My other expensive hobby - 1963 Sunbeam Alpine - Adventures in Cars

[RevolverRob]

In the "other expensive hobby" thread - I posted about my summer work "restoring" (I use the term loosely, how about, making roadworthy again), my recently acquired (from my father) 1963 Sunbeam Alpine. (https://pistol-forum.com/showthread....ve-hobby/page9) -

Rather than clutter that thread up - I decided to make my own thread for the car.

You can see the car is it looked in late 2006 -

Unfortunately, not long after this the car suffered a brake line failure. And shortly thereafter, my parents decided to move and started restoring a farm house from the 19-teens. 10 years, two restored houses, two kids getting married, two new grand kids, and retirement later the car has been languishing, unfortunately, outside for the last two years. This languishing time means the car is in need of some serious maintenance to be roadworthy again. Starting with rebuilding the brakes and then focusing on known trouble points for Alpines (generally the rear axle and overheating issues). Fortunately, the Brits in Conventry built better cars than any other Brits anywhere (seriously), and these little cars tend to hold up and are overbuilt, especially compared to say an MG. Unfortunately, they are far less common than its British brethren which can make parts acquisition a...pain in the ass.

Well, thus far on my adventure, I have managed to rebuild the rear axle, fit an electric fan, get the brakes almost entirely fixed, and do a tune-up on the engine. Alas, like all things, I wait for the inevitable UPS deliveries that bring me parts from far away. In the mean time while waiting, for those parts. I've taken to working on other issues plaguing the car.

The old seats and seat belts were...hazardous. The seats would randomly unlock and fully recline while moving and the seat belt mounts were so rotten, when I crushed open the clips to remove them with a pair of channel lock pliers, the clips broke in half (me thinketh they would not survive a high g-force load...). So, a sourced pair of MGB seats, complete with head rests and clips for shoulder belts, allowed me to upgrade seats and seat belts by installing new 3-point seat belts.



You can now see the car and her shameless toplessness (warning: completely safe for work!!!) on jackstands.



My next task cosmetic task will be to paint and adjust the sheet metal covers that conceal the soft-top when it is folded and then fit them to the car. After that, the new soft top should be here and I'll start the install. When my hydraulic line adapters for the clutch and brakes arrive those systems will be complete. Which will be another safety upgrade with new Tilton master cylinders for the clutch and brakes, and a dual-chamber brake master cylinder at that.

In 10-days I intend to drive this car 200-miles from Dallas to Austin. In 12-days I intend to begin the trip driving this car 1400 miles from Austin to Chicago by way of Route 66. Wish me luck!

-Rob

[RoyGBiv]

Outstanding!

[BN]

Excellent. Are you going to put a Ford 260 in it?

[SMD]

Nice Alpine! When I was really young, my dad still had his Sunbeam Tiger. Thanks for the memories.

[RevolverRob]

Excellent. Are you going to put a Ford 260 in it?

Unlikely.

I have my eye on campaigning the car in F Street Prepared (SCCA Solo Autocross) and the occasional VSCDA (Vintage Sports Car Driver's Association) event. For that to happen, the car needs to have an OEM 4-cylinder engine. The car has a later model-year 5-main bearing 1725cc engine in it now, with twin Zenith carbs, and a newer wide-ratio transmission. I have a close-ratio 4-speed to rebuild over the winter along with the carbs. Next year there will be some minor rust repair, roll bar fitting, and a suspension rebuild.

[Erik]

Very cool! Looking forward to the thread.

[JohnO]

Years ago a friends older brother converted a Sunbeam Alpine to a Tiger. If I remember correctly he acquired a Buick 215cc aluminum V8 and installed it in the car. He was quite the craftsman and engineered and built the steering rack to accommodate the larger engine.

[Maple Syrup Actual]

Super cool.

[RevolverRob]

Today was one of those days where you don't feel like you accomplished much. Today's completed checklist.

1) I completely finished the rear-end rebuild, I was waiting on some brake drum parts, before finishing it up. Got the driveshaft back in place. Refilled the rear end with fresh gear oil after flushing it.

2) I began the fitting of the heavy-duty headlight wiring harness. The original headlight setup on this car, pulls power straight through the headlight switch. This is a good recipe for dimmed/dead headlights and lots of blown Lucas barrel fuses. The new wiring harness plugs into the old one, so there is no switch re-wiring. However, it splits the original headlight circuit into two circuits and runs both circuits through individual 30-amp relays. This reduces the load on the headlight switch considerably. When I went to wire it in this morning, I realized the easiest thing was to directly connect it to the old harness using OEM-style connectors. Doing this allows me to have redundancy. For instance, if I blow a head light relay (or both). I can disconnect the new harness and promptly reconnect the old one, giving me a backup headlight system. Redundancy is nice on old British cars.

3) I painted the sheet metal covers that conceal the soft-top when it is folded. Tomorrow I will fit these.

4) I installed my hidden kill switch.

5) I cleaned and then painted the inside of the battery box to prep for a new battery and get everything in order.

6) I cut off an annoying bolt that was preventing my newly fitted passenger seat for sliding on the tracks properly.

Here's a picture of the sheet metal covers (they were red, previously), mocked up, but not yet fitted.



Tomorrow my adapters should arrive and I can finish up the hydraulic system work and get to work bleeding both systems down...Thank goodness for power bleeders!

-Rob

[GardoneVT]

Rob, you're a braver man then me.

I love the look of Classic Brit cars (by my standards)like the XJS and XK8, but then I see posts like "Octopus Coolant Lines" and "Lucas Electrics" and run away to my safe space- a garage with two American cars in it.