Category: Car Assembly

After spending several hours I finally found somewhere that could balance the Marcos alloys on the stud holes. The bad news is that the alloys are in bad condition as it took a lot of weight to get them to balance. The ideal solution would to buy a set of new wheels but the car just wouldn’t look as good.

There is still a bit of noise coming from the rear of the car so I could have a wheel bearing on the way out but its not that bad yet so I’ve decided it ignore it for now and try and get some use of the car while the weather is good.

The photo below shows the car completed with the exception of the interior. At least you can drive it and I will have to do till the seats are re-trimmed in August (just in time for Prescott).

UJ on the prop shaft were replaced but this hasn’t fixed the problem. next option is to get the new wheels re-balance tomorrow if possible using the bolt holes. If this doesn’t work I’m not sure what i can try next! and with only one day to go before I’m suppose to go to the MOC rally its looking less likely the Marcos will make it.

Seat backs arrived back today with the head rests covered so I was able to fit these back into the car. With these fitted I was able to make 2 new bottom seat cushions. The ones I have made have slightly more padding than the originals so hopefully this might help to make the ride a it more comfortable. With the seats fitted back in I was also able to refit the rear screen again with a new seal.

With all this done I was able to finally take the car for another test drive and this is were the fun and games started! First thing to fail was the car develop a sudden tendency to stall when pulling up to a junction (not sure what changed but it was ok for the first 30 minutes) this wouldn’t have been an issue but the wire to the starter motor shorted out so it was impossible to start the car again with out the assistance of a couple of people pushing.

Although this problem is nothing compare to the noise and vibration coming from the rear of the car! On finally getting the car home the issue of the starter was easily located and fixed. The cable routing has been adjusted and some sleeving has been placed over the wire to protect it. I think I have also found the problem of the noise coming from the rear of the car as the prop shaft UJ look worn, but till I replace them tomorrow I wont know for certain.

Still working away slowly on the car trying to fix a number of small issues so the car will be ready for the Marcos Owners Club rally on the 12th July. The one item that won’t be finished will be the interior as I don’t have the car booked in at the trim shop till the 3rd August, but at least it will be done for the 50th Anniversary. All I’m waiting for now is to get the seats back from having the head rests recovered so I can take the car out for another drive to see what other issues I can find before the rally.

It’s been a busy few days and last night I had my doubts the car would ever be ready in time but today all the effort was worth it as I got a MOT certificate. Thankfully my local garage is very understanding towards classic cars and on the few items he could have failed the Marcos on he quickly fixed for me or pointed them out to me so I could fix them after the MOT before taking it out on the road in anger.

Although I have an MOT I won’t be able to take the car out for the next week or so as I’ve removed the seats to have the head rests recovered. The rear screen needs to come back out as the seal needs to be replaced and the most serious issue is the seal around the petrol tank sensor is leaking. Luckily the strong smell of petrol alerted me to this fault when I filled the car up for the first time on the way home from the MOT testing station.