A new lift for the garage - QuickJack 7000TL

Owning a few different cars and working on them in the garage or driveway is as hassle. Axle stands don't allow you to get the car high enough and with more modern cars it seems where the axle stand needs to be is where I'm also try to jack the vehicle from. 

I'd seen Quickjacks receiving good feedback on Pistonheads - Gassing Station. It appeared a decent compromise between a shortened 2 post lift from Automech - Short Narrow 2 Post Lift and the portable BH Repairs - Mid Rise Mobile Scissor Lift

Sadly my garage hasn't the height for even a shortened 2 post lift and the BH Repairs Mid Rise Lift seemed a little bulky. 

In the UK, Costco tend to discount the QuickJacks once a year. They are easier to store and can be lifted individually. The lifting points can be restrictive as you need to observe the minimum and maximum range, if the jacking points are outside of this range you are stuck. They lift the car via rubber blocks included in the kit. 

For the Sunbeam Talbot Ten they aren't really suited. You could lift the car but as the front and rear bumpers are the jacking points it is dead easy to raise anyway and can be supported on 4 axle stands. For the daily barge however it is much easier.

They come in a large packing crate with the hydraulic pump, hoses and manual. Assembly is easy, you need a foot pump to charge the return air cylinder (forces the oil back into the main cylinder when lowering) but otherwise everything is included.

Once the vehicle has been lifted, the side supports lock in place and you then lower the jacks to the stop. At this point the jacks are locked in place, the hydraulics are depressurised and you can remove the hydraulic hoses if you wish. 

BMW E61 on a Quickjack 7000TL on the lowest height setting

B5 RS4 on a Quickjack 7000TL on the highest setting

They fold away flat and can be stored vertically. The hydraulic pump lives on a shelf, only real struggle is where to keep the hoses when the jacks are in use or stored.

Found a seller on ebay who offers brackets for the different Quickjack range including the 7000TL, 500TL and the 3500SLX. These allow you to keep the brackets fixed to each lift and also a hose holder. The brackets are a sprung fit on the steel rail and shaped to accept the nut on the hose keeping it all in place. 

They are 3D printed using ASA (acrylic styrene acrylonitrile), a thermoplastic like ABS, but with improved heat resistance and durability.

Mind Paradox - Quickjack Accessories

New Camshaft and Crankshaft sprockets for Sunbeam Talbot Ten sidevalve engine

New Camshaft and Crankshaft sprockets

Original sprockets on car

I'd never been happy with the timing chain setup on the Ten, it was noisy with a large amount of slack in the chain with plenty of wear to both sprockets. It also included a later Hillman rubber tensioner which seemed an odd fit having not seen any mention of it in the parts book. It did remove some slack in the trailing edge to a degree but did nothing for the wear in the sprockets and stretched chain.

Speaking to others in the club and the usual suppliers it became clear replacements were no longer available and my best option was a “used set” with less wear, downside any used set will be of a similar age.

We looked at later Rootes cars but couldn’t see anything directly compatible or that could be easily modified.   Some early MG cars came close and we looked at modifying the centre from an upgraded MG vernier pulley but just seemed overly complex.

That left us with the idea of manufacturing from scratch. For either of these options we really needed the original drawings.

A huge thanks is due to James Spencer at the https://www.rootesarchive.org/ who kindly forwarded copies of the original engineering drawings for both sprockets.

I only need 1 set but a small batch could lower the cost assuming I can sell on the remaining spares. With printed drawings in hand I approached some local machine shops, in fairness to them; an enthusiastic owner arriving in an Austin 7, waving printed drawings probably didn’t help matters but ultimately my lack of budget was the limiting factor. I’m extremely grateful for the time and ideas they suggested to simplify the manufacturing process.

20 Tooth Sprocket

   

40 Tooth Sprocket

Their main suggestion was to move away from the idea of creating from scratch and modify an off the shelf sprocket. These sprockets are available from bearing suppliers as single, duplex, triplex etc in a range of diameters, pitch and tooth count. 

For the Ten we chose a basic pilot bore which leaves almost enough material to turn it into what we need.

Chatting about old cars with an even older friend, while being ribbed on the lack of progress re-wiring the Ten, my poor life choices and general state of the garage the discussion moves to sprockets.  “Oh, why don’t you speak with Dafydd at DGL”, if only he had said this at the start!  

20 Tooth Blank

40 Tooth Blank

Dafydd’s plan was to re-create the drawings in CAD, remove the bulk of the material on a manual lathe before finishing on a CNC Milling Machine.

4 further sets are available to purchase. Price at £200 + £10 UK postage per set. It includes both the Camshaft and Crankshaft Sprockets. I'd recommend sourcing a new timing chain, the chain is not included,  Happy to post abroad if required.  

Email jollysoutherner@gmail.com

Fuel Gauge repair

 

The fuel gauge is located within the oil pressure, ammeter cluster. The fuel gauge has never worked since I owned the car. The wiring to this has always been suspect and suspected this was probably the main issue. 

The gauge is held in the back of the cluster by a couple of screws. The printed cover on the gauge is held in place by a couple of burrs, I tried lifting these without success. I ended up drilling them out to release the cover.

On removal it is clear someone has been here before as the bobbins are facing the wrong way, suspect someone has loosened the bobbin coils and they rotated snapping the wires from the soldered joints.

Thanks to MGA Guru for the image below. 

With a steady hand and a pair of magnifiers and dental hook we measured the resistance across each part of the gauge and re soldered the joints. The wires are tiny.. I can't even see them without magnifiers.

Cleaned the contacts with emery paper and then re-assemble. 

150 Ohm resistor. Showing signs of heat but still functioning

Testing