DDG 220 C aka "Millie" - MK 1 Singer Chamois

[John A. Ross]

An of course the mandatory bit of "attitude" skulls are just cool

[John A. Ross]

And on the final assembly of the engine to go back in thats the flywheel back on and sealed.

Shiny it may be but its appeal is starting to dull on me.

It has had a consistent leak / blow by so after examination and a straight edge the manifold is bent as a 3 quid note.

Could not get it milled locally so I added some dye and blocked it out starting at 60 grit and ending up at 120.

Did same on the inlet manifold as it had an air leak that I could not find. Again the manifold was indeed not true.



So thats it back on the engine abd buttoned up, I did cheat a little and smeared a little paste around number 4 primary but just a smear

[John A. Ross]

Well not a lot done at moment

Still fixing those damn temp sender and blank plug holes.

Ordered some threaded adapters to go a size up, then a 5/8-18 UNF to do the blank plug which would NOT budge ! so neeeds drilled out, of course my chuck only does 13mm so one that is nearly 15mm is a no-no and I have to wait yet again for a reduced shank drill bit to drill it out before tap.

I plan to attach the temp sender (standard on imp) and also install a blank plug witha 1/8 NPT hole for the sender for a more accurate gauge than the imps one.

Drill, tap, fail wait on more bits, fail, epoxy, rethread, wait for another drill, its a frustrating week and a bit just waiting on bits !

Might JUST get the final bits by Saturday and if so can get the engine sat back in for final time

I should have left the last one in, it worked great

- John

[John A. Ross]

It has arived, hopefully final piece of the puzzle to get the senders back in. Was a bit of a wait but needed the reduced shank.

Could never have done this with engine in.



Time to tap some 5/8-18 holes

[John A. Ross]

And could not put it off any longer

Blank plug removed, I am sure that damn thing was welded in !

I ended up having to cut it off and drilling out the steel part, (hence the reduced shank drill above) and then re-tapped some nice clean threads at 5/8-18 UNF




Anyway, the rear 5/8-18 UNF hole for the sender that was damaged by what I reckon was fitting of a tapered hose tail at one time has now been re-drilled and tapped for M16-1.5 which is just oversize to 5/8

First I actually repaired the threads with some wonders of modern chemistry, re-enforced high tep epoxy. I can hear Roy from SA shouting yeah from here

Then redrilled 14.5mm and 2 stage tap the remainder for M16-1.5

To fit in there i took a standard M16 to 1/8 brass adapter, overall head depth plus inner barrel sizes it was not really suitable for a temp sender where you want the sender in water and as far away from metal as you can.

So I step drilled the M16 inner end AND

Cut the head depth in 1/2

Leaves a nice opening for the sensor part of the sender.








So back to fitting the things now, first the M16 adapter

Treated with some lovely loctite thread sealer (not thread lock ! ) and an epoxy bead on outer ring at taper.





And now its in


So time to add the "standard" sender back in, again some nice thred sealer and an O ring seated



And finally fit the 1/8 sender, again I cut a small coutersunk taper into the M16 bosses 1/8 threaded hole added sealer and fitted





So now i can have my after market gauge and standard imp sender, I will end up using the last of my spare "cores" from front to back but doubt I will ever need it anyway.



A VERY LONG road which I should not have needed to take, but fixed now, stat housing to fit tomorrow and then engine can be refitted. YEESSS

[John A. Ross]

Petowner I heard you over my shoulder Bob while I was drilling and cutting but it worked out in the end.

[Petowner]

Yes still here John , l hate working with brass or phosphor bronze, the chips are the worst splinters you can get , they can stay hidden under the skin for ages so rather you than me, got some Wolseley bronze bearings to make later in week though..
Quiet on Imp front at moment, stalled at fitting rear dampers stage, ordered parts for another ten tank filters this week so should have stock back on shelf soon.
Nice job though John.
Bob

[John A. Ross]

Cheers Bob

I know you would have been busy, missed a lot of the good weather though I reckon, you get the floor in house finished ?

Just thought I would better do it right or you would be nagging me

Just dropped engine back off stand now, ready to put back in. If I get it seated on the shaft tonight I will be happy.

John

[John A. Ross]

And it is off the stand and back in the car hopefully for the final time

[John A. Ross]

Still sick as a dog but managed to paint strip and wash off these today.

Take some pain killers for your back they said, back and neck feel great, guts have now taken over, prefered the back pain !

Off for final vapour blast tomorrow, painted and tyres by weekend hopefully






Fronts will get done another time to match, just doing these for now as thats road legal tyres on the car then

[John A. Ross]

Ended up giving all 4 wheels to the fellas at Vapour Blast Scotland over in Haggs, very local to me. They kindly did a quick demo and the wheels in natural alumninium look good, the polished rim is going.

These are the fellas here for anyone local. https://www.vapourblastscotland.co.uk/


lm57krm@gmail.com

[John A. Ross]

Well last of the bits heading back in, the first water pump I had in the car leaked a little, so that was sent back, the second one I had worked great BUT it sat at an odd angle, so ended up munching bits of aluminium off the brackets and adding spacers to get it sitting where I want.

It is hard to see but the actual "flat" surfaces on the pump casting are actually at a slant, so when tightended it skews the pulley position, so I will just add the pictures and leave you to have a look.

[John A. Ross]

And finally back together

[John A. Ross]

AND before fire up again, flush the oil. This one has already been run for a few hours so pulled the sump plug which was fitted with one of Bobs Petowner magnet sump plugs.

And it was very revealing, we all know the rings bed in and so on which is the only magnetic material we should see, was great to see it on the magnet rather than a stain on the filter and in the oil






Glad I fitted it now !

[John A. Ross]

I had a new hatch seal from Frank / Roger and decided it was time to try it while I had an extra set of hand here

End result was very good. Hatch is now more or less flush sitting in aperture and no gaps.

The existing seal set I had from Malcolm fitted fine as always but the side affect is the hatch sits way too proud requiring hinge shims and in some cases a longer lock catch

I managed a HUGE inprovement by buying some seals for the body side from COH Baines and this still left a little bit of a raised hatch and still had to use shims to stop it pinching in the top.

The missing piece was the hatch seal, Malcs was correct profils but depth wise it was bigger than factory and the fin was bigger too,

So far the one from Frank is more factory size and is fitting very well all round.

Another piece of the puzzle sorted need to actually strip/paint the hatch now