What have you done to your Pagoda today?

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Hello Mike,

Welcome to the forum and all the best with your new found treasure

Happy Holidays!

[Mike K]

Rolf-Dieter,
Thank you very much and all the best for the Holidays and New Year to you too!

Mike

[Basil]

It was, after almost 50 years of service, about time to renew all the rubber at the rear end. I also put in two new coil springs,
driveshaft bearing and rubber. Oilseal at the differential. It took me about three days, and a lot of muscular pain.
Test drive today was awsome. Most important issue ...... no more vibration between 70 and 80 km/h

[Louiehenry]

I cleaned the chrome well, and polished the glass! It really makes the old cars look better when you can see the things sparkle!

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

Exposed mine to snowflakes on X-Mass Day

http://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=19778.0

Scroll down to Reply # 2

[mmizesko]

Hi Folks,

Just started my full paint restoration yesterday.  Joe and I stripped the car of all its chrome at the paint shop.  Pulled the windshield, stripped the leather off the soft top boot cover, and pulled the soft top out.

Carted off the pieces parts back to my garage, so hopefully nothing will be misplaced.

Meanwhile, while we had the dash out, sent the tach and speedo and Becker Europa II off for refurb, and am putting LED's in the dash per Alfred, Andy and others.

Keeping my 291H Dark Olive. With Base (solvent) and clear coats.  Just masking the hardtop trim and rails.  No rust, so no metal work. Yay.

Have to make some decisions about new leather for dash, as long as I am doing the soft top boot lid.  Pillar covers and door panels are great, but may not match the new Cognac.  Any advice?

Also need to clean up my wood on the dash. That's another topic.  I don't want to mess up the grain.

I was going to replace the carpet next year.  Hmm.

Mike Mizesko
Columbus, OH

[Garry]

I have recently had this problem with how far do I go in matching all the various parts of the interior up.  I ended up using an upholstery colour to match those that I am not replacing with the parts I am replacing.  I have replaced (GAHH via Buds Benz) the leather in the seats, all the door covers with hard pockets covers and arm sleeves and purchased some leather separately to match the piece on the soft top hatch and the small piece of leather on the base of the hard top.  All the rest I just recoloured.

There is the slightest variation between them all but unless I told you you would not pick it up.

Garry

[mmizesko]

Thanks Garry,

So many decisions and uncertainty.  Thanks for settling me down about the matching.  I'm going GAHH as well.

Mike Mizesko
Columbus, OH

[Garry]

Mike did you see an earlier post from andyburns in NZ about ordering through Buds Benz as Buds will give you a discount that is bigger than GAHH (the items are shipped directly from GAHH) and end up being cheaper that way.

Garry

[mmizesko]

Garry,

That will be great.  I'm already starting to stress about the funds associated with the resto.  Good thing the financial markets did well last year over here.

Mike

[J. Huber]

Well, I couldn't stand the temptation any longer. Had to break with winter protocol -- and remove the ol' hardtop before Spring. Its been such pleasant weather here -- clear and mid 70s. Sure this is California but we are in the Sierra foothills and usually its a lot cooler in January. So off it went and I took a couple wonderful spins yesterday and today. Sorry to rub it in for those still thawing out...

[kampala]

James,

Nice to see you took her out!  I was in your area over the holidays.  Drove the pass over the Sierra Nevadas from Highway 395 to the Bay Area.  Was really surprised at the lack of snow and the exceptionally warm weather. 

The car looks great amongst those pines. 

[Garry]

New leather interior and soft top turned up today from GAHH via order on Buds Benz.

 Next job is to fit or get someone to fit for me.

Then thats it, I am not doing any more, its finished.      Yer right

Garry

[Flyair]

Garry,

don't forget to post some god shots once it's done...

[Garry]

Went to the shed to look at the difficulty of fitting new leathers to seats.

 It got too hot to work.  Outside temp reading mid 40’s or 110 - 115f, and in the shed, 55c or 131  Lasted about five minutes.

Hoping for some cooler days on Tuesday when I am taking the Pagoda for a run north with a few others for a couple of days where it was even hotter today.

[Cees Klumper]

A whole new meaning to the word 'dry storage' ... Does that sort of exposure to extreme high temperstures not speed up drying out of rubber, seals, tires etc?

[Garry]

Cees
I think it does cause the rubber seals to perish much faster. Also puts a lot of pressure on the cooling system and you need to make sure it is absolutely in top condition if you are going to drive in the hotter temps.

 I think you would be lucky to get 20 years before possibly needing to change the seals if it was always like that but we will get four or five hot days then it ill cool down to the high twenties and low thirties. for a couple of weeks before going high again over the couple of hot months of summer.  In winter it actually gets below 10c daytime sometimes for weeks for a couple of months

 Sure helps with the rust control.  I always get very suspicious when I hear a car has come from a cold climate and especially where salt is used on the roads in winter.

[Flyair]

The remark about perished rubber versus metal parts is very wise, indeed.

In the case of my Pagoda, when it came to restoration, it appeared that the metal parts of the car, except for two quite limited areas, were sound and needed just some refreshment of the paint. But for seals, conduits, grommets and other rubber parts, they were mostly rotten and needed to be replaced. Fortunately, all of these items are available, although at cost, but that is a trivial observation.

[dante53]

Lot of things done this weekend:
1) replaced rod end ball sockets and spherical brass bushings (only the one towards the intake, could not replace the other because I could not remove the lever wich actuates the pump)
2) After all plays were removed I was finally able to succesfully complete the linkage tour and correctly set engine idle
3) Cleaned and "zinc sprayed" all the linkage rods and breather tube (poor man's zinc plating)
4) Calibrated the time switch: a prolonged cranking time was required for warm starts before, now the engine starts immediately
5) Replaced the cabin light socket: the old one was falling into pieces
6) Replaced the broken spring of the ashtray lid with a home built one

Then I went out for a brief sunday tour, enjoyng a warm sunny day: almost ready for spring time!

[garymand]

• HID headlights
  pwr strg belt
  Nose

job

Had a head light go out and found the Hella H4's and then stumbled accross the HID conversions and one for <$50.  Took all day yeasterday to install the wires and modules!  Half th etime went into cleaning chrome, correcting painter's rushed installs on my head light mounts, US version.  And R&R of the grill, same issue, careless craftsmen.  Grill and head lights fit nice now. 

The rest of the time went into adding a foot to the harness fot the right side light!  I guess the harness length is OK for chinese cars.  The harness extended into the area filled by the air breather, no way to get it into the head light can.  had to dismanltle the connectors, cut the wires, find suitable extensions, solder them in and reassemble the connectors. 

But Shazasm!  Bright lights with euro sharp cut off on the lows. 

Of-course close inspection found required maintenance: power steering belt throwing rubber, got a spare for that.  Front seal is leaking!  I'll wait for a three day for that one. 

Yet to do:

got new front wheel bearings, softtop re-glueing for a better fit on the passenger side and front lip, get the rear soft top seal to fit right, finish adjusting the FIP.

[Jordan]

Dante, how did you calibrate your time switch?  Are you referring to the thermo time switch?  Do you depress the gas at all when starting it warm or hot?  Thanks.

[Rolf-Dieter ✝︎]

3) Cleaned and "zinc sprayed" all the linkage rods and breather tube (poor man's zinc plating)

Bet it looks better then most of ours Dante Take a picture then we all can see how much better it looks then ours right now

[dante53]

Jordan, as far as I know the thermo-time switch cannot be calibrated. I mean THIS time switch: http://www.sl113.org/wiki/Engine/TimeSwitch

Unscrewing just a little bit the calibration screw (about 1/8 turn) I reduced the contacts' opening time and the engine now starts immediately, cold or warm, without depressing the gas pedal at all. Searching for the best regulation point I noticed that the more I increased the contacts'opening time (screwing in) the more I had to crank the engine to get it started. It seems as though the engine would not start while the contacts are closed.

[Jordan]

Dante, thanks that is perfect.  As soon as it warms up here a wee bit that will be my next attempted adjustment. 

[Flyair]

I have just got my Pagoda back from the pre-season check and am very pleased with the result. The engine and auto gearbox were fine-tuned and work better than ever. Gears change smoothly like in a modern gearbox and the engine is much keener to get on revs. I took the car for  trial ride on a highway and at one point saw 105miles/h on the clock....

Also, I had have installed the Kangol 3 points retractable belts. They were sourced from the UK old new ex-military stock that have been offered on eBay. Not cheap but work and look great. The pics of black belts on black interior do not show well the final result, but I am very pleased with the change.

Several things remain to fix, but nothing precluding from happy motoring, weather permitting.