1st October 2009
Another eBay purchase last week in the form of a pair of track rod ends seemed like a bargin, but they haven't
turned up six days after paying for them. I hope that this isn't a sign of things to come.
Planning for the coming weekend, I will need to get on to removing the rear bumper, electrics and then the (heavily
rusted) bolts that hold the body to the chassis.
Fingers crossed.
4th October 2009
A day of bad news, sadly.
About a week or so ago, I had noticed that the car was leaning to the right, when viewed from the rear. At the
time I had thought it was an issue with the bracket that mounts the nearside rear corner on to the chassis, but
on closer inspection it appears that the chassis itself may be twisted. Oh dear!
On to my back with an inspection lamp and a wire brush to get a closer look at things and it is apparent
that there are a number of welded in plates on the chassis legs toward the rear; could these be the culprit? Time
will tell.
Meanwhile, I have had a delivery of tools from my folks back in Yorkshire, including a batch of Whitworth taps
and die nuts. I'm sure these will prove helpful and they certainly served to cheer me up if nothing else.
Still no luck with the rear bumper brackets, so more penetrating fluid has been applied and patience has been doled
out by the bucket load. Best to take my time rather than rush this and start breaking things or shearing off bolts,
I feel.
Looking forward to the next tasks to perform, the intention is now to obtain material to make a support cradle
for the body for when it is separated from the chassis. This will need to be completed before I get the body off,
otherwise the whole tub may twist in storage and never go back.
So, not much further forward this weekend, with the exception of the nearside wing. Hopefully, with two days holiday
this coming Thursday and Friday, I may have more luck during the week.
8th October 2009
What a cracking day! The sun is out and it's unusually warm for the time of year and I'm making hay whilst the
sun shines. 
Right, starting at the back of the car....unfortunately the nuts holding the rear bumper iron to the chassis had
corroded that badly that there was nothing left to get hold of with a pair of mole grips, let alone a spanner.
So, with some trepidation, I set about them with the angle grinder. I managed to get all four cut away without
putting a mark on the bumper brackets or the chassis, so that was a result. Once this was done I released the bolts
that hold the body tub to the chassis and removed the two bolts that pass through the floor of the boot and in
to the rearmost cross member on the chassis.
Moving forward, I released the six bolts (three each side) that hold the floor to the chassis, before moving to
the two bolts just in front of the bulkhead. I had a pleasant surprise all round really, as I only had to fight
with the bumper bracket bolts during the entire day.
Anyway, I then removed the steering arm and loosened the bolts that hold the steering box to the chassis.
The only things left to do before I can remove the body are remove the steering wheel, so that the steering column
can be drawn down through the bulkhead and remove the gearstick.
As I am stuck without a puller to remove the steering wheel at the moment, I turned my attention to lightening
the body tub, by removing the passenger seat, doors and boot lid.
Space is becoming something of an issue and I will soon have to move some of the body parts to Yorkshire for storage
whilst I get the chassis knocked in to shape.
So, the next three things to do are remove the steering column, remove the gearstick and build a cradle for the
body to sit in.
9th October 2009
Right, after a little research, we think we can get the steering wheel off and the column down through the body
and all without upset.
We have also developed a cunning plan to sit the body tub on a surrogate chassis made of timber joists. We think
that the joists will prove much more forgiving than steel when we sit the tub down on them, avoiding damage, but
there is a higher risk of warping and settling.
With a following wind, we hope to get the body ready for final separation tomorrow. Wish us luck.
11th October 2009
Finally, the body is ready to be separated from the chassis!
I removed the cover at the bottom of the steering column to release the indicator tube; I then withdrew this up
in to the car and set aside carefully. Next, I partially undid the nut at the head of the steering column, so that
it was flush with the end of the column. With Ness in the drivers seat pulling on the steering wheel with her hands
and knees to ensure a good uniformly distributed load around the wheel's rim, I put an old nylon block against
the nut. I stuck the nylon block sharply a couple of times and the steering wheel became free on the column.
Once the bracket holding the column at the correct rake under the dash had been loosened I was able to release
the steering box from the chassis and pull the whole thing down through the bulkhead.
The seats were then taken out of the vehicle and the gearstick was removed; I'll be relying on a block under the
wheels as a brake until I can put the stick back in place.
Next step is to make the support cradle for the body and then we're away. All by the end of the first week of October,
as hoped too.
18th October 2009
I brought home a couple of scrap heavy duty pallets from work this weekend to act as a bed for the Austin's body
to sit on; this saved time, insofar as I didn't have to build a surrogate chassis (yet).
I stepped out in to the bright sunshine and attached four large castors to the pallet in preparation
for the separation later on in the morning. I have put the castors on so that the body could be moved about easily
whilst it's in storage in Yorkshire.
All seemed to be going swimmingly, then I noticed that I had forgotten to remove the handbrake lever. D'oh! A quick
ten-minute scramble later and the lever was off.
After a little press gang action I had lined up Ness, Nat, Alex and Nat's mate Dan Wallett (thanks Dan!) to help
me get the
body off the chassis and move it backward to the waiting wheeled pallet. After trapping Nat's hand (twice),
we managed to achieve our goal. A second, smaller pallet, was placed under the back of the body to prop it up at
the correct level.
Once I had basked in the light of our success I had a good look over the chassis and noticed some rather poorly
executed repairs. I had seen patches on the chassis in one or two places when I had inspected it before, but the
true state of affairs was more obvious now. In particular, one large plate has been welded on to the offside just
in front of the rear wheel; no problem with the location or size of the patch, but it has been welded over the
old, rusty area. Hmmm, there is going to be some work to do there, I can tell you!
The suspect 'twist' in the chassis has also been traced to a collapsed road spring on the rear axle. So that will
probably be less of an issue than we first feared.
Next step is to get the body up to Yorkshire and press on with the chassis repairs.
26th October 2009
Not as productive a day as I would have hoped, I'm afraid.
I started out by moving two of the doors, the boot lid and the bonnet out of the garage and in to the shell of
the car, just whilst we wait to transport the body up to Yorkshire. Unfortunately, we must have been right on the
limit of what the castors could support, as the front two collapsed. Oh dear! Never mind though, I have a cunning
plan to overcome the problem.
Moving on to what I have actually got done; I managed to loosen all but one of the nuts that hold the head in place.
Sadly the last one has been rounded off by some previous bodging, so I will have to lay my hands on some specialist
tooling to get that last nut off.
Not deterred, I continued to clean up the chassis and remove the handbrake and footbrake assemblies. These will
need refurbishing before going back on the car. On the 'up-
side' the front brakes seem to
move quite freely; however, the same cannot be said of the rear ones.
I have left the foot brake hanging from the chassis at the moment, as I haven't been able to remove the pedal from
its shaft yet. Job for another day, I guess.
29th October 2009
Well, a long day today, but we can say that the mission has been accomplished; the body, bonnet, doors, boot lid and seats are now in safe storage up in Yorkshire. A round trip of 248 miles and one day's van hire later and, hey presto, we have enough room to get on with the chassis more easily.