As the title says "The Rickman is Dead".
Well and truly.
Having decided that NBF 915V needed a great deal of work and with the acquisition of a Rickman saloon, we came to the conclusion that some of the panels may be useful in the future. A young man ran into us  early last year and caused quite a lot of damage so----"JUST IN CASE".
After removing the easy ones, bonnet, front section, doors, etc., we got around to removing the bodyshell, rear section first.  
I cut the shell just behind the door section as I wanted to keep the front intact for an idea I have in mind.
I removed all the securing bolts the easy way -- angle grind the heads off-- and then took off the rear section. this was then cut into small panels and disposed of.
I now had confirmation of my earlier decision to stop chasing rust and welding repair patches had been correct.
See the attached photograph.

The scary bit is that the worst of it is hidden by the body shell, I found that the trundle truck had a big hole in the section of chassis under the bumper, but we only found that when we took the bumper off to replace the engine. Luckily at the front it was easy to weld in a new section but who knows what the rest of the chassis was like  

Thank goodness this one's galvanised (well mostly), it may make it heavy but at least it won't dissolve !

P.S. I Tidied up your pictures as well !

Flying High wrote on Nov 2^nd, 2009, 8:42pm:



It's easy, it fits in to the speedo drive. I looked at the Europa spares site wich has an adaptor for sale for £20 ish, & gives a few photos & data. I thought "I could make one of those" so I bought an M18 (I think) set screw from the local nut & bolt emporium & my brother turned it down into the adaptor. I haven't actually fitted it yet, but there's no reason why it won't fit. Of course it may not produce the right number of pulses / mile, but I need it for the Zetec install anyway.

I produced a drawing for the adaptor if you want to go this way. Quite how I'll drive the speedo is another matter. The Fiesta sensor has a cable drive at the other end, so I guess I could get a cable made with Fiesta input fitting & Escort output.

T

You've got me worried now, Bernard. My new Ranger, unlike Angie's, is self colour, i.e. a delicate shade of rust. It looks like surface corrosion but having seen what goes on in the hidden corners I will certainly strip it to the chassis as part of the planned rebuild. I suppose in theory the body should come off without angle grinding more than the fixings. We'll see.
I'm fascinated by the work you guys are doing on the epas. As you'll see when I write it up for Recycle, there was a load of work to fit the hydraulic pas rig, though I have no complaints about performance. That system works at speed too, in fact in theory it should work better when the pump is at full tilt, definitely not what you want!

Hi JJ,
When I removed half the body from the dead Rickman I found that it was impossible to loosen the securing bolts.  The slots in the heads would not hold a screwdriver to allow the nuts to be removed.  (RUST, etc. ).
I overcame the problem by using an angle grinder, edge on, on the HEADS until down to the bolt and then broke off the remaining part of the head with a sharp chisel.
This method did cause a little damage (would be dependant on the size of the grinding disk) but could have been repaired if needed, as it was I didn't care because that part of the  body was being scrapped anyway.
Good luck,
Bernard

Can you tell me where  you have the bottom hose plumbed in to? nice clean engine bay by the way.
Thanks
Eddie

That would surely gladden a plumber's heart, Bernard.
I like the overflow, neatly run around the edge of the glass fibre. Is it 10mm copper? Did you form the ends in any way to be sure of a seal to the jubilee clipped rubber connectors?
JJ

About three weeks ago on our way home luckily, the Rickman developed a bad cough.
We limped home and it seemed as if a plug was mis-firing but not always the same plug.  Varying lumpy I suppose is a reasonable description.
The following day she (the car, I never call Sylvia she) decided that there would be no sparking at all.
The culprit was the capacitor for the points. This was duly changed and I thought "what the hell" you've started now so do the lot.
I did, --  changed points, capacitor as I said, and rotor arm, job done.
On Monday on our way to "work" (we still do voluntary work though retired)  going through our village I stalled the engine (I thought).
Nothing, cursary look couldn't see anything obviously untoward.
Luckily a neighbour stopped and asked could they help and I said a tow home would be nice, only about a quarter mile away. So this was the next step.
Have you ever tried to turn a car around in the rush hour without power in a small village?  
When we got home we  left the car and went to "work".
On Tuesday time for real troubleshooting, I again tried the obvious and coat of looking at didn't reveal anything so, logic.
Distributer cap off, oh dear, the picture shows what I found underneath.
In all my years this is a first for me ( and I've worked on some very old cars) I haven't heard of it happening either.
The rotor arm simply resting in the distriboter in pieces, NO OTHER damage or signs of damage whatever.
I am contemplating approching Motorcraft for comments though I don't hold out much hope.
If a plane crashes and the pilot dies the cause is pilot error  If an automotive part fails it's incorrect fitting if  computer fails "what have you done"  Syndrome.
Comments ???.
Good luck,
Bernard