• September 2005

New Years Eve... Not working on the car today. Happy New Year everyone...

Will 2005 be the year when my car gets back on the road? I hope so...

I started stripping down the shock absorbers. These had been left as assemblies - ie damper, spring and strut top mounting. These were easy to strip down, and they will be thorougly cleaned next week.

The shocks are Koni adjustables all round, and these will be carefully beadblasted, taking great care not to damage the shaft or allow bead past the seal. The body of the damper can then be repainted orangey red.

The springs will be bead blasted and then sent to be nylon coated. This is done locally by a company who use only blind employees.

The other fixings will be cleaned and plated.

I also started stripping down the doors. The handles and perspex came out easily (although the perspex has yellowed and does have some cracks.) One of the door skins has quite a bit of corrossion , hidden under filler :-(. The other has an aluminium skin. As you can see, there isn't much too the door, just the bare minimum.

I also took all the GRP parts outside to photograph them. I'm still waiting for the roof and 037 intake scoops to arrive.

You can see: front wings (pair), rear wings (pair) front bumper, rear bumper, noseband (single piece type), bonnet, bonnet air scoop, wheel arch extensions (set of 4), front bumper airdam/spoilere

I spent today removing the final paint from around the screen aperture and protecting the areas of metal exposed yesterday.

The shell of the car is waiting for Stewart to do his last bits too, and then thought can be given to painting the shell white.

Meanwhile, work is starting on a big valve cylinder head.

Following Christmas celebrations and a few days off work, I went to the car and found that the drivers front floor pan was almost finished. It has been tacked in place with weld.

I dug away at various spots of sealant on the inside of the car, the rear vents behind the rear side windows, down both sides of the front bulkhead and various other places.

I also spent some time with a metal forming hammer and a metal block, carefully hammering out small dents and imperfections.I

Collect from the local fibreglass moulders:-
-the other rear wing
-light weight singlepiece noseband

People may wonder why I didn't go for a lightweight rear wing. The reason is that its very possible people may lean against the front or rear wings, and a lightweight one will be much more fragile than a standard grade one.

The windscreen was taken out today and work continues to the drivers side floorpan.he

Collect from the local fibreglass moulders:-
-lightweight front bumper
-lightweight bonnet vent
-1 rear wing

More items ready tomorrow

Work continues to the drivers footwell. A section is being shaped and this will be welded in shortly.

Some pictures - apologies for the poor quality - again taked with a cellphone.

There is now a big hole overhead. The car used to have a glass sunroof, fitted in the early 1980's probably. When the car was prepared for racing, this was removed and a plate was rivetted. I drilled out all the rivets, took off the panel and then removed all the paint from underneath.

The edges are a bit ripply, but I'm sure this can be improved.

I will be fitting an 037 style double-bubble top soon.

There is now a big hole where the drivers feet go!

The passenger side seat mountings are finished.

Make adjustments to seat mountings as necessary. Continue to offside front floor section.

The nearside front floor pan has been fitted. The rear section needs a small repair.

We trial fitted the seats, one pair of runners lines up with the existing mounting holes, but the other set needs adjusting.

Soon I should receive some goodies

- a gas flowed and ported cylinder head with 45mm inlets and 40mm exhausts
- a pair of 037 style air scoops
- a double-bubble roof panel

Last night Stewart continued working on the floorpans.