Sunday, September 16, 2012
Austin-Healey Sprite: Removing and restoring the exterior lights
This video documents the removal and restoration of the exterior lights on our 1969 Austin Healey Sprite MKIV project. Here we remove the headlights, front turn/park lights, tail lights, reverse lights and license plate light in order to restore them and safely store them away until it's time for reassembly.
New Project: 1969 Austin-Healey Sprite MKIV
My wife got jealous of the kid having her own project car. A Couple weeks later she found a 1969 Austin-Healey Sprite on Craigslist. So now it's in my garage and she's learning how to restore it!
2002 Ford Explorer - Rear Turn Signal / Brake light repair
In the following video we show you how to replace the rear turn signal and brake light bulbs in a 2002 Ford Explorer. Drive Safe!
Replacing the Water Pump on a 1995 Honda Accord VTEC
This video documents replacing the water pump and timing belts on a 1995 Honda Accord four cylinder vtec motor
Saturday, September 15, 2012
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Review: Specialist Sports Cars, by Richard Heseltine
Specialist Sports Cars: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of a very British Breed
By: Richard Heseltine
During road trip season I try to stop in many book stores and automotive places to find new reading material. This year we were able to attend the Northwest Historics racing event on July 1st, 2012. In addition to being able to introduce the family to vintage racing, I found a bookseller, Vintage Motorbooks, who had a good collection of niceties to pick up. One of my favorite finds was this book:
While we all know about Triumph, MG, Austin and even the smaller marques like TVR, Jensen and Marcos there were a great many automobile builders in the UK in the period between World War II and the introduction of the Mini (which spelled doom for many of these car companies). This book, by Richard Heseltine, devotes pages to each one of these smaller marques. For me, it was a great look into the history of building and selling small cars during the greatest period of club racing. Not only is there a lot of information devotes to the cars themselves, but the author also goes into the story behind the marques, their rise and fall, so to speak. If you are ever looking for a good read, particularly if you're into British or small manufacturers, then I highly recommend adding this one to your library. It's a great one to sit and read, dreaming, perhaps of building your own club racer from scratch! It's available on Amazon:
By: Richard Heseltine
During road trip season I try to stop in many book stores and automotive places to find new reading material. This year we were able to attend the Northwest Historics racing event on July 1st, 2012. In addition to being able to introduce the family to vintage racing, I found a bookseller, Vintage Motorbooks, who had a good collection of niceties to pick up. One of my favorite finds was this book:
While we all know about Triumph, MG, Austin and even the smaller marques like TVR, Jensen and Marcos there were a great many automobile builders in the UK in the period between World War II and the introduction of the Mini (which spelled doom for many of these car companies). This book, by Richard Heseltine, devotes pages to each one of these smaller marques. For me, it was a great look into the history of building and selling small cars during the greatest period of club racing. Not only is there a lot of information devotes to the cars themselves, but the author also goes into the story behind the marques, their rise and fall, so to speak. If you are ever looking for a good read, particularly if you're into British or small manufacturers, then I highly recommend adding this one to your library. It's a great one to sit and read, dreaming, perhaps of building your own club racer from scratch! It's available on Amazon:
Sunday, April 1, 2012
New Acquisition 1980 TR7
Back when we were looking for a project for my daughter I stopped and looked at this TR7. I made the fellow an offer, but they didn't seem terribly excited about it. I let them know it was a standing offer. Just about a month later I received a call back from the sellers. Having not had success trying to sell the vehicle they agreed to my offer price.
Here's what the 1980 TR7 looked like when I dragged it home:
Believe it or not, it looked even shabbier in person than it does in this photo.
Luckily, though, the car had been garaged and covered during it's 20 year slumber. The interior doesn't look too bad. You can see, however, the damage to the center console that occurred when the stereo was stolen (20 years ago).
The rear of the interior looks just as good. This whole area is usually terribly faded out and often water damaged from the convertible top dying.
Now I wanted to see what was under all that grime. The following photos were taken as I was power washing the car with an epic amount of cleaner/degreaser:
The black looks black! Or, at least it looks black when it's still wet. The paint, though very dirty and somewhat oxidized is in pretty good shape.
The rear end looks pretty good too! The downside is that someone at some point decided that the rubber bumper needed some dressing up, so they painted it. This is common on TR7's and TR8's. It's annoying and will need to be cleaned up.
If the engine compartment is any indication, this car should be pretty easy to get running. It is hard to see in the photo, but the brake fluid reservoir has been siliconed until it cried uncle. A replacement will have to be located and installed.
The old battery is still in it. We'll have to pull that and replace it. Again, I'm very surprised at how clean this engine compartment is.
It wasn't unti lthe years of grime were blasted away that I noticed the cracks in the windscreen. Here's another part to add to the list.
Until next time!
Jody
Believe it or not, it looked even shabbier in person than it does in this photo.
Luckily, though, the car had been garaged and covered during it's 20 year slumber. The interior doesn't look too bad. You can see, however, the damage to the center console that occurred when the stereo was stolen (20 years ago).
The rear of the interior looks just as good. This whole area is usually terribly faded out and often water damaged from the convertible top dying.
Now I wanted to see what was under all that grime. The following photos were taken as I was power washing the car with an epic amount of cleaner/degreaser:
The black looks black! Or, at least it looks black when it's still wet. The paint, though very dirty and somewhat oxidized is in pretty good shape.
The rear end looks pretty good too! The downside is that someone at some point decided that the rubber bumper needed some dressing up, so they painted it. This is common on TR7's and TR8's. It's annoying and will need to be cleaned up.
If the engine compartment is any indication, this car should be pretty easy to get running. It is hard to see in the photo, but the brake fluid reservoir has been siliconed until it cried uncle. A replacement will have to be located and installed.
The old battery is still in it. We'll have to pull that and replace it. Again, I'm very surprised at how clean this engine compartment is.
It wasn't unti lthe years of grime were blasted away that I noticed the cracks in the windscreen. Here's another part to add to the list.
Until next time!
Jody
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