Caroline's Project-series 1

[V6 JOSE]

If the previous owner stripped a bolt on the oil pump, I would recommend getting a new one. The oil pump is the heart of the engine, and in these engines, that already have oiling problems, a new one should be a must.

Jose

The engine is coming together! It's so exciting! Pistons are in, the oil pump has been cleaned, previous owner stripped a bolt and glued it together-why would you do that?
lower timing gear missing three teeth but not all together. Think I found one though.
putting fuel tank back in today.
Maybe it will be ready for the new year?

 

[mikephillips]

I don't recall, is you're a 3 main bearing still or replaced with a 5 main?? New 3 main bearing pumps are not available. For them you either need to find a good used or change to the 5 main pump. Changing requires using the 3 main driven gear attached to the pump, altering the oil pan baffle for the different oil pickup and changing the pump to block oil line or fitting in the block.

 

[ladybeamer]

I was fabulously lucky enough to find someone in the southern alabama british car club that had a series 5 engine he let me have for $100. Wish I would have had it to begin with-it's much better than the shape mine was in origianlly. It has the lower timing gear which mine was missing teeth, it also has the oil pump.
I am looking for a front valve rocker arm assembly or a pedestal if anyone has one.
Mike also let me have all the bits and baubles he had left from a series 5 he redid leveral years ago.
As soon as I have them cleaned up I'll post picures and see if anyone can use any of it. I'm happy to pass them on if needed. he was happy to clean out a space in his shop and I'm happy to pass them along.

 

[todd reid]

Caroline's project

I think I have a spare rocker assy. I will look tonight.

 

[ladybeamer]

http://photobucket.com/Caroline64

here's a link to the latest photos.
I'm getting so excited!

For those of you that know about my recent medical issues. I got my diagnosis today. Not as bad as feared. I have polyneuropathy, nothing that can be fixed or stopped but it shouldn't kill me either. We'll treat and go on. Just means my nerves are degenerating which explains quite a few of the problems I've been having. Just makes me that more determined to not waste time and enjoy the car.

 

[alpine_64]

the car is coming along very nicely, its really looking good. I love the painted/coated? silver headers, the factory ones may not flow the best, but they sure look nice.

 

[ladybeamer]

Thanks,
They are painted. I'd love to polish, powder coat or other wise beautify everything but have resolved myself to make it run well at a reasonable cost. Maybe one day it will get to be beauty baby, until then I just want it clean and running.
Pierre has done a fabulous job-I can't thank him enough. Those of you in the Mobile AL area may know him.

 

[V6 JOSE]

I wouldn´t feel badly becuase it isn´t finished. I drove my first Alpine for two years, even though it looked terrible. It had a two tone paint job (two shades of faded red), completely gone interior, (the seats were so sunken, you had to have a butt like a cockroach to fit it, the dash had been vandalized and broken, it had a set of green Toyota wheels, and a tan top. Can you imagine it? I didn´t care what others said or thought, because I had a vision in my head of what it would eventually be. I didn´t have the money to complete it; I just had spent all my money in getting it running. I enjoyed it so much, that you couldn´t wipe the smile off of my face. I drove it every day and everywhere.

Your Alpine is in a lot better shape than mine was, so enjoy it to the max. That engine looks good, and I know you have enjoyed putting it together.

Jose

 

[Bill Blue]

As I remember, the early headers were factory painted silver. They not only looked nice, they sounded great.

Drive it.

Bill

 

[Nickodell]

For those of you that know about my recent medical issues. I got my diagnosis today. Not as bad as feared. I have polyneuropathy, nothing that can be fixed or stopped but it shouldn't kill me either. We'll treat and go on. Just means my nerves are degenerating which explains quite a few of the problems I've been having. Just makes me that more determined to not waste time and enjoy the car.

That's a wonderful attitude. Carpe diem, as they say. Good luck.

 

[ladybeamer]

Wire Wheels-are they worth it?

Only attitude to have is a good one, bad ones dont help anything, never did, never will.
Be sure to look at the new pictures I posted-link is a couple posts back.

Does anyone have any experience changing to wire wheels? I really like the look but have no idea what's involved-cost, time and parts wise. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[Alpine Addict]

Most people including me are changing from wires as they can be a pain to maintain.

 

[V6 JOSE]

Steve is right. They may look great, but they are a lot of work and expense. They should be trued every year, and are hard to clean. You have to REALLY like them to switch to them. Most guys that have them, are switching their wires to steel or mag wheels.

Jose

Only attitude to have is a good one, bad ones dont help anything, never did, never will.
Be sure to look at the new pictures I posted-link is a couple posts back.

Does anyone have any experience changing to wire wheels? I really like the look but have no idea what's involved-cost, time and parts wise. Anyone have any recommendations?

 

[ladybeamer]

I had a 68 siata spring with wire wheels and loved it. It was my daily driver unless it was raining.
I never had trouble with them but had a great guy I took it to yearly in Alpharetta GA. (he used to get onto me about it being a daily driver)
Anyone of you switching interested in selling what it takes to change them out?

 

[Cactusmasher]

Wire Wheels

My brother had a beautiful MGA with steel wheels. He wanted to have the sporty wire wheels and conned me into helping him change over to the wires. It strained a relationship, I learned a couple of new swear words and in the end, cost way more money than it was worth. If somebody asked me to do it again, the answer is not only no, but hell no. It's easier to buy a car that originally came with the wire wheels. They are a pain to maintain and 40+ year old spokes like to snap in two on a hard corner....not very safe. Brand new wheels are the way to go but are expensive....$1000 to $1500 depending on supplier and whether or not painted or chrome. Chrome is definitely the prettiest (when cleaned) but stainless steel would be the ultimate best choice. I have owned some wire wheeled cars in the past and it got to where I didn't want to take the cars out for a ride because of the hassle of cleaning up the wire wheels. One little puddle or wet street and they are dirty. My two cents, for what it's worth.

 

[ladybeamer]

Yikes! I might steer clear (pun intended) of wire wheels.
I definitily want to be able to drive care free (as care free as possible with a 49+ year old car)

Next question-Am I best off to leave original wheels-they do have nice hub caps-or get new wheels or spend money in other areas of car restoration?

 

[puff4]

Next question-Am I best off to leave original wheels-they do have nice hub caps-or get new wheels or spend money in other areas of car restoration?

IMHO, keep the original steel wheels and restore them. They look very "60's", and frankly the look of modern mags on the Sunbeam usually puts me off - to me it's like putting mags on a 1932 Rolls Royce - it just looks 'wrong' to me. Now, if you have period mags, yes, they can look good, but they are very hard to find and you'll spend a fortune for a proper set. But even then, I think I still prefer the steel wheels, caps and trim rings... really makes the car look sharp... and period correct, too.

 

[ladybeamer]

OK, that picture convinces me. Original it is!

Can't wait to get her on the road. The weather here is perfect for a top off ride. My bikes in the shop and the car isn't ready. I"m going to hang my head out the window on the way home this evening!

 

[Green67Alpine]

Where in Alpharetta GA did you take your wires ? I've got a new set from Hendrix and love 'em, but I'd rather not take them to a hack to have them serviced. And Hendrix is in North Carolina...........Hey maybe on the way to next years invasion..........


Tom j

 

[Jim E]

Tom's wires as shipped were unreal! the tires were even shaved to be sure they were round and balanced.

Wires look nice but as said before they are a pain, once had a street rodder pull into the shop off the freeway he had a flat on the rear and he had huge tires with wire rims and tubes. I took him and his tire to a tire place and the first thing they did was rip the valve stem out of the tube. So then we are off to find a tube, come back and the next thing they did was pinch a hole in the new tube, off to get another tube... finally it was done. Had pretty much the same things happen to me at tire places when I ran wires and when they tried to balance them ended up with lead wieghts sprinkled all around the rim on both sides. ask them how can it be that you have an oz of lead straight across the rim from another oz of lead... in the end I just removed all the lead and ran them as they were.

The other cool thing about running steel wheels is you can have a set of stock steel for one look and then totally change the look with a set of minilites, or you could and this is something I always wanted to do, have a set of stock wheel centers installed in a set of 15 inch rims.