And the Riley beat goes on .................

Thanks WonkoThe Sane, not sure I would refer to this as fun quite yet, however I appreciate the encouragement! 

I removed the steering column and rack. As I thought the rack is coated in the same 'mixture' of fertile western Canada soil and engine oil as the gearbox is.

I guess wire wraps instead of clamps on the gaiters isn't quite  good enough.  No worries I have a plan, I will take it to bits to clean, and sort. 

I have been chasing an annoying 'click' in the steering for the last few years and I suspect this rack refresh will cure it.  

B

I gave the steering rack a session in the cleaning tub, came up quite clean. 

I disassembled  the rack to find out 'whatever'.  The pinion and rack look great.

A rack and pinion design isn't anything daunting with only some important shims to pay attention to.  

Some wear of the secondary damper, the face should be flat. I will have to place an order for some bits including some new tie rod gaiters. 

I will clean the rack 'Spic and Span' and add some paint, Black of course,  while waiting for the parts to arrive. 

B

Surprised that rack parts ave available; are they MGB related?

Could you get a quicker gear for the rack? Might be fun around the back roads of where you are located. Most older British cars I've driven seem very slow to respond to steering input.

That's why you need to pan for it. It just doesn't show up unless you are very lucky. I'm not lucky but have had fun panning for gold in Eastern Washington and The Pentictin area of BC Canada in my younger days.

Pete,

Yeah I like misery.  Thankfully these 'consumable' steering  rack parts are available with exception of LHD specific components, like the rack, and the pinion.   In fact this LHD  rack itself is specific to the Riley, mounting points to the body, so quite rare indeed. Some commonality of small bits with the little MG Midget and the Morris Minor. Thankfully there is an inclusive vendor in UK to help me out.  

@Brad, there may be? I have never felt the need nor thought about improving this steering ratio.  This rack provides 2 1/3 turns lock to lock. 

B

Sounds better than the Cortina I had back oh so long ago. Married in 89 so yeah 88-90 with that little bugger. Fun car even for a British Ford. Girlfriend then Wife would get sooo mad when I would drift it around corners in the back back streets of Issaquah-Carnation area. Long before it was a thing to do. It wasn't a lotus motored one so I wouldn't feel to bad if I stuffed it in the ditch. Just so I make myself clear they were not prolonged drifts just the ass kick out then rein it in nice and easy. Mostly in the rain as it was just to much fun to do.

When I refurbished the fuel tank I also cleaned up painted the under body. I could only get so far as the gearbox and prop shaft were in the way. 

With these bits now removed time to tuck in.  Lots of grease and 'old' stuff to clean and wire brush. UGHH!

I removed the brake and fuel lines for a clean up. These 60+ year old lines are in remarkable condition.  Usually I would renew these wholesale but these ring when tapped on and after a soak in cleaner bath air pressure blow out reveals little to no rust.  I quickly steel wool cleaned the outside and painted them. 

donned in a paper coverall, dust mask and goggles, and rubber washing up gloves  I cleaned, scraped, washed and rinsed the under body. A lick of more Black paint and all looks factory fresh, sort of!  I reinstalled the under body hydraulic lines.  

So far so good.

B

Wow, that looks great. Are you still finding that unique blend of  red soil that seemed to have filled every cavity in the underside of the car? I could never decide if that saved the car acting as a desicant or if it led to the corrosion being replaced?

Pete

That has to be one of the most satisfying before and after pictures I have ever seen. 

Thanks Paris, I appreciate the positive vibe. Stick around I may have become infected with cleanliness and the application of Black paint! 

Pete, I think I have shaken most of the fertile soil out of this old buggy. At the rear of the torsion bar box, when I removed the bars I was able to 'suck' out (with a shop vac  ) a decent pile of the dust in the for/aft chassis rails.

Like you I never figured where this soil played its part, so being a doubting Thomas, I held a spray can of bitumen undercoating the to the hole and hopefully coated some of the inside to the chassis rails. 

With the steering rack removed I may now move into the engine bay refresh, Ughh! what a prospect,  but I am sure Paris will approve.  

'til later

B

I received the parts to complete the steering rack assembly, and I had cleaned and painted the bits while waiting,  I decided to tuck in with the assembly. 

New dampers pistons, springs and gaiters all fit as should. A mega simple assembly and once painted, compare to previous state,  looks marvelous!  I will put it aside until I tidy up  the engine bay. 

onward we go ................

B

Having so much fun 'cleaning' up the under body of this little car I thought the engine bay could do with some love. Of course this is what one will see when popping the bonnet, no one sees the under body! 

Here is what I am up against;

the gearbox and the steering rack and hydraulic lines is already out of the way. I will remove the motors, bottles, battery, heater assembly, horns, cables etc.  with the goal to repaint, Black colour of course.

Yikes!!

B

In reply to riley1489 :

What do you plan to use for paint. I am betting it won't be a base-clear even though that might be the more durable finish for an engine bay. Single stage urethane would be the easy-button.

Pete

Pete

You must be snooping about in my garage?  Yes I have some paint left over from my sills refresh to use up so the same single stage solid Black colour. 

FWIW the engine bay of this car is so small, and the RH side and fire wall is festooned with electrics, an oversized windscreen washer system, huge heater box etc. that once the engine is in place not much of it will be on show. All this to say I will not spend a lot of time with prep or ask for a super shiny finish.  

Besides I am not a brilliant auto body painter, so my low expectations will be easily achieved. 

B

I started to remove bits in prep for paint.

Those of you that know Brit cars are familiar with the Armstrong™ hydraulic dampers, (shock absorbers).  On this car the arms of the front dampers serve as the top attach to the front suspension upright/kingpin. 

This dictates that to remove  the dampers one needs to release the tension of the torsion bars suspension, or pretty much remove the front suspension.  Still more bits to remove but a good start.

B

A bit more elbow grease and I have the engine bay clear of 'bits'  

After a bit of localized primer on some surface rust, masking, a wipe down with thinners, and some aluminium foil wrap on the harness, cables etc. I got the spray gun out and attacked.

I now have my own black hole! 

I am going in  the right direction now ..........

B

So on the shock absobers. Can they be stiffened with different weight oil? Would be interesting to test different weights to see how it affects the ride.

Better be carefully with that cleanup and painting. Someone might want to keep you on steady.

In reply to brad131a4 (Forum Supporter) :

No fear of anyone hiring me to do this sort of work, I am very slow and even more selective on the jobs I choose! 

One maintains the same weight oil, actually hydraulic jack oil or motorcycle fork oil is what we normally use.

To have the adjustability one can have adjustable valves'

that vary the reaction of the piston displacement. 

Armstrong damper adjust - Google Search

Kind of cool to have but this rather pedestrian saloon car rides well enough. The addition of an Anti Roll Bar sorts out the inherent 'rolly polly' in the corners. 

B

While waiting for the paint in the engine bay to dry & harden I decided I best tackle the cleanup of the gearbox & cross member. We started with this rather messy looking unit.

The rear gearbox mount  is an interesting bunch of parts.   The round metal mounts bracket is installed either side of a hole in the gearbox casting, as below.

These cleaned up mega well.  The fasteners all cooperated surprisingly for a 60+ year old car. 

There is a funky stay rod affair that put up a struggle to come apart but Liquid Wrench is my new best friend. This cleaned up well and new rubber pads are available and on order. 

Not sure why but a hole is cut into the cross member,  by another owner  with liberal use of an Oxy cutting torch,

anyway a wholesale clean up, make the hole round with a hole arbor, and a lick of paint and all looks pretty good for an under body part. The factory even reminds me which way is which.

onward we go 

B

The outside of the gearbox is mega messy. I guess 60+ years of leaky oil and fertile western Canadian soil congealed. 

after quite a few hours of scraping, rubbing and chipping, washing etc, all turned out really well. 

I painted the cover and shift lever turret, renewed gaskets and seals all round and all looks really nice and clean and now waiting to go back in.

B

Wholly cow I thought Germans liked to over think things. Looks like two mount's to control side load then one for front to back load? 

Those shock valves are pretty cool. 

Brad, I stopped trying to figure this stuff out many moons ago.  Automotive designers do what they do and I repeat it.

Anyway;

I re installed the steering rack and the dampers/shocks and brake lines;  

this is all starting to look pretty nice. This installs allowed me to reinstall my front suspension & torsion bars, hubs etc.. 

everything now going in the right direction ...............

B

I had some more Riley time and installed pretty much all the under bonnet 'stuff' .  

Started with the electrics. This is old school dynamo and a  2 coil control  box, and 2 fuses system, external solenoid for the starter motor. Simple system however the cloth wiring is mostly now a 'calming beige' colour so I tagged most of them.  All is reinstalled, and tested to work.

With the installation of the  heater motor box, myriad other 'bits' I am getting close to the point of the power unit install. 

I am mega pleased with this progress and quality of the work. There may well be a light at the end of this long tunnel.

B

That is amazing.  I wish I had the time and patience to take my car to that level.  

Looking very nice. 

Hope to do closer inspection at Bronte this Sept. I snuck the Molvo in last year with no issues.

Pete