Hout Bay weather today?

After two very warm days, with Thursday being 27c and Friday 29c today was a far more bearable day, cooler and at times a little chilly.

A picture by R McBride using a Canon G1X digital camera set to auto , click on the image to enlarge it.

The winds are gone for the moment but we have high spring tides.

Roy

South African petrol standards

We hear about our petrol being thinned out with other so called fuels, is ethanol one of them?

With the starting of the brand new Hillman Imp 998cc engine which also has a  new 24mm Solex carburetor, sold as so called new old stock, we had a petrol leak within the hour.

By the next morning the pipe had split right in two!

This wasted hours of my time, not to mention the petrol on the floor, fire comes to mind as the exhaust box is just below the carburetor.

My repair was to use some 10mm eco fuel line hose made in Italy, lets see if it lasts?

The correct material to use now is named VITON.

Roy

A new 998cc Hillman Imp engine fitted

News!  just before lunch time and when connected to a container of LRP (lead replacement petrol) the pump needed to prime from the front of the car to the back, the engine then started first time!

We have power, this may be the first time in twenty (20) years and more since this dash panel saw power to it?

The new 998cc engine is running, this will be my last such full car restoration as I just do not have the time it takes to do such work any more, engine rebuilds are not a problem and a large stock of spares are in stock.

Here in Hout Bay and close to Cape Town, South Africa is the new Hillman Imp rebuild of the Imps engine bay.

The Shell 20/50 engine oil is already in the engine., with the oil cooler pipes fitted yesterday the engine is nearly ready to run.

While the 998cc engine is a new build, the older type oils will suit the motor better than new oils.

The engine layout is quite standard, even the Solex carburetor type, excepting we have fitted the larger 24mm size and opened the main jet out to a 140 size which is more suitable to the larger 998cc engine capacity.

Rootes supplied this pattern of oil coolers on all sport specification Imp cars, its a nice addition to a car expected to run in a warmer climate.

The addition of the radiator water catchment tank is really the only none standard fitting we have installed.

Will we do another one? this one took a year and I doubt it!

Roy

Hillman Imp alloy head gasket shim

We have two Imp blocks needing head gaskets fitting, one is a standard 1967 875cc block and requires a 1mm alloy spacer fitting, the other is a 1971 998cc block and requires a 1.5mm alloy spacer fitting.

The picture shows the 998cc version, plus the bonding paste and an imported 998cc copper gasket supplied as a template. The alloy shim was made in Cape Town to a special order.

Wet fitted and ready for the engines cylinder head which was fitted and torqued down to be left over night.

Bonding was perfect and the top deck is totally flat.

We now have the required 0.015" clearance between the top of the piston and the top of the engine block.

With the new 998cc gasket fitted the head was ready to bolt back on. The camshaft was re fitted and we have perfect compression, the engine will be refitted into the car it belongs to in the morning.

This engine is now new, its the original engine from the 1971 Hillman Imp Deluxe we are now re building for a client.
Roy

Mooring standards, the good and the bad

Seen on the same marina and within a short walk of each other, two boats with very different ideas on how to tie up your boat, I will let you decide which is the better system?

A new boat and with new lines, they should have a fairlead to pass though, the plastic tube will help but the gel coat will soon suffer.

This is nice work and the boat will be secure with such attention to detail.

Polyprop line should never be used in the first place, even with a fairlead this line is shot.

Your choice?

Roy

A new Hillman Californian Coupe engine fitted

Well its not really a new one as its the same engine block that was fitted at the Rootes Scotland plant when the car came off the line in February 3rd 1967.

My thanks to Eric for helping me lift the motor onto the fitting dolly.

I started the refit just after 9am and was finished by 2.30pm this included a respray job of the 1966 Singer Chamois Sport radiator I had in stock.

More just now.