'And the Fun Begins!'

[Mike Armstrong]

After several years in the garage and a ton of help from fellow members, my Alpine hit the road today for the first time in some 30 years for a 4th of July innagural drive, USA flags and all. Drove it along the beach following the Holiday crowds along Hwy 101 thru Carlsbad and back again several times, stopping for a cold Gellatto and then back home. Lots of waves and admirers, one couple even took pictures of my wife and I setting a stoplight.

For a very first road drive the car did remarkedly well. No overheating, accelerated, shifted and handled fine. The dual 13" mufflers exhausting out both sides forward of the rear wheels sounded no less than a V8. I had the Lucas Tri Bar Headlights on for a great British roadster look and occasionally honked the old horns to acknowledge the wavers. Overall, a great and memorable first ride!

Thanks to all who helped me along!

EDIT: I'll post some pics tomorrow, beer and barbecue are getting in the way right now

EDIT #2: Might as well mention what was added to the inevidable first drive to do list: 1) the overhauled brakes were very mushy, not enough grab, 2) My guess at centering the steering wheel was wrong, gotta straighten it out by about 15 degrees. Not a bad list.

Next test drive, the freeway!

 

[V6 JOSE]

Congratulations Mike!

I know how you felt as you drove it for the first time.What a thrill! I remember when I drove my first V6 Alpine for the first time. I felt like I had accomplished something better than I had expected. This will be the beginning of a very happy relationship.

 

[260Alpine]

Mike, Sounds like fun!

 

[Series6]

Good on you Mike.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Thanks everyone, and again, thanks for all your invaluable help!

The first link is to a brief video my wife shot as we left our driveway and headed down the end of my street and on towards the beach on that first drive. Notice the immediate smile and towards the end as I applied the brakes for the first time while on the road I muttered aloud "brakes are mushy"

https://goo.gl/photos/GwBhW8haEtrzWnKN6

https://goo.gl/photos/hVrhuGDQe9FGepFz8

 

[260Alpine]

Mike, Very Cool! On your mushy brakes: Have you replaced the two front and one rear rubber hoses? Have you adjusted rear brake shoes? Maybe bleed again? I bed the front pads by 5 stops from 50. If you have vibration on the freeway I would relook at engine and pinion angles.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Mike, Very Cool! On your mushy brakes: Have you replaced the two front and one rear rubber hoses? Have you adjusted rear brake shoes? Maybe bleed again? I bed the front pads by 5 stops from 50. If you have vibration on the freeway I would relook at engine and pinion angles.

Thanks Jim.

Yup, replaced all the brake hoses, most of the piping and pretty much all the front and rear brake parts. I do need to adjust the rear brake shoes though and I don't think I did a great job of bleeding the brakes myself. I read allot about brake bleeding kits, vacuum vs pressure devices, and ended up ordering a pretty popular unit from Motive Products. The reservoirs on my dual system master are made me Tilton.

https://www.motiveproducts.com/coll...eeder-kits/products/0112-tilton-brake-bleeder

I don't know what you mean by "I bed the front pads by 5 stops from 50", ?

Haven't had it on the freeway yet. I want to get the brakes sorted first.

 

[260Alpine]

Mike, I go out on a deserted road and do controlled smooth stops from 50 to 0. My one person brake bleeding system: First I crack the fittings on the master with a rag under and retighten to make sure no air is in master.
I pressure bleed with extra master cylinder caps with mag wheel tire valves in center. 10psi air. Start with furthest wheel cylinder. Top up masters when done.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

I wonder if my brake master has a built in proportioner? The body is stamped F and R, to which I connected to front brakes to F and rear brakes to R. But there is a large screw head just behind the R brake circuit connection, not sure if it's just there to drain the system or to possibly adjust the amount of pressure divided up between front and rear.

http://autoplicity.com/2792870-brake-master-cylinder

Also, looking at the SV WSM, it looks like the only way you adjust the 'self-adjusting brakes is to pull the emergency brake several times until it's travel stop at its highest point.?

 

[260Alpine]

Mike, that screw is probably a bleeder.

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Mike, that screw is probably a bleeder.

I think you right. I remember messing around with turning it all the way in and out and I couldn't see seen any obvious difference.

 

[hartmandm]

Also, looking at the SV WSM, it looks like the only way you adjust the 'self-adjusting brakes is to pull the emergency brake several times until it's travel stop at its highest point.?

With the wheel off, rotate the drum until the hole in the face lines up with the adjustment sprocket. Then insert a flat blade screw driver in the hole to rotate the sprocket. Check progress by rotating the drum periodically. Go for minor drag. Then the final adjustment is via the handbrake.

Mike

 

[Mike Armstrong]

With the wheel off, rotate the drum until the hole in the face lines up with the adjustment sprocket. Then insert a flat blade screw driver in the hole to rotate the sprocket. Check progress by rotating the drum periodically. Go for minor drag. Then the final adjustment is via the handbrake.

Mike

Thanks Mike

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Took her to her first classic car show, Encinitas Classic Car Nights, awesome event. Lots of interested viewers and picture takers. Had several invites to take her to other upcoming events. The 2.8 sets in there so perfectly at least a couple guys (unfamiliar with Sunbeams) thought I had suped up the 'stock' factory V6 Allot of comments ranging from 'I used to own one of those!', to (seriously) 'I thought they only made toasters?', to 'back in the day a Sunbeam pulled up next to me in my friends Maserati, damn thing nearly beat us for the next two blocks!. Pretty fun stuff

https://goo.gl/photos/sfC9Tv9kjdsGJPXg8

 

[260Alpine]

Mike, Very Cool!

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Mike, Very Cool!

Thanks Jim!

 

[Warren]

Toasters

When they say "I thought they only made toasters", I say they make a killer electric blanket.

Mike do you have a number for the vin verify mobile guy?

 

[Mike Armstrong]

Hi Warren,

Yep, worked out so well I kept her card in case of another similar project.

www.vinverifyplace.com
Linda Maddox
714-393-9858

 

[Mike Armstrong]

2016 Vista Rod Run.

The Vista Rod Run has been going on for 27 years. Hot rods, classics and antiques, it's huge, over 350 cars, food, awards and a band to boot.

I arrived there around 0700 and got in line with about 30 cars in front of me. There were already at least a couple hundred cars parked inside for the show and it looked as though I would end up parked out on the perimeter. The entrance official got one look at the small size of my car and said 'if you don't mind being sqeezed into the main square I got a spot for you', of coarse I said 'I'll take it!'. Perfect spot out on the corner of a main intersection in full view.

Great show, the little blue British Alpine really stood out on its own among the many American muscle cars and hot rods. Lots of onlookers, compliments, 'I used to own one of these'rs', including an older couple that spent they're honeymoon traveling in an Alpine, and even a fellow SAOCA member stopped by

After repeating so many times the story of how nasty the car was when I first brought it home, I decided to make a couple 'story boards' and display them so folks could get a good understanding of the amount of work that has gone into making the car look/run as well as it does now. Just seeing people's reactions and hearing 'wow, really?!, great job!', made it worth having made them.

https://goo.gl/photos/GWsqbDqbuRy4vHVk6

 

[DanR]

Great Showing....

You did us a good PR Job Mike!

DanR