Jimmymac & Alistair's Cars

JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
Shooting some heavy black undercoat today.
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JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
I pulled this out of the shed after ten years and it's still a nice and clean '65 289 HiPo with standard bores.
It's going down the road soon to be re-built and fitted with a pair of cast iron C6FE heads as a spare motor.
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JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
We fitted the first car with new Lucas 6RA relays and three of them blew first time so we change the lot out for older ones with success.
I have a set of 20 relays left dating from 1962-1966 and most of them appear to be NOS.
So today I opened them up for complete overhaul and gapping together with sending the cases for re-plating.

I have often read that the newer versions were lesser in quality that the old and this shot proves it in my opinion.
The coils on the old relays are paper protected and the leads to the contacts are heavier gauge covered wires offering better protection.
The top four relays with the bright coils in the photo are new old stock 1973 and you can see the production changes over seven years. Apart from the light varnish on the coil winding these is no weather protection or insulation.
I might get a new one for further comparison just for the hell of it.

Well we have some light oxidation on the zinc coated armatures which I will remove and before gapping the contacts to spec and I will re-cover the coils in Kapton tape. The contacts will also get a fresh tinning to make good.
Once they are together and tested I shall seal the bases in epoxy.
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Neil

Supporter
I would not risk using Lucas relays but then I'm not in pursuit of originality. I hope they work for you, James.

Regards, Neil Tucson, AZ
 

JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
Johnny
Try to get some late sixties Lucas switches.
They have a solid click and you can hear it when you you flick them. The chrome plating is also far better.
 

JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
A little thing but a very nice NOS key fob given to me recently. I bet that there are not many of these around.
It makes me smile now but I did not have a clue of the GT40 connection at the time when I had actually been to Willment's offices in Southampton many times during my younger days.
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Mike

Lifetime Supporter
Can't be very long now right? Send me the date for the planned debut so I can arrange flights!

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JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
Hi Mike,
Sure thing and we will give you plenty of notice.
Hopefully it won't be as cold as that day at Goodwood, it was brass monkey weather.
We started laying on the blue colour this week and I am very pleased with it so it won't be long before we get the car back in the shop and start putting the bits back.
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JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
The Guardsman Blue paint sample was sprayed from what I believe to be the old AC cars cellulose version and our painter has matched the sample quite well in a modern water base. It has a teal green tinge in a certain light.
We put a few base coats on this week and the car will be put together on Monday for painting as one with more top coats and clear.
Excuse the quality of the pictures but you I hope will get my drift.
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JimmyMac

Lifetime Supporter
Jim
Thanks
Alistair put his on the road last month and it's looking terrific but we can't get out of the habit of tweeking bits.
 
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