The Blog 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006
3-Dec-2006
My time off in the UK is over and I will be traveling back to Azerbaijan for work tomorrow so nothing else will be done to the car till I return to the UK.
2-Dec-2006
Painted the Gearbox in primer yesterday and then gave it a coat of silver today. I think it looks quite good! I also spent time taking the sump off the engine and measuring the wear on the crank. The crank was checked using plastigage and thankfully every thing seems to be good on what I've checked so far. I also checked the wear on the oil pump and that's in tolerance as well.
30-Nov-2006
Spent the day dismantling the engine, you can go to the photo section to see the pictures. The engine is in remarkably good condition and looks that it has been re-bored to +20 thou in the past. Since the engine was re-bored it can't have been used much as there are no ridges at the top of the bores. However what problems there are with the engine look like they have been caused by the engine standing for a long period of time. The cylinder bores look as if they will clean up well enough with some emery paper however the cam may need to be reground due to some rust damage on a couple of lobes. The cylinder head just needs the seats of the valves that were open while the engine was standing to be re-cut, however I'll probably have them converted to run on unleaded petrol while this is being done. Tomorrow I plan to check on the condition of the crank shaft bearings.
29-Nov-2006
My new rear shocks arrived so I spent the day fitting the springs onto the shocks and then fitting them onto the car. I also fitted the handbrake that I painted last week.
25-Nov-2006
Spent the day rebuilding the gearbox and overdrive today all the gaskets were replaced and new o-rings and seals were used through out the gearbox and overdrive. All that remains is for me to clean the bell housing adapter before fitting it and then to paint the gearbox.
24-Nov-2006
Continued dismantling the overdrive and then spent the rest of the day cleaning the gearbox and overdrive ready to reassemble.
23-Nov-2006
Started off the day bay painting the hand brake mechanism. As the chassis is about as complete as I can get it till I receive more parts that I've ordered I decided that I would dismantle the gear box and overdrive. The gearbox looks like its in reasonable condition so all I think is required is for me to give it a good clean and the rebuild it with new gaskets and oil seals. I've not fully dismantled the overdrive yet but due to the amount of iron fillings found behind the filter I plan to pull it apart to check if something is wrong.
22-Nov-2006
Not much was done to the car today as I spent half the day working on my MGB that intermittently fails to start. The fault was traced to the starter motor. This was then pulled apart to see if the brushes need replacing or if it was more serious. Unluckily it looks like I need a new starter as the commutator is damaged.
I then continued with the electrical theme and rebuilt the body wiring harness for my Marcos. This section of the wiring loom requires less work than all the rest, probably because it's the only section that hasn't been butchered by the previous owners. The harness was cleaned and the old tape was removed and replaced with new. All the crimps were then cut off and replaced with new. The only ones not replaced were the ones in the special connecting blocks at the end of the harness.
17-Nov-2006
All I did today was clean up the hand brake mechanism so it's ready to be painted once I get a chance. I plan to take a break from the car over the next few days as I need to spend some time to find a house to buy.
16-Nov-2006
Spent the day making up new brake and fuel lines. All the pipes have been bent and cut to length but I'm still waiting for some fittings to be delivered to enable me to complete the job.
15-Nov-2006
Fitted the rear axel today. Unable to fit the rear shocks as I discovered one of the rear shocks that I thought was good is leaking oil. I've order a pair of replacements but I expect they will take some time to arrive as they are being made to order. I also replaced the pinion oil seal in the axle and fitted longer wheel studs so I can fit alloy wheels. The brakes on the LH side have also been assembled but I've currently left the RH side as I'm trying to find a hand brake lever (automatic brake adjuster) that's broken on the RH side.
14-Nov-2006
Completed building the front suspension and steering today. All that's left to do is to make some brake pipes.
13-Nov-2006
I'm back in the UK so I've started work on the Marcos not much done today but I've made a start rebuilding the front suspension.
24-Oct-2006
Still at work in Azerbaijan so obviousl? no work has been done to the Marcos. However this has given me time to update the web site and add some photo's into the Photo section. I have also spent some time ordering parts so I can continue the restoration when I return to the UK.
29-Sep-2006
I've completed painting the chassis, axle and suspension components black and I've also painted the brake calipers and shock absorbers silver. For now no more work will be done to the car as I have to return to work in Azerbaijan. I should be back in the UK in the middle of November and I hope to be able to reassemble the chassis and get some wheels back on to the Marcos with a bit of luck! If things go really well I may even start stripping the engine ready for a rebuild.
26-Sep-2006
Since my last update I've painted the axle and chassis black. I've also started to shot blast and service the front suspension. The front suspension was in reasonable condition with the exception that the lower trunnions are worn and need replacing. I'm hopping that only the brass trunnions are worn and that the steel vertical links are ok, however I won't know this till I get the replacement trunnions.
I've also removed the springs from the front and rear shock absorbers ready to be shot blasted. The front shocks are relatively new items that are in excellent condition. The rear shocks are old spax units which have some pitting on the shaft but they are still working. Due to the cost of replacements I plan to fit these back onto the car and see if the pitting causes them to leak during use.
The front calipers have also been stripped ready to be serviced. The caliper pistons have some corrosion but it looks as if I should get away with it. If they leak it's no more than a one hour job to swap out a caliper piston.
23-Sep-2006
Today I worked on trying to fix the holes in the rear axel. The first step was to fix the holes by brazing up the rear cover. Once this was completed the top half of the cover plate was loaded with solder. This will hopefully add some strength to what remains of the axel cover plate and will with a bit of luck remain oil tight for many years to come. The pinion oil seal needs to be changed but this will be done when the axle is fitted back in the chassis.
22-Sep-2006
Painted the chassis in stone chip resistant under seal today. Once this has set I plan to paint the chassis black over the next few days.
21-Sep-2006
The last day of chassis repairs! The last few bad sections of the chassis that were discovered from the shot blasting were cut out and repaired today. This means I'll be able to continue with the painting of the chassis tomorrow.
20-Sep-2006
Painted all the shot blasted items in etching primer. Below is a picture of the chassis painted in etch primer.
19-Sep-2006
Had the chassis, suspensio? components, axle and petrol tank shot blasted today. The shot blasting went ok apart from a few more badly corroded sections were discovered in the chassis. Once it has been painted in etch primer these will have to be repaired. The major problem or discovery of the day was that the axle is badly corroded it now has a number of holes in it. This means I now have to come up with a plan to fix this. It will also have to be stripped to remove all the sand that will be inside. The petrol tank also developed one hole but considering how rusty the inside is it could have been much worse.
18-Sep-2006
Still repairing the chassis. Today was spent working on the front of the chassis. The box section below the RH suspension mount had been patched. Although it didn't look rusty it was decided to cut out this section out for aesthetic reasons and replace with a new piece. On cutting out the old box section the reason for repair was discovered. The original section box section had cracked through.
I also prepared the petrol tank for shot blasting today by removing all the petrol and rinsing it out with water. A large amount of rust particles came out with the petrol and on closer inspection the inside of the tank is very rusty. This means I will probably have to replace the tank or repair it before fitting it back onto the car.
17-Sep-2006
Continued repairing the rear part of the chassis. Some parts of the original chassis had been patched with over 4 layers of metal were a previous owners had tried to perform a repair. The bad sections were cut or ground out before being replaced with new box sections.
16-Sep-2006
Some major progress was made with the frame today as both sides of the frame have been replaced however they have not been fully welded in place yet. This is partly due to some of the surrounding metal being badly corroded. This is why you will see some extra box sections painted white in the photo below. These have temporally been welded in place to try and keep the new sections aligned till the surrounding pieces can be replaced.
15-Sep-2006
The steel for the car arrived today. The afternoon was spent cutting the steel to length ready to be welded this weekend.
14-Sep-2006
No real work was done today but I've arranged for the 1-1/2 inch steel box that I require to be delivered either tomorrow or Monday 18th Sep. I've also arranged to get the frame and axel shot blasted on Tuesday 19th Sep. Only job planned the next few days is to strip the under seal from the frame before it goes to be shot blasted. If the steel turns up tomorrow I'll probably be busy this weekend cutting it up and getting ready to fix the chassis. I also ordered a gasket set for the engine today. The build file for my car that I ordered from Marcos Heritage also arrived today (see picture below).
13-Sep-2006
Not much work was done on the car today as I spent most of my time shop?ing. I spent some money on buying some etch primer and black chassis paint ready for when the chassis has been fixed up.
I a?so spent some of the day trying to find 1-1/2 inch ERW box tube so I can fix the chassis. So far I've not had much luck finding any locally but I plan to put a bit more effort into this tomorrow. I know I could use 40mm box but I want to try and keep the frame as original looking as possible.
Once the shopping was over with I spent the afternoon removing the front suspension from the frame so I now have a bare frame ready to be fixed.
12-Sep-2006
As I now have the body removed I spent the day removing the engine, gear box, brake pipes and rear axel. The engine and gearbox removal were relatively straight forward but the rear axel was a bit of a challenge! Nearly every radius arm bolt was rusted solid into its spacer making them impossible to remove. The easiest solution was to use a hack saw to cut through the bolt both sides of the radius arm. This enabled the radius arm to be removed and the remaining part of the bolt to be punched out with the bush. I also ordered a set of "Superflex" suspension bushes for the car today.
11-Sep-2006
The first part of the day was spent on the internet trying to find out how to remove the body off of the frame. I finally found a useful document which can be found in the Download section. On studying this I discovered that I had missed 5 bolts hidden behind the dash! After removing the bolts I had another go at removing the body. The body still didn't want to come free but after gentle persuasion by using numerous jacks it finally separated from the frame. The frame is in quite a bad shape but due to its simple design it should be straight forward to fix.
10-Sep-2006
I've returned to the UK and have started working on the Marcos GT. The first task was to strip the car and remove the fibre glass body from the chassis to enable repairs to be made to the rusty sections. This turned out to be much harder than expected as 50% of the screws holding the body in place were rusted in place. After several hours of hammering, chiselling and using an impact screwdriver the screws were removed.
The final items to be removed were the radius rod bolts that go through the boot sides. This turned out to be much harder than expected. After several hours I managed to remove the nuts from the four bolts however I was only able to remove the upper two bolts! The lower two bolts were ceased solid in the bush. The next plan of attack was to grind the top off the bolts inside the boot enabling the bolt to be punch out of the bushing. Once the top of the bolt was removed no amount of hitting the bolt would persuade them to come free of the bushing! The final plan of attack was to try and drill the bolts out. As the bolts are hardened steel this was quite difficult but eventually enough was drilled to enable the body to come free at the rear. The remaining part of the bolt will be removed once the fibre glass body has been removed.
Even though all the bolts have been removed I am still unable to get the body to come free. To try and persuade it to come free a piece of wood was placed across the rear of the fibre glass body. Upward pressure was then placed on the wood by using a trolley jack. This seemed to be working well to start with but the body still does not want to come free where the seat belt mounting points are. To try and help this happen I put a bit more pressure on the trolley jack. This did not have the desired effect as all it did was crack the fib?e glass body at the rear wheel arch on the driver's side! Having been firmly beaten I decided to give up for the day before causing any mor? damage.
The plan for tomorrow is to perform a quick repair to the crack which will get some strength back into the body and then have another go.
28-Aug-2006
I've been busy at work so I've had very little time to finish the web site. However today I managed to get internet access so I could up load the completed site. All the links on the site should now be working however email me if you have any suggestions to improve the site. If all goes well I should be back in the UK by September 10th to start work on the Marcos GT.
1-Aug-2006
After deciding a week ago that I want to document the restoration of the Marcos GT I bought on eBay I've finally created my first web page. This has been a lot easier than expected as after spending a few days designing a web page I was able to buy a web address, hosting service and have the site up and running within a few hours.
There is still a lot more to do with the site but it's a good starting point!
24-Jul-2006
After buying a Marcos GT on eBay today it has inspired me to create this web site. On researching the Marcos car I've discovered there is very little documented information about these cars. I hope by creating this web site it will help encourage people to give the technical help I may require about this cars as there is very little documented information. It will also provide a way for people to see how I'm progressing with the restoration.