leonk

Remember the impressive, even if I say so myself repair to the rear lower passenger wing? Well some numpty (me) forgot that it has a special drain hole/tube in the bottom of it. It allows water from the fuel cap recess and the boot lid recess to escape. As several months, possibly getting on for a year elapsed between cutting the old one out and fitting the new repair piece, it was overlooked. This could have been a very costly b*lls up if it had gone for paint and not been spotted. You can not buy the drain tube on its own, you have to buy the whole rear lower quarter it is attached to, £140 Stuff that. Fortunately I keep everything that has been taken off the car even if I think it might be scrap. The original is just two bits of mild steel tube that are brazed to a hole in the boot floor just behind the rear wheel exactly where any road muck would be thrown up and block it! As you can see from the picture this then rots from the inside out and spreads into the lower rear quarter. I set about making a new one from stainless tube and have managed to weld that in without damaging the surrounding epoxy primer. That was all day Sunday for those of you who are wondering why it's taking so long Thanks to another E bay bargain, namely welding blankets, I've managed to minimise any damage from weld splatter. With that done, I've made a small start on seam sealing the underside and sorting any minor imperfections with polyester stopper. Yes you read it right, the underside of the car. Attention to detail or just a bit sad, you decide.....

Without doubt, leaving it for two weeks not moving or running would be absolutely disastrous, causing untold and irreversible damage! Just drop it off with the keys at mine and I'll make sure it doesn't stand idle. Oh remember to fill the tank, an empty tank can be harmful too.

Thanks, it will be going backwards from the 1st of October. Planning to start the strip down then, hopefully have the shell stripped, repaired & ready for painting by Christmas. But in the mean time I need to decide, New iPhone 6 or new Mig welder & engine stand Now that I am looking forward to seeing some pics of !. Shame I'm so bl**dy slow otherwise you could have borrowed the rotisserie. As regards the engine stand, funnily enough I've just bought a new one on E bay for £89.00 that will hold 900kg and folds up. There are cheaper ones but not sure if they would hold the weight of a straight six. Mines a cast iron block with alloy head, what is it in the 240?

Caterham 7 that I built with my grandad, for sentimental reasons and pure driving fun, and an old series one landrover that I learnt to drive in.

Thanks, it's one of the things I'm really fussy about. I want all the gaps spot on and the doors etc to close with a gentle push and clunk. I have seen a lot of restored cars where you have to slam the doors shut because the rubbers are pushing them out. I am beginning to see why the likes of Eagle and Hutsons have to charge what they do just in sheer man hours.

Ha Ha well spotted!

Firstly let me remind you ( and myself ) of my parting comment on the June post. "Hopefully the passenger outer sill should be easier now I've done one." It was an absolute swine! For some reason, I struggled to get every thing to line up, but after much trial and error and walking away , it all came together. I now have two sills on the car! Two months condensed into five pictures. Trying to line it all up. Door gap Repair to rear wing. A post repair (getting to know all the tech terms now to give the impression I actually know what I'm doing ) Please excuse the untidy garage frantically getting ready for primer. With that done I finally got chance to finish the blasting cabinet, and more importantly, the extraction. Without this it was like a mini sand storm! Big enough to get large suspension bits in or a 19" wheel. Blasting a new sill end ready for spot welding. And clamping up ready for spot welding in later tonight. A special thanks to those following, the gentle digs and prods for progress reports.

I think you will find it's a hoax Will.

Just concerned it should say "bring more doughnuts" rather than "we have doughnuts"!

Getting there slowly! I've started stripping all the rear suspension down, blast cleaning the bits in the cabinet I've made and painting them ready for rebuilding. I'm ready for seam sealing the body shell now so have treated myself to an air seam sealer gun that will also do the textured oem rubberised under body coating. From the states and even with shipping and duty almost half the price in this country. So that's this weekends new toy to play with I'll have to get some update pics up. Keep up the good work, can't wait to see it all stripped down.

If those are twin SU carb, have a look at http://www.burlen.co.uk They do all the servicing and rebuild kits. I got some stuff for mine and they were really helpful. Wheels look great!

Well done!!

I hope you are joking, that first one is hideous!

If you are hell bent on doing this, then perhaps modifying a gt40 replica kit chassis or something similar would be an option. I looked into building a cobra replica and as others have said, £25k is going to be a bare minimum figure.

Won't bleach attack the stitching? Have a look at http://www.quickfitsbs.com they are recommended on the e type forum and are probably who I will use. They do seat belt restoration and re webbing.

Remember not to skimp on the helmet as well. Auto dimming with fast reaction time and adjustable delay.

Looking good!

What is it you've actually damaged? If its just the casing could it not be alloy welded?

Good luck with the sale Chris, I'm sure it won't hang about.

Just looked at my niece's Aygo, it's just like yours. It is stone chip protection, admittedly not the neatest but until you posted I hadn't noticed hers.

Hard to tell from the pic but is it where the rubberized underbody stone chip protection has come up too far or not been applied evenly? All the best getting it sorted. My niece has one, great little car.

That's a great result with the mot, and impressed you are going to make the loom yourself.

Good luck with the M.O.T. With regards the wiring loom, can you buy a replacement one or will you make your own. It was one of the things I never budgeted for but soon realised it was essential. Most of it fell apart as I stripped it out. Makes sense really and it's piece of mind.

If you ever get stuck you can open it manually from inside the boot behind the trim panel.

Very sad indeed. He was a capable and experienced driver well known and respected in the E type world with his own motorsport business specialising in race preparation. It is a tragic reminder of just how dangerous these cars were and how far safety has progressed. He was driving a 1960 Lotus 18.