A while ago I wrote about Neil Bray’s restoration of a Ford “C” type and subsequent Round Britain run. Neil got to know the members of the club very well and in a complex deal became the owner of a number of boxes of bits that were rumoured to be a 1937 Ford Y when they were all bolted together. Graham Miles had rescued them from no less than three lock up garages in Ipswich and the club had been looking for an enthusiast to assemble them and write a series of progress reports for the Y and C type magazine.
Neil’s new car had an interesting history. It was actually one of the last cars built when production ceased in favour of the model “7Y” in 1937. His first job was to un-pack all the boxes and lay the bits out in the clubs container. Graham had assured Neil that 98% of the bits were there and Neil was more than delighted to discover he was right! As I said earlier Neil’s acquisition of the car was a complex deal, part of which involved him completing the restoration to drive the car on the clubs 2004 Welsh Rally, so time was at a premium!
An earlier owner had started to convert the poor little Y into a hotrod and Neil soon discovered that the three cross members had all been removed in a failed attempt to fit a V8. All the bits were shot blasted across at Finish Line UK and Neil then had to solve the puzzle of which bit went where, and which way round, before bolting and welding it all together. It was important to get this exactly right otherwise the suspension mounting points would be all wrong. Inevitably the tin worm had been nibbling away as well and some of the rather thin sections had to be plated. The rear of the chassis was in a very bad way and had to be replaced with fresh U sections that Neil had fabricated.
The next job was to fit all the bits and pieces to the chassis in an un-restored state to make sure they were all there. The container yielded a main brake rod centre bracket, front suspension and a steering box with rather worn track rod ends. Neil then came to fit the gearbox, only to find that there were no rubber mountings in the container. Fortunately he was able to purchase some new ones from the club and the box soon went in along with the axle and torque tube. This as important as it defined the exact location of the rear cross member.
Now came a big decision, which motor to fit? What with Primrose and his “C” type restoration, Neil had acquired a few 8 and 10 hp power units over the years, so he went hunting amongst his stock. He had in mind his silver 8hp engine, which he knew was a runner, to get the car rolling. In digging around he noticed a 10hp lump with a large starter attached. This was acquired from Ross Nuten when Neil became the proud owner of Ross’s 1935 Morris 8 Series 1 2-door saloon.
Taking the engine into his workshop Neil soon discovered it was seized solid, so out came the plugs and in went a couple of cans of WD40. Coming back a week later it now spun, although not too freely. Removing the head and sump there was a lot of solidified oil but underneath there was a brand new engine that had never turned in anger! Out came the crank and pistons to reveal rings and white metal bearings in perfect order! All that was necessary was to lap the rust off the valve seats, clean everything up and apply a bit of paint.
Returning to the chassis Neil fitted the handbrake lever and attempted to sort out the brake rods. Four hours later he decided that while he had the right number of rods they weren’t a set, but the club soon sorted that out. Then it was back to the container to find the final bits and pieces. But there were no shock absorbers to be seen and what’s more no mountings on the chassis! The club came to the rescue again with a set of shocks and enough information to fabricate the mountings. Now for the body!
Part 2
We left Neil’s Y as a rolling chassis waiting for it’s body. With a sound chassis what was left of the body shell was gently lifted on to it and bolted in place. Neil and his helpers then used scissor jacks and wedges to get all the gaps around the doors, bonnet etc right before the welding started.
The first job was to rebuild the rear wings and secure them to the chassis to hold the back half of the shell in the correct position. This was essential as the lower parts of the B posts were very rusty and were going to have to be removed completely and replaced by new fabricated sections. The bulkhead was next. Rust wasn’t a problem; it simply wasn’t there as the previous owner had removed it to create the space for a V8! Fortunately Neil had a spare bulkhead in his pile of bits and this was soon in place along with newly made toolbox panels.
The basic shell was now ready for paint preparation. It was rubbed down to bare metal, filled and painted with no less than five coats of primer ready for the colour to be applied. Here came a problem but not a technical one. Neil had his heart set on maroon but the powers that be in the Y and C club ruled that a 1937 Y had to be either Vineyard Green or Black. Searching through the paint catalogues a Datsun colour was found to be near to Vineyard Green and the decision made to paint the shell with that in two-pack.
Having sorted the chassis and the shell the time consuming work of fitting out began. A nice pair of running boards came, courtesy of Dave Tebb. They fitted perfectly and were soon painted black and fitted with the proper spec rubber. The windows were not so easy. Neil had looked at a lot of Y’s at rallies and had never worked out how they went up and down without falling out and the bare shell in the garage didn’t exactly provide much inspiration! A ring around Y and C club members turned up the wonderful John Argent of Hatfield. John not only let Neil look at his car, he let him take it away and dismantle it to work out how the windows operated . A truly super guy.
With the aid of John Argent’s car Neil soon worked out how to assemble the windows, after freeing off the seized winder mechanisms with heat and penetrating oil and obtaining new runners from Woolies of Peterborough. John’s car also revealed a lot of other detailed information about various brackets and braces that had been removed or rusted away when Neil got his car.
The next job was to tackle the woodwork. It was possible to repair the wood surrounding the rear window but the roof rails were too far-gone and were replaced with a kit Neil managed to acquire. The detail fitting out took a tremendous amount of time, doing lots of work, but seemingly achieving very little. The door panel’s were shot blasted, prepped and painted, the floor boards fitted and the gauges assembled to the dash which was then bolted in place.
With the Y taking real shape it was time to bolt on the wings and other detachable panels. Most of them had come with the car and been restored but the rear offside wing had been to far gone so Neil had a new one made by Ken Arthur, a superb craftsman who was making a complete body for a SS100 Jaguar at the time of Neil’s visit!
Neil kept thinking about the back axle, as although it had been fitted to the car it had not been checked. He had a spare axle, which from the outside looked nearly new, but Neil decided to do the right thing and strip and inspect it first. With tools borrowed from the Y and C club the job was started. The first thing was to spread the rear spring by welding a large nut on a gigantic G clamp tool and using this to compress it. This took forever and despite being really worried that the clamp would slip it was finally possible to undo the shackles and remove the spring. With the axle spit the crown wheel and pinion revealed a complete tooth was missing from the pinion and part of another was missing. Neil managed to locate a replacement CWP and bearings and reassemble the parts with the necessary pre-load.
The Y was now looking like a real car but oh there were so many little parts missing. Neil made a huge list and started searching. The clutch and brake pedals needed return springs. These were found during a trip to the local MG specialist where two clutch slave cylinder return springs for a Morris Minor 1000 were found to be exactly the right length. Walking round the show room Neil put his head inside an MGA to see the Pull Starter and Choke Cables would fit the Y so these were snapped up. They only had the letters C and S on them rather than the complete words that Mr Ford had but beggars can’t be choosers at this stage!
By now it was Christmas time. Only a few moths to go before the Y and C clubs 2004 Welsh rally. The deal was that for the car to be his Neil had to finish the restoration and take part in the event. Will he succeed?
Part 3
Neil came back from a family Christmas holiday in Florida, fit and ready to get on with the Y. It was despatched to the electrician on 1ST February. A new loom was fitted and the components connected until he got to the semaphores. Neil particularly wanted the flashers to flash, and the semaphores to activate, on the same switch. Eddie the electrician had a board that would do this but it was 12 volt! A decision had to be made and quickly, so Neil decided that it would be best to convert the car to 12 volt. This involved removing and rewinding the dynamo. Then all the bulbs and the coil were changed for the 12-volt variety. The fuel gauge was a big headache. This was overcome by putting a bulb in the circuit, which dropped the voltage to 6 volt. Success.
The only thing that was left was the starter, which would spin much faster on the higher voltage, and those good old semaphores. They had to be either rewound or replacements found. With all this completed the car was taken from Eddie the electrician to Fred Pounds, the upholsterer, in Baldock. It arrived there on 14th February, spot on schedule. Neil had given Fred six weeks to complete the upholstery but as usual he had loads of work. Neil visited him every day to try to induce him into getting on with the job. He had to have excuses of course, but you can only remove the bumper for re-chroming a limited number of times! Neil had hoped to have the car completed by the Y and C clubs AGM, but that passed by. Never less Neil went along and was able to buy some hubcaps, oilcan and bracket, bumper ends etc. That gave him lots more excuses to visit Fred. And after much hounding he finally got the Y back. It was Thursday the 3rd June 2004.
Neil worked through the night, sorting split pins, adjusting brake rods etc. Friday saw Fred working on the upholstery while Neil and his helpers were working on the mechanical jobs. Fred was back working on the car Saturday morning. The moment of truth was Saturday the 5th June. It was 10.30 am, time for the first road test. Out of the garage and down the road. Then silence, as the car coasted to a halt with a dead engine, the distributor had disintegrated. Neil fitted a replacement but still no spark. The leads were changed and finally a new coil solved the problem and the engine burst into life. However, it was running very roughly. The carburettor was dismantled and in the end that had to be replaced. Finally at 4:30pm Neil left the garage to pick the kids from Stevenage and drove home in the Y.
Cruising at a healthy 45 mph Neil looked at the dash and noticed to his horror that the oil pressure had dropped to only 6 P.S.I oil. Saturday night was spent playing with the oil pressure release valve to finally produce 12 P.S.I when hot. Neil also noticed that the front of the car had sagged so a new front spring was needed, but time had run out. So with the car nearly finished, with no power, hardly any oil pressure and a low front end Neil phoned mentor Graham Miles. He advised Neil not to take the car on the rally to Wales but Neil felt he had got so close that it wouldn’t be fair to not give the Y a chance. Dave (MGeetle) Nash turned up on Monday morning and the pair set of for Wales Neil driving the Y and Dave the C. It was to be a real adventure. How far would they get…………
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