Austin A35 Project

[gazza82]

Well it's not the fuel injected one but it is mine! Spend several hours yesterday getting access to my A35 in my late Mother's garage.

As I expected the bonnet has been bent in, but I know of a few around or a man that might be able to "unbend" it.

It took a while just to get to this stage as just inside the door where step ladders (that looked lethal if you tried to use them!) and TWO broken lawn mowers plus bags of rubbish .. I would add I started to remove parts several years ago .. the hole in the rear panel is for an alarm key .. the hole in the sill needs attention! No the rear wheels are no standard .. 5 1/2" banded steels with 185R13 tyres. They came with 4 1/2" rims and 5.20 cross plies. Mine did at least go around corners!

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Once I cleared the side I was able to squeeze past an old broken gas cooker (why? ) and get one of the garage doors open ...

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I never knew my parents knew Picasso ..

It's a Mk II (no BMC never made one!) and that boot handle is the more modern Mini Clubman one. Still locks and unlocks too!

So it's now got four wheels and tyres that hold air so it's at least moveable .. push me, pull you moveable .. next up is to find someone to transport it home for me ..

The JPS Formula 1 stickers in the rear window date it's last excursions into the outside world .. I'm sure the offside one said "F1 Belgian Champions"!

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After removing several plastic storage boxes, books and sheets of 1/2" plywood I managed to get the bonnet open too ...

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JPB there's that 1 1/4" SU .. there is another complete carb and manifold set up in the boot .. must have been from SHMBO's old wrecked A40 Mk II. The A35 is sporting the A40's 8" front drums too ... I made a start to get it back on the road many years ago but never finished. I plan to fit Midget discs now. Those 8" drum assemblies are highly sought after by my Owners' Club members. The 8" are more efficient and still look original.

Oh and yes, there have been mice!

[gazza82]

So here are those 8" drums ..

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I was surprised at how easy the car was to move until I found the 8" shoes in a cupboard in the garage! And the brake return springs under the car ..

Tin Worm!

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The nearside sill was a lot worse than I remembered .. the offside isn't quite as bad ... but I now have two brand new sills, and some wing repair sections sitting in the garage ready for that fateful day when I get the angle grinder out! (which won't be tomorrow!! Still have to strip the mechanicals out and get it on the spit!!

[gazza82]

Some small progress .. having to take a days leave during "social-distancing" was a great opportunity to get the spanners out ...

Initially it was just to start clearing up some of the mouse detritus ... but I got a bit carried away ..

Firstly the rad came out ..

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There wasn't much in the way of coolant which was good as this is over 40 years old now! I also drained of 40+ year old 20W50 from the engine and gearbox ..

Then rad fan and water pump came off .. both relatively easily.

As the engine is seized I wanted to see what was in the bores ..

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That is penetrating fluid in the bores .. engine is still seized .. it all came apart very easily apart from a coupld of studs and in teh process iof lossening one, I managed to take out the engine plate!

I loosened off a number of bolts and nuts for mountings, gearbox, etc while I was in the mood preparing the way to drop the egine and gearbox out next time.

After clearing away the detritus and poking about between the two fron panels I found another candidate for the mig ..

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... the driver's side is similar but will need work as this is a common area for rot. Several closed off areas that catch and hold muck .. usually damp muck!

Since this pic was taken the horseshoe and grille have been removed to allow me to clear out more debris and rust ..

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... that driver's side bumper mounting has taken a bit of a whack somewhere ..

I also started to clean up the interior, but that can wait until next time!

[gazza82]

But here's one to give you an idea of how I found it ..

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[Dick]

This quarantine isn't all bad then! Im busy painting.

[Luxobarge]

Loving this thread. Look forward to more progress, I did a complete nut-and-bolt restoration on my MG Midget many years ago, and under the skin they've got a lot in common, so I reckon I'll recognise quite a lot of the challenges that you will no doubt come across. I'll post back if I have any tips etc! My main issue was of course rust, and lots of it, there's always FAR more than you think there will be, mine had holes you could put your head through. At one point there was only the transmission tunnel and a 1" strip of inner sill metal holding the whole front of the car to the back!

Keep up the good work and keep posting here - Cheers!

[gazza82]

So far it's not too bad and the main places that A35s go .. bottom corner of front inner wings, bottom of front panel (and inner), bottom corner of wings, outer sills and rear bottom edges of wings .. all the places that would have got the fibre-glass patch-up treatment in the 70s!

It's a long-term project but I had a lot of the parts already so once teh welding is complete it should go back pretty quickly. Still thinking of little "improvements" daily though .. so keeping ebay sellers busy!



I rebuilt a Midget MkII in the 80s (1098cc) and apart from outer sills the only other bad rust places were the front wings (fibreglass replacements) and probably the worst, forward rear spring mounts ... also one front chassis leg had seen a bit of action too! (Obvious accident damage and not so hot repair!). [I'll whisper this: I swapped out the body for a better one from a scrapyard ]

I bought it for £180 as a non-starter (then got it started .. HT lead arcing! ) and I could have re-cooped my money selling the Cosmic alloy wheels, newish tyres and other parts ..

By the time the MOT had expired (!!! how???? !!!), it was back on the road rebuilt and running. Respray came later as did a head rebuild when we realised it was only running on 1 & 2 .. burnt out exhaust valves ..

[gazza82]

So an update!

I've started to take the Austin apart ... most of the interior is out and I'm pulling the loom. I've now got the car up on stands so today took the opportunity to remove the propshaft and then drop the engine and gearbox ..

The propshaft shouldn't be rusty .. it was half coated in underseal! Well half won't rust!

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Given "most" of the underside is undersealed it is remarkably solid. There is a rust hole in the passenger footwell and two crack where the front tilting seats hit the floor if dropped. Most of the rear rust is confined to the outer sills, bottom of the front wings and the front panels.

While wrestling with the gearbox and engine I heard a metallic clink as something hit the floor .. half an engine mount!

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And the engine and box is now on the floor ..

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I've got some serious cleaning to do in that engine bay

Why the sudden spurt of activity? .. a 400Nm Impact Wrench via Santa had a lot to do with it .. I had to test it, so what better to test it out on than a 60+ year old car that has sat for over 45 of its years in a not-so-dry garage!! So far, apart from the wing bolts, most have succumbed to the shock and undone easily.


I also now know why the o/s front wing is green behind several coats of paint .. considering it was Court Grey when I bought it .. it's taken a hit on that side as the inner wing is a bit crumpled too! Odd I never noticed that as I was under the front arches a lot replacing/repairing brakes/suspension/etc.

[Dick]

Progress!

[Luxobarge]

Excellent progress - you've got to the first stage which consists of exploding the car into many pieces with nowhere to put them, and revealing a lot of horrors and filth so the amount of work looks daunting. As you say, lots of cleaning, but soon you'll start to see progress and hopefully get the satisfaction of seeing parts of it "done", as I did. At least this is a simple car and parts are pretty easy to get. Keep up the good work and thanks for the update, please do keep them coming, we love a good resto blog!