In reply to eastsideTim :
From what I found after half-heartedly looking for decades, they are either a basket case or in fair to better condition. I wasn't really looking when I found this one. My main focus was on the body and interior, the rest of it I can fix.
I may have made a few disparaging comments about engineers that do things the stupidest way since I bought it, but it honestly hasn't been horribly bad so far.
Still not done.
Belts, hoses and radiator installed. The trans cooler line fittings are wrong. I have ordered the correct an fittings to get them hooked up.
I did manage to cut the wiring to the electric clutch on the vacuum pump. That required pulling the pump to fix.
A few more days and I should have it done.
Well, the few days turned into a few weeks. Christmas and travel got in the way. I finally had a chance to get under the car and change the fittings on the trans cooler lines. One of the lines had to be remade.
All that's left to do now is to fill the radiator and reinstall the grill and hood.
More to come.
Finally got it back together last night. Another not terribly hard job that was mostly slowed down by my failure to order all the parts I needed.
Thankfully the new belts are silent. The old ones chirped a good bit.
Hot stuff right there!
Mr_Asa said:Toyman! said:In reply to Parker with too many Projects :
The hoses, on the other hand, are a little over $100 each. Even there, rather than digging through the catalog to find something close I went ahead and ordered them as well. It will be at least 10 years before I have to worry about them again.
Many many years ago, when I was just a parts gopher I was handed $400 and told to head across town and pick up two radiator hoses for a Ferrari (308 or 365, I can't remember anymore) and two for a Rolls he had in the shop.
"I can keep the change, right?" I said with a gleam in my eye.
Chuck laughed, and with a matching gleam replied "sure, get yourself a coke."
I looked confused and he just waved me off and said he'd explain it when I got back. When I returned he asked how much change I had and I showed him, less than $5. He laughed and laughed. "If its an Italian or English exotic, take the price of a normal part and add a zero to the end." He told me.
Not quite that price difference now apparently, but close.
I think the internet evened things out a bit. Time was you needed a hose for your Aston Martin, well that was a special low volume item and you had to pay accordingly. Then with the democratization of knowledge, we discover that that hose is also used on David Brown tractors whose parts are sold through Case. So a trip to the farm supply place and you've got a new hose for your Aston without paying an exorbitant price.
edit: that was an example. Not saying that any David Brown hoses work on Astons. But you get the point.
It's up and running so naturally, I had to drive it to work a couple of days ago. Probably not the best day to do so. It ended up raining most of the day and well into the evening. I did say I bought it to drive so...
It handles the wet very nicely.
In reply to Toyman! :
One would hope that a British car would be able to handle a little bit of drizzly weather.
In reply to Keith Tanner :
True.
The Bentley is still alive and well except for the AC system.
When I bought it the AC clutch had some evidence of oil around it but the AC was rocking so I ignored it. Usually oil there means the front seal has failed.
It apparently had and now all the refrigerant is making the planet hotter somewhere. It's time for some ac work.
The OEM compressor is $700.
Some studying and digging show it's basically a Sanden Sc709 compressor with an odd manifold end on it. Some more digging turned up a compressor that looks identical that is used on SZ series Rolls cars and commercial trucks. It's available for the paltry sum of $195. I've ordered it. While the system is apart it will get flushed, a new receiver/drier, expansion valve, oil, and a fresh load of R134.
This should be a pretty straightforward repair.
I hope. There is always the chance that Bentley will throw me a curve somewhere.
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