Eastwood Soda Blaster - just what you need for a new look!

Frost thank all our customers and friends for your support throughout 2012 and wish you a Happy and Prosperous New Year!!! 

====================

If you are fan of TV car shows (especially Fifth Gear), you must know Jonny - an automotive journalist and TV presenter!
Few month ago, Jonny contacted us and got our attention with his fantasic new project: Enfield 8000 - A Great British Electric City Car! Shorter than a Mini but they cost a lot more in 1975 - The Enfield also was known as a lightweight, green, very rare car (only about 108 or 120 were made). Therefore, after Jonny told us about his idea, we was so excited to see the return of history!

ORIGINAL ENFIELD 8000 TECH SPEC

BODYSHELL: Handbuilt aluminium two-seater
CHASSIS: Square-section tubular steel space frame
SUSPENSION: Coil-over McPherson strut front, four-link rear axle
MOTOR: 8hp / 6kw / 150amps
BATTERIES: 8 x 12v 55-amp hour lead acid batteries
TOP SPEED: 40mph
PERFORMANCE: Erm. Well, 0-30mph in 12.5 seconds
RANGE: 35-55 miles, depending on climate and quantity of hills
WEIGHT: 975kg (a lot for such a midget - over 300kg is batteries)
LENGTH: A mere 2.84m / 112" (a Mini was 3.05m / 120")
WHEELBASE: Just 1.725m / 68" (a Mini was 2.04m / 80.3")
FUEL: 240v mains Economy Seven

Want to know more about the Enfield? Click here...
Want to know more about Jonny's car? Click here...  

====================

(Smith, J., 2011, Jonny's Flux Capacitor Blog, Internet source: http://www.flux-capacitor.co.uk/blog.php)   

I Hate That Blue Paint

It was time to collect the Enfield from Webster Race Engineering and begin stripping the bodyshell of 30-odd years of paint, filler and primer. Webster had finished everything bar the front brakes.
They’d fitted new hard brake lines, fabricated a new master cylinder reservoir and plumbed in a Moroso line-lock. The latter is for gripping the front wheels when you want to warm the rear rubber. A big naughty smoky poetic burnout.
The paint and bodywork was going to be taken care of Tim at Roadhouse Retro (www.roadhouseretro.com) in Stamford. He’s a good mate and is not only immensely talented, but also has such an infectious passion for the history behind each old car that passes through his workshop. The craftsmanship he did on my ’73 Ford Taunus coupe and ’68 Charger were second to none.
The Flux Cap was put on a dolly, as the back axle still hadn’t returned from the powdercoaters. This was a blessing, as it’ll be easier to paint the newly fabricated rear suspension and chassis mods.
With the weather baking hot, we decided to crack on with paint removal. As opposed to using solvent based chemicals, I decided to try stripping using a soda blaster. Borrowed from FROST  (www.frost.co.uk) the blaster connects to a compressor and basically fires out bicarbonate of soda powder from a nozzle.

It’s no harm to lungs or the environment, which is why I was happy to blast away outdoors. Although breathing apparatus and a cap for your head is recommended. Once I got in the zone, the soda blaster seemed perfect at bringing back the bodyshell to its pure bare aluminium skin, especially in the creases where a conventional sander couldn’t reach.

You can see from the pics that I’m doing the gutters and panel creases first. Because the whole bodyshell was hand made from aluminium we’re finding where all the joins and rivets are. There’s a fair wad of filler in places, and I’ve unearthed some holes in the sill but we’re hoping that the big strip goes smoothly. The sooner that NHS blue paint disappears the better!
Hell, even that (totally obsolete and totally priceless. Probably) windscreen came out without drama.

(Jonny Smith - To read full blog, click here )   

Frost Heavy Duty Citrus Degreaser

This industrial degreaser will remove stains, coatings or deposits of oil, grease and dirt. Frost Heavy Duty Citrus Degreaser leaves little or no deposit and does not cause corrosion of metals. Aerosol jet can get into difficult corners.

It is marked 16/20 by Practical Classics Magazine (August, 2012) - Do you dare to try? Click here...

Have you seen a classic Rochdale Olympic?

Eight classic Rochdale sports cars gather to welcome Olympic Torch runners on their way to the 2012 Games in London 

By: Paul Duchene

When the Olympic Torch passed through the Lancashire town of Rochdale last month, on its way to the 2012 Olympic Games in London, the city had a chance to celebrate a 52-year anniversary.

In 1960, Rochdale Motor Panels was on the crest of a wave with the smash-hit GT model, and named the ground-breaking new monocoque car after the Rome Olympics taking place that year. The Rochdale Olympic was only the second true glassfibre monocoque road car ever made (the first was the Lotus Elite), and about 400 were built between 1959-72.

Torchbearers perform the historic handover in front of the Rochdale cars (Photo courtesy of Malcolm McKay)

Fifty-two years later, the Olympic torch arrived in Rochdale and members of the Rochdale Owners Club overcame local flooding and the wettest day of the year to enjoy the celebrations. Eight brightly-coloured Rochdales drove from all over the country to form the centre part of the town’s celebrations, and Rochdale’s Cultural Trust, Link4Life, hosted a dinner for ROC members, past workers, and families of the original designer and owners.

The cars were displayed in front of the Town Hall for the day, and went on to form part of the Olympic procession through the centre of town. Looking surprisingly modern, they received the warmest of Lancashire welcomes, especially from the many people who had known the firm and its workers years ago.

Designed by Richard Parker – whose widow and daughter made the trip from Bristol to be part of the day – the Rochdale Olympic was named after the 1960 Rome Olympic Games and was built in the town by Rochdale Motor Panels from 1960 to 1972. The company pioneered glassfibre car construction, making aluminium car bodies from 1948 and glassfibre from 1954.

Chairman of the ROC, Ron Scarfe said, “It was an unforgettable day and a chance also to meet family members of Frank Butterworth who founded Rochdale Motor Panels with Harry Smith in 1948 along with employees of the company.”

 ===========================

(Reference: Duchene, P., (2012), Rochdale lights torch to its Olympic past, hagertyinsurance.co.uk, [Online] Available: click here)

Testing Time

( Grace P., 2012, The Royal Enfield, Issue 2)

- Running rich or feeling lean?

- We test a nifty gadget for checking carburetter settings 

Tingkering and fettling, they are lovely words aren't they? They imply a sense of competent non-threatening servicing, to be enjoyed with a mug of strong coffee and dulcet tones of Radio 4 serenading in the background, within a snug and purposeful shed

=================================

Hold that thought for a moment. It’s wonderful when your motorcycle is working perfectly and requires no major maintenance work. One’s leisure time can then be spent perfecting its running and keeping its cosmetics in shiny good order. Bliss. No rush to get that engine back together from an exploding big-end, or that clutch replaced before the annual club summer rally and ‘drinkathon’; instead, some quality fettling time, with little risk of failure and ridicule from your chums.

One such fettling task is adjusting the carburetter on the old faithful, a nice tweaking job if you have the right tools. 

Many people suggest using a ‘plug chops’ technique to set up the fuelling on old motorcycles. A technique that involves riding the motorcycle under load at four different speeds between idle and full throttle, then, killing the ignition abruptly and coasting – hopefully – quite elegantly to halt. Next, scalding your fingers by quickly pulling the hot spark plug and examining its burnt colour, and finally refitting a new clean spark plug for the next run. So that’s 4 runs with 4 different throttle openings and 4 new spark plugs, one for each run. Are you still with me?

Not an easy or safe task, and to be honest, not that useful these days with our unleaded petrol and all its additives.

Alternatively, for a relatively small sum of money it is possible to purchase a Colortune kit to actually look inside the combustion chamber, gasp, and thus see the actual colour of the combustion flame front. It becomes easy to understand and adjust the fuelling, noting the visual effect that adjustments have on the colour (and therefore fuel/air ratio) of the combustion.

I obtained my Colortune from www.frost.co.uk who also stock low cost adaptors, so it can be used on other vehicles too. The 14mm size is usually the most useful one. Before using the Colortune kit and making adjustments, firstly warm up the motorcycle so it can idle without using choke, and then remove the spark plug. As you can see from the example in the photo, this motorcycle seems to be set up fairly well anyway, with the plug electrode displaying a nice beige tone.

If the plug is dry and sooty then you may have a fault with excessive fuelling; if it is oily then it’s possible that engine wear may make adjustments difficult. 

 In place of the normal spark plug you screw in the special Colortune Transparent plug. It only needs to be just a fraction more than finger tight to take care not to over-tighten it! Next, screw the HT extension lead into the Colortune plug whilst the other end connects to the spark plug cap. The insulator on the Colortune plug is glass rather than ceramic – the area around the white centre – so you can look down into the centre of the plug and actually see the combustion taking place.

With the engine running just above idle speed you can clearly see and orange glow on the inside of the spark plug.

 Just a fraction of a turn anti-clockwise on the air-screw on the side of the Amal Concentric carburetter enables you to trim the colour of the combustion to the correct blue hue.

Too far and the colour will turn white, indicating and unwanted lean burn situation. 

 

You can use the Colortune to check the combustion at other engine speed too, rather than just at idle. The instructions that come with the kit describe what to expect at various throttle opening, to perhaps diagnose an incorrect main jet or slide, or even a defective accelerator pump on such equipped carburetters.

I tend to prefer using my experience and ‘feel’ to set these up, or if it’s a very complex problem by using a Dyno rolling road with an air/fuel ratio print out at a local specialist.

However, for most simple classic motorcycles the Colortune should be more than adequate. It’s especially useful when faced with twin carb equipped engines. Each air-screw can be set spot on using the Colortune, then, the idling balanced using an air gauge.

When you are finished, simply give the Colortune plug a clean with some brake cleaner using the small brush provided in the kit, then pack everything safely away for the next time it is needed. I use and old wooden wine box to ensure all the various parts are kept together.

“Look after your tools and they will last a lifetime” as my old dad used to say.

Using the Colortune kit is a rewarding yet simple bit of fettling, when carried out in the comfort of a well-ventilated shed.
Go on, treat yourself to another cuppa with the feeling of the job well done! 

Paul Grace

(Full Magazine is available at: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/402366)

How to clean the soft top with Renovo products

Convertible Car Care Products

3 steps to make your soft-top like NEW with RENOVO  Renovo products are water based in order to be entirely kind to your soft-top (Souces: Renovo recommends)

		FABRIC SOFT TOPS		VINYL SOFT TOPS
STEP1: Clean your soft top		Ensure that your soft top is completely clean and free of any previous applications of water-proofer by applying Renovo Soft Top Canvas Cleaner (U213) according to the instructions on the bottle; then allow to thoroughly dry. As an approximate guide there will be two to four applications in a 500ml bottle; this will depend on how dirty the Soft Top is and how liberally the Soft Top Canvas Cleaner is applied.		Ensure that your soft top is completely clean and free of any previous applications of water-proofer by applying Renovo Vinyl Soft Top Cleaner (U211) according to the instructions on the label. The solution can be left to work for several hours or further applications may be used if the top is particularly dirty! As an approximate guide for an average size convertible top there are one to three coats in a 500ml bottle this will be dependant on the size of the Soft Top, how liberally the product is applied and how dirty the Soft Top is!
STEP 2: Revive the colour of your soft top		When the soft top is dry, apply Renovo Soft Top Reviver (U214/U215) according to the instructions on the label. Reviver should be applied out of direct sunlight. Colour depth will increase according to how many coats are applied. As an approximate guide for an average size convertible top there are two coats in a litre bottle and one coat in a 500ml bottle. It is important to allow each coat to dry completely before applying further Reviver.
STEP 3: Protect your soft top from the elements		When the convertible top is completely dry apply Renovo Ultra Proofer (U217/U218) according to the instructions on the label. Ultra Proofer should be applied out of direct sunlight. As an approximate guide for an average size convertible top there are two coats in a litre bottle and one coat in a 500ml bottle. It is important to allow each coat to dry completely before applying further Ultra Proofer. We recommend that you re-apply Ultra Proofer at approximately six monthly intervals to maintain optimum protection!		When the soft top is completely dry apply Renovo Vinyl Ultra Proofer (U212) according to the instructions on the label. Allow the Vinyl Ultra Proofer to dry completely before taking the car out in wet weather! As an approximate guide for an average size convertible top there will be one to three coats in a 500ml bottle; this will again be dependent on the size of the Soft Top and how liberally the product is applied. We recommend that you re-apply Vinyl Ultra Proofer at approximately three monthly intervals to maintain optimum protection!
STEP 4: Clean and polish your plastic screen		Apply Renovo Plastic Window Polish (U219) at regular intervals to restore and maintain the clarity of cloudy plastic screens. As an average guide there will be a few applications in a 50ml bottle and hence several more in the 100ml bottle; this will depend on how opaque the screen is and how liberally the Plastic Window Polish is applied.

 =============================================

Top Tips from Renovo: