Luv2Wrench

Thanks! I do have a basic plan. Roughly in order: 1) Restore 1915 Cincinnati Tool Cutter Grinder 2) Restore 1900 Hendey Horizontal Mill 3) Restore 1890 Hendey Shaper 4) Restore 1877 Hendey Planer 5) Add 100sqft to shop 6) Rearrange shop to have dedicated machine shop 7) Finish 1913 Metz Model 22 Roadster Based on how long it too me to do the MG, that list is probably 50 years which is problematic considering my age

She's out of the shop!! Still isn't registered but I enjoyed a nice Easter drive in the neighborhood. I'll be taking pictures of it next Sunday and I'll need to give it a good clean and wax... but she's done! 49 months in total. I bought it March 18th 2018. I haven't added all the numbers up but it was about $28K total. I did everything but the machine work on the engine and the chrome. It was a ton of fun even if some of it was super frustrating. I can't wait to start another one!

Thanks! I am having some second thoughts so we'll see. I do plan to drive it to make sure it is completely sorted before I sell it. My biggest concern with the car is safety. There is almost nothing between you and whatever hits you.

Yes, I've alway loved woodworking. There's just something about it.

I'm finally nearing the finish line!! A long list of little things have been checked off and the car is in great condition. The timing is set, valves lashed and carbs tuned (I used ColorTune and that is an awesome tool). The brakes are finally working correctly, the gauges, indicator lights, side lights, head light, fog lights, etc, etc all work correctly. With all that squared away and the battery complete I was able to install the hood. One of the last pieces is the tonneau cover. Pretty nerve wracking to install this because it really didn't seem like it would fit *and* put one of those lift-a-dots in the wrong place and you've wasted $670. Fortunately it went smoothly.

Really enjoy your posts, thanks for taking the time to update us. What might be helpful is to create a single thread, "1916 Simplex Crane Model 5 #2246 Engine Restoration" and then add a post with a link for each update. There are a couple of advantages to this the main one being that all of your update links are available in one location. It makes things easier on search engines and people are much more likely to find all of the links in one post than to try and follow a chain of multiple posts.

Chris that looks awesome! When you add welding to your "toolbox" it really changes what you can do. Just wait till you get painting handled. You'll be able to blend in some black and clear on that quarter panel with no problem.

You might try that over warm brownies. Wonderful car, thanks for sharing!

If my shop were on a street, that street name would have to be "Hopelessly Stuck".

Outstanding job! Thanks for sharing, can't wait to see the car come together. I'm interested to see how your chrome turns out and how your experience with your plater. It is becoming hard to find good chrome at any price.

Cleaning that up doesn't sound like a lot of fun at all!! Work on the "other side" of the shop (foundry) looks like fun. Your last picture shows a couple neat tricks. I have a couple of those couplers and I wondered what they were for... never thought of using them to double up the reach.

Thanks for the compliment! I have had a couple people ask already and it is something to think about. I will be happy to share the g-code I created for the CNC router if anyone is interested.

The MG TD had a 12V battery, the picture of the 6V battery I used as a guide was for a different car. I believe the cable will fit fine as they didn't snug all the way down when I test fit them. Hopefully they still fit!! edit: So after a slight panic at Roger's suggestion that they might not fit... I put the battery in the car and they do fit.

After that it was just a matter of a little final finishing work and getting it assembled.

At this point it was getting close but what I had was a very obvious wooden model. The trick would be to make it look like rubber with tar poured on top. The first step was the usual, epoxy primer to seal everything then 3 coats of sanding primer to get it all smooth. The making it look like rubber was shockingly easy... Flex Seal to the rescue!! Yep, I used Flex Seal. It is, after all, liquid rubber in a can. I was pretty blown away with how it turned out. It not only looks like rubber it feels like rubber... because it IS rubber. I then focused on the top so that each "cell" had the right "hard smooth rubber' look. To get the tar top finish I mixed black pigment into epoxy and poured/brushed that on top. It turned out really good. I felt like it reflected light just the way it should. The next part was the lead "bridges" that connected the cells. It make those I modeled the inverse of them in the CAD software and then had the CNC router cut out a mold. After a couple of test pours I was able to pour them all in one go.

Picking the battery was a bit harder than you'd think it would be. I need the positive terminal to be in the back right (or front left) and the top needed to be flat. I went with an AGM battery because they are (mostly) sealed and there would be no need for maintenance and not chance of spilling. I found a NAPA battery that was perfect. It even had its "vents" (these are mostly blow-out plugs) in the same place I would be placing the vented caps. On eBay I was able to find some great 3D printed "Lucas" vented caps as well as the "LUCAS" and "King of the Road" logos printed in resin. These I could stick onto the side of the battery. I started on the top with a sheet of door skin and started laying things out. I added a bit for the "cells" and closed in the case. When I stuck the 3d printed "stickers" on it looked pretty good but what I really wanted was the correct embossed look. Since the "stickers" were a little thinner than the plywood I was using I tried to cut out a hole and have the sticker recessed into that. While I was doing that I thought "what I need is a little router that I could clear out a recessed hole". Then I thought... "no, what I need is a CNC router that I could route the logos right into the wood". And so a quick search on Amazon and a CNC router was on the way to my house. I got that, assembled it, learned some software, scanned in the logos and after a few test prints I had the front of the battery. After that I added a bit of "depth" to the case to mimic the image of the original 6 volt battery I had.

One of the things that has really bothered me on the car was the battery. A 1950s "tar top" battery has a very distinctive look given how it was constructed. Basically it was hard rubber case with a molded in "LUCAS" and "King of the Road" logos. Inside were 6 "cells" that were bridged together with completely exposed lead connectors. To seal the battery hot tar was poured on top. Each cell had a vented cap with "Lucas" embossed into it. There are some lookalike modern batteries but I felt like they didn't look like the Lucas battery that was used in the MG TD and whatever was available had no delivery date. I bought a kit that consisted of a molded thin plastic top that went over the top of a modern battery and while that did look better I felt like it was a disappointment to have spent 4 years pushing my limits on the car to stick a plastic top on a battery. So... I decided to make one. Obviously I didn't want to actually make a battery but I thought I could make a case that I could sit an AGM battery inside. I collected as much information as I could and a couple of the MG TD enthusiast family were very helpful in providing some great information. Armed with pictures of an ad for a Lucas battery in 1954 and an actual 6 volt battery from a bit later I started to design. I bought a 3D printer because I thought that was the best way of getting the embossed "LUCAS" and "King of the Road" logos as well at the detail of the cells. After doing several test prints I determined that the material used in the printer would not be acceptable... it needed to be rubber like. There is a rubber like 3d printer filament but I couldn't get my printer to work with it. As such... I decided I would build like a model, old school.

A chisel... just wow. Car is looking great!

I made a dolly for the MG out of wood. I modified it multiple times to fit whatever part I was working on at the time. In the middle of the project I converted it into a rolling table. It was wonderful to have. Some variation were a bit tall so I didn't have to bend over as much. When I was all done I just took the screws out and put the lumber back in storage.

That looks awesome! Thanks for sharing your project. Looking forward to the rest of it.

Cool project, thanks for sharing! Hope you'll start a thread on the restoration. When I first saw the picture I thought that was the highest sitting car I've ever seen but when I looked closer I could see it is sitting on another chassis.

Fantastic work and a great project! Can't wait to see more.

OK, I need to take another look at mine. I might have a reversible hub, I'll check tonight.

why are there holes in that gear? It has been ages since I've seen my gear but I don't think it had holes in it.

Got the side curtains back from the upholstery shop today. They finished on budget and 1 week early. I happy with how they look. Per my research this is how they were done at the factory (so to speak). I'm still waiting on some solid rivets to attach the bottoms of the rear panels. Once those are on I'll need to paint all the nuts on the inside. Next up is to try and make a battery cover. Once I get that done (or decide to not mess with it) then I'll need to tune the engine, set the valve lash and put the hood on. There are still a few miscellaneous things to do but it is very close to being done!! Probably another month.