"Ruby" the Riley
Her new life from 1 Dec 2019 - Rick & Joan Fletcher

Pg1  Pg2  Pg3  Pg4  Pg5 (new)

UPDATED:    31 May 2020 - See Page 5

1953 RILEY 1 ½ litre Model RME in a previous life as a wedding car ("LEDA").

As purchased from Bill & Julie Skully (SA) - with my mate Bob who kindly provided the tow car for a 2,800 km return trip.

Back home in the workshop. The steering wheel now has a restored rim.

The car is quite original and intend to preserve as much as possible - a refurbishment, not a full resotoration.

Clearly there is a need for new rear engine/gearbox mounting rubbers and they have arrived from the very efficient spare parts man
Paul Baee in the Riley Motor Club of Australia (NSW). Paul has been very helpful and the club has an extensive range of spare parts.
Front suspension undergoing replacement of bushes and wearing parts. This photo shows the Mk1 puller for extracting the splined sleeve in the torsion bar tube. The Mk3 version went from 8mm to 20 mm H/T threaded rod. Better photo below.
The head had been removed before I purchased the car and all the parts were stored in the boot.

Dismantling commences
Inlet and exhaust ports cleaned up and polished
Valves and seats were in good condition and valves were refaced in the lathe.
Combustion chamber cleaned up and valves were lapped in using the old fashioned way. Note the brazed repair done some time ago - remains to be seen how it holds up.
Valves were lapped as shown here via a rare vintage reciprocating lapping tool and some fine paste.
The head is ready to go back on the block when Ruby is back on her wheels
N/S front suspension bits and the original jack cleaned up and painted.
First real sign of "bits" going back on. Here the top suspension links,
pins ("spindles" as the manual calls them) bushes etc are on.

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