1968 South African Wolesley 1000
Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2022 2:49 pm
Hello
I have been lurking for a while but decided to create a thread for my Wolesley that started as a non project, but over the past three months and still is an ongoing project.
Built for the SA Market this is number 240 of 456 built and one of a handful in the UK, I can’t work out how to add photos but will when I work it out. I purchased it on the premise it was a solid shell with a good list of modifications that would be great to use during the summer of 2022 and upgrade in the future once I have enjoyed it, great plan which lasted about 8 weeks.
Heading to Hooky Classics at Hook Norton Brewery one Sunday I cut out at North Oxford BMW and could not get the car started so ended up being recovered home, I pulled the plugs and did a compression test to find 1 and 2 down at about 50psi. I took the Car to a local engineer who resurfaced the head and rebuilt it for me so I could enjoy the rest of the season, the head is a 12g202 with 29 mm exhaust and 35 mm inlet. Unfortunately 20 miles later the HG went again so the engine was pulled and this is where the gravitas of the ‘mess’ was identified. The block had an imperfection causing the HG failure, already bored +100 decked, skimmed it was a right off ….. also the gearbox end case bearing was missing which caused too much tolerance an another bearing had disintegrated writing off the crank and bearings etc….. also the box casing was cracked from when the PO had a rod go (judging by the internal gearbox case marks) resulting in the persistence leeks.
So….. decision made to start from scratch and I managed to source a 1044 block, crank, pistons and balanced con rods which had been machined by Dave Walker but never been built up in 20 plus years, my head was reused, Evo 2 Cam, Keith Dodd 1.5 rockers, vernier duplex, LCB, RC40, straight cut close ratio gearbox and a 3.76 Diff. Cooper S discs and mini fins help it stop.
Now we’re up and running the last thing that is causing issues is the POS Nikki carb that the PO fitted so I’m on the hunt for a 38 HIF. I kind of hit a brick wall in the pickup with the Nikki so room for improvement.
2023 should see some cosmetics, rubbers for the sliding quarter light windows, I’d like to get some original basket weave front seats and replace the LP918’s with something else.
I’ll work out how to post pictures as it really is a smashing (10 foot car as the spray job is not the best) looking Wolesley that I want to show more of and get it reliable.
I have been lurking for a while but decided to create a thread for my Wolesley that started as a non project, but over the past three months and still is an ongoing project.
Built for the SA Market this is number 240 of 456 built and one of a handful in the UK, I can’t work out how to add photos but will when I work it out. I purchased it on the premise it was a solid shell with a good list of modifications that would be great to use during the summer of 2022 and upgrade in the future once I have enjoyed it, great plan which lasted about 8 weeks.
Heading to Hooky Classics at Hook Norton Brewery one Sunday I cut out at North Oxford BMW and could not get the car started so ended up being recovered home, I pulled the plugs and did a compression test to find 1 and 2 down at about 50psi. I took the Car to a local engineer who resurfaced the head and rebuilt it for me so I could enjoy the rest of the season, the head is a 12g202 with 29 mm exhaust and 35 mm inlet. Unfortunately 20 miles later the HG went again so the engine was pulled and this is where the gravitas of the ‘mess’ was identified. The block had an imperfection causing the HG failure, already bored +100 decked, skimmed it was a right off ….. also the gearbox end case bearing was missing which caused too much tolerance an another bearing had disintegrated writing off the crank and bearings etc….. also the box casing was cracked from when the PO had a rod go (judging by the internal gearbox case marks) resulting in the persistence leeks.
So….. decision made to start from scratch and I managed to source a 1044 block, crank, pistons and balanced con rods which had been machined by Dave Walker but never been built up in 20 plus years, my head was reused, Evo 2 Cam, Keith Dodd 1.5 rockers, vernier duplex, LCB, RC40, straight cut close ratio gearbox and a 3.76 Diff. Cooper S discs and mini fins help it stop.
Now we’re up and running the last thing that is causing issues is the POS Nikki carb that the PO fitted so I’m on the hunt for a 38 HIF. I kind of hit a brick wall in the pickup with the Nikki so room for improvement.
2023 should see some cosmetics, rubbers for the sliding quarter light windows, I’d like to get some original basket weave front seats and replace the LP918’s with something else.
I’ll work out how to post pictures as it really is a smashing (10 foot car as the spray job is not the best) looking Wolesley that I want to show more of and get it reliable.
