Stevens Sienna Prototype Resto – Part 2

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Where to start The Sienna is ready for the big strip

Where to start The Sienna is ready for the big strip

A classic car restorer of note once told me he would always favour an earlier automobile with a separate chassis over the more modern integral construction; ‘providing the chassis is good, the earlier cars can be repaired an infinite number of times whilst once tin worm has done its worst with the monocoque the repair becomes unviable’. Therefore before we threw pointless cash at the Sienna the chassis condition needed to be assessed and that meant body off. Whilst the fibre glass had the usual cracks and the paint finish had gone from ‘Rampant Red’ to ‘Pretty in Pink’, it was generally in good order and Tony Stevens had told me he designed all of his cars to come apart with ease. The bolts they used obviously didn’t conform to this theory as over half were either ground out or if we were lucky broke in half after rusting solid. First we removed the roof (which we are not planning to replace) and gained access to the rear section securing bolts and within an hour we got a look under the skin. Fairly impressed, we foolishly assumed the rest would be as easy, far from it but a couple of hours of bad language resulted in the screen and associated body work, doors and bonnet being dumped outside the garage. One nice part of the design is the front wing and tread plate under the doors is one complete panel supported by out riggers from the chassis itself; unfortunately these were all ‘wafer’ thin and crumbled to the touch. I removed the fibreglass floor from the rear then followed the chassis legs through to the front, it was ‘beer o’clock’ by this time so we celebrated with tin and revelled in the fact the chassis looked solid; a relief for sure. Mig Master
The rear bodywork removed revealed some good metal and a lot of bad

The rear bodywork removed revealed some good metal and a lot of bad

The original chassis drawings show just how heavily modified ours was compared with how it began life. The basis was from a Reliant Kitten and the original metal was in great shape with just light surface corrosion, although anything attached to it was made from 1in box section tubing and that was not so clever. Alan persuaded some poor soul to loan us his Mig welder and I went metal shopping to Kedek in Bognor Regis who supplied all the tubing we would need. With a selection of new wire brushes I was left to remove any surface corrosion and clean up the front end; Alan only likes the ‘glory jobs’, fried breakfasts and beer time. I also purchased a huge tin of rust stopping paint; now I am not sure whether this tinned marvel actually works but it makes a great undercoat for the even larger quantity of Hammerite that would finally be lavished on my chassis and body framework. The front panel/grille is lucky to still be attached to the car as the framework holding that was completely rotten, no thoughts of a repair we would just cut this off completely. Using the old parts as a template we built a new front end in a morning and with a minimum of fuss re attached to good metal; I doubt the rest of the welding will go as smoothly. Starting at our new front end I worked back over a few days and anything totally solid got a clean and a coat of ‘rust convertor’ the rest would be at risk of the angle grinder. Variety; the Spice of Rebuilds
Although it looks grim it could have been worse at least the chassis is solid

Although it looks grim it could have been worse at least the chassis is solid

Unfortunately, I am afflicted with the attention span of a ‘Kardashian’ and rarely complete one job at a time, much happier to move to the next part of the restoration than finish a boring job. This time I was determined not to flit but to finish and once the front frame had enjoyed too much attention the terrible condition of the engine bay warranted my time. It has been several months since we ran the Reliant motor and we knew the water pump was ‘binfodder’ so I sought some more advice from Simon Fitch who looks after the Stevens-Cipher Group, the model that followed my Sienna. The power plant, all 850cc of it, is in fact fairly bullet proof, reliable and easy to tune up but it is also susceptible to corrosion from within; regular coolant changes are a must to avoid engine replacement. Our engine hadn’t seen any TLC for decades so Alan fitted a new pump and thermostat, we ran her up complete with two bottles of coolant flush. What came out was shocking but we knew it would be when we found enough debris to require a soup spoon to remove; we have flushed through twice more since and it’s all clearing gradually. Over filling any engine with oil is never good and this one had well over a litre too much which had been ejected via the rocker cover gasket all over the bay and back towards the gearbox; very messy. Whilst in bits I treated the rocker cover to fresh paint and a new gasket then a set of ignition leads went in with a Lucas Sports coil and braided fuel lines. Timing set and the 20k mile engine fired up and ran like new, even the mechanical fuel pump having lain dormant for years worked perfectly. Whilst restoring the coolant system I noticed the poorly painted radiator was actually an original complete with a brass top, far superior to the modern exchange item; this beauty benefitted from a day’s labour and looks perfect with special new hoses from Hyphose in Portsmouth.
Chop, cut, grind and weld and we faced several weeks of this

Chop, cut, grind and weld and we faced several weeks of this

Unique to the Sienna, steel tubing had connected the engine via hoses to the radiator and when steel and water get together water always wins and so I replaced the rusty tubes with alloy versions. The electric fan is also bespoke to the Sienna and still works fine but we have opted for switch control and binned the thermostat whilst also cutting the heater box out of the loop. With no roof and only aeroscreens for protection having warm air pumped into the cabin is pointless and this also meant loosing much of the pipe work that cluttered the small engine bay. With winter closing in fast, I was hopeful the worst of the welding would be finalised by Christmas but that didn’t happen; overall things are going well……..so far. Grant Ford for Classiccarmag.net - www.grantford.co.uk Thanks to Simon Fitch- www.stevens-cipher.com Brian Marshall Reliant Kitten Register- www.kitreg.org.uk Next time: Cut, tack, weld and grind the routine continues Alan can’t take anymore and goes to Egypt Suspension, brakes, bushes and ball joints oh yes I need partsTags: