Pearl’s Rolling Restoration

Discussion in 'Restorations' started by Cloppper, Jun 12, 2019.

  1. The lever is held in place with a pin through the main body of the mechanism. Which was where mine was broken, so I just had to push the pin from the lever.

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    On test fitting the lever in the new part, I found it a bit loose compared to the original. I understand there are two different diameter levers, so mine must be the smaller. I used a piece of electrical tape to increase the diameter enough to make a snug fit.

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    Before refitting the pin I used a drill bit the same size as the pin to clean up the printed part and the lever,

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    I wanted the pin to slide in and not risk splitting the plastic or fowling the hole in the lever.

    This was the most ‘squeaky bum time’ of the whole repair, but using a tiny g clamp managed to push it home.

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  2. Next up was the main spring,

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    Care needs to be taken here, as this is where the original part had failed, both arms attached at the green arrows had snapped.

    Using pliers to compress the spring I had to make sure the spring ends are pushed right through the holes so that they rest on the main body and don’t put too much stress on the plastic arms.

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    Lastly for the main part is the spring that provides the satisfying clunk when you operate the lever.

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    It was hard to make out what the bit on top of the spring is supposed to look like, but it appeared to be solid and had some sort of lubricant on it, so I left well alone and pushed it gently into the new body.
     
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  3. The locating pin in the hammer piece was easy enough to remove from the old worn hammer and push into the new one.

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    And the springs that hold it in place on the 3rd piece were straightforward to fit too,

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    I had bought replacements for these (from springsandthings.me.uk), as I understand that they are often missing. And as it turned out mine were present, but one was mangled. The originals are 7mm but were a lot looser/ more springy than the modern 7mm ones which felt too tight when fitted, so I went with 8mm ones.
     
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  4. Next was reassembling everything back into the body of the switch. Fair play to @Nils, the new parts slotted straight in perfectly!

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    The last 2 springs (arrowed) dropped into place and the contact piece, that I’d cleaned up, located over the top.

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    I also cleaned the contacts on the plastic base part of the switch

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    Pushed the two together and gingerly bent the 3 remaining metal tabs back down. Reinstalled it back into the steering column, reconnected the battery and went for a drive!

    Wow! The difference is amazing! I drove round the village turning left and right, it self cancelled every time! Drove over speed bumps and it didn’t turn itself on!
     
  5. JamesLey

    JamesLey Sponsor

    Thanks for the detailed write up! Mines the same mechanism. It’s not broken but is useful to know it can be repaired if needed.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
     
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  6. Hi Cloppper,

    Thanks for the awesome write up and feedback. Always great to see someone happy with an end product you helped create.

    A few observations,
    Going by the shape of your old internal section, you do indeed have the 5mm stalk.
    The parts also have the holes under size to aid in fitment. On the shapeways site are the holes you need to drill, but looks like you worked it out.
    Lastly it looks like the roller on the end of the spring that moves on the bridge has been replaced by a blob of JB weld?
    Looks like it works though

    Sent from my INE-LX2r using Tapatalk
     
    Cloppper likes this.
  7. Do you have a pic of what the roller on the end of the spring looks like?
     
  8. There you go,
    center roller.jpg
     
    Cloppper likes this.
  9. I’ve been away a few times fulfilling the rolling part of ‘rolling resto’ but this week I’m using the van to deliver my mates bride to their wedding . So I’ve been cleaning and clearing her out, van that is!.

    And though my overall plan is to restore back to original where possible. Mustard seat covers don’t sit too well with The wife’s decor ideas. So I’ve recovered them in black. Happily I found the original yellow ones in decent nick when I removed the previous owners tatty blue ones. Seems he recovered due to taste and not necessity. Meaning I can preserve the originals for posterity. And a metaphorical pat on the back from some other dude in 40 years.

    The material, apparently all singing and dancing, super tough, waterproof stuff, was a bit tricky to work with, but turned out nice in the end.

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    More trips planned, including Techenders. After that back to restoration, removing the windscreen and dealing with what lies beneath...
     
    Iain McAvoy, JamesLey and paradox like this.
  10. That looks really good. Iv got the same repairs to do to mine, never cut or welded anything in my life so i will be using your thread as a very helpful guide. please keep the pics and write up coming as i will be watching with interest. For now i have brought a mig all the various tools and been practising on loads of scrap metal next step trying to sort out the bay.
     
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  11. Well done on not stripping that lovely orange fabric off we did the same made full seat covers and kept the orange underneath
     
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  12. It’s been a while, Pearl has spent more time rolling, than being restored in the last 18 months. But this spring I decided to set about a job that I’ve wanted to do for some time. Replacing the windscreen seal and all that might entail! It’s totally perished and water leaks down into the footwell. So I took a blade and started chopping out the window.

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    I was expecting the worst, and it was bad, but perhaps not as bad as it could have been!

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  13. [​IMG]

    The exterior skin was still in the right place and in better condition than the interior skin. Also the flanges that hold the dash cover in place we’re solid, with next to no rust. Could have been worse!
     
  14. I figured if I had any chance of getting the windscreen back in, I’d need to make sure the shape and position of the lip was spot on. I couldn’t use the repair pieces as a guide, because they weren’t quite the right shape.

    So my plan was to repair the middle section, as a datum. By repairing it in sections, I could ensure each part was in the right place, by marrying it up with the original.

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    As the repair piece comes in two half’s, I had the weld the ends of each together to make this first bit.

    When I was happy with the fit I welded on a new interior skin piece, and then welded the new lip piece to it and the exterior skin.

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    With that in and solid I could start on the next section.
     
  15. It went like this; fettle repair piece to fit

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    Then cut out the old rot. Apply rust treatment and rust inhibiting primer to cavity.

    Repair the interior skin
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    Then weld in the repair piece
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    And repeat…
     
    Last edited: Jun 2, 2021
  16. It was all pretty straightforward along the bottom, till it came to the corner sections. They were harder to fettle, so I did them in smaller sections. And the interior skin was in worse condition there too.

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    But they went in ok in the end.

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    With all the new metal in place it was just a matter of finishing all the welding and cleaning and welding and cleaning!
     
  17. It is daunting at times, ‘am I doing this right?’ ‘Is this going to work?’ But when you have lots of solid metal on your van and a pile of chopped out rot on the floor. [​IMG]

    I figure it’s got to be in better shape than it was!

    Putting the first coat of primer on, is my favourite bit! Starts looking tidy again!

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  18. It was all about the filling and sanding from there. But while I had the Window out and the dash cover off, I thought about a few other jobs that needed doing. Not least the dash cover itself!

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    Some rust to sort and some funky paint brush strokes too!

    Wire brush, rust treatment, primer, filler, sand, filler, sand.

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    Primer, topcoat!

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  19. I’d bought and fitted an oil temperature gauge a while ago, but never got round to mounting the dial. So with access to the dash I set about mounting it in the spare right hand slot.

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    I drilled a hole in the backing plate, then gave it a quick spray of stone chip and fitted the dial

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    The little jobs like this are always satisfying!

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  20. Unfortunately there was no avoiding the next stage, I was ready to put the windscreen back in…

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    Now I watched a dude on the internet do it on his own, standard procedure, para cord and lots of soapy water! How hard could it be?

    Well after 3 hours of trying and a ruined seal later, I ordered another seal and concluded it’s definitely a two man job!

    With a camping trip booked for tomorrow I was getting anxious, so a few days ago a mate, whose done a few of these, came over and it went in like a dream!

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    It’s a combination of someone outside pushing and banging, while someone on the inside pulls the cord.

    “Yes dear, all sorted, never in doubt, we can go camping!”
     
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