August progress 1

Since getting the body back time has unfortunately been in shorter supply than anticipated but some progress has been made.

All bolts for the chassis are loosely in place with the exception of one large frame head bolt which refused to go in. I will try again this weekend and if needed use a tap to clear the thread in the captive bolt, nothing is being tightened down until that is in place.

Front and rear boots have now been fitted, some minor adjustment is needed to get the correct gaps but they are safely installed on the car. I will leave the doors off for the time being as space is tight and this should prevent damage to them.

The seats are loosely installed as well to keep them safe from the marauding dog.

A few minor problems have surfaced, none paint related, the spare wheel restraint bar (best way I can describe it) has been welded to the inner wing in the wrong place. this stops the jack being stored in the front boot and lets the spare wheel move around too much. the paint shop say they can help sort this for me. Also I thought I had sourced a missing early rear air intake to rear wing drain pipe but I can't find one - if anyone has a correct driver side one then let me know - it is the shorter flat ended one in the photo and has a narrow end, this prevents the later ones being used.

When little issues like this come up I turn my attention to simpler tasks like small trim item fitting, this is good as it also gives the illusion of progress as well. Even here things don't always go as well as expected - the drivers side sill trim clips are not holding the trim in place as well as they should and I will have to think about a remedy for this.

Anyway, reasonable progress so far and I will look to do more at the weekend.

Back to black and back home

The bodyshop delivered the bodyshell back home this afternoon - it looks absolutely fantastic. the doors and bonnets will follow in the next few days.

They managed to weld up the two horn wire holes in the front panel that I had missed - these were only on cars from 65 model onwards once the horns became externally mounted.

Anyway I have an initial plan of action for the weekend which will be;

• Fit the bumpers and get them out of harms way and give protection to the car



• Bolt the chassis down



• Fit the steering column



• Fit all locks and latches where ever possible

I am not going to rush after all this time but will move on at a good pace.

Its in the spray booth

The 62 has had its' final prep finished and is now in the spray booth. It will be sprayed on Monday and hopefully home by next weekend. It's come a long way from a car that was de-registered and classified as scrap in South Africa which again was an accurate description. The final stages are close and re-assembly will be a pleasure.

Front Axle - here we go again

Well the front axle and chassis have been completed for a couple of years now. I decided to replace the 2 smaller rubber bumps stops with new ones that I bought and during the process also replaced the track rod end boots that had perished since fitting. Not good as they were new stock, not NOS.
Whilst doing all this I noticed that the rubber boots on the 2 upper ball joints were also cracking. These were NOS in the box but a good number of years old. I dug out the ball joints that I took of the car and luckily the boots on them were perfect, strange as I think one was an original item.
I called the body shop today, they have finished rubbing down and perfecting and the car goes into the spray booth today for final prep coat and hopefully top coats next week.

Trim items

Having completed the bumpers I am now digging around in my boxes of trim to see where some work is needed before re-assembly.

I needed a new rear boot rubber, these are not available with the original moulded lower corners. Digging around in my cupboard of wonder produced a nearly complete rubber, all present except for the piece that goes around the are for the oil filler. Lee Hedges gave me bits of an old rubber when I was over visiting him and luckily I was able to salvage the missing piece from that.

It will all need a good clean up and gluing here and there but will look better, even if slightly worn, that the reproduction ones.

At the same time I dug out some old trims for the A & B posts, these fell apart when I took them off the car, luckily I have enough of the 3 I found to be able to recreate some new ones.

Bumpers complete

I have now coated the insides of the bumper blades with hammerite paint and sprayed them on top of this in a silver colour, similar to original to finish them off. They are now fully assembled and have been wrapped up to prevent damage before fitting in the near future.