RUSTY HEAPS

1970 Triumph Bonneville

January 16, 2021 / Roger / 0 Comments

My good friend Jack offered me his 1970 Bonnie, as he doesn’t really see himself getting around to recommissioning it, and needs the space…so here it is, washed up on the shores of Isle de Rust. (Not that I need another project, but it’s a neat old bike, which a good friend owned for more than 20 years–I’ll be pleased to give it a new lease on life.)

2020 So Far: Inactivity Merit Badge Achieved

August 17, 2020 / Roger

So…I rescued a dog in February, a border collie (mix, I think) named Brodie. Since then, I have essentially spent most of my time hanging with him, and absolutely none out in the shoppe doing anything useful on any of the vehicles! But I have washed nearly everything with wheels on it in the last month, so here’s some shots of the stable being hosed down, with the help of the pupper.

Elan Coupe

January 9, 2020 / Roger

My friend just picked up this nice original Elan Coupe. Looking sharp in Bahama Yellow (I think that’s the color, anyway).

Asymmetry

January 2, 2020 / Roger

This issue seems to follow me around, that is, the front sheet metal of my cars invariably is pretty wonky. Case in point is the Morgan, where the fenders are quite different from each other. I’m not sure, given my “talents”, whether I’ll be able to unwonkify it.

Trying to Undo the Damage

December 28, 2019 / Roger

If I can help it, I will never out-source any car repair or restoration work ever again. Apparently, in this new Nazi age, caring about the work you do is a thing of the past, and we should all be grifters. A fine example of this is the work done on my front fender.

3-D Printing for Neither Fun nor Profit

October 13, 2019 / Roger

I decided to model the broken sunroof drain in Fusion360, and then print it on my Prusa printer. Surely this would be a “quick” and “easy” alternative to spending big bux? It worked out in the end, but the process was really rather frustrating: Fusion is difficult for complex shapes (for amateurs like me), and 3-D printing still seems much more an art than a science.

Inside Rain

October 5, 2019 / Roger

The disco leaks when it rains, as I discovered today, so I thought I’d drop the headliner out to see what the source was. I had a pretty good idea it would be the sunroof, and I was right. I wanted to re-do the headliner anyway, so I’ll order the material today. I think I’ll just go with the original gray, not a fan of black headliners.

Roof Repair at the Disco

September 28, 2019 / Roger

So I did a quickie repair to the roof of the Discovery, and it looks…ok, actually. It’s really hard to notice unless you know where it was, and even then it’s hard to spot. I suspect from directly overhead that might be a different story, but I’ve been up on a ladder and it’s fine.

Into Orbit(al)

September 22, 2019 / Roger

I’ve managed to right a few of the wrongs on this car–and have polished the bonnet and headlight covers, as seen above. Neither of the latter are perfect, but they are far better than they were.

Disco is Hip Again

September 19, 2019 / Roger

And the replacement for the Mini, which was a practical and fun car to drive, is…a Land Rover Discovery–which is not really any of those things. And wait, we’ve been here before!