'66 Cooper S Restoration

As soon as I finish the horn....

 

Engine is the original, and it and the transmission were rebuilt by 7 Enterprises, so it's all new. We've had the engine running in the car already...

 

And another step backwards…..

Trying to hook up the transmission end of the speedo cable I found I couldn't turn the cable end, so I went back up to the instruments end and took the cable out and inserted a small length of inner speedo cable - the speedo is locked up tight.

So I have to disassemble the entire dash again to get the speedo out.

I ordered a new one, till then I'll go ahead with work on the rest of the car.

 

In this case, yes. MiniSpares is having a black Friday sale just like everyone else - a brandy new one with fuel gauge and voltage stabilizer is less than $200, I don't think I can ship it both ways and get it fixed for less than that. The only down side is that it won't show the accurate mileage - as this is a one owner car - he's had it since new. But he'll keep the old one and if he wants to at a later date he can fix this one and put it back in.

Today's work was tearing out the entire instrument cluster and dash to get the speedo out.

I also installed the Wideband system. I had to pull the exhaust system to drill the hole and weld the bung in, then remount everything, clamp it all, run the wideband cables into the car and hook it all up. However I won't be able to mount the gauge till the bracket comes in next week sometime.

I'm hoping I can get the order from MInispares before Thursday as they've been shipping stuff pretty quickly again lately, but with the holidays it might get delayed.

 

This evenings work....

I installed the e-brake cables - a thankless job, especially on my lift - a scissor lift is the least ideal arrangement when it comes to working down the middle of the car. But first I had to remove the other cable - it was for a later model car and would not work with this one. Once I got the old one out - which was a single piece cable - I had to install the right ones, which were individual left and right cables.

All done and adjusted now.

Before I can change the locks to match each other I'll have to get a new handle as this one is broken, I added it to the speedo order, I hope they can add it in and ship with the other parts.

Another job ticked off the list!

 

Back to work on the '66 Cooper S.......

All the lights have been tested and they work - and no smoke leaked out!




I still don't have the horn working, looking into that.

I had to do a small repair to the speedo housing so I'm waiting for the JB to cure before I re-assemble the dash again, probably not be able to finish that till tomorrow. I also mounted the wideband gauge in the bracket I bought - there were no clips or anything so I just ran some clear silicone around the back and mounted it that way - should work just fine.



I had to get another bulb holder for the temp gauge, and I had to establish grounds for all the instruments.

I took the left door handle and boot handle up to the local locksmith - who was not amused that I keep bringing this old British stuff to him to fix - but he said he'll give it his best shot. The boot latch is siezed, we may not be able to save it and might wind up just buying a whole new lockset.

I also got the new kick panel installed, getting the old rivet heads out without scratching the door was not fun.



Lots of little jobs completed, moving right along now, still have a lot to do but several mountains have been scaled at this point!

 

The area around the hole was cracked so I just used a large washer - the JB Weld didn't really hold but the housing is well secured to the bulkhead so it will hold just fine.

I got the dash installed, but I may wind up taking it all back out again tomorrow as I didn't hook up the speedo cable to the speedo and I'm not sure I can get it on as I can't get my hand around the Weber carb.

I also went to a lot of trouble to set up a stud to locate a bunch of ground cables but then once the housing was in place some of them wouldn't reach so now I'll have to set up another.

So, steps forward and then back again.

I also had a fit with the fuel gauge, I had speedo installed and was testing the electrical system and noticed the fuel gauge was pegged full - but the tank is empty. Several hours of testing later I decided the problem was the gauge itself, so I swapped in the old one and it works perfectly now.

So tomorrow - speedo cable, grounds, seat belts, heater and a few other bits and bobs and it's ready to start. We've already had it running but I think this will be the first actual drive.....assuming it does.

 

Went to install the heater, but found I don't have the extension stud that allows you to set the heater left or right depending on whether its a LHD or RHD car. Dan will see if he has one Friday when he gets home again, I looked but found no mention of it on any of the parts sites.

So next up I mounted the seat belts. It's interesting that this car has all the threaded holes to mount the belts except the ones that mount the reel. On later cars the reel is mounted inside the companion bins, but on these early cars that have ashtrays the belt would rub if I mounted it in there, so they have to go on the outside, which does limit seat travel a bit.

All the door locks and handles are done and work perfectly now.

The dash and steering column covers are both in too, looks pretty nice now!

More as it happens....

 

Pretty close now, just some ends and odds to stitch up and it's ready to go home. Still need to sort out the horn button, I might need to order a repair kit for it - they're spendy, but if it's needed to make it work......

 

Success and failure......

I've been working off and on trying to get the lock in the boot latch to work....I've put about a whole can of Kroil thru it and it felt like just one of the tumblers was still stuck. The locksmith just threw up his hands and said he couldn't do anything with it. I've had English car locksets apart before so I stuck with it and today - at last! - I managed to get the lock cylinder out of the handle......sure enough, a couple of the tumblers were still stuck with corrosion, but after cleaning everything up it worked perfectly.

Then I noticed the broken part on the end of the lock cylinder - the part that actually makes the handle lock the boot! It's made from pot metal and I have no idea what it's supposed to even look like for sure, so there's no way I can make one.....I have an idea of what it should look like but again...pot metal. And it's part of the lock cylinder casting, so no hope. In the second pic you can see where something is broken off the end of the lock cylinder, in the first pic the small block is what is driven by the missing part - the block is what keeps the handle from turning and locks the latch.




So today I ordered a new boot handle assembly from MiniSpares, when it gets here I can transfer either the lock cylinder or just the tumblers into the new one and he'll still have a matching key set. A new lock is only about £12, so there's no reason not to just get the new one.

Onward and upward!

Oh, I also got the horn sorted! Toot Toot!

 

Yes, dome light....he's going to pull the head liner again so I just left the wires loose, they need a couple of bullets soldered on.