Above 1200 Sq/FT Gentlemans Activity Bunker in the UK, Version 2

[Jacko264]

In one of your photos there is a green ut pick up .
there is one exactly the same up the road like yours
I would love to buy and own it

 

[roger440]

In one of your photos there is a green ut pick up .
there is one exactly the same up the road like yours
I would love to buy and own it

I can definitley recommend!

I like it so much, that its the third time ive owned this one. Bought it new in 2003.

Get one!

 

[Jacko264]

you must like it 5.7l v8 nothing but the best
the government in Briton don’t like v8
but my son has had 3 v8 mustangs and a skyline straight 6 600bhp
G

 

[roger440]

you must like it 5.7l v8 nothing but the best
the government in Briton don’t like v8
but my son has had 3 v8 mustangs and a skyline straight 6 600bhp
G

Its an import, so retains the flat rate of tax

 

[roger440]

Been kinda busy so somewhat lax in posting. As per one of my previous posts, its time to start doing some actual work on cars, rather than the building.

Ill keep chipping away at it, but the Atlas needs to be on the road by Septemeber latest, for an event, so thats started.

Loose plan is to use a triumph 1500 engine instead of the original 948cc unit. Good news is they a physically identical, induction and exhaust aside. More on the induction later.

More fortunately still i have a spare unit and gearbox sitting on a pallet, alledgedly low miles (i took it out of the car) but clearly has had an issue as there was a head gasket set with it.

So, off the shelf, split from the geabox, and stripped. To avoid making a mess of my "clean" room, this was done in the main workshop. Ill let the pics do the talking.









After this, lots of parts were cleaned in the parts washer.










So what did we find? Well, its all stock size, which is getting rare these days. Minimal wear on anything.

However, its clear that 3 & 4 have had water in them. Probably for a long long time. Car it was in had been off the road for 20 plus years. Remarkably, whilst these some staining on the bores, theres no pitting. I rekon with a hone it will go again.

Down side is, the rings on 3 & 4 are well and truly stuck. No obvious signs of piston deformnation, so maybe just corrosion. Good news, i scored 3 matching used pistons on ebay. Will asses once we have everything.

I then got carried away with more cleaning inc bead blasting smaller stuff. No pics. Ill get some. I love doing this, but its not fast. I reckon i have 2 full days in cleaning. Still its engine building. Clean is the right way.

While that was happening, an old neighbour dropped in a TR7 V8 axle to put together. Never done one, so a bit of figuring out to be done with a box full of parts!



Its great to be back fixing stuff! And for the first time, i have everything under one roof at home

 

[roger440]

Meanwhile, the domestic operations still need to continue. During Storm Darragh, we lost the gate post (and a couple of trees, but that will have to wait)

The gate has a screen on it. The 80mph wind directly on it meant the gate post on the latch side snapped. It was a 4 inch post, and not in great shape.

So replacement was needed. Decided to go to 6 inch which made stuff a little to tight to the house. Theres also a drain right next to it with an old hopper thats 3 inches above the ground. As an aside, everything is 3 inches above the ground, drains, manholes, covers etc. Im convinced the intention was a final layer of stone was to go on. We wont be doing for the avoidance of bankruptcy.

The field gate has a concrete pad with a slope on it so when the gate is shut, it stops the gate sagging. Clever. So i thought id replicate here. Complicated by the drain, and my poor concreting skills.

Getting the old post and crete out was fun. Had to borow a breaker from the neighbour. Hard as nails.

Dont know what its like in the US, but treated timber here is pointless. It only goes 1/32 into the wood. So rots out in five years. Im NT doing this again. So i bought some old school creosote.

Bought myself an animal feed trough, plugged the holes and dumped it in that to soak for a few days. Any future work with timber in the ground will be treated also. Did i mention i dont like doing stuff twice!

So, finally, here it is. Freshly installed





Yes, house needs rendering and painting!! All in good time.

The day before i had a go sorting out a sign. There no house name anywhere, which causes the occasional issue with deliveries. Ive been meaning to do this for ages.

The wife has ordered a traditional slate sign. Theres also a post outside the house that clearly had a sign in the past. So i decided to adapt it. Some cutting and drilling of timber later and we have a suitable horizontal for the sign.

After the pics, i promptly took it apart to go in the creosote bath!





Back to the barn.

 

[67CarGuy]

That concrete bump at the latch is a clever little addition, isn't it! Do you add a caster or similar to the bottom of the gate to support it when it swings open too, or no because it's closed more than open, or...?

 

[roger440]

That concrete bump at the latch is a clever little addition, isn't it! Do you add a caster or similar to the bottom of the gate to support it when it swings open too, or no because it's closed more than open, or...?

I did think about a castor afterwards. Might still do it. Recess it into the gate vertical.

My field gate, which is significantly wider, does rest on the pad, with the downside that it gets wet.

This one doesnt actually touch it. Just. But being a wooden gate it will sag.

I fact, i think i will fit a castor. Especially as it is closed most of the time.

Ill take a pic of the completed job.

 

[roger440]

Its been a while since i last updated this. A combination or work, and a whirlwind of activity to get various bit of Atlas dropped off at places prior to a month away conspired to prevent me doing so.

Having got the workshop to a point where work can be done, even if its a long way from finished, the decision was made to resurrect the Atlas. The primary driver behind this is that i want to use in Octobers Club Triumph Round Britain Reliability Run. 2000 miles, round britain in 48 hours. Ive done it many times in assorted other triumphs, but this will the first time in an Atlas. Only one has ever taken part, and sadly didnt finish.

For those who want to know more, details here: https://www.clubtriumph.co.uk/rbrr/index/

The intention is to leave the exterior bodywork "as is". And restore underneath and the chassis and driveline.

First job was to get the body off the chassis. As i want to do the underneath, i really needed it on the 2 poster. There is, however, no practical means of lifting it, the body have no useful structure around it lower portions.

The workshop manual details the front lifting point behind the grill. Theres no rear lifting points! The workshop manual says splitting the two "will present no difficulty". Handy info!

So i devised a frame. Crude. But it works.

With this in place, everything was disconnected and up it went. Ok, it wasnt that straight forward, and a fair bit of use of the "heaty up tool" was required








With the chassis out it was then duly stripped to a bare chassis. More heaty up tool use!

The original engine is a 948cc unitm 4 speed manual with a 6.61 ration axle. Not great for progress.

The later triumph 1500n unit is development of the original engine and is identical externally. So fitting that was on obvious solution. Thoughts of a stag V8 were consigened to the dustbin.

The gear selector is, possibly the worst design ever and completely unhandy. Somewhat controversially, ive decided on an auto for this. A ZF422HP from a LDV Sherpa. 4 speed, lock up, entirely hydraulic. Problem is. not one does an adapor. Which i guess is no suprise.

A mock in wood was required to do a test fit.








With wrapped up, off to a nice man to great an aluminium version.

On this vehicle, the chassis is in 2 halves, the idea being the front half, complete with driveline could be easily removed for repair! Which they needed. Often.

With the engine test fit done, time to dismantle the remainder.

Yet more heaty up tool.

 

[roger440]

I repaired the obvious rust in thechassis (no pics) and got it loaded on a trailer to go the blasters. Along with fuel tank. After cutting of the mud trap, i mean guard.



After the round trip dropping off the chassis to the blasters, engine and gearbox to the machinist, and the cylinder head to a nice man to put valve seats in it, it was back home and set off for portugal.

Pic of a road, somewhere in the middle of spain enroute to sunny portugal.

 

[Geoff289]

That old girl is a very interesting project. 6.6 diff ratio! Must have been a weapon on the drag strip.

 

[67CarGuy]

That Atlas reminds me of a Jeep FC with (I'm imagining) less git-up-n-go and more rust! Neat project nonetheless

 

[roger440]

That Atlas reminds me of a Jeep FC with (I'm imagining) less git-up-n-go and more rust! Neat project nonetheless

Definitely less get up and go. About 38hp worth!!!

 

[roger440]

After an excellent trip to portugal via france and spain, and the same on the way back, along with visits to places ive never heard of never mind visted, it was time to return back to the UK

Sadly, the return also reminded me of the job on the Triumph Stag i needed to sort out.

Prior to going away i moved the stag where it had been parked for 4 months. When starting it, it hydrauliced. Water in umber 6 cylinder. Not good. Though it is a stag, so not a great surprise. I had had an inkling all was not well for some time, but had not managed to pinpoint the issue.

As some may know, these are notorius as one row of head studs are angled to the block.

So, first job, see if i could undo the bolts and studs. Despite penetrating oil, lots of heat etc etc, the 5 bolts came out but 3 studs snapped .

Im going away mid april on a weekend jolly, then southern france in June. Needs to be working. But Atlas still to do. And major housework.

Normally at this stage, id pull the engine, but we all know how that will pan out. Plus engine bay is scruffy original paint, so id end up restoring that. No, plough on and try to repair in situ.


Tried and trusted solution is a 8mm piece of angle bolted to intake of head and jack it off. Not done it before, but managed to get it circa 1 inch off the block, which allowed my to cut the studs. The downside is that means dropping the cam wheel off and then the chain tensioner ratchets out, so needs front of engine off too

It was a long fight, including with the crank pulley, but the head came off.





Turns out, theres three significant rings of corrosion in the bore, so clearly been like it a while. Whilst anyone half competent would say rebore and new pistons, now is not the time. Plus it had been running just fine after at least 2 sets of corrosion had occurred. So decision made to put it back together.

As of right now, it running, seems OK, but i cant drive it as the throttle cable fell to bits!



Whilst that ewas going on, and in better news, i collected the freshly blasted chassis and fuel tank. Pretty pleased how the chassis came out. Not that much extra to do.



Running alongside this is ive started de-rusting stuff in my derusting bath. I normally follow that up with a trip through the aqua blaster. Slow, but i tend to get carried away. Heres a few bits ive done.



Theres a LOT more to do! Just wish it didnt take so long!

 

[roger440]

A distinct lack of updates here. This Atlas project seems to be taking over my life. Along with some of the outdoor jobs now the weather has improved. Dryest sunniest spring ever. Apparantly.

Anyway, whilst out buying another car, well another pick up (more on that later) a road closure forced a diversion. Whilst sitting in the roadworks, out of the crner of my eye i thought i saw an Atlas. Surely not. Well yes. And a pick up too. So maybe that seven in exsistence? Not that this one will ever see the road again.



Back in the barn, time to finish off the chassis welding.











And finally, some painting.

Given ive not finished my spraying area, and the chassis is pitted pretty much all over, i did it with epoxy mastic brushed on then rollered. Looks rather rough in pic, but was still wet. Dries to something like a 30% gloss finish.

Progress!!!!



Meanwhile outside, time for grass cutting to commence. Looking rather tidier, though the rushes do keep coming up.

Also hired a chipper to much the various small trees and braches we had accumalated over the preceeding month.







Back soon!

 

[littlebean]

can't wait

 

[roger440]

In my last post i referred to another automotive purchase.

This one has been a long time coming. Whilst i have a few "light" restorations and resurrections to do, i really want to build one last "proper" project. Though im not likely to start on it it soone, ive been after this one for a long time as a freind of mine had it and i know how good it is from a corrosion aspect being an Arizona truck.

So here it is.





Those of you who have followed this may have started to detect a theme..........................

Anyway, i have plans, and i have a donor vehicle already. But that will have to wait. In the meantime this is a fully functioning truck so i can also use it, though its a lttle wayward on its stock running gear, but with a cadillac big block for power!

Its important not to get distracted.

This is the front transverse spring from the Atlas. Given its blathering of oil, it cleaned up pretty well. Pics later. So this was cleaned, painted and lubed with some Molykote321r as there are no interliners or nylon slippers between the leaves.





Next challenge was the upper swivels. The lowers are trunnions, but the upper is a vertically mounted metalastic bush. An odd idea. These were toast. And not available.

So with it all cleaned up, and the pins replated, i had to have some poly bushes made to suit. This worked surprisingly well, but, the original bushes added a degree of self centering, which i now dont have. Not sure how this will affect things, especially with almost no positve caster at all.





Pic of pedal box prior to overhaul.


And with all the sunny weather, a quick trip to the seaside in the stag for fish and chips.

 

[Geoff289]

Despite being a died in the wool Ford man, and can't endorse a Commodore ute, I can give that Chevy stepside a clear pass. Looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

My Mustang lived its entire life in Arizona before coming here and I can attest to the climate there being much more car friendly than other parts of the States.

Nice work on the Atlas too.

 

[roger440]

Well, summer passed in a whirlwind of activity which sadly resulted in zero updates here. I shall attempt to drag things up to date again.

At the beginning of June, just after my last post, we went o a trip to the south of france in the Stag with a group of other triumphs. Absolutely fantastic trip, great times with great people, which, ended up being 2 weeks for various reasons.

But, boy, it was warm. Saw 107 at one point. That was brutal in an old car, no A/C and black vinyl seats. A visit to Macdonalds to cool off was called for that day.

Just a few pics.









A few issues with the car, not least total loss of braking coming down a pass. That wasnt fun. Boiled the fluid. Zero warning though. Brakes were fine turn after turn, then straight to the floor. Moral of story, change fluid more often.

Had a misfire too, but was just a dodgy HT lead.


Otherwise it mostly keeping an eye on the temps. Its a stag, afterall. A couple of times on the long climbs on the passes which are hairpin after hairpin, which means full throttle and for extended periods, in temps close to 100f, did mean i had to turn the heater on as a secondary heater, which is not ideal!

Still, if it was easy,, everyone would do it.

Great as the trip was, it put me back on several projects, especially the Atlas which had a deadline.

Back soon

 

[roger440]

Having got back home, we were having, probably the driest summer ever. The ground here is hopeless and even in summer, often not firm enough for machinery to venture out.

This year, more like concrete. So time to crack on and do a bit of landscaping, drainage and paths. The grass area near the house was killed, harrowed, levelled, harrowed and harrowed some more. Then limed. The soil is quite acidic and deficient in magnesium so drains poorly.

And then rolled. With a roller kindly borrowed from a neighbour.

I installed some land drainage at key points, and then set about installing paths to the poly tunnel and sheds using drainage stone as the base and the pile of road plannings left by the previous owner to finish. Although i said all that quite quickly, it took about 6 weeks to get it done. For the more eagle eyed, it probably looks unfished on the side where it jois the yard/drive. Which is because it is. Some of the yard will become part of the lawn in due course, but thats a project for next year.

As usual, photos are a bit sparse, sadly, but hopefully you get the general idea?

















Not sure what happened to the pic?

It was suggested not to seed until september to avoid the risk of it being to dry. Being in Wales of course, meant that sooner, rather than later, the rain would come. And it did.

In the last pic you can still see the work on re-working the septic tank lids is not yet complete. Sadly, as i type its still not complete. A hateful job.

Now we just need to let this establish itself. Its certainly draining much better than before, so breaking it up and liming it has at least achieved something.

It was now time to turn my attention back to the Atlas project. That october dealine was starting to look rather close.

 

[67CarGuy]

The grass looks good! Having spent some of my summer doing the same (albeit by hand, no tractor yet) I know what it takes!

 

[roger440]

Whilst midway through lawn re-instatement, whilst perusing ebay i found a must buy.

Those who are paying attention will know that ive bought a chevy truck for a full hot rod build. However, thats going to be a while before i get to it. But, well, you know....................

So, some background. Much as i love these trucks, the tall roof can make them look a bit "greenhousey". A slight chop really sorts out the proportions. Small problem, ive never done a chop. Probably could, but the whole glass thing is just too hard.

However, the other issue is that, really, the cab is just to cramped, as in not long enough. The solution to which is to make it longer. Obviously!

Some googling later, its clear that a side benefit of this is with longer doors and sideglass, the proportions improve massively.

So what one needs is another cab so they can be joined together in a longer format.

Problem is, im in the UK and getting a cab would, invariably, involve finding one in the US and shipping it over. Difficult and expensive.

Whilst on ebay, there it was, an essentially rust free cab. In the UK. On the other side of the country, but in the UK nonetheless. Whilst i wont wont be doing this project soon, and could do without yet another large thing to find a home for, this was an opportunity that couldnt be missed. So i went and got it . Though the 2:30 am start wasnt great!


Could do with a fleetside bed too though................................

 

[Ford52PU]

Wow that truck can conversion will be interesting.
Good to see your Stag on the road again. I had put the largest electric cooling fan I could find to keep mine from overheating. It did seem to help. I also had a 12 vane water pump instead of the 6 that was in it, mine had blown head gaskets when I got it, multiple broken studs was not a lot of fun fixing that but a learning experience. I miss that car.

 

[Geoff289]

Staying tuned for the two trucks into one project.

 

[roger440]

Wow that truck can conversion will be interesting.
Good to see your Stag on the road again. I had put the largest electric cooling fan I could find to keep mine from overheating. It did seem to help. I also had a 12 vane water pump instead of the 6 that was in it, mine had blown head gaskets when I got it, multiple broken studs was not a lot of fun fixing that but a learning experience. I miss that car.

Ahh, the old 6 or 12 vane conundrum.

In reality i think its well established now, that at speed, there is minimal airflow over the rad. A chin spolier fixes that. As i found out on my revious stag. Quite remararkable to be honest.

 

[roger440]

Staying tuned for the two trucks into one project.

You will be in for the long haul, as theres other projects in front of that!

 

[Geoff289]

You will be in for the long haul, as theres other projects in front of that!

Patience is my middle name.