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"Wheeler Dealers" TV show

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
I just hate how they make it look so easy.. oh look.. take a couple of screws out and pow. There goes the windshield.. oh look.. couple of screws and bam.. there goes the dash.. Arrrrrrgh!!!

All that pretty much comes with reality shows.
My wife has a cousin who builds magazine cover quality cars. He was showing us a mag with his latest job on the cover. Beautiful. I showed him my lowly effort and related to him what a time consuming struggle it was, making two or three versions of bracket, only to discover a few months later it was in the way of something that just had to occupy that space. He said that was not at all unusual and that most parts fabricated for an engine conversion was fitted to the car 10-15 times before going out for finishing. It was great to see a pro relate to my problems.

Yeah, easy-peasy.

Bill
 

Beamin63

Donation Time
It looks to me like the steering wheel might be a Les Leston. See if there are any marks on the front or rear of the wheel.

I noticed that funky felt thing they put on there. I now realize that not only do you not have a horn button, I'm not sure you have turn signals. If not, perhaps that should be high on the list to attend to!

It looks like the stock steering column, but some funky adapter. Once you figure out what wheel that is, there are adapters out there that allow you to run the turn signals and a horn button.

Hi Jay and All,

Yes, it's a Leston wheel. If you or anybody knows which adaptor and horn push would be correct for it, and where I might find them, please let me know.

Also, I had an aftermarket turn indicator installed in the car. I would love to replace it with the original assembly, but I'm not clear what the correct part number is for my car. I see several on eBay right now with different part numbers. If anyone has this info, or has one to sell, please let me know.

Many thanks,

Rob
 

Beamin63

Donation Time
Fuel Gauge/Sender Communication

Hi All,

I have another question. My fuel gauge isn't working. I took it to a local mechanic, who informed me that the fuel gauge is fine, but the sender on my fuel cell isn't "talking to" the gauge. Can anyone tell me how to perform this calibration, or direct me to someone who can?

Many thanks again,

Rob
 

Bill Blue

Platinum Level Sponsor
To me, "isn't talking to" does not mean a calibration problem, but that there is no electrical connection. I'd start by checking the wiring between the gauge and sender as well as the sender ground.

Bill
 

hartmandm

Moderator
Diamond Level Sponsor
Also, I had an aftermarket turn indicator installed in the car. I would love to replace it with the original assembly, but I'm not clear what the correct part number is for my car. I see several on eBay right now with different part numbers. If anyone has this info, or has one to sell, please let me know.

Many thanks,

Rob

You can use the Alpine Parts List manual to usually figure out which part number is correct for your car. A searchable version is on the SAOCA site: http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/downloads/Alpine parts manual SI-SV searchable.pdf

It is missing some pages, though. I have a complete, non-searchable version of the Parts List at: http://mhartman.net/files/sunbeam/Sunbeam Alpine Parts List.pdf

Mike
 
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Beamin63

Donation Time
You can use the Alpine Parts List manual to usually figure out which part number is correct for your car. A searchable version is on the SAOCA site: http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/downloads/Alpine parts manual SI-SV searchable.pdf

It is missing some pages, though. I have a complete, non-searchable version of the Parts List at: http://mhartman.net/files/sunbeam/Sunbeam Alpine Parts List.pdf

Mike

Hi Mike,

Dunno why I didn't think of that. So obvious! Thanks.

Rob
 

Greggers

SAOCA Vice President
Platinum Level Sponsor
I'd be happy to convert your non-searchable parts list to be searchable. I tried, but it's password protected. Do you have a non-protected version?


You can use the Alpine Parts List manual to usually figure out which part number is correct for your car. A searchable version is on the SAOCA site: http://www.sunbeamalpine.org/downloads/Alpine parts manual SI-SV searchable.pdf

It is missing some pages, though. I have a complete, non-searchable version of the Parts List at: http://mhartman.net/files/sunbeam/Sunbeam Alpine Parts List.pdf

Mike
 

Toyanvil

Gold Level Sponsor
Hello Rob
Love the car, I work in your area sometimes and would love to see the car.
As for your gas gauge, Have you checked to see if you have power at the gauge, if you do, I would take the wire off the sending unit on the gas tank and ground it to a good ground, not just the tank. The gauge should show full or at least move. If it does not, your wire maybe bad. If it moves, check to see if your sending unit at the tank is grounded. If it does not move, I would get a long piece of wire and go from the sending unit to the gauge. You have an aftermarket gas tank, right? of so once you get it working you may need to pick-up a sending unit that matches the ohms of you gauge, to make it accurate.
good luck
 

Beamin63

Donation Time
And does anyone know what the "CELTO" refers to on the valve cover?

At least that's what I think it says.

Hi Jay,

The stamping on the Brabham valve cover includes a "B" with a circle around it, followed by "C.E. LTD.," followed by "Surbiton."

I've attached a .jpg.

Dunno what it means. Perhaps another on this thread might?

Cheers,

Rob
 

Attachments

  • Brabham Valve Cover.jpg
    Brabham Valve Cover.jpg
    35.7 KB · Views: 68

Beamin63

Donation Time
Fuel Gauge Checks

Thanks for the advice on checking the fuel gauge. Hopefully I'll have some time later this week to run these checks.

Rob
 

tony perrett

Gold Level Sponsor
Hi Jay,

The stamping on the Brabham valve cover includes a "B" with a circle around it, followed by "C.E. LTD.," followed by "Surbiton."

I've attached a .jpg.

Dunno what it means. Perhaps another on this thread might?

Cheers,

Rob
The Brabham font appears to be inconsistent and rather amateurish from the photograph. It is as though someone has dressed the rocker cover in order to make it look as if the engine has been converted which could explain the inconsistencies found when the head was removed.
 
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Beamin63

Donation Time
Parts Catalog

Thanks for the complete version of the parts catalog, Mike. Your file opened perfectly on my end. No password required.

Cheers,

Rob
 

Beamin63

Donation Time
Parts Catalog

Thanks for the complete version of the parts catalog, Mike. Your file opened perfectly on my end. No password required.

Cheers,

Rob
 

hartmandm

Moderator
Diamond Level Sponsor
I'd be happy to convert your non-searchable parts list to be searchable. I tried, but it's password protected. Do you have a non-protected version?

Greg,

I don't have another version of that PDF. I've meant to check if some of my software packages can do an OCR on the document, or worst case, extract the images for the missing few pages and do an OCR on those page images, then merge it all together. I just haven't gotten around to trying it.

Mike
 

Greggers

SAOCA Vice President
Platinum Level Sponsor
Greg,

I don't have another version of that PDF. I've meant to check if some of my software packages can do an OCR on the document, or worst case, extract the images for the missing few pages and do an OCR on those page images, then merge it all together. I just haven't gotten around to trying it.

Mike

Yeah, I was trying to ocr it with a few different apps. You can view it fine without a password, but it won't let you ocr, print to PDF or anything else that would make it possible to extract the text. I thought maybe it's possible to print the doc, but then rescan it and ocr the new doc. Trouble is that's 510 pages of printing, 510 pages of scanning, document merging. And your reward for the trouble: image quality will plummet.

I tried to figure out which pages are missing, but after about a handful of pages, I got bored. If I knew exactly which pages were missing, I could easily do the print, scan and merge thing. The 50 pages or so that the little doc is short is more manageable than the full 510.

The document itself was locked by the SAOC, so perhaps someone who's a member of that could find an unlocked version (or the password).


But back on topic, lovely car. I've always wanted to check out a Wheeler Dealers car up close. I've always been curious about the quality of Edd's work. Tell you what though, wherever he got it painted, it might be cheaper for me to ship my car back and forth to there than get it painted around here.
 

Beamin63

Donation Time
I've always been curious about the quality of Edd's work. Tell you what though, wherever he got it painted, it might be cheaper for me to ship my car back and forth to there than get it painted around here.

Hi Greg,

The WD crew was very straight with me that they'd run out of budget toward the end of the resto and thus had to go with a less expensive single stage paint job. It looks good from several feet but up close reveals a lack of depth.

Best,

Rob
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
Hi Greg,

The WD crew was very straight with me that they'd run out of budget toward the end of the resto and thus had to go with a less expensive single stage paint job. It looks good from several feet but up close reveals a lack of depth.

Best,

Rob

That is really interesting. It is nice that they told you this, but I wish they would have incorporated that into the show. It would have actually made it more interesting and more relatable.

The Brabham font appears to be inconsistent and rather amateurish from the photograph. It is as though someone has dressed the rocker cover in order to make it look as if the engine has been converted which could explain the inconsistencies found when the head was removed.

I noticed that on the show and wondered about it, too. But, Steve Silverstein (Sunbeam74) - who is probably the most knowledgeable person in the country when it comes to Alpine race cars - looked at the car and seemed to imply in his earlier comment that the cover was legit. Hopefully, someone here can comment on this. Were the real Brabham covers really this amateurish looking?
 

sunbeam74

Silver Level Sponsor
Brabham Valve cover

I'm pretty sure the valve cover is truly a Brabham cover. To me it almost looked like a machinist might have used a pantograph to etch the letters into the valve cover. (it almost reminded me of the old Leroy Lettering system letters - just not as sophisticated)

How did it end up on the Wheeler dealers car? I am fairly certain the Wheeler Dealers car raced in the VARA series back in the 90's. I'm sure the owner simply put valve cover on the car for "looks". However, it was just the valve cover... not the engine.

More background.....

Around the early/mid-90's Carl Christensen was parting out Ken Miles' old Series 3 Alpine which Rootes had provided to Ken for the 1963 season. Bob Grossman ended up with a similar car. Both Forest Green Series 3's prepared by Brabham.

Somehow Brabham was associated with these two Series 3's... he was listed as the race entrant for Grossman's car more than once. I am guessing he was the entrant on Ken's too. I tend to think Brabham prepared the motor.

Sadly, the Miles' Alpine was destroyed... I talked to Roger Saunders, noted Abarth guy, who owned the Miles' Alpine before Carl. He went on how he was almost positive it was a factory built race car.

There is some photographic evidence to support he may have been right.
 
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greenbeam

Platinum Level Sponsor
Hi Rob, all,
I just around to watching the episode today (don't ask...). Congratulations on buying such an interesting car, and of course the best of the series' (no bias there ;-).

It was great to see the car and hear the opinion of the guys towards it. How times change! No mention of 'ladies car' or 'soft' at long last. Maybe people have become accustomed to the idea of wind up windows, sprung seats, heaters, and carpets in sports cars nowadays ;-)

Anyhow, apart from all the other interesting snippets about the car on this thread, I'm intrigued to know more about the audio system Ed referred to at the end of the show. Did he just have a bluetooth speaker propped in the cubbyhole? Was the movie soundtrack dubbed in later? Or does the car actually have a 'no headunit' powered bluetooth speaker stereo system installed? I have no sound system in my car at all, but I'm drawn to the idea of a couple of built-in powered bluetooth amplified speakers that I could link with my phone and then just stream music to when driving.

Cheers,
Paul.
 

Ken Ellis

Donation Time
And while we're askin' questions, what are the details on the alternator? Mfg/part number if you know it, and did it install with the standard bracket and wiring harness?
 
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