UOL 524 1957 A35 Restoration

Restoration projects and Austin related chat in here please
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Neil Evans
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by Neil Evans »

I've had many of these Lincoln batteries over the last 30 years and never experienced a problem...
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A40FARINAGURU
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by A40FARINAGURU »

Hoppend wrote:
AustinofEngland wrote: Well I always suspected that if I asked for advice on batteries that it would attract both positive and negative views.... :whistle:
Thanks for confirming the size and long term maintenance, I'll look into it.
An energizing read!
someones a bright spark :whistle:
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SteveClem
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by SteveClem »

Neil Evans wrote:I've had many of these Lincoln batteries over the last 30 years and never experienced a problem...
Do you think they are worth paying the extra money for Neil? They do look good and I'm thinking a new battery is on the cards in the next year or so.
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Nelly
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by Nelly »

SteveClem wrote:
Neil Evans wrote:I've had many of these Lincoln batteries over the last 30 years and never experienced a problem...
Do you think they are worth paying the extra money for Neil? They do look good and I'm thinking a new battery is on the cards in the next year or so.
When our horrible looking white battery dies I think we'll just get a black modern one and peel the stickers off :whistle:
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Neil Evans
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by Neil Evans »

They work just the same as a modern battery. It's purely down to aesthetics... :thumbs:
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Nelly
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by Nelly »

Felicity and Sam, Owners of 'Nelly', 1955 Black 4-Door A30
Owner and Club Member Since 2014
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AustinofEngland
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by AustinofEngland »

Thanks all for the help with the battery. :thumbs:

A Is for Acid!

The acid bath murderer strikes again claiming some more Mazak parts, in the quest for a factory look more unforeseen parts have been dissolved forever. At the end of all this I'll be putting a list together of the dos and don'ts of chemical stripping.

Door lock mechanisms, I looked into some of the replacement door handle spigots as the driver's door handle was just beginning to drop slightly. Reading about this but not having actually seen photos of the parts involved or process to replace them I have enlightened myself when they arrived in the post last week from the Club. I have removed both front door lock mechanisms and discovered that that the original spigot bushes were obviously mazak as there is no sign of them!
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This is the passenger latch with the new spigot bush and rivet.
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With the rivet drilled out and the new bush positioned in place my question is was there a further mazak spacer around the rivet? I would assume that there is as fitting a standard pop rivet would squeeze and jam the mechanism together. If so then this side is dealt with by inserting a few appropriate washers and it should be serviceable again.
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The driver's door latch is a different story, all of the above points but with two rivets and the private lock mechanism too.
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Driver's latch with rivets drilled out and new spigot bush.Image
Driver's latch with private lock mechanism dismantled, easily done by bending up three tags on the cage. However inside I suspect there is yet another mazak part as there is no evidence of anything that would engage with the small square drive peg from the private lock. I'm guessing that I'm going to have to get a spare used latch assembly to retrieve the parts necessary to get it working again?
Last edited by AustinofEngland on Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:14 am, edited 1 time in total.
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philipangus
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by philipangus »

Hi there

I'm loving the detail.

Re the driver's lock - Square spigot is needed - see pics.
Drivers Door Lock.png
Drivers Door Lock.png (228.01 KiB) Viewed 820 times
Drivers Door Lock 2.png
Drivers Door Lock 2.png (230.86 KiB) Viewed 820 times
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by AustinofEngland »

Thanks they are very useful photos, still can't see if the rivets have a spacer around them. I have a used door latch on the go and hopefully its in a serviceable condition to pinch the parts out in get the original working again. :thumbs:
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AustinofEngland
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by AustinofEngland »

I have acquired a replacement latch from a four door Image
Still sporting "rotodip" brown and hints of beko's favourite colour Spruce Green!
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Answering my own question from earlier the rivets do indeed have Mazak spacers round them.
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Rivets drilled out and lock mechanism dismantled shows the missing Mazak lock cam. Interesting the door handle spigots also has two thin brass brass washers fitted either side, there were no sign of these either so they are further victims of the acid bath...
Last edited by AustinofEngland on Sun Sep 10, 2017 12:17 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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beko
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by beko »

Those poor parts have been waiting for 60 years for the upgrade from Spruce Green to Court Grey :thumbs:
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by AustinofEngland »

beko wrote:Those poor parts have been waiting for 60 years for the upgrade from Spruce Green to Court Grey :thumbs:
That's a great answer! :rol:
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Getting the passenger side latch together, only one rivet and that infamous mazak spacer along with the thin washers either side of the door handle spigot.
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Riveted together, but another problem noticed that the latch bolt return spring had lost its tension. I was able to stretch it and refit it which cured the problem, no doubt another issue caused by the acid bath or heat process...
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I found that knocking out the sheared off part of the mandrel (the draw pin inside the rivet- I had to look it up on wiki!), it was possible to bash over the end of the rivet making it flush fit like the original. The driver's side latch is the reverse image but to include the private lock mechanism, once the missing private lock mazak cam was added everything worked again.
Last edited by AustinofEngland on Mon Aug 28, 2017 10:23 am, edited 2 times in total.
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AustinofEngland
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by AustinofEngland »

Great all sorted I thought, the fun starts again!

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Testing the latches for all functions revealed that the inner handle mechanism was not smooth and no resistance felt when returning the handle to rest or engaging the window lock. Turns out that they also have mazak parts inside them too! Also the detent spring had lost tension. This shows the original rivets drilled out.
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Everything cleaned up and about to go back together, I used two original mazak spacers from the spare latch and retentioned the detent spring, the other two spacers are improvised!
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Riveted together again
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Rivets after the bashing flush treatment.

Lots of unnecessary work but we live and learn, but it didn't stop there! Imagine how pleased I was that after bench testing the passenger side latch and everything was just perfect and smooth only to start fitting it inside and discover that I managed to rivet the inner handle drive post to face INSIDE the door!
The driver's side also had its troubles as initially it absolutely would not engage the window lock, this was wear in the oval slot the detent moves up and down in, again I used parts from the spare latch to rebuild but also found that fitting the top plate upside down evened out the wear.

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Both latches back in, tested and working to use a 1950s phrase "perfectly satisfactorily" except for one sticking outer door handle that won't fully return upright!
Last edited by AustinofEngland on Sun Sep 10, 2017 12:19 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by AustinofEngland »

Outer door handles
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Having read about door handles and up to three different shaft lengths available I checked out the ones we have in stock, they are both too long but better that way round!
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Trying out a new toy (this introduced a new level of household popularity).
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Firstly I drilled down extending the hole, then hacksawed the expansion slot and finally shortened the shaft, ran the self tapping screw down to recut the thread.
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All done but yet to discover the one with the shiny drive peg is not exactly 90 degrees to the handle spigot, making it stick down when opening the door...
Last edited by AustinofEngland on Mon Sep 04, 2017 8:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Duncan
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Re: UOL 1957 A35 Restoration

Post by Duncan »

is that your dishwasher underneath, or a washing machine that the filings are making their way into? (causing the popularity of which you speak)
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