Topic

Thanks for checking in, I was wondering how things were progressing.
M

The latest problem has been a bit of a head scratcher.

Hopefully if parcelfarce get there act together I should have a update tomorrow.

I had a break from childcare and family days yesterday. I really wanted to go for a drive in the TF, but in the back of my mind I was thinking that I should be doing a few more rustproofing jobs.

I cleaned the car with Bilt Hamber shampoo, and then broke out the BH Dynax UC.

The areas I protected were:

The odd lacquer peel area in the engine bay

Some stone chip areas on the car

All wheelarches

Driver and passenger door edges (I did this by spraying the Dynax onto a cloth first, and then carefully running it down the edge of the door)

The seam in the sill underneath the car

The Dynax UC can be removed with hot Surfex HD if I need to remove it in the spring or summer.

I collected a sandblasting cabinet very kindly donated by Len / digcot65.
I must confess I havent done anything directly on my TF for a few days not even driven it but I have gathered a few more F / TF steering column bits for the EPAS conversion for my MGB project car. I now have a late MGF/ early TF column with motor, an EPAS unit, indicator/ wiper stalks, steering lock/ ignition switch with key and MGF steering wheel. If theres time over Christmas I will shorten and rejoin this column and work out what couplers and intermediate shaft bits I need to find.

Just changed the passenger side door speaker as the cone was starting to fail. Luckily I happened to have a 6.5 inch Pioneer speaker left over from a previous project.

Old rivets drilled out, new speaker rivetted on, i turned my attention to the window stop height whilst the door card. was off. . Though the adjustment was ok for the hardtop it needed a bit more height to seal to the soft top in summer. The height adjusters were just 2x 10mm bots. Once loosened the window was taken up to the correct height and then i retightened the height stop adjusters and refitted the door card.

I removed the alcantara seat base cover from the drivers side and a pal dropped it round to an upholsterer he uses. It has a small hole by a seam in the centre section which isnt bad but is visible and has bugged me since getting the car.
I bought a spare alcantara headrest from Darren at 'Bitz- by far the most practical way of getting a small section of appropriately aged grey alcantara the upholsterer can let in without it being obvious.

Elsewhere I have been working on an MGF EPAS but not on an F or TF. Following in the footsteps of others and being guided heavily by them, I am in the middle of modifying an EPAS column from an F ready to fit to my MGB project car.

The last few days have seen me reinstall a glass screen into my hardtop; one with intact heating element connectors. That was a lovely job involving physically wrestling the screen and seal into the frame while getting a copious amount of sealant over myself. I know they didn't use sealant originally but given the age of the rubber, I decided adding some was a prudent move. I think I've spent more time cleaning everything with panel wipe than I did getting the thing in. Still, next is putting in the retrimmed headliner biscuit so it's on the home stretch. The tricky part will be getting it on the car and fiddling to adjust the thing for best fit.

I have been trying to stop my TF from revving itself to death! After a minus 7 night (car is outside) I jumped in and started it up, with no issues and was leaving it idle whilst I cleared the windscreen. Cleared all the ice and had a cuppa! Jumped in and went to give the throttle a little blip and it jammed open. Switched off, opened boot took off engine cover grill and returned throttle to its closed position. Took an age to free off the throttle cable (must have water in it that has frozen causing it to stick). Anyone else had this?

I put my drivers seat back together yesterday evening as the seat base cover is back from the upholsterer. He kindly gave me some new hog rings and lent his spare hog ring pliers - it made a much quicker and less fiddly job than trying to refit the old hog rings ones with 2 pairs of long nose pliers.

Heavy rain prevented me getting the seat back in the TF after that so hoping for better weather this evening and then i can start driving it again.

I took the soft-top off for a good dry-out and clean and put the hardtop on the other day. Also replaced the gaskets on the rear lights to see if that helps prevent more damp on the boot floor. I think I skim read a post while searching something else that suggested there was another couple of seal areas to fettle if there was water getting in - does anyone have that info to hand?

The TF will be enjoying an unusual and dry end to this years hibernation. My 1979 Lancia Beta Coupe has gone for phase 1 of a major restoration. First bit of major welding in 45 years, not bad for a supposedly 'rusty' brand......

SpottyCat wrote:

The things I'm referring to are linked below. Self-contained heat-shrink and solder connector that you activate with a heat gun, gives a waterproof connection between wires. Saw them being used on a few car related Youtube vids and got myself some the other day.

Solder Sticks

Airportable wrote:

We’ll ! Thank you very much, that shows how sheltered a life I lead. I can see how useful these might be for higher current applications & where there’s nothing in the vicinity to get reheated by the heat gun, for more delicate & crowded installations they might be problematic. You would require a proper heat gun, a hairdryer might do but I doubt it.
I’ve just been mounting circuits inside the nonstandard heater knobs & an ultra fine soldering iron tip is the only way, short of having a surface mount PCB designed to accommodate.
Thanks for bringing these to my (our) attention they certainly have a place in a tool kit.
M

I have used a cigarette lighter to localize the heat.