Daddy’s car goes to rehab

Dad is a TE/AE member and I used to tag along to club events as a teen. He was rebuilding the brakes about 19 years ago and never got them put back together… so it hasn’t run since then. The pieces are all in a container on the floor. He and mom want to move into a smaller place soon, so I bought the car — I always wanted to drive it. My husband has a co-worker who puts cars back together (and owned a Sunbeam for a short time) that will do the work for me. The car has always been in a nice dry garage, so the body is great. (The tow truck operator was impressed). He’s pretty confident he can get it running again, but he’s a little concerned about the state of the clutch, and the ramifications if it needs work. He crawled around underneath as much as he could in Daddy’s garage. Now that it is at his place, he has a "pit" and will get a better look underneath.

Lori N.

My mechanic has been working away during these cold weekends…The clutch cylinders have been rebuilt/replaced, the carburetor is cleaned out, the gas tanks are at the radiator shop getting refurbished. The engine has been soaking and turning by hand. Hoses are being checked, the fuel and water pumps are being worked on — they leak. The day he starts the engine is approaching. 😀 We are beginning to look for 13" tires. It’s been sitting for almost 20 years on the ones it has. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I was checking the Forum also.

Lori N.

Thank you both. Do those tires fit on the original rims that came with the car?
Lori N.

Thank you all. Things are much clearer now. I was talking to my dad this morning and he found "The Sunbeam Survivor" binder that he still had in a closet and he drove it out to my house this afternoon. What a treasure trove of helpful information!

The car is getting closer to road-worthy. The brake lines need to be bled, and the fuel lines are being a little cranky. The radiator needs to be put back in and the brake boosters are still being worked on. I hope to have it ready for the BASH at Carlisle. 🙂 There’s still a bunch of little things, but hopefully nothing major shows up when we do a road test.

Here is a photo from the day we moved it from Dad’s garage. I hope to have new photos of it on the road shortly.(I hope this works — I can’t seem to get just the photo in the post instead of the link).

http://geocities.com/brownstownpa/TigermovesDec1b.JPG

Here are new pictures. Everything is ready for a road test. The brake boosters aren’t finished but dad drove without them, so hopefully everything will run smoothly. We’re transferring the title this weekend, and I hope to have antique tags in time to drive to Carlisle for the BASH.

Lori N.

http://www.geocities.com/brownstownpa/TigerApril2008.jpg