Well, as an act of pure faith I am following the suggestion of Rob Love and have the plate sitting in a Pyrex bowl immersed in store fresh DOT 3 brake fluid. I will be looking at it periodically (every 5 minutes most likely) and will meddle with it around bedtime.

Fingers crossed at this time.

I sure hope they used the same ink in the process that the American plates were made with. But deep down I am sure you are going to be OK.

It is now 6am my time, plate has sat overnight.

I am happy to report the printed portion of the printing is intact. As far as the paint we are trying to remove, it has not appreciably reacted to he brake fluid, I was expecting some wrinkling and softening, i can barely chip an edge with my finger nail after rinsing in warm water, honestly, not much change.

Either it hasn't been long enough or the rinsing is neutralising any progress. Plonked it back in the dish. Time may be the healer here.

Happy so far that nothing negative has happened.

You and me both. Perhaps the paint is an epoxy which won't be affected by brake fluid.



I forgot a data plate in the brake fluid for a week or so when I went on leave. The ink of the data plate may have got a little lighter, but it was still there after that period of time.

^ Would a epoxy paint been "a thing" back then ? Interesting that the brake fluid had no effect .

Well, it is winter again, things have slowed down on the farm and it is a minus 20 degree C day here so I have taken an inside day.

Why an inside day you say? Well, I have been really pushing forward on the garage project. I have humped away solo and gotten all the 14 ft 9in roof steel sheets up and screwed down and part of the vented ridge is on. I am going back out this weekend to finish the ridge. I have a plan and then I will be off the roof.

Last night I hooked up with my best mate Gerry Foster (he of the Duggan Lynx fame) and we tackled one of the wheels for the undercarriage of the rear car. My aim this winter is, to have the rear car finished, which I think is achievable. I am doing garage work when the weather is willing and indoor CL70 work when not. There might be some Skandic riding time in their on snow days also.

I had tried to take a part one of the wheels but couldn't get a socket in at it. Gerry decided a 1/4" drive deep socket was the best option and even then he would have to spin it up and turn it down in his lathe. We turned down two sockets as I am likely to break one at some point as I have been described as a ham fisted galoot by some. While we are on that subject who started the legend that I don't smile? Utterly untrue.

Anyway we have talked a lot about how these wheels are set up but what we found didn't match expectations. The wheel halves were understandable and the valve stem is what we thought it was, no surprises there.

However, how the wheel mounts is all a big reveal to us, without the music. The wheel is bolted to a two piece aluminum hub that has what appears to be one bearing "C" inside and the bearing is pressed onto the sleeve "A". The cross hole "C" held a fastener that locates the sleeve "A".

The hub has a grease fitting in it but we are considering replacing it with a sealed bearing as access is difficult and considering how little use it will get in my lifetime we feel comfortable with that concept.

We tried to press the bearing in the hub sideways off the sleeve but it didn't budge. We are trying to decide what to do, maybe make up a puller to encourage the bearing and hub half off the sleeve or to clean the axle shaft and polish it and get the sleeve to slide off the axle with the bearing still on. Decisions, decisions.

I guess we will have to replace all the bearings as the two on this axle are both a bit crunchy.

Anyway, I am back at it, slowly but surely.

Well, I received a reply from my friend Ken Frincken up at the Montreal Aviation Museum who happen to have a prototype and have done their wheels and have sent me pictures of the axle sleeves come apart. More on that later.

I also have stepped forward on the engine front. The one that came with it has so much water damage from being submersed inside the body tub when the drains were clogged over the years it is toast. I received a very generous gift from Paul Singleton a while ago of an under the bench engine that was to have been for a dune buggy project, that is a bit less than an easy rebuild once torn down.

On a road trip on a local route I spotted a VW bug rolling chassis this fall and a week ago I dropped in as it was still there in the deep snow storage. The property owner was shoveling snow and I had a few minutes and a deal was struck. Today I went before the snow storm and scooped it up and brought it back and stuck it in the shop at work so I can have a look see.

I know it is a later version but from the outside it will appear the same and I have seen it running in a video from this summer past. So I am prepared to allow the variance and declare it as a replacement and not original.

I am trying not to work n my vehicles but work on the garage that will house them. to that end I have two walls with windows in and building wrap on and I have all of the steel roof on and the ridge cap was finished on Christmas as my present to myself. By cunning and guile I devised a walkway system and did that on a glorious sunny day at only minus 2 and zero wind.

I am well happy.

Why the roof picture is on its side I cant fathom nor rectify

It has been a while.

Garage is now wholly enclosed and some final exterior steel still to do but it now keeps rain and snow out.

We have had some domestic drama and work that took priority and I now have a second part time job to help fill the MV fund.

I have also been stumped on a few details on the CL70 and have struggled to find answers that would allow me to proceed

Recently, out of the blue I had a communication from a gent in the the UK. Richard Strickland. Turns out he had something he wished to share with me as a result of finding this thread.

By PDF I received a scanned copy of the operating instructions manual for the vehicle. What an absolute goldmine of information it holds. So many questions answered. I feel quite inspired again. I'm showing just three pages of what is a very information rich document.

With this I now feel in a much better place to push this one forward again more. My deepest thanks to Richard Strickland in the UK

Pre-internet you would never have heard that a copy existed. Now you learn because someone does a google search. What a world we live in.
Congrats on the find and the stimulus it will provide.

I see a date and a message on the ridge beam. Do you always sign your work?

In typical MLU fashion we are going down a rabbit hole on my habit of signing my work in construction courtesy of my dear friend Terry.

Yes I do, it is a quirk I have, often placing that days news paper in at the same time or writing a small paragraph as to who I was building it for and the weather and other such details.

I have been privy to uncovering some interesting writings when renovating old buildings in the UK and have kind of kept the habit up.