Technical Articles
Restoration of VA Tourer, VA0668, Registration No. MG 5620
by Mike Greasby
Having part-owned a VA Saloon in the 60’s, I always promised myself that some day I would own a Tourer. So, 40 years later, I bought one!! In its previous ownership, VA0668 had never been driven but had had some body repairs done and a substantial amount of money spent on new parts including new rear wings and running boards from SVW.
The engine and transmission was believed to be in good order but this had to be taken on trust. At least all seemed to be present and correct except for the exhaust system. I decided that the right way to start was to do a comprehensive survey of the car to determine the amount of mechanical work required. The result of this quickly convinced me that before I could even think of driving the car on the road a full overhaul of brakes, steering and suspension was required as there were substantial defects all round. The major items identified were:
Brakes: All wheel cylinders either stuck or leaking fluid or both and brake linings contaminated.
Steering: Steering box needing overhaul, king pins worn, track rod and drag link joints worn.
Suspension: Spring shackles badly worn, some springs had broken leaves, front and rear wheel bearings worn.
On the plus side I concluded that the chassis was sound with only superficial rust and that the shock absorbers had been replaced.
Prior to starting the restoration I decided to try to get the engine running at least so that I knew where I stood in that department. The first thing I noticed was that I could not engage the starting handle with the crankshaft dog. The dog itself was quite worn but the starting handle was fouling on the front chassis cross member making it impossible to line up with the center of the dog. OK, I thought, it must be that the engine mounts are perished and the engine is sitting too low in the chassis. So I ordered up a new pair of engine mounts. While waiting for them I decided to rig up the starter motor to a battery.
All the valve gear seemed to be free and, having removed the spark plugs and poured some oil into each cylinder, I gingerly pulled on the starter level. The engine turned over freely and I could see that all the valves were opening and closing correctly. After cranking the engine for 10-15 seconds I noticed the oil pressure gauge starting to register and rising to about 40psi. Encouraged by this and before going for a 'start' I decided to do a compression check which would give me a datum from which to gauge the engine condition once I had it running. All cylinders registered between 70-90 psi, a bit on the low side but encouragingly consistent and for an engine that had stood idle for at least 8 years, probably nothing more than surface rust on the valves and seats, certainly nothing to worry about. Next was to strip the carbs and fuel pump to ensure all was clean and likely to work. The pump was wrongly assembled and would never have worked but the carbs just needed a good clean and the jets re-centering. A plastic tube into a can of petrol and I was all set for the big moment.
To my delight, with the family looking on, the engine of VA0668 burst into life after only a few seconds of cranking on 5th February 1999. With the exhaust pipe ending just ahead of the front silencer, the car sounded more like a low flying aircraft and for reasons of good neighbourliness this had to be a short test run. However it was long enough to ascertain that oil was reaching the rocker box, oil pressure was normal, the dynamo was working and the engine was ticking over smoothly with no untoward noises. The wet clutch seemed to operate smoothly and all gears could be selected.
So back to the chassis. The new engine mounts duly arrived but I could see immediately that they were no different to the ones fitted. I had to look deeper to determine why the starting handle fouled the cross member. It was not at all obvious at first but the more I laid under the car staring at the cross member, the more I felt it was the wrong shape! My feelings were confirmed when after cleaning off a substantial amount of grime, underseal and paint, I discovered that the welds at both ends of the cross member where it was attached to its flanges, were cracked and the cross member itself was bent upwards. This car had independent front suspension that the designer didn’t intend!! No wonder that the shackles and pins were worn nearly through. But how could anyone have driven this car in this condition, and for a significant mileage judging by the wear?? It must have been lethal!! There was only one answer, the cross member had to be removed for straightening and to have the flanges re-welded. I am fortunate in having access to a very well equipped workshop with a hydraulic press and it didn’t take long to straighten out the tube. Steel sleeves were fitted inside the tube at each end to reinforce the area which had broken away from the welds and the flanges were welded back on. I also noticed that the central "dip" in the tube was quite weakened with rust and so a patch was welded on with a drain hole to prevent future build up of moisture. This hole would also allow the inside of the cross member to be treated with Waxoyl in due course. Finally the cross member was securely welded back into the chassis.
During this process it had been necessary to strip the front wings, radiator shell and radiator for access and I noticed that the radiator mounting bracket had been welded to the cross member. This was not correct as it made it impossible to adjust the radiator position and thus the bonnet line. It was necessary to turn up new threaded spigots to reinstate the correct assembly.
Now there comes a point in every restoration project where you have to sit back and contemplate the future. For me, this was that point!! I could see that I had to strip and overhaul every part of the chassis, suspension, brakes and steering. I also knew that all the new body parts and the parts that had been repaired by the previous owner had only been "blown over" with an aerosol and would have to be stripped and repainted.
I was lucky that I had been supplied with a document file with the car including a copy of the original sales invoice from which I could see that the car was originally finished in "County Cream" and if a repaint was on the agenda I felt strongly motivated to return it to that colour, especially as I was not that keen on the Royal Blue that it had become. So the decision was made at that point. It had to be a "nut and bolt" restoration with a full respray. The body tub was strongly braced across the door openings and from side to side with steel angle, then it was unbolted from the chassis and lifted clear. I bolted the tub to wheeled trestles which would make it easy to move around whilst working on it and, just as important, to push it to one side of the workshop when not working on it. I then turned my attention back to the chassis. The steering and front suspension had already been stripped and the parts overhauled and repainted. I followed this through to the rear chassis. The road springs were expertly rebuilt at Brost Forge and Simon at Steering Services did a good job of recovering the steering box from oblivion.
Whilst working on the front axle I had noticed that there was a weld repair to the left hand axle eye. The repair was obviously sound but the bore was oversize for standard kingpin. I solved this problem by turning up special kingpin from silver steel but I made a mental note to keep my eyes and ears open for a replacement axle just in case. The brake cylinders were honed out and new seals fitted, and new brake linings were fitted to cleaned and painted shoes. I took the opportunity to fit modified brake adjuster kits supplied by SVW which involved welding up holes in the backplates and drilling new ones. Then the front brake drums were skimmed as they were quite ridged.
When I turned to the rear axle I found that the right hand bearing locknut had been cross-threaded and not fully tightened allowing the bearing to rotate in its housing causing wear. As I write this the bearing carrier is away being sleeved to overcome this problem. Another problem was that the oil seal had worn through to the spring and had scored the journal on the axle end. There was no point in fitting a new seal as it would wear out in no time and cause oil leaks so I made up a jig to allow me to accurately reface the journal with a die grinder.
The chassis was stripped of paint and rust with a variety of wire brushes in drill and angle grinder and a fair amount of manual scraping of the inside faces. The chassis and all the major components were re-painted with "Epoxymastic", a two pack epoxy based paint. This goes on quite thickly and penetrates well into any rust pits etc. Epoxymastic sets rock hard in about 48 hours and dries to a dark grey colour so for cosmetic reasons I over sprayed it with gloss black chassis paint before it was cured and this has resulted in a gloss black finish which will hopefully last for ever!
The body tub paint was stripped to bare metal and a few pieces of the ash framing were replaced. Repairs were needed around the rear wheel arches and I welded in new anchor nuts to ease the fitting of the rear wings and restore originality. The wing stay holes in the front wings had become very oversize over time and I decided to cut out and fit repair sections. The holes will be re-drilled during the final test assembly before final painting. There were also some areas of rust on the front wings which were dealt with by letting in repair sections.
Early on in the restoration I discovered that the car was fitted with incorrect wheels, being 48 spoke center laced "TC" type wheels. These fitted the hubs but made it impossible to correctly fit the rear wings. Having searched for ages for decent secondhand items I finally bit the bullet and ordered a new set to be made by Phil Halliwell. David Washbourne needed a pair to replace a couple of rusty ones on his car so we joined forces to get a half decent price.
I was very lucky to find a set of 5.00 x 19 brand new Dunlop tyres for £40 each. They were at a "modern" tyre dealer who had no idea where he got them from. Close examination showed that they were in fact labeled 185 R14 on the packaging so obviously a factory error that was not picked up when they were delivered.
The rear wings and running boards which had come new with the car were stripped of their temporary paint finish. The bonnet needed a great deal of ingenuity and many pairs of hands to pull out the hinge rods so that it could be split into four manageable pieces for painting.
As I write this in mid March 2001, all the body parts except the front wings have been treated with two coats of etch primer and five coats of cellulose primer-filler. Following advice from my paint supplier I used a thin "full" guide coat of black gloss rather than the usual "mist" coat. This is to effectively seal the primer-filler until I am ready to finish the job. Apparently primer filler is hygroscopic and in our kind of climate, it pays to be careful. The front wings I decided to keep in bare metal until they have been test assembled as I feel they may need a bit more adjustment. All I need now is an improvement in the air temperature so that I can get to the final paint stage. Meanwhile my brother-in-law, a cabinet maker and antique restorer has delivered the dashboard back to me beautifully re-polished and Peter Ratcliffe has sent me an exchange refinished instrument panel. I have cleaned and tested all the instruments and had them repaired where necessary and a new wiring loom is ready to fit once the paint can be finished and the body and chassis finally reunited.
I am determined to drive this car in 2001 but I'm not so bold as to say which month. Watch this space!
