A Mostly British Obsession
Last week, Goldie started emitting horrible noises from the front end under braking, and you could feel a shudder in the brake pedal. I suspected I was running on low pads, but surely they weren’t all that bad, eh? Oops, they were completely worn out! Rebuilding the front discs was an interesting exercise.
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Got the front seats in today–they look pretty good…better than they did in the front hall, anyway. They aren’t quite as red as shown in this shot, the photo below is more akin to their true color.
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Progress! I have most of the interior installed, but I need to buy some additional carpet; the cheapie kit I used didn’t come with any for the areas behind the rear wheel arches, next to the load floor. Overall, I’m reasonably pleased with how the interior is turning out, but concours champions can rest easy, this car won’t be competition. By the time I get done driving it a few miles it will look well lived-in anyway.
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I grabbed a couple of wheels from storage (complete with dry-rotted tires) and gave them a quick shot of rattle-can paint to see what a set of red wheels would look like, “for reals.”
Update: Added a couple of photoshop mock-ups to end of post.
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I took the BSA up to the Vancouver All British Field Meet at Van Dusen Gardens on Friday. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I suspect the combo above might just be a bit too much gold, like seeing an older couple wearing matching outfits.
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The “new” side-stand isn’t absolutely correct, but is works and looks far better than the old one, which was from a B40. As a bonus, the bike isn’t in danger of tipping over when on it! Pictured with my prize for winning a BSA photo contest on the seat–a can of BSA engine oil.
I’m taking the BSA up to Vancouver on Friday for the All British Field Meet, drop by and say hello if you end up at Van Dusen.
I was able to get some clutch action today (I have a new slave cylinder set aside for the transmission swap) and, sitting on the floor to drive it out of the shop, saw the GT for the first time under natural light since it was painted. I think it looks pretty nice, though it needs to be buffed again and then polished. Please excuse the badly parked wipers with frankly awful wiper blade assemblies (being replaced)–and don’t examine any of the trim too closely!
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I came out of the shop tonight and found that spring has brought out the native songbirds, always nice to see an indigenous species doing well. (That’s one of Jim’s Toyota Seras being eyed by said fauna.)
Despite the fact that I last worked on the car Tuesday and then spent Tuesday evening being hauled by ambulance 25 miles to the hospital (unrelated, I think, though the British Car Gods work in mysterious ways) I was able to do some work on the car today. I got the cheapie front carpets in (they aren’t the best fitting set I’ve ever seen) and I got my $10 ebay headliner in as well (which I may redo as I cut it a bit short in one spot, fortunately hidden by the sunvisor.
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I spent today cleaning up the dash after my failed experiment painting the new rubber sill covers. (They really do need specialized dye.) I didn’t want to get into pulling the dash, so I masked everything (see photo below) and spritzed some semi-gloss black on over the original crackle.
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