AE 501

[AE 501]

Hello folks,

this is just to keep you informed, that AC Aceca AE 501 is back on the road! 
Finally after 20 years of restauration (and other life circumstances) I managed to finish the project - nearly. There is still a grinding noise coming from the left rear brake backplate when cornering to the right, a hard vibration between 1800 and 2000 revs, still some air in the breaking system (thanks to the horror of bleeding the rear ones) and an incredible heat in the foot boxes. So any further ideas are still very welcome!

But closing the project I didn't want to miss to say a big "THANK YOU" to all my brave helpers - maybe with parts, maybe with tips, maybe with ideas and discussions.
Than there were in random order: Ken Rudd (RIP), Rod Briggs, Brian Eacott, Luke Sowemimo, Peter Kelb, Mike Otto, Jan Cruysberg, Gerd Klöckner and so many more.
Thanks guys, stay healthy and farther happy motoring!

Chris
 

 

[Vincent998]

What a beauty!!!!

[Aceca289]

Chris,

WOW - Your Aceca looks great! I love the color and the patina on the seats is fabulous.

It sounds like you still have a few teething pains to sort out. I just got my Aceca (AEX521) back on the road in May after a 16 year long restoration adventure. Like you, I still have a few things to sort out. Regarding the heat in the footwells, I had a heat shield material installed under the carpet on my footwells. Despite that effort, I still had a lot of heat entering the cockpit via gaps around penetrations in my firewall where wires and cables passed. Even the smallest gap was pushing a lot of hot air in, so I carefully identify all the gaps and discreetly wedged pipe insulation foam in to seal the gaps. That greatly reduced the problem.  Fortunately, I have a separate cold air vent running from the grill area to the drivers LHD footwell (similar to the cold air supply for the heater) with a butterfly valve in the footwell to control flow. That works quite well to bring in cold air. I assume the cold air supply for your heater runs up the rt side of the car. With RHD you can likely place a wye in the duct and route a cold air vent to your footwell.

Just some thoughts to help you out. Hopefully you can sort your remaining issues soon.

Cheers,

John

[AE 501]

Hi Vince, Hi John!

Thanks a lot for your warm words. Yes, the colour Maroon is original, as is the leather of the seats. After several months of looking for a saddler (they all wanted to make new covers instead of preparing the old ones) I did it by myself. It took me more than a year (with breaks) to soften the leather from the backside until it was usable again. It's good for the soul when someone appreciates the work  . But as you can probably see, it has a unique interior equipment - all prepared from Ken Rudd in his back then shop. So there is a drivers seat and a small bench for the co-driver. That required a change of the handbreak mechanism to the cane brake principle. As the second Aceca ever built, it has a lot of small differences compared to later cars. For example it is completely missing some cold air inlets. There is only one tube from the right front wheel arch to the heater, presumably one has thought, if the water cycle in the heater is cut off, the heater remains cold - as will the air..... what a fault!

If anyone wants more details or some exchange of pics or thoughts, you can write to me via  gies@berosafe.de

Chris