Road runner
Gary finally gets a proper drive in the Peerless!
If you recall my tale of the Britool hub puller I bought at Beaulieu Autojumble last year, then I have updated news. It’s no longer Britool 1066, it’s now a Strettool ©. Knowing the internal thread would not fit the large outer thread on the Peerless’ rear hub (TR3), I decided to adapt it to fit, in the hope it would exert plenty of force precisely where required to pull the hub. Engineering wizard Brian Davage had loaned me his two-legged Big Bertha pullers but they kept slipping off the hub and I need to strip my customer’s hub assemblies prior to them being sent for anti-corrosion treatments. MGB wheel hubs use the same PCD as the Peerless, so sacrificing one I couldn’t sell for mere pounds previously didn’t cause me any sleepless nights. Having explained how I thought the new puller would work, Brian offered to machine the Britool 1066 to fit. He turned the MGB hub down to the correct height and made a spacer to bridge the two while sleeving onto the Peerless hub smoothly.
His expertise won through, leaving me to ask a local industrial fabricating shop if they’d weld the three pieces together. They too made an expert job of the thick metal welding.
The puller fitted like a glove but would it prevail over decades of being on a tapered halfshaft very tightly? Oh yes; it made both hubs look as if they were finger tight. Tightening the puller while steadying the de Dion axle tube with a long bar was effortless and within 30 seconds each, both hubs were off. All this means that should mine need subsequent maintenance, I’m ready for them. I’ll probably find out the Britool was worth a small fortune but to me it’s now priceless.
Securing the boot
Working towards making the car roadworthy, there remains several key items to fit. First, the boot lid had nothing to lock against, meaning it would flap around if driven on the road. I have the original finisher for the boot aperture but it’s in poor condition, even after my previous alloy
repairs to it. Instead, I’ve used a stiffer piece of aluminium extrusion with a lip on it. Having marked and cut it carefully, a series of holes were drilled to bolt it to the rear crossmember.
I will Sikaflex seal it to prevent water accessing the boot as it runs down the channel around the bootlid to ground. It also improved the bootlid fit; still not perfect (they never were) but far better.
The door seals at the A-post locate on formed sections of aluminium, screwed to the large steel hinge plates. Mine were a little rough from storage but they cleaned up well before being sprayed with anti-corrosion paint. I’ll be fitting those for the next issue, as the sill covers are easier to attach without them.
Delight in the details
The other detail I mentioned last month was the bonnet stay retaining clip. I found the original bracket but the sprung clip retainer was broken. I managed to bolt a basic tool holder type clip to the freshly painted bracket and it works a treat.
As a bonus, the bonnet catch locking key also sits securely in it when the bonnet is open. And finally, I managed to take advantage of a local private road and give the Peerless a run; four in fact. Before doing so, I rechecked all the valve clearances with minor adjustments made to most.
The first run was a tentative spin up to third gear, just to get the gearbox and diff oils circulating before engaging the overdrive. Now the oil is where it should be, and the overdrive works perfectly from the gear lever switch.
Some ignition pinking was noted under load on a gentle incline, but after retarding the timing further, the pinking ceased and the power delivery became smoother and consistent. Perhaps more importantly, I discovered the Caparo brake servo helps throw down the anchors superbly. So much so that seatbelts are being fitted very soon to protect my nose from the windscreen. Other details noted include the temperature gauge having no problem sitting on the lower side of normal. Even when it climbs after idling for a short while, it drops back down on the gentlest of runs or if the electric cooling fan kicks in, which it rarely needs to. It’s still a very raw drive, made noisy by the lack of a fully enclosed interior and engine heat streaming through via the open bulkhead apertures adjacent to the A-posts. One issue I will have to resolve is the low-slung exhaust front pipe. I can’t access the workshop the Peerless lives in without scraping the top of the concrete run-up ramp. It’s enough to cause problems and lead to rapid failure if not addressed. Still, bring on the MOT test!
‘It is still a very raw drive, made noisy by the lack of a fully enclosed interior’