Singer 9HP
Le Mans Sports 4-Seater - BSG 8 

BSG 8 roars to life again

Alex kept BSG 8 going for about another ten years.  For a few years it was an exhibit at the former Doune Motor Museum and then later I think in East Lothian.  However, by the mid-2000s Alex's age was catching up with him and BSG 8 again lay dormant.

After our Dad passed away on 1 March 2014, we had to decide whether or not to keep the car.  Although Graham and I had never become involved in cars, we were reluctant to let it pass out of the family.  Indeed, that was probably why we had all encouraged him to keep the car and re-build it nearly thirty years previously.

Flitting from Dunfermline

So, we went to visit it in Dunfermline and decided to hold on to BSG 8 for a bit, moving it to the new garage that had been specially built for it at Dad and Mum's new house in Stenhousemuir:

 
New home in Stenhousemuir

Fortunately, our general ignorance was compensated by the expertise of one of my brothers-in-law, Andy McAinsh, who is a motor vehicle engineer and owns John Martin MOT.  So, after only a minimal amount of head-scratching and replacing a completely dead fuel pump, we were able to hot-wire BSG 8 into life:

Youtube video: Engine bursts into life

As it turned out, that was the easy bit.  For the life of us we could not understand how Dad's wiring worked or the set-up with the ignition controls (which are most definitely not Singer originals).  So, we were all set for stripping all the wiring out and starting again (a job that will probably have to be tackled at some stage), when a Google search threw up that what we actually had was a Lucas PCL switch commonly used in Morris cars.  And, hey presto, after re-connecting some of the wiring we had pulled out, contact was made and we could start - and even better - take BSG 8 for a very careful drive:

Youtube video: BSG 8's first drive

However, there was a slight problem, there were was almost no braking power to speak of.  And that's when my real journey began into motor vehicle mechanics:

• I first tried brake bleeding (or more like: How much brake fluid can you pour over your hands before your skin falls off?)
• Which involved trying to connect up bits of tubing to the original brake pipe inlets (which do not have nipples and which I'm beginning to think are unique because nobody else talks about them on the internet)
• And then realising that things called brake cylinder pistons might have seized.  ('Brake cylinder pistons'?!? How had I travelled so quickly from coaxing a tune out of some reluctant diapasons to the strange world of motor vehicle engineering?)
• Which then led me to causing some serious and embarrassing damage to one of my Dad's carefully machined pistons:

• But the day was saved by Dave Hardwick Spares Ltd, who were able to supply me with some bright shiny new pistons.

Which meant that we could get back on the road, and even let Graham have a shot!

Youtube video: Graham taking BSG 8 for a quick spin up and down the street

There is still a lot to be tackled.  (And of course, I know it never will be completely finished.)  But most immediate is:

• deciding what style of louvres to punch in the side-panels (probably the long-tail style, because BSG 8 does have a long tail body)
• getting the courage to commission a paint job
• at a minimum, tidying up the wiring
• sorting out the lighting situation at the rear

In the meantime, we're getting a lot of fun!

Youtube video: Alongside Carron Reservoir

The story continues

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