1949 Austin Sixteen - Recommission

Quite a bit of work needed but certainly looks a good base to work on and will turn out nice.

With the tank on the floor I removed the float sender - Tank internals are well coated with crud - although the tank itself is solid 



Sender unit was seized through dissimilar metal corrosion - with little careful work it freed up ok - I doubt that replacements are available 



The bodges don't stop - Fuel supply line tied to the chassis with a few wraps of string 



Plus the supply line is rusted beyond use - I'll replace it with a 8mm copper line 



With tank now dry after being treated & washed through I gave it a good vacuum out with a long attachment that I made from overflow pipe 



Then treated it with tank sealer - tip it in give a good slosh about by slowly rotating the tank through all angles then leave it to drain for 30 mins



Then made up a new gasket for the sender & fitted it - followed by fitting the tank back to the chassis 



Fuel filler neck was corroded to the point that it was holed 



Originals are no longer available but I found something to do the job that looked period enough 



Connected to the tank with a new filler hose 

Nice to see a new project in there. As much as we enjoy the Jowett stuff, a change is always interesting as well!

Many many thanks Chris - en route back from France so will pick up the backstory when home

The car is on a separate substantial chassis of cruciform design that was utilised on earlier Austin models of the 1930's - the body which is a fair bit wider than the chassis is of all steel construction - the main horizontal base of the cars body is based upon a box section type sill fastened to the chassis either side with 3 bolt on outriggers - The nearside front area of the sill had suffered from rust ingress which was not that apparent at first



It was only when I was clipping up the new petrol pipe to the chassis that this plate literally fell off the inner sill - glued up in place by the previous owner with a few dabs of underseal 



The outriggers are bolted to the chassis / box section sill and also support the running board 



With the outrigger removed to allow access I was left with this mess - this is directly underneath the A post - the main culprit for the rust ingress is that the car has a large steel sliding sunroof with a drain tube fitted to each corner of the frame - the ends of the rubber tubes degrade over time and become shortened which in turn drain water directly into the sill box section at this point consequently leading to rust ingress 



Some remedial works required then (Shortened sunroof drain tube can be seen within the rust perforated inner sill) 



Inner sill repair panel in the making 



Terminus of the inner sill with the front inner wing repair 



Underside / base of the box section repaired - note the sunroof drain tube - now extended 



Inner sill repair welded in 



Front inner wing / sill terminus repaired 



Repaired areas primed & seam sealed 



Outrigger bolted back into place - the repaired areas will be treated with Dinitrol 4941 underbody wax 



Now dare I look at the offside 

My Late step father had one of these in the 50's. My memory is his had a built in jacking system? It may have been an add on.

It was a comfortable old thing and for it's time relatively speedy. It replaced a 1937 Austin ten so it may just have seemed faster.

He part exchanged it for a 1956 Vauxhall Wyvern. The Vauxhall seemed much less solidly built than the Austin.
I was courting at the time and the bench seat was an attractive feature.

I have never driven a car with rod brakes and don't know that fancy that. Might be ok on a small light car but on something heavy? I realise that they are obviously adequate but?

As an aside, years ago ( mid 1970's) we used to reline the rear shoes on all the Peugeot's. After knocking the old lining off the new ones were rivetted on. Secure an appropriately sized punch in the vice, place the lining on the shoe and push the rivets through and with the rivet head resting on the punch knock the other side over with a small ball pein hammer. Happy days.

Offside front outrigger removed 



Hmmm



Ah - A new entry in the book of bodging 'The lesser spotted stainless steel pan scourer' - Pretty sure that adds a load of strength in a structural bearing area of the car 



Running board which is merely cosmetic needs to come off  



Further revealing 



Worse than the nearside but similar rust ingress as a direct cause of the sunroof drain tube issues 


 
The bodgery is all very recent from the previous owner 



Inner sill repair sections in the making 



Inner sill repairs tacked in and the base of the box section sill being trail fitted & scribed in 



The outer sill is a swept radius in profile therefore better undertaken insitu with sections rather than has a one piece repair 



First section completed has separate top & side repairs - welded together then dressed back 



I'm keen to only undertake what's absolutely necessary and keep repairs to a minimum but its difficult when the bodges keep running on - All of this area was just plastered over with filler - The sill provides the immediate horizontal support / load bearing to the A, B & D posts  



The base plate that returns the outer sill is also dead through this section 



Unfortunately there's more grot behind the thin disguise 



More evidence of the pan scourer bodge looms 



The face / top of the outer sill require work but the base plate is largely intact and will be ok with minor repairs 



The far from ideal repair 



Inner sill flange edge repairs welded into the centre section



Base plate & outer sill welded in 



Then dressed back 



Final section completed 



Dressed back 



Not perfection but good & strong 



Better fuel economy achieved with this lot removed 



More later 

Straight guy on the phone turned bodger in reality - These are all fresh repairs within the last year or so   hence it happened on his watch - Should have known when he shuck my hand and I spotted the filler under his fingernails