Hi All, thought you may be interested in a little project I have underway. Next year Suus Cruising will be travelling from Adelaide to Fremantle via Uluru in a 1974 Daimler Sovereign as a part of the Shitbox Rally.

This year we made the trip from Melbourne to Cairns in a 1960 Vauxhall Victor as most of you will have seen on here, and with the help of many sponsors and donors including Lisa and Vintage Caravan Magazine from this very forum we managed to raise over $6,000 for the cancer council.

For next year we're aiming to raise even more again, and having survived the Victor we decided to up-the-anti (and the cruising speed) and have purchased a drivable 1974 private import Daimler Sovereign!

Here she is as she arrived at home:






Proof of being an import:


Other type of proof of being an import:


European change in the console


Cleaned all the fusebox contacts today and got the RH taillight and parker working


Fitted a secondhand from-the-wrecker stereo and set the light colour to match the interior (because I could )





A bit of welding to be done, but she seems solid where she needs to be (structure and mechanical) Also discovered today that the wipers aren't working, and that isn't the fuse, as I've piggybacked the stereo of that (I think)

Spent a long weekend on the car this weekend! had a 4 hour round trip to strip a bunch of spares for the daimler off a donor car for a price I couldn't say no to, managed to wedge all the parts safely in/on the Volvo for the drive home.

Replaced the front doors, went to replace the back doors but discovered that the donor doors are shorter so will patch the originals instead, repaired the donor bonnet and fitted it, wired speakers, got donor high beams working, stitch welded in a new drivers side front floor, prepped the passenger side floor for patching, fitted speakers to the rear.

Even tested the Jags engine and gearbox by using it to tow the old Mercedes out into the driveway to be taken away by the new owner!

Time for a well earned rest I think.

The donor after a few hours work (thanks guys for the help!)


All loaded up




Beautiful colour matching



fresh floor

 

After a recent discussion on another forum we've decided to do something a little different with the Daimler for the 2013 Shitbox Rally.

Last year we heard from so many people in the automotive community who had been affected by cancer and we thought it would be a nice idea to use the Daimler to remember those we have lost to Cancer as well as those who have battled it and won.

If you have lost someone close to you to cancer or have someone close who has battled or is battling it and you would like to acknowledge their fight post their name up in this thread.

We will dedicate a panel on the Daimler (possibly more if there is the demand) to write down every name that is submitted to us so that they are a part of our journey.

We do not ask any donation for this, every name listed here will be added to the car once it is registered. (however if you do wish to donate a couple of dollars to our link in the signature of my post we won't stop you).

We have a pretty special idea about how the names will appear on the car but I don't want to give anything away until we have started adding them.

 

Got a little distracted by the AFL this weekend but still got a fair bit done on the Daimler. I neglected to mention previously my big stuff-up of last weekend. I needed to get the Mercedes off the front lawn and into the driveway so that it could be collected by a tow truck and taken to the new owner. Since it wasn't a runner it had to be towed and the Daimler is by far and away the most powerful car I own. I attached a tow rope and gave it a shot but could not get enough traction to get the Merc out of the hole it had sunk into on the soft ground. I was towing in reverse due to the location of tow hooks on the Daimler and on about the 5th attempt reverse started to slip, then disappeared all together. The engine would just revv away and the car would not move.

No horrible noises and it still moved forwards, so I did some googling and came up with one of the brake bands, if out of adjustment, being able to cause a lack of forward gears. I jacked the car up and crawled under to where the adjuster is for the brake band,and it fell off in my hand, having seemingly been previously sheared off! At this point I put it in the too hard basket and left it for another time.

I have been told during the week by a gearbox shop that it was a write-off but thought I'd give it a shot. This weekend I bought a better jack (these cars are HEAVY!) jacked it up and supported it, then drained the trans fluid and dropped the gearbox's sump. Inside everything looked like new. All nice and shiny, no large chunks of metal in the sump, and by sheer luck I could see where the sheared adjuster contacted the brake band, and with a screwdriver discovered the band had lots of play! For a truly Shitbox-worthy repair I used a pair of pliers to grab the thread of the adjuster and tighten it as close to spec as possible, then adjusted the other brake band the correct way. Popped the sump back on,poured the old tranny fluid back in (bad idea I know but temporary measure) let the car down off the hoist, fired it up and...

REVERSE WORKED! went for a very quick blast, first and second work fine (didn't get up enough speed for third) and reverse works as if nothing ever happened

Boyed by this success I made the underside of the car a bot more solid and ended the weekend by adding the first sample area of the new paintjob.

Not many pictures this weekend but I managed to shed some rust/weight from the underside:


stocked up on the highest quality paint supplies:


And added the first bit of fresh paint (don't worry, this is stage 1-rego-friendly-stage, plenty more interesting paint to come)

 

Bathurst is over for another year and another week of work on the Daimler is over as well.

Hopefully the last bit of welding has been done now, body has been tidied up further and the worst paint job I have ever undertaken (5 rattle cans so far :P) continues.

Don't worry, it is only stage one of paint, it will get a lot more interesting once registered!

It may not look like much but I have been flat out all weekend on it again.

We also now have 20 names to add to the car and $340 in donations. Given we raised relatively little until the Victor was out and about last year we are very happy with this result. Feel free to add to it using the link in my signature :wink:

Size issues


High quality paint (it scratches off the chrome so easily there seemed no point masking it




I painted over the deadener on the sill but it looks so bad I think I might paint it black again :P

 

I present to you 1 1974 Daimler, now in mostly-sort-of-the-same colour (for now...)

 

Hi, should be a fun drive to perth. Re: wipers not working, check the switch, they tend to gum up. They can be taken apart and repaired, just make sure you do it carefully, don't lose any little springs, and mark which way around they go. They are a very rugged car, it's just the little things that kill them.
good luck

 

Thanks pete,

I can here a relay clicking over when the switch is put into the first position, so I assume it's not completely gummed up. I've been told the motor is under the front guard? will be checking all the connections in case one is corroded/worked loose.

 

A little more progress this beautiful weekend. I now have the wipers working sometimes, when they are up off the windscreen the voltage bump from turning them on high makes them work on high or low. Will see if I can figure out how to lube them up a bit, hopefully that will make the difference.

As you may have noticed from previous photos I've masked NOTHING when painting, so after refitting the front bumper I tested my theory and spent most of Saturday with some thinners wiping the overspray off chrome, glass and lights.

Amazing how much more complete it looks with the front bumper on!


Headlights before cleaning:

and after:


Windscreen clean in progress:


Starting to look pretty good from a distance

 

Lots of little steps this week. Brake lights now work, as do parkers, carpets are back in and patched where they were rotten (or welder burnt ;P ).

Wipers are proving to be an issue. They will work fine on high but do not move on low, and self park sometimes. I found some water had gotten into the mechanism (there were signs of rust amongst the grease on the gear), but wiring all looks clean and connections seem good. I can hear the relay clicking over when I activate low speed (or single wipe) but the wipers don't move. Any suggestions?

 

Another week has passed and we now have over 30 names to add to the car of people's friends and family who have battled cancer. We have been really touched by the stories so far and promise to add every single name given to us no matter how many that ends up being.

 

Fingers crossed this weekend the Daimler will be up on a hoist for the final bits of work before inspection and registration!

I've sourced all the bits I need now (hopefully), and would have had it on a hoist this weekend except that a little roadtrip got in the way - being a glutton for punishment I bought myself a new toy in the form of a 76 XJ6 and drove it down from Sydney... At least this one is a LOT cleaner than the Daimler!

 

Good effort but it pains me to see the ill fitting panels.
You have to wonder how anyone would allow this great car to get into such disrepair?
Please paint the wheels they look crappy at this point.
I reckon you might just get a trouble free run.
Good luck to everyone involved.

 

We made a little more progress this week. We'll be meeting with the guy inspecting the car in a couple of weeks, which will either provide great relief or great panic.

I replaced the left fueltank on Sunday and can understand very quickly why the previous owner said it was leaking! It had been patched on at least 3 separate occasions and had a rust hole straight out the bottom! It took a good couple hours to get the rear quarter panel off the car, disconnect everything,raise the car and drop the tank. The replacement doesn't look a lot better, it has been patched at least as many times with a range of products, but since it's all we've got I covered the old repairs with metal mend and fitted it up, refitted the quarter and held my breath. Added around 10 litres to the tank (everything I had handy in a jerry can) and fuel didn't curse word out! In fact fingers crossed there didn't seem to be any visible leaks so far, we will see when it's completely full! Next task - get the left fuelpump to work so we can actually make some use of the newly functional tank!

 

Hi, you should be able to fix the fuel tanks with tank sealer. It is especially made for fuel tanks, just look on ebay.

good luck
Pete

 

Had a great time at the Melbourne Shitbox Rally pub night this Wednesday. Great to meet many new faces and catch up with many friendly older ones. The most exciting part of the night though? It's sticker time!

 

Creeping forward, I cleaned the contacts on the second fuelpump and managed to get it running and the car running and driving on it, which suggests that that replacement tank is holding fuel

Also had a play with the handbrake, cable is moving, levers are moving, and after tightening it up as hard as I can I am getting SOME effect from them (with the back wheels in the air I can feel friction on them when the handbrake is on now). Not sure where to go from this, new pads probably?

 

It's been a good week this week:

I managed to get the interior fan working again (after hours of playing it turned out the same trick as the first time worked - pull out all fuses, add contact cleaner, refit :P )
The central locking now works on the back doors (I actually only had to threaten that by pulling part of the console off before it was frightened back to life!)
A few other minor electrical gremlins have been dealt with
I have started to clean all the junk from the interior in preparation for inspection

I now have a pre-christmas target for inspection of the Daimler, would be great to be able to drive it to Christmas dinner!

The beast will hopefully be in print early next year in a couple of places

and I've found a source for the last couple of minor parts I need from another wrecked Jag!

Now all we have to do is finish the little tidy up jobs, actually pass the inspection, raise another $7500 ( Everyday Hero Australia: SHITBOX RALLY 2013 ), make it to Adelaide, then make it to Fremantle

Really appreciating everyone's support so far, it has made the preparation process a lot easier.

 

It's been a good week this week.


I picked up almost all the last bits I needed from a very friendly hotrodder, did the oil and water, locktighted the gearbox brake band aduster bolt that had sheared and started to clean out the interior. Unfortunately the replacement wiper motor from a series 3 has completely different wiring so won't play, but I stripped mine down today and found that the plate on the motor with the 3 brushes is all seized up, so will be tracking another down this week.


Fingers crossed another adjust of the handbrake and another wiper motor and it'll be ready for the road before Christmas!


Also started to do some drawing on the car, some of my favourite 2012 rally entrants:

 

The Daimler's now wearing new(er) shoes and I managed to trade some of the unneeded spares today for what will (touch wood) be the last parts needed before the car is inspected hopefully next week. So excited about the possibility of getting it on the road before Christmas!

 

What a LONG weekend!

Wipers now mostly work, had to completely strip the motor to get some rust out of the bottom and replace the brush plate, then once I had 3 speeds working the passenger side spindle got a mind of its own so I had to strip and tighten that up (which involves removing the top of the dash!)

Handbrake is improving, I had it up and running sitting in the drive today and it purrs fairly nicely, a couple of foreign noises but nothing concerning me too much at this point.

Replaced the steering rack balljoints after discovering scary play in them, you can see the condition of one below once the cover was pulled off it!

Gave the car a reasonable clean inside and out without washing too much paint off, just need a couple of tiny pieces before inspection

We also did our first Bunnings BBQ on Friday, so another few hundred dollars will be in the fundraising account soon. Would be nice to hit $1k before Christmas!