LagondaNet

[Lagondanet]

Work arranged through David Marks

http://www.flickr.com/photos/42501330@N05/sets/72157624806980062/with/4927336350/

[Lagondanet]

This Series 3 CRT car had the dashboard converted to analogue by the factory.
In 2009 the Marks brothers converted it to LCD using a control computer which Robert Marks designed and built himself. They had been asked to convert it back to CRT but concluded that they could not find enough components to do so (especially the AUDIT computer) and even if they could, to reinstate it from scratch would probably cost as much as, if not more than the LCD kit and it would still have had all the old CRT problems.
The key aim of the LCD conversion was to produce an exact facsimile of the original. The system was built and developed on the bench. It was tailored to the specific signal inputs of 13501, i.e. all the sensors
for road and engine speed, fuel, temperature etc were measured using
independent devices and this data related to the outputs from the vehicle
senders and all of this configured to the control computer. The whole system took about 14 months to develop and install.
The restoration goes on with a full respray and refitting of a newly reconditioned engine pending.

http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n35/Lagondanet/13501/


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[Lagondanet]

Front end corrosion!

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[david]

Some of you may remeber 13501 going to Belgium on for LagondaV8 2009 and it performed very well during the trip.

However, on the way home, after coming away from some very heavy London traffic, I noted a deterioration in performance and idle quality, the latter had not been that good anyway.

Once I arrived back, I compression tested the engine and found that there was no compression on number eight cylinder. An endoscope inspection revealed a burned out valve that was also starting to crack - a very scary situation, if the valve had dropped, it would have caused hugely expensive damage.

I think that the hour or so in the traffic followed by an immediate speed increase onto the M1 was just too much and the valve burned.

The decision was taken to remove the engine for a full strip down, not to just do the heads. This turned out to be very wise as we found one broken piston ring, and a few bearings just about through the white metal - the crankshaft was fine though.

The valves and valve seats were in very poor condition, it was amazing only one had burned. The car had a history of misfiring and non starting - due to faults with the Webber Marelli engine management system (the reason the car came in to us in the first place was because it woudl not start) and the heavy oil soaked carbon deposits were a result of this history.

Bore wear (or the lack of) was fine and the pistons were re used with new rings.

As the original exhaust headers were badly corroded, new stainless steel items were made to pattern.

As this is a 585 series fuel injected engine, it looks and is quite different in many ways to the earlier 580 series carburettor units. It was easier to remove all the manifolding in situ to enable a simpler lift out of the engine bay.

Once the engine was out and away being rebuilt we were asked to look into the body work issues - that, as they say, is another story...................... The car is now undergoing pretty much a full rebuild and will have a bare metal repsray too.

As a right hand drive, fuel injected, CRT car, it must be a rare beast - any thoughts Roger?

http://s878.photobucket.com/albums/ab343/dmgarage/13501/?albumview=slideshow

[Lagondanet]

Brilliant David! Yes a rare beast indeed which will be wonderful when it is finished especially with your new dash.






I've attached a few pics of the paint coming off 13501, note how they have
masked things off even for paint removal and refitted the bonnet, just
because it is the safest place to have it for the bulk of the work.

Four layers of paint off already and they have yet to reach aluminium!!

[david]

A long overdue update.

The shell is now in paint as is the boot, bonnet and many small components. Other parts, including the doors still have to be prepared.

Some 5 or six layers of paint were removed, exposing a shell that required more than expected repairs to the aluminium (no surprise there really) so it has become a much more time consuming job.

It was decided to paint the shell with the doors off as otherwise, access to paint the door shut faces etc would be very restricted. We hope this decision will not come back to bite us.

It is coming together now and hopefully within the next two months or so will be assembled ready to come back to Nottingham to fit up with all the electrics, engine/gearbox, interior etc, so still a long way to go.

The link below is to a slide show of progress, from the car in bare metal, through primer, to paint.

http://s878.photobucket.com/albums/ab343/dmgarage/13501/?albumview=slideshow

[Lagondanet]

Some pictures from November 2011. Body tub fully in primer & engine bay painted.

[Lagondanet]

10th June 2012 engine in.

[Lagondanet]

Now MOT'd.

[Lagondanet]

David says: 501 has without a doubt begun to emerge as a functioning vehicle, the end (assuming no major disaster) really is in sight now. - Even the TV set and VHS player work, (no analogue signal of course so just white snow).