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Churchill - Stuarts 411

This is the ongoing saga of owning and driving a Bristol 411.

 

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Over 18 months ago I decided it was time to rewire Churchill.  The decision was partly fueled by several electrical issues, a never ending battery discharge problem, brittle wires up front.  I suspect that vanity played a heavy hand.  The hacked around and grubby wiring just looked plain ugly in a car otherwise looking rather good.

Me being me I swiftly ripped out all the wiring including damp carpets and underlay. This revealed areas in the floor, arches and boot that needed welding.  Whilst at it I stripped off all internal finishes and re-painted.  Sound deadening was then added and new underlay.

New looms were made myself  with a newly designed control panel, modern relays, fuses and cable all at no small cost in time and money.  Progress appeared to be steady for some time and it was only when the car was half finished that work stopped as life just got in the way aided and abetted by the growing sense I just did not like putting all this new stuff into my lovely old car.

Long story short I have now ripped out the new wiring and have purchased at HUGE expense a 411 wiring loom courtesy of Autosparks of Nottingham.  It arrived only a couple of weeks ago so I will let you know how I get on.  It does look the business!  No doubt I will bugger something up!

 

 

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It has been a while since I posted an updated progress report mainly due to a lack of progress!  However, a good deal of work has been completed over the last 18 months which I will deal with in turn.

Interior clean-up

Whilst pulling up the carpet to remove the old wiring I discovered a lot of surface rust in floor and figured I have better investigate.  I found holes in one arch, a hole in the boot and most concerning one A-pillar attached to the outrigger mostly with fibreglass.  The result was a good deal of wire brushing, cutting, welding and painting.  Since I was at it I also added dyno-mat sound proofing and new felt underlay.  I also re-trimmed the boot in new cloth.

I also discovered the source of my petrol smell issues that I had associated with the fuel system in the engine bay (for good reason).  It seems that the petrol tank overflow hose had aged and snapped also clean on half.  Fumes therefore entered the interior instead of existing via the hose to the outside.

 

 

 

 

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Looks as if you have plenty to keep you busy and there !!!    

Like the-pics seems as though there’s a lot of parts similar to the 401 including rust !!!!!!!

Stay fit Hope to meet up one day Keith 

 

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BristolODA

Here are some pictures of the rewiring work undertaken.

The loom is from Autosparks.  Not cheap, the loom is for a mark 4 type 411 and so needed some light modification.  It also includes wiring for electric windows which I don't have.

I took the opportunity to tinker a little, routing ignition feeds to a relay triggered by the ignition rather than running full amps through the ignition switch.

The dodgy foot operated dip switch was replaced too (see image for lucas part number along with a new column switch (common Range Rover part).  I introduced a few gremlins in the process which have driven me mad.  I think (hope optimistically) that I have now fixed these and that the parasitic drain is no more.  Time will tell.  A new electric aerial completed the job.

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Cooling has always been an issue for Churchill in slow moving traffic.  Whilst at it I built a new fan housing to accommodate modern high flow fans that should cool better and use less amps.  The housing should offer cooling to the entire radiator surface.  Ideally I would have mounted them to draw air through the radiator but the power steering setup obstructs.

I also added an adjustable thermostat to the fan top plate to replace the otter switch for fine tuning.

Again whilst at it I rebuilt the grill which was a bit rattly and worse for wear.  Now it is firmly riveted together.  I also serviced the horns and refurbished them "whilst at it".

 

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But just think how proud you will be of it when it is all completed!

Richard