Hotrodfil
Senior Member
Last year I was offered a Ford Pilot. A few snags though. The offeree wasn’t the owner, and he felt I should buy it and sell him the running gear as it was as in a terribly rusty condition. Also, I had no need for another project.
Of course I went to have a look. And after a haggle the price was more than I’d been led to believe but neither was the state of the car as bad as I’d been told.
So my friend Al trailered it back to his place. At which point, my buddy Mark decided we should attempt to drive it home. On Saturday we packed tools, fluids, and a good set of wheels and tyres to replace the hand painted whitewalls and set off to the fens. After a morning of checking bearings, freeing off brakes, getting some working brake lights and fitting a fuel filter we decided to attempt the journey home. A lack of charging and fuel starvation thwarted us after a few miles and with the afternoon slipping away we went back and chose to trailer home.
Charging was sorted once it was back home and a leaf was found in the carb which we hoped might be the cause of the fuelling dilemmas…
Monday night we had another drive out to my sister’s after draining the tank and refilling with some fresh fuel. Still missing a bit, new filter clogged again but it got us there and back; so will it run? Reckon so.
Plan is to just make it safe and reliable enough to clock up a few miles over the summer on the odd days we’re not working on the windmill. Picnic at the seaside would be a major voyage to start with.
In fairness to the friend that first described it to me, yes, the chassis has had some shabby repairs, and the wings have helpfully been plated to the shell across the fixings. I suspect a few kilos of P38 filler have been used in the construction since it left Dagenham, no doubt skimmed over several decades of tabloid newspapers...
Of course I went to have a look. And after a haggle the price was more than I’d been led to believe but neither was the state of the car as bad as I’d been told.
So my friend Al trailered it back to his place. At which point, my buddy Mark decided we should attempt to drive it home. On Saturday we packed tools, fluids, and a good set of wheels and tyres to replace the hand painted whitewalls and set off to the fens. After a morning of checking bearings, freeing off brakes, getting some working brake lights and fitting a fuel filter we decided to attempt the journey home. A lack of charging and fuel starvation thwarted us after a few miles and with the afternoon slipping away we went back and chose to trailer home.
Charging was sorted once it was back home and a leaf was found in the carb which we hoped might be the cause of the fuelling dilemmas…
Monday night we had another drive out to my sister’s after draining the tank and refilling with some fresh fuel. Still missing a bit, new filter clogged again but it got us there and back; so will it run? Reckon so.
Plan is to just make it safe and reliable enough to clock up a few miles over the summer on the odd days we’re not working on the windmill. Picnic at the seaside would be a major voyage to start with.
In fairness to the friend that first described it to me, yes, the chassis has had some shabby repairs, and the wings have helpfully been plated to the shell across the fixings. I suspect a few kilos of P38 filler have been used in the construction since it left Dagenham, no doubt skimmed over several decades of tabloid newspapers...
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