Working on the shop front.

I managed to get some work done replacing lots of rot on the frontage of the shop.being so exposed and getting plenty of salt air hasn't done the paint any good but it's been a long while since any work was done to it.

This was the best of the gutters,there're cast iron and heavy but had managed to hang on despite the fixing screws rotting away.they sit on wood which had rotted away and also ran uphill so water had no chance of getting away.

 The gutter on the other side simply crumbled away to nothing The heavy wooden beam behind was soft and decayed and was cut out and replaced with new.

Two coats of primer and undercoat and a couple of coats of top coat should help slow any future rot down.The wood has beeb fixed to the wall with heavy screws and some of the 'Hard as Nails' type glue.I've been carefull to seal any gaps as before water had been getting in behind some of the timber.

Still up in the air.

Still more work to do on the building.The gutters are rotted out and all sorts of woodwork is crumbling away.The shop is in what is supposed to be one of Lowestofts conservation areas,although with all the plastic windows,satellite dishes and gaudy signs everywhere it's difficult to work out what they are hoping to conserve.However that means that the gutters will be repaired with welding and braze rather than being replace like everyone else has with plastic and the repairs will be in the original materials.
I haven't had much time to do anything to the club web site.Hopefully a few more weeks will see all these repairs finalised.

Latest instalment on scaffolding.

I've got a sort of scaffolding tower outside the shop.Most of it went up Sunday morning.It took the guys two days to get it all up,the road is a busy one and highways don't allow too much disruption so the bulk of the work was done on a Sunday.

Scaffolding aand other problems.

Hopefully I can start work on the front of the building this week.I made the mistake of getting a firm called "Be safe" scaffolding of Lowestoft to erect scaffolding but all they came up with was an endless stream of excuses for delaying work.Thankfully I've now found a proper organised firm with all the right qualifications and in theorey the scaffolding will be up in a day or so.

Real big spanners at real big prices.

I bought a load of big whitworth spanners over the week end.All made in Englans all,new and all pretty big.
They were heavy,so much so that I cream crackered myself getting them back to the car but well worth going for.These old Imperial spanners are hard to get hold of in the smaller sizes let alone the bigger ones,I bought some huge AF tools a week or so back and some went almost straight away to transport museums.
I bought a load of big sockets as well,shame that so many of these have gone for scrap,the price of new ones in the reall big sizes can be measured in hundreds and probably scrap for just a couple of quid.

Show time for the fairway.

I've been too busy to devote much time to anything away from business or repairs to the building.The last show I went to was with the taxi.Cleaned up and polished it looks half way decent but isn't what most would call a classic car.

I did a bit more on the Rover the other day repairing the passengers side window regulator but thats about it .

Not much to report

I've been busy on the building and just can't find any spare time.
I sprayed the door bottoms on the P5b and topped up the waxoyl (or rather the Eureka Fluid Film) and that was about that.
I went to a couple of car club meetings but in the bad weather most had taken their modern cars so didn't even get any pics.

Oiling the wheels.

I've now started stocking oil for classic cars.Made by Morris and Penrite.The older 20W/50 oil is recommended even now for classic cars and bikes as the modern thinner stuff tends to promote leaks and high oil consumption.

Oils well that ends well

I'm stocking the older transmission fluids.The Borg Warner boxes in most classic cars use a non dexron type fluid that can be hard to get hold of.The dwxron fluids might promote slippage in a box not designed for them as they are more 'slippery' than the non dexron types.

Taking a bearing.

I took the Rover p5b out and after a while one of the front bearings got a bit hot.When dismantled I found the outer bearing had cracked and was badly pitted.The bearing parts were all by different makers and odd sizes.I bought a replacement bearing but found the old one had started to turn inside the hub so the new ones simply dropped in.I had to buy another rover hub and disc.

Car club web site.

I've started on a web site for my local classic car club the Norwich classic vehicle club So far its a bit basic but I've been held up a bit with work on the shop.

Rain?.It must be car boot time.

I tried the car boot again but the weather was pretty grim.After a while I gave up,put all the stuff back in the van and came home.I bought a decent socket set and a small pressure washere so it wasn't all bad news.
I've been working on a forum for a classic car club I belong to.So far it's going well and I'm finding out about a lot of events I previously knew nothing about.Good idea to swpa info with other classic car owners,you never know whos got that bit you've been looking for for weeks.

Wet start to the car boot.

Funny sort of day at the car boot.Rain first thing but then it was hot and sunny.I bought one of those big tool box thingies on wheels and a pile of really big imperial combination spanners.I bought a bumper for a car,looks like it might be for an A30 or A35 or similar for a couple of quid and a couple of nice elora socket sets.The last thing that had sat nder a stall nearly all day was a Snap On timing light in its box and a compression tester by the same people.

Mystery car,anyone know what it is?

I found this photograph the other day.I know I took it but can't remember where or why,does anyone recognise this old car?. I seem to remember at the time I had an old Rover P3 but I can't think why I should have taken this picture,is it an old Standard?.

A mystery car,anyone know what it is?.

The Norwich Classic vehicle fun day.

 

This went past my shop the other day.There will be a lot more like it at the Norwich Classic vehicle day on June 5th.

I had been thinking of taking my P5b Rover  along for the day,but decided not to bother.

Work on lowestofts docks.

This large crawler crane arrived on the docks yesterday.It's working on the quayside in what used to be the old fish market.This pic was taken from one of the upstairs bedroom windows facing east,in the distance is the North sea.

Building work by Bodgit and Scarpa ltd.

I'm still repairing the drain pipes on the shop.The victorian cast iron jobbies have been covered by the rendering on the top floors and there's nothing other than that holding them up. I've replaced the steel pins that fix them to the wall on the lower floors,they were corroded through in most places and missing entirely in others.

Rendering on the building has covered the fixings to the pipe whichisn't fixed anywhere near straight anyway.

Pipe has come away from wall as the fixings have corroded away.

Water pipes and the front door.

The cast iron pipe on the shop front had come away from the wall,it was about as straight as a donkeys back leg anyway and a wonder it hadn't fell off years ago. As this is a conservation area the council wont let us use modern plastic pipe so the old pipe had to be removed,the wall behind repaired and new fixings made to hold it back on the wall.

 

The front door next door to the shop entrance.no longer fitted,subscidence and a lot of rot around the hinges meant there were gaps in places and it jammed in others.the frame was repaired and the hinges reset.The window at the top had been painted in the shut position but was opened with carefull levering and wedging.The door is now being repainted.We are going to remove the metal grilles in the shop windows and replace the wood holding the glass,this has rotted out due to condensation running down the inside of the glass.

Some more restoration.

The front of our shop Baconsdozen is starting to look a bit rough so we are undertaking a long overdue repair and repaint.The sea air and winds are just as unkind to paint finishes on wood and masonry as they are on cars.So far,apart from cementing the carpet when a bag of cement from Wickes fell to bits as I carried it through the shop,things haven't gone too bad.We've decided to change from the blue and white to a light and dark brown colour scheme.the paint is supposed to be guaranteed six years and with the price of it I hope they're right.

Funny sort of day.

I spent the morning dismantling and adjusting the top suspension swivels on my P5b.Things went well,the joints came undone,they weren't that worn and still had a bit of grease in them.Repacked with grease they were bolted back together and apart from finding a split in one of the rubber boots that will have to be sorted out one day things went well.
All full of enthusiasm,I decided to get the paint pot out and touch up a couple of chips.I know I put it somewhere safe,but couldnt find it anywhere.