I’ll let you know ow it turns out.

Installed the Rear Glass

All hard tops really need a rear window – the Alpine Channel boys cover the install in their head liner video by the way.  No magic here, just don’t get in a hurry and follow their instructions.

Not a great pic, but it shows the buffed out stainless trim, 
well, half of it anyway.

I spent the most time, cleaning and buffing the rear window stainless trim.  Installing the window, again, is tedious but not difficult.  It looks spiffy, donunit? – see the pics.

Rear glass with shiny trim!

Windscreen Trim

While I was on the Alpine Channel, I re-watched the video about installing the windscreen/shield and found that I needed to have installed the lower stainless trim beneath the body-to-windscreen frame weather stripping when I sintalled the frame, oops!

When I installed the windscreen, I didn't realize the lower trim had to go under
the body-to-windscreen frame weather stripping

This meant I had to loosen the bolts holding the frame to the body to free some space to shove the trim under the weather stripping.  It was a pain, and I abused the weather stripping a bit, but I got away with it.  The trim is in and the windscreen is bolted back down.

Windscreen Wipers

I installed the windshield (for us Yanks) wipers when I finished the trim.  I collected the wipers and wiper arms from Alphie and the Organ Donor, bought a used set from eBay but didn’t have a complete, matching set – at least not a set I was willing to slap on Alphie’s face.  So, I ordered a new set from Sunbeam Specialties: they aren’t OEM, but they are damn close.

Boo Ya!

Refitted the Hard Noggin

You may think “refitting the hard noggin” is just a matter of putting it on the car, but nothing is ever that simple.  With my wife’s help, we gently lowered the hard top on Alphie, being sure to line the pointy doohickies at the rear with the holes in the boot hinges.

At this point, I found that the pointy doohickies almost, but not quite, lined up with the hinges.  So, I had to undo the “boot (or trunk) curtain” at the back of the boot to loosen the bolts that hold the boot lid hinges to the body.  A few gentle taps with a rubber mallet aligned the hinges to the pointy doohickies, and the hard top dropped into place.  Not a difficult job, just a fiddly and anxious one.

The hard noggin pointy doohickies fit into the holes in the boot hinges.

Mounted the Door Mirror

This one was a nerve wracker because I had to drill holes in Alphie’s really quite awesome paint!  First, blue masking tape over the paint where the mirror will go.  (Actually, first look at tons of Alpine Series IV pics on the interwebs to see where most people place their mirrors.)

Second, mark a dot through the screw holes in the mirror bracket.  Next, measure very precisely the distance from the side light glass frame and center punch the exact spot where the holes will go.  I noticed that the marker dots didn’t line up parallel to the window frame and got worried the mirror bracket would be crooked, hence the measuring from the window frame to both holes.

Now, Alphie can see what's seeking up from behind!

Next, measure the distance between the holes and compare the measurement to the mirror bracket.  Measure a ton, drill once!

I drilled a small pilot hole, checked the measurements again.  Bumped up to a slightly bigger drill bit, then a third bit for drilled the final diameter.  

I touched up the bare metal with a spot of paint – no rust leaking from under the mirror mount!  Two #8 oval head Phillips screws with nylon lock nuts, all stainless steel, of course.

If you're were wondering why I haven't installed the door cards yet, now you know.

Sorted!

Next:  More tuning, plugging leaks and going on the first drive!

Page Seventy-One - Under His Own Power!

 

Another milestone for the Alph – moving under his own power!

Granted, he didn’t move much, just out of the garage, a quick turn around in the driveway and back in the garage.  And there were problems, of course.

I added two videos to the "More Stuff" column on the right, "Alphie Lives!" of Alphie's (almost) first start and "Alphie Under His Own Power" of him putting along after his first self-power movement.  (I couldn't drive and shoot a vid so you get the sitting afterward.)

Bling!  Bumpers and bright work!
(Pics in garage don't do him justice, too many reflections. 
When I have him out in the sunlight, I'll get some better shots.)

Idling:  I had to spend about 20 minutes choking (Alphie and me) in the garage while I diddled with Alphie’s carb and timing to get a decent idle.  I have read that many Sunbeamers have ditched the Solex carbs for Webers, but Alphie is “reasonably original”, so I’ll learn the ways of the Solex.

BTW, there is pitifully, frustratingly little about tuning PAIA Solex carbs on the forums or the web, not sure what that’s about.  If you have some info, please pass it along.  So I’m hunkered over the carb somewhat randomly fiddling with various jets and screws trying to get a feel for which one has what effect.

Alphie is by no means “tuned,” but he is idling decently and starting him isn't as laborious as is was, small victories.

Another Bling shot

The Clutch: “Spongy” is the term I’m using now.  I have bled the master and slave cylinders, but I obviously have air in the system somewhere.

I couldn’t get reverse gear, I think (hope) because the clutch isn’t disengaging enough, so some work there.

You'll note, Alphie is on the ground again.
I left him in the air because it was MUCH easier to work on him
when I didn't have to bend over as much.

Brakes: Alphie has them, but on the open road, his brakes would be life-threatening either via sudden impact, an aneurysm or heart attack (maybe all three).  More bleeding there too.

Booty Bling!

Leaks: There’s a small oil leak somewhere.  I know, it should be obvious, but I think the fan is blowing the oil away from the leak.  I tightened the timing chain cover bolts, but it may be at the fuel pump.  I’ll find it.

The heater inlet valve at the firewall is leaking.  I “rebuilt” it myself but clearly the gasket(s) aren’t sealing, so I’ll pony up the buckage for a new one.  And the radiator cap doesn’t fit tight enough, maybe the wrong size.

Other than that, Alphie is fit as a fiddle!

Carpet!

Other Stuff You May Note:

Interior:  I put in the carpeting and interior, at least most of it.  I discovered that I hadn’t ordered the door sill weather stripping, small oversight.

Alphie is sporting one seat now, so I can work the clutch and brakes that sorta work.

Driver accommodations complete with the ashtray and console!

BLING!

Alphie has some jewelry now.  I spelled out S U N B E A M twice, installed the emblems, the boot handle and stainless trim on the grill.  And bumpers!

The rear bumper went on easy-peasy, but the front bumper was a different story.  Since I glued on a snoz from another car, recreated the bumper mounts on the frame tips and added an aftermarket lower grill shelf, I didn’t get all that back to factory specs.

I mean it all looked pretty smashing until I tried to mount the bumper, then I discovered the miscalculations.  The bumper stuck too far out so that I saw a lot of ground between the lower grill shelf and the bumper, and the bumper brackets didn’t clear the lower grill shelf.

I had to cut and shorten the brackets and grind a notch to clear the lower grill shelf.  Fitted it all and checked everything, then re-powder coated the brackets.  Using all three of my arms and one knee, I jostled it all in place and managed to get the bolts started and tightened.

Pro Tip: Before doing the one-person three-armed balancing act to fit the bumper, wrap the bumper ends with towels to keep from scratching the @#%$* out of the paint.  Fortunately, I figured this out before banging up any paint.

Next, I’ll finish the hard top.

Page Seventy - A Nice Pair of Hooters

 

Hooters, the Brits call car horns hooters…

Sorry, but it’s such an easy straight line, I must take it.  I want to say it’s the last of the juvenile humor, but it isn’t.  And I’m not proud of it.  I also won’t stop.

I added the Lucas 9H Windtone Instruction Manual to the More Stuff column on the right.  It has some good info for maintaining and adjusting your hooters, see? here we go...

Rootes used two brands of hooters, er, horns, Lucas 9H Windtones, at least for Series IV and V (as far as I know) and for the early models (as someone said on the forums), Clear Hooters F725T Twin Alpine horns (I know it’s model F725 per the Series V Workshop manual, the “T Twin Alpine” part comes from the Clear Hooter ad – see below).

Clear Hooters model F725

Clear Hooters ad showing the F725A Twin Alpine hooter

Alphie clearly should have a nice set of hooters… sorry, there will be more.

I have a set of Lucas and a set of Clear Hooters, neither of which worked when I jolted them with 12 volts, so I performed a postmortem.

(Pic at the top of this post - A General Motors Delco Remy unit was in one of the boxes (or boot, I don't remember) that came with Alphie so it made the photo too.)

Autopsy photo of a Lucas hooter

Lucas hooter after cleaning.
It looks like it should work, but it doesn't

How They Work

Lucas Windtones

When you smash the horn button in a panic, you send electricity to a small electromagnet that pulls against a plunger connected to a diaphragm, pulling it towards the magnet.

The plunger has a “step” that pushes open a set of contact breakers much like the points contact breaker in the distributor.  (See the pics.)  When the contact opens, it deenergizes the magnet, and the diaphragm springs back to its original position.  This process happens many times a second, and the movement vibrates the diaphragm, creating sound.

The low tone diaphragm is slightly thicker than the high tone diaphragm, hence the different tones.  The Lucas horns have a large adjusting screw in the center of the case that lengthens or shortens the diaphragm’s movement giving some further adjustment or tuning of the tone.

The little setscrew near one of the terminals on the outside of the horn would seem to be an adjustment as well, but it isn’t.  The screw pushes against one side of the contact plate to prevent it from bending and permanently closing the contacts over time.  It’s a factory setting, so don’t mess with it.

The internals of a Lucas hooter

Close up of the Lucas breaker/contact point

The set-screw on the outside only adjusts this post,
which only prevents the breaker point bracket from
bending - it doesn't adjust the sound.

Clear Hooters F725(T Twin Alpine)

The Clear Hooters work on the same principle, but the mechanism is different.  The Clear Hooter uses two electromagnets that pull on a metal disc attached to the diaphragm.  The disc has a small plunger at its center, which pushes a set of contacts (like the Lucas),breaking the circuit when the disc reaches the magnets.  When the circuit breaks, the magnets deenergize and the diaphragm springs back, creating vibration and thus the sound.

The breather hole allows the diaphragm to move
 but also allows water in with a good soaking

Unlike the Lucas horn, the adjusting screw on the outside of the Clear Hooter case tightens and loosens a spring which changes how often the contacts break in a second.  So, unlike the Lucas horn, the adjustment screw allows you to tweak your Hooters, I apologize, but there’s more.  

The guts of a Clear Hooters, a bit more robust than the Lucases
but still suseptible to too much water.

Lucas

The high tone Lucas was rusted so with a good cleaning, it probably would work.  The low tone one though had a broken connection between the magnet coil and the contact breakers, meaning the contacts would not open and the diaphragm would not vibrate.

Here's why on of the Lucases doesn't work.
I tried fixing it but bodged the job badly.
(Solder doesn't stick, in case you were wondering.)

After a good cleaning, one of the Lucases kinda worked; it clicks and buzzes, a little.

Clear Hooters

The Clear Hooters were much more rusted, and the autopsy showed that the diaphragm had holes rusted through it, so it would have sounded sick and weak if it worked at all.  The other mechanisms looked to be in decent nick, however.

Cleaned but the rust throughs on the diaphram
means this hooter hoots no more.

Even with mixing parts from the high and low Clear Hooters, I couldn't get either to make more than a click...

The Solution

I needed more Hooters, never enough, and again, my apologies.  I found some more Clear Hooters on eBay.

Straight out of the box, I hit them with 12 volts and a flimsy, buzzy “meeep”.  I hoped they would make me jump, but now I have two more Hooters to play with – will it ever end?

I cleaned the Hooters up, painted them, checked them with the multimeter, reassembled them – they look smashing, by the way – but still the anemic “meeep.”

Aftermarket?  That would give me beefy blast I need, but I really want a set of original honkers, stretching a bit on that one.  

The hunt for a nice set of hooters continues.

Some Speculation

I suspect the diaphragms are the biggest problem.  I think the horns can take normal environmental wetness, humidity, the occasional rain-through-the-grill, but not thorough soakings like sitting under a tree for decades.  Once the diaphragm rusts, it isn’t as flexible as it needs to be.  There is a forum post where a guy fabricated himself some new diaphragms – impressive, but more work than I’m willing to do for a set of hooters – you thought I didn’t have anymore, but you were wrong.

The internal wiring isn’t protected from water other than being in a sealed space.  That space however, has pin holes for air to move as the diaphragm moves.  Once water gets in, the electricals, the contact point especially, corrode.

Old hooters that have been spared the elements continue to hoot, those that drink too much water, hoot no more.

Nice looking hooters that don't work very well

I could have made a lot of horny jokes, but I'm a mature man of taste and manners...

Here are Alphie's hooters for now.  

They have one major advantage - they work...

Until I can find a working set of original hooters, the Chinese bad boys will have to scare the pedestrians off the sidewalk.

Eh, they get the job done.

Another Clear Hooters ad

Page Sixty-Nine - Alphie's Night Out: A Tale of Two Tickets

 

Here's a fun little story.

Sometime in the 1970’s, Alphie drove two people to see a movie at the Von Lee theater in downtown Bloomington Indiana, and you’re wondering how I know.

During Alphie’s tear-down (six years ago!), I found two halves of two cinema tickets, one in the console and the other inside the seat upholstery, and because I never throw anything away, I kept them.  Yesterday, I found them again and got curious...

Laying the right half of ticket number 00427 over the left half of ticket number 00428 (hence I brilliantly deduced that Alphie had two people on board), gave me the name of the theater chain, “Kerasotes Theatres” (French spelling no less), which I sent out into the internet ether.  Wikipedia tells me that Kerasotes had “957 screens in 95 locations in California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, and Wisconsin at one point.” 

Two tickets overlaid to make one, impressive detective work, no?

Under the chain’s name, it says “Von Lee #2, Bloomington In.”  Back to the interweb, three of the 957 screens were at the Von Lee where Alphie ferried his crew to a movie on screen #2 sometime in the 70’s.  OK, the “sometime in the 70’s” is a guess based on the $1.50 admission, which also fits the time when Alphie still prowled the streets. (And Kerasotes didn't own the Von Lee until 1976.) Someone laid out $3 for the entertainment that night, afternoon?

Alphie had a 1979 Illinois license plate somewhere in the boot or a box, but since Illinois didn’t attach any meaning (still doesn’t I think) to the letters and numbers on their plates other than to identify the vehicle and its owner, I can’t tell where in Illinois he was registered.  Illinois shares a border with Indiana, so it’s plausible that Alphie crossed state lines to take in a flick.  Anyhoo...

Back to the web for some information on the Von Lee theater:

Von Lee Cinema
517 E. Kirkwood Avenue,
Bloomington, IN 47401

The Von Lee in the 70's, judging by the cars

Here's what the web had to say:  “Built in 1928 as the Ritz Theatre by local investors, it was renamed Von Lee Theatre and reopened in 1948 by the Vonderschmitt Theatres chain.

A spacious single-screen cinema now converted into three smaller auditoriums, the theater rests on the border between historic downtown Bloomington and the Indiana University campus.

Purchased in 1976 by Kerasotes Theaters, operations were suspended on May 28, 2000 as the company built two multiplexes in the city, making the historic cinema expendable to their operations.

Now owned by the City of Bloomington, the Von Lee Cinema has been the center of various community efforts to reopen or otherwise "Save The Von Lee", and it has also since been designated a historic site.

However, it has remained dark and the auditorium has been demolished. Offices have been built on the site, while the front section of the theatre serves as a restaurant.”

Per Wikipedia, “After Kerasotes the theater, it faced the wrecking ball. There was a quick response from City Council member Chris Sturbaum to save the history of the Von Lee building.  He lobbied the community to save it and developed a plan to do so.  For many weeks after the first notification of demolition, Sturbaum set up a display about the history of the Von Lee and its significance to Bloomington. He even began to show movies in front of the closed building. Eventually the plan worked and the Von Lee was kept intact.”

The Von Lee preserved with the new offices

All this from two old ticket stubs someone tossed in the console 40ish years ago, you just never know.  That's why I never throw anything away!

Page Sixty-Eight - Some Consolation

 

How to restore Alphie’s “reasonably original” console.

I have three consoles – one from the black Alpine, one from the Organ Donor and one from Bob (the guy who gave me Bob’s Butt, remember?)

1. Find the lock that fits the rest of the car; remember, one key fits the ignition and doors while the other fits the boot and console.

2. Picked the console with the best (meaning least rusty) sheet metal, took it to bare metal and primed it.

3. Carefully peeled the original vinyl from the sheet metal so I could make a pattern later.

4. Cut a piece of tool box drawer liner for the non-skid, rattle-smoothing bottom liner, no glue, just laid it in.

Tool box drawer liner works great! 

5. Laid out the old vinyl on the back of the new vinyl and drew a pattern.  Foreseeing me screwing up, I cut the vinyl leaving a generous margin for error – important step!

Old vinyl as a patttern for the new vinyl

New vinyl ready to glue

6. Did many, many test fits – another important step! 

7. Got out the stinky contact cement, loads of clamps, binder clips, paint stirrers and popsicle sticks (lolly sticks for the Brits) and set to gluing the vinyl to the metal.  See the pics.

Wrapped, glued and clipped to dry.
(The popsicle (lolly) sticks keep the clips from denting the vinyl.)

8. The console lid gets a specially sewn cover from the gang at Sunbeam Specialties, but I stuffed some extra polyester batting between the foam and the cover because the foam didn’t fill the space as well as I wanted.  LOTS-O-TEST FITS and glued it to the cover plate.

I forgot to take pics during the process, but here's the finished lid.

I bought some stainless #6 oval Phillips head screws, as short as I could find, and some #6 finish washers for the underside of the cover.  No Rust! and they look spanking!

The lid on the cleaned and painted console sheet metal

9. There’s a little square (trapezoid if I’m being precise) of cardboard, which vinyl wraps around to create the top piece at the back of the console, behind the console lid.  Mine was buckled, so I cut a piece of sheet metal to replace it, glued it up and placed weights on it to smooth out the vinyl.

Old, warped cardboard on the right, new sheet metal on the left.

Vinyl wrapped and ready to glue down.
The dots are where the hinge will mount.

Glued up!

Underside of the lid with new stainless fasteners.
(I'll clean up the tag ends of the vinyl, don't worry.)

    10. Glue and clamp the little trapezoid to the console metal and attach the lid with new #10 stainless screws.

11. Cut out the hole for the lock and mount it in place.  Fiddle with the lock until it locks and unlocks easily.

And the lock works!
(I see the little bulge in the vinyl, but it's too late to fix it. 
Don't look that closely!)