Restoration update 3

[Menno van Rij]

Yesterday we started disassembling the chassis. And all went very well! All parts came of easily: before the weekend we started applying WD40 and that trick worked. The only parts that gave some trouble were the places where the leaf springs are attached to the chassis, in front of the rear wheels. But a extra splash of WD40 did the trick. All parts are labelled and in boxes now.

The chassis appears to be in great shape: no cracks and no distortions, after careful measurement all appears to be ‘square’ and not bend!

 

We started to clean the chassis with a wire brush. About a bucket of oily sand later, the chassis is now clean enough to be send off to the sandblaster. After that, The chassis will checked again for cracks etc. and that be coated in primer. With “How to improve…” in hand, and a weld torch in the other, I will make some adjustments to the chassis.

 

Now for the questions (sorry no camera with me, so no pics):

 

- Welded on the chassis crossmember (the square crossmember that is between the bottom of the turrets), is a small metal plate. About 1.5 by 0.5 inch. There’s some sort of code of number on it. There’s a ‘7’ or ‘Z’, followed by some numbers. Vaguely visible ‘..31..’

Can you tell me what I’ve found?

 

- When I removed the leaf springs, I noticed that both were bone-dry and rusty. IMHO I think that rust has a bad influence on the springs. I vaguely remember a website about some sort of coating, wrapping of the springs, keeping the grease between the leafs trapped between those leafs. Any ideas?

 

-How can I check the conditions of the coils springs? Both are absolutely equal in length, but I don’t know how to check their other ‘features’

 

-And the same goes for the rear springs and the shock absorbers: is there a reference list or something similar with data I can use to check their condition?

 

Well, I has become an other long posting, I hope that you car supply me with input regarding my questions, all other input is also very welcome!

 

Regards,

 

Menno

[j-eichert]

Hello Menno,

 

a quick answer on some questions:

 

The "Z-Code" is in detail a mystery, but it seems to be a production code of the frame. There are diffeent numbers behind, but their seems to be no decoding possible.

 

Mike Sanders has a wrap-around tape in his programm, covered with his special anti-corrosion wax/fat.

 

Front coil springs: measure their height, then apply a suitable weight onto them and measure height again. This might give you an idea about the spring rate an if both are equal. I used my own weight fo example to get a rough figure..

The surface of the spring shouldn't be too pitted in my eyes.

[Don Elliott]

Menno - My frame has a plate marked Z28.

 

My original rear springs had to be replaced at 135,000 miles because they got rusty and wore quite thin with the rubbing where sand and dirt were acting like sandpaper to wear the blades thinner. Then the leaves on the RHS broke.

 

I just re-built the front suspension and I put my original coil springs back in. These have 174,000 miles from new. I did a quite a bit of rough gravel road rallying from 1959 to 1965 (maybe 15,000 miles during the time from about 8,000 miles to 70,000 miles) and since then I've only driven the car on smooth roads.

 

If you are planning to tour with the car (and no competition), I would re-use the coil springs if you know how many miles they have on them.

 

Don

Edited June 29, 2007 by Don Elliott