Bonnet disaster

The bonnet was away to sandblast the louvers in the bonnet but the guy at the sandblast shop thought it a good idea to do the whole bonnet altough we didn't ask him.

Of course this had an impact on the straightness of the panel so now I’m left with a deformed bonnet. Grrr.

The guy from the workshop who does my car wasn’t very pleased with this result but he promised he could fix it. This is turning out to become an expensive bonnet.

In the mean while I finished the tiling around the pitch, can’t wait to put my little 7 on it now.

Got some good points: made the wife happy, this time with the easy access to her storage place.

I could do with a storage place myself to put al these good points safe a side, you never know when you need them…

Smoothening the welding

The paint on the inner side of the front is being stripped as this is the place were water leaves the bonnet when it rains, we won’t give the tin worm a chance.



Also the welding on the inner side of the front wings is made smoother.

A ground layer is put on the engine bay, we will pay some more attention to the welded spots in a later stage of the restoration.

A general view from the front.

The rear wings

The top panel is seem welded to the rear wings to prevent water, this means rust, getting between them.



The top surfaces of the rear wings being corrected;


one wing had the antenna hole and the other one had to be adjusted due to former mal installation.

A good job

The guy from the workshop did a good job;



you can’t see anything of the welding and the panel fits perfect.



The holes for the rear fog light are gone; the rear fog light will be integrated in the rear lights and only four little holes for the number plate are allowed.



The rear bonnet needs some minor alignment but everything seems to fit very nice.

A general view from the back.

Rear lights panel

The bad parts are cut out


and the back of the car is ready to receive the rear panel.


The panel I bought at Robsport was in such a bad shape that we had to re-use the old panel,


only a few inches of the left and right hand side are cut off from the ‘new’ panel and are welded on to the old one.


This way the repaired ‘old’ panel fits perfect to the rear wings. Shame about the money though.

Left rear wing repared

The left rear wheel arch has the new repair panel welded in.





The gap between the rear lower sill and the rear wing has been welded over the whole length to prevent water getting between it. Left hand side.



Right hand side not welded yet.



The stone chip coating under the doors has been taking off as there were some spots where water could get between the coating and the body.



Things to do on the car while it’s in the body shop:
Two antenna holes, one in the roof and one in the left rear wing will disappear by welding some metal in them. I’ve got an inside antenna witch is mounted on the rear windscreen just above the rear parcel shelf and it works very well so no holes in the body for me.
Some anti rust work on the bonnet is needed.
Welding extra reinforcements on the rear suspension attachment points.
Putting the Rimmer kit back on and making it one smooth body.
And lots of other things that I can’t remember for the moment.

Rear lights panel

The front suspension has got new chocks, springs and bearings but I will take them apart again to install a needle roller bearing set in the struts and new gaiters. I also will get rid off the red paint of the springs and paint them black. This will give me less problems at the MOT afterwards. Not that they mention the color but you have to pay extra for every modification you have done to the car, painting the springs black wont grab they’re attention (I hope).



Just behind the rear window lies the old panel witch I messed up by trying it to weld myself.
In the trunk the 'brand new' second hand panel.



The (new) second hand rear panel I bought at Robsport wasn’t in a very good shape, so now the top half of the new panel will be cut off and the top from the old panel will be welded on. This is what you get when you buy second hand body panels by the internet.





At the end of the week the rear lights panel should be back in place and then there’s only the right rear panel to finish.

Pit almost finished

I stopped work on the pit on the last day of 2009 but I still had to make a concrete ring wall to finish the job.



Taking the safety precautions away and aligning the metal frame.



So last weekend I made a wooden coffer to pour the concrete in.
This took me the whole weekend as I made it from all the left over’s I could find from when I was building the house.



Yesterday I poured the concrete, 20 mills of concrete or another 5 hour job.



But everything went well and the coffer didn’t collapse, next thing to do next weekend is dismantling the coffer and laying new tiles and replacing some of the broken tiles around the pitch (and go and make some pictures of the car).

Work on the car is starting again

I’ve finished the two bedrooms, the wife is very pleased with the result (so am I) so now my attention can go back to the car and the work on the inspection pitch.
The work on the car was very low due to other obligations by the guy from the workshop.



He had finished the front wings and they are sprayed in a ground layer for the moment.



The panel surface is still a bit rough but they will be sanded when the Rimmer kit is been put on so it will make one smooth surface.



I’ve got a message yesterday to go to the workshop to make some more pictures; the guy had a few days off and has done some work on the car, but I was working on the pitch so I will make some pictures the next weekend.


Next month progress on the car will possibly be more important as the guy returns to a normal work schedule again also weather is getting better and days are longer.
In any case we did change our holiday plans we will go to Italy next year, this takes some pressure of my shoulders, re-assembling and testing a car in a hurry is never a good idea. Now I have lots of time to make the car even better and more reliable.