1948 TA-14 DHC restoration story/blog

Hello All, It's great to see the new forum up and running. It enables me to share this story with you all. I hope you enjoy reading it and that others have similar works to share! As you can see below, I started in 2005. The restoration is currently paused due to family commitments, but I have a good deal of material to post here to bring you all up to the current stage where I'm in the process of doing body-work and paint. As I type from my bedroom, I have two rear wings to my left, and two front seats to my right with assorted tins of paint in between all being protected from life in the garage until I have time to get back to working on the Alvis!  My girlfriend's step-father gave me this car in this condition in 2005. [img:3lf5w8y4]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/Front.jpg[/img:3lf5w8y4] [img:3lf5w8y4]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/RearSection.jpg[/img:3lf5w8y4]  He had done an amount of work on it when he bought it in the mid 80s. some of the ash frame had been replaced and all the old paint had been stripped off and the aluminium protected with primer.  Nothing had been done with anything else though. the car had been laid up in about 1986 by him, but not been used regularly ince 1965. Apparently it was running before it was parked up.  I started by stripping it bare down to the chassis. [img:3lf5w8y4]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/Chassisstripped.jpg[/img:3lf5w8y4]  There was a small amount of obvious cutting and welding to be done towards the rear off side [img:3lf5w8y4]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/IMG_0629.jpg[/img:3lf5w8y4] [img:3lf5w8y4]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/IMG_0635.jpg[/img:3lf5w8y4]  The next idea was to get it dipped and coated by Surface Processing in Dudley. That way, the internal sections of chassis would be as clean and protected as teh external. The old Mondeo was elected as transport for both round trips Dundee to Dudley and performed admirably!  [img:3lf5w8y4]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/chassiscoated.jpg[/img:3lf5w8y4]   The coating people damaged two of the outriggers. It looked like they used them to lift the chassis with. both were bent significantly. a small discount was offered, but I'd rather have got it back in the same condition I had left it off!!!  Once I got it back in the garage, the stripping had revealed a couple of thin areas that needed patching.  [img:3lf5w8y4]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/Chassishole.jpg[/img:3lf5w8y4] [img:3lf5w8y4]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/chassispatch.jpg[/img:3lf5w8y4] Posted by pryantcc 12/08/2012 20:45:22

Great to see this! It doesn't look like a Carbodies or Tickford. I went through all this in 1979/80 when I dismantled my Carbodies drophead after having used it since 1964. I filled three single garages with all the bits. I seem to remember that the car went amazingly well without the body!!!!!!!!!!! We are now up to almost 270,000 miles from new, so keep up the good work and you will be amply rewarded.  David. Posted by DavidMJS 15/08/2012 17:38:55

[quote="DavidMJS":18xve9um]Great to see this! It doesn't look like a Carbodies or Tickford.  David.[/quote:18xve9um]  Thanks for the encouragement David! You're correct, it is neither a Carbodies nor Tickford. It is one of two built by the Benson Motor Company of Birmingham. I can't find any information about this company other than a small reference in the history file which came with the car. If anyone knows anything about them, please do let me know! Paul. Posted by pryantcc 21/08/2012 10:17:37

Hello all, here's the next installment.  Once I'd patched up the holes that showed up during the stripping process, I got on with painting the bare chassis. The coating from the surface processing guys is impressive, pretty hard stuff and very well stuck! Electrophoeretic coating they call it. Paint is attracted to the metal by electricity in  a similar way to chrome plating. It was not my choice of colours though, nor particularly  traditional! So, I painted it all black.  A guy on Ebay was making stainless box fuel tanks for kit cars etc. my tank was rotten, and WAY to expensive to get a replacement from Red Triangle. I asked if he could do curved tanks, and he said he'd give it a go. He did a great job and made it perfectly to my (incorrect) drawing. Once I realised my mistake, he took it back and adjusted it for me!  [img:381o1fej]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/Chassispaintedandtank.jpg[/img:381o1fej]  I spent an awful lot of time cleaning and painting components. It's a mechanically simple car, but the mechanical brake rods and levers add significantly to the list of bits to clean and paint. I found the rust removers from Bilt Hamber to be fantastic! everything I took off was scrubbed, de-rusted and painted. They have gradually been stuck back onto the chassis.  Axles were next. The most expensive thing so far was the king pins in the front axle. I had to give it to a guy to do because I don't have a press. It turned out to be a good thing to do because he found that each side of the axle was a different size. He had to machine one of the pins to fit. Anyhow. all done now and shiny looking!  [img:381o1fej]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/kingpins.jpg[/img:381o1fej]  Rear axle was another mission. I took it on myself to re-align the crown-wheel and pinion. This was necessary because the pinion bearing was shot and the pinion was flopping around in the housing which had destroyed the oil seal. So, re-alignment took me weeks! The adjustment is made by adding and removing shims on the pinion shaft which meant pressing the bearing out to make each adjustment.  To say my methods were Heath Robinson would be an understatement. Home-made pullers and a big hammer! Much swearing, sweating and disbelief that one little shim was going to make much difference later, all looked good and it was stuck back together. I had both axles shot blasted and plasticoated as they were too big for my Bilt Hamber baths! Time will tell if it's any good!  [b:381o1fej][u:381o1fej]Later edit[/u:381o1fej][/b:381o1fej]: There is already some rust showing on the rear axle where they obviously didn't clean it off properly before they coated it. It's only a few years ago and the car has been in a garage all that time! I'm dissappointed and think I probably would have been better off just getting them to blast it, then take it back myself so I could check it before painting!  The 'Blue' marking ink is an appropriate colour considering the profanities directed at this piece of equipment! [img:381o1fej]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/diff.jpg[/img:381o1fej]  Axles back on, and back on 4 wheels, wohoo!! (the original tyres and tubes are still holding air, if only for a few weeks at a time!) [img:381o1fej]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/chassiswheelson.jpg[/img:381o1fej] Posted by pryantcc 21/08/2012 15:56:31

Hi Paul,  Superb to see the dedication and quality of your work.  I have the choice of a TR4 and TA14 and, whilst great fun (albeit a bit of a threat to th integrity of ones driving licence) I can honestly say that I find much more pleasure in driving the TA.  Not only that, even my 18 year-old lad agrees; "Alvira turns ever journey into an occasion" where the words he used recently.   Keep going, the reward is well worth the effort.  All the best,  Tony  PS: I seem to recall seeing your story and photos on another forum sometime back.  Is that right or am I suffering from a case of deja-vous? Posted by TonyO 23/08/2012 20:51:37

[quote="TonyO":9uozgmuu]Hi Paul,  Superb to see the dedication and quality of your work.  I have the choice of a TR4 and TA14 and, whilst great fun (albeit a bit of a threat to th integrity of ones driving licence) I can honestly say that I find much more pleasure in driving the TA.  Not only that, even my 18 year-old lad agrees; "Alvira turns ever journey into an occasion" where the words he used recently.   Keep going, the reward is well worth the effort.  All the best,  Tony  PS: I seem to recall seeing your story and photos on another forum sometime back.  Is that right or am I suffering from a case of deja-vous?[/quote:9uozgmuu] Thanks for the encouragement Tony! You may well have read about it in on the practical classics site or old classic car? I'm delighted to have found such an appropriate place as this to put it! Posted by pryantcc 23/08/2012 21:00:37

Evening Paul,  Yes, I think that it was old classic car.  And if I recall correctly there was also a Frenchman with a Tickford on the same forum.  My wife and I are reminded of him quite frequently.  We are of the view that he used Google translate to post his messages.  Nothing wrong with that, we do it quite regularly.  Although we live in France my French is certainly it as good as it should be and I'm sure that I'm frequently guilty of similar 'faux pas' as that guy, who commented that 'he found his wife on the Internet' as opposed to his wife finding a new clutch on the Internet.  Similar translations might account for some of the bemused looks that I still get when I'm asking for unusual items or beng particularly brave and risking trying to be humourous.  All the best,  Tony Posted by TonyO 23/08/2012 21:23:19

HI paul when are we going the bring up the topic of the first "Alvis day Ireland".I think you need a compleation date to spur you on ha ha.Sorry for the rub but  I am so looking forward tto getting my TF back with an interior,awesome..regards tom mck.I still have a better irish members list to send over the weekend but my pc has a mind of its own.also I would still like to be able to post photos direct without going through photo bucket or any of the like.also dose eveyone still need to log in every time or is that my pc is suffering from dirty points ect !!! Posted by TE McK 24/08/2012 21:20:07

A boot full of bits that were too big to fit in the plastic window-box I used as a de-rusting bath. I took all of this to be blasted. Some of it was plasticoated, the rest just primed and I painted it. I'm pretty dissappointed with the plasticote on the rear axle and regret it now. It wasn't blasted properly and there's rust coming through now in nooks and crannys! [img:1ob3ky6y]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/miniP1020847.jpg[/img:1ob3ky6y]  This is some of the brake mechanism all cleaned up and reassembled. The pedal is behind the chassis member, the rod on the left activates the front brakes, and there’s a rod that connects in from the right that works the back ones. [img:1ob3ky6y]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/miniP1020875.jpg[/img:1ob3ky6y]  Front axle brake rod arrangement. [img:1ob3ky6y]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/miniP1030048.jpg[/img:1ob3ky6y]  Engine and gearbox on the floor. I cleaned the crud off the gearbox, but the engine was very awkward to move around, so I decided to clean that up once it was mounted back in the car.  [img:1ob3ky6y]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/miniP1030051.jpg[/img:1ob3ky6y]  I haven’t done anything mechanical to either engine or box. Everything I’ve read suggests that the gearboxes are pretty bullet proof (although there is slight play on the output shaft).  The water jacket on the engine was full of a terrible amount of muck. Here’s what it looked like when I took the end plate off. [img:1ob3ky6y]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/enginedirtywaterjacket.jpg[/img:1ob3ky6y]  And here’s a pic of some of the stuff that I shovelled out of it! [img:1ob3ky6y]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/enginewaterjacketmuck.jpg[/img:1ob3ky6y]  To finish cleaning it out, I used heat-shrink to fit a thin plastic pipe to the narrow hoover attachment. I let the block dry out and then sucked out the rest of the gunge having loosened it up with bits of wire and bottle brushes!  My service history says that it had new pistons 20K miles ago, so I’m just going to start it up and see how it is. I can’t really afford to have it all stripped down and machined. I’ve cleaned out the sump and oil filter gauze as well as I could. I’ve also done my best to check that oil is travelling around as many internal oilways as possible. I fitted a new clutch plate. I actually found it at my local motor factors from an old tractor catalogue. What’s even stranger is that they had 2 on the shelves from the 80s! Fifteen quid for it seemed like a bargain when a spring-shackle bolt from Red Triangle cost me 25!  Engine and box re-united and about to be dropped onto lovely new rubber mounts. [img:1ob3ky6y]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/miniP1030085.jpg[/img:1ob3ky6y]  And installed! [img:1ob3ky6y]http://i307.photobucket.com/albums/nn315/prynatcc/engineinstalled.jpg[/img:1ob3ky6y]  I then wheeled it all outside so I could clean up the engine without destroying my garage floor any more than it already is! Posted by pryantcc 07/09/2012 09:03:49

Hi Paul,  Good to see that you have been making progress.  I hope that you haven't been adding-up all of the hours that you hae spent on the restoration though!  What do you think are the likely timescales now?  Is next summer a realistic target or will other commitments intervene?  Whatever it takes, I'm sure that your first run will be an absolute delight: we certainly enjoy ours and she grabs attention wherever she goes.    'Bon courage' as my neighbours are fond of saying when they looking at how much work I'm surrounded by!  All the best,  Tony Posted by TonyO 07/09/2012 09:50:08