Tillie Has a Birthday !

Yup, it's true, the ole girl turned 40 on November 1st, 2013 !  According to my British Motor Heritage record, she rolled down the assembly line November 1, 1973. To mark this milestone, I thought a blog update was in order. I asked wife, Rhoda, to bake her a cake, and she asked if there should also be candles and singing! (I'm still waiting for the cake :-)) To add to the festivities, here is a look at what's been happening since my last post.

After my initial engine break-in run, I had a list of items to accomplish....after the oil / filter change, I re-torqued the head bolts and adjusted the valves.

I had several small coolant leaks that needed attention.  Most were just a matter of tightening clamps, however, I did have to pull off the water pump and WP housing after I discovered I'd used the wrong gasket sealant !

 Another small leak was where the coolant return line connects to the water pump housing....it's a compression fitting  that I hadn't tightend enough.

The triple ZS carbs required a bit of "tweaking", and I'm sure I'll need to do some more adjusting, but the engine does now idle, something it wasn't doing earlier.

Taking a break from the engine, I decided to install the glove box. Several 6-Pack forum searches made it clear that the box was a tight fit with the stock wiring harness, and as I'm using the AAW (Advance Auto Wire) kit with its thicker wiring, a modification was in order. Since this is not a daily driver, a big roomy glove box is not something I felt was necessary, so out came the saw....

This is the original cardboard type box, but I was amazed at how tough it was to cut!

Since guys usually can't get into a Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Store with out a female escort :-), Rhoda took me there to purchase some canvas material to make a flexible  back section. It's not real pretty, but it is tough and will hold small miscellaneous papers, sunglasses, and a pair of string back driving gloves!

This flexible bag ,instead of the rigid box, will not cause any interference with the AAW wire harness.

Getting the gauges installed in the dash was a major milestone for me. Note that the cold air "eyeball vents" have been replaced with an additional gauge and a clock !

The oil temperature gauge is made here in the U.S. by Auto Meter. The angle ring makes it a bit easier to view.

An Auto Meter quartz clock gives the passenger something to monitor, and again the angle ring makes for easier viewing.

Once all the leaks were taken care, of I wanted to get the hood (bonnet) back on. Rhoda helped me get it out of the truck bed and onto the car with no paint damage, but I soon found out that was the easy part!

John, my body guy, told me to start with the hood high and forward  while first bolting on the hinges, then concentrate on making the hood square with the cowl next to the windshield. Next came getting the height adjusted at the front using the vertical adjustment of the hinges.  So far so good!


I used 6-Pack member Bobby D's method for mounting the hood latch....some grease on the plunger and tape on the latch to check alignment.

 A little adjustment on the plunger made it hit the tape dead center after this photo was taken.

Of course getting the hood release adjusted is critical, and since I'm not using the "prone to break" cable, my positive release lever installation was straight forward.

Ok ,you're thinking ,so what's the big deal about installing the hood...well ,gentle reader, getting the side gaps to look presentable consumed hours and hours of time!

 I called John, and he told me that the fenders needed to be adjusted in or out as needed to get an even gap once the hood was square with the cowl. There are approximately 12 bolts holding the fenders in place, and for the drivers side I needed to loosen all twelve, make my adjustment, tighten a few, close the hood, then repeat as needed.

The drivers side rear corner is still 1/16th inch high as I write this blog, and I don't know if it will ever be level...I've never battled so hard to achieve a 1/16th of an inch in my life :)! 

I originally hoped to drive Tille on her 40th birthday, but extra contracting work conspired against me, so it will be spring before I put her on the road. In the mean time, I'm enjoying the journey!