They said I'd inherit an estate - and this is it!

I've hankered after an estate for quite a while having previously owned saloon, convertible and coupe variants of the Herald and Vitesse. Back in 2002 this Herald estate came up for sale following the death of the original owner. My friend Keith bought it, but it was only on the road for a couple of years, and has spent the past eight or so years stood rusting away.

I've been badgering Keith for a couple of years to sell it to me, and last month he finally gave in. Keith swapped the 1200 engine for a 1500 from a Spitfire, but never completed the conversion.

Many thanks to Bill from Rarebits for collecting and delivering the estate. Here's a few pics...

Shorrock Supercharger Metering Pins

The Shorrock Supercharger is lubricated with engine oil supplied via a connection at the oil pressure take off switch on the left hand side of the engine block.

The supercharger operates a total loss system, but the amount of oil used is carefully controlled via the selection of a metering pin located in the rear of the Shorrock. The metering pin sits in a 5/16" bore. The choice of pin will be dependent on several factors, such as engine oil pressure and the viscosity of the engine oil.

The largest pin is 0.311" and is stamped on the end with an "A". The pins decrease in diameter 1/2 thou at a time, so the next size down (stamped "B") is 0.3105" and the one after that (stamped "C") is 0.3100".

I just removed the metering pin from my Shorrock stamped "L" (0.3055") as the oil consumption (obvious in the blue exhaust smoke and sooted up spark plugs) was way too high and replaced it with a pin from my earlier Shorrock stamped "A" (0.311"). With any luck that will do the trick.

As a reference, here is a list of the metering pin sizes that can be selected -

Stamped	Size
A	0.311"
B	0.3105"
C	0.310"
D	0.3095"
E	0.309"
F	0.3085"
G	0.308"
H	0.3075"
I	0.307"
J	0.3065"
K	0.306"
L	0.3055"
M	0.305"
N	0.3045"
O	0.304"
P	0.3035"
Q	0.303"
R	0.3025"
S	0.302"
T	0.3015"
U	0.301"
V	0.3005"
W	0.3"
X	0.2995"
Y	0.299"
Z	0.2985"

Something for the Weekend

After a chance discussion on the Isle of Wight a few weeks ago, this turned up on Thursday -

It appears to be in fair condition, but the only way to tell is to fit it and see.

Prior to installation, the manifold bolt threads have been cleaned out, new bolts sourced, made new manifold gaskets, switched over the pulleys, swapped the oil feed adapter, cleaned out the metering pin and flushed the internals with petrol.

After a lot of cursing, eventually got the shorrock installed with belts and manifolds. Battery is now on charge for another attempt at firing up.

Throughout the whole process, I've been ably assisted by Callum who was having more fun blowing up rubber gloves.

Bluemels "Flat Top Silver" Number Plates

Mark Forster runs a website called MK1 Performance Conversions and has updated his site to include a section on Bluemels Bros the manufacturer of number plates during the 1960s.

Mark has an original copy of their 1964 catalogue along with a price list that makes interesting reading.

Full details on Mark's website at -

http://mk1-performance-conversions.co.uk/bluemels.htm

For anyone interested in replacing or sourcing any "Flat Top Silver" style digits or letters, I have a selection of new old stock digits and letters. Drop me a line if you are interested.

Recession? What Recession...

Finally got a reconditioned cylinder head for the 2000 saloon this week.

Removal of the old head confirmed my suspicions as to why the car was lacking that certain 'umph...

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Shorrock COMPLETE C75B supercharger -Never been fitted?

Thought about bidding on this myself, but really can't justify the price having previously bought a Shorrock that had allegedly been "rebuilt". The guarantee this unit has "never been fitted" amounts to next to none.

STARTING PRICE : £2000.00
SOLD FOR : £2100.00

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170591637189