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| Gene has brought his Sunbeam Alpine down from Ohio. It has been sitting for about 1.5 years and the brakes are down. The environment it was in must have been somewhat wet as the rear wheel cylinders are corroded beyond repair. The wheels and brakes have been stripped from the car to determine what is needed. A parts list has been compiled and we're waiting on parts. Other jobs include some minor exhaust work, changing the upper ball joints, replacing the shock absorbers and installing new universal joints. We also plan to convert to DOT5 brake fluid since we're doing a total brake rebuild. |  |
| 11/12/2007 - The bulk of the work has now been completed. The brakes have been rebuilt, the floor of trunk has been repaired and the exhaust has been modified to accept the new chrome tip. We went for a short ride last night and the car runs out well. I had forgotten how good the ride is for this tourer, much nicer than the Triumphs I've been driving lately. I've been reading a good book by Graham Robson on Sunbeams as of late and it has been quite enlightening. The Rootes empire (the parent company of Sunbeam, Hillman and Humber) was controlled by the Rootes family until it was sold in the late '60s to Chrysler. |  |
| 12/30/2007 - The wiring system has been gone through, including adding a 6 circuit fuse box, a breaker for the lighting circuit, and the addition of relays for the horns and electric cooling fan. The original electrical had two fuses and the headlight circuit was totally unfused. An electric fuel pump was added (along with the appropriate fuel shut off switch). Top alignment around the windows is a problem and we are having some issues with pinging and dieseling, even with premium fuel. I need to check the timing and spark plug heat range to see what is going on. Other possibilities include the cylinder head has been shaved (raising the CR to a higher level) or we have carbon buildup in the cylinders. |  |