Here’s how close I am to respraying
this motor – I’m collecting all the bits that will have to be body
colored. (For the Yanks: The Brits call repainting a car, a “respray”
and they call a car, a “motor” sometimes, anyway.)
Sounds easy doesn’t it, not so
much. I’ve been digging through boxes of
parts looking for anything either blue (from the Organ Donor) or black (from
Alphie). Of course, just because it’s
black, doesn’t necessarily mean it’s “body colored.” Even harder, this task requires some
thinking, whew! Yeah, tiring.
Stuff I’ve found so far: scuttle (remember
this term? the area in front of the windshield to us Americans) vent grills, hood
release pan, boot hinges and springs, firewall supports (see pic), the soft
top covers behind the rear seat, hood support rod and petrol tank supports – so far.
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| Top Row (r to l): hood support rod, firewal support (pass side), boot hinges, hood release tray, soft-top side covers (r & l): Center Row: boot springs, firewall support (driv side, Bottom Row (r to l): scuttle vent covers (fresh air vent covers), petrol tank supports |
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| Soft-top rear cover - behind the rear seat back |
It’s taking longer than I expected
to get all the bits to bare metal. The bead
blaster works best once most of the old paint is off. To remove old paint, I’m grinding with all
manner of abrasives and tools: random orbital, wire wheels, air powered die
grander, 40 and 50 grit paper, razor blades and LOTS of elbow grease.
The worst thing that can happen is to find
something that should be body colored after Alphie comes back from the paint
shop. (I’m going to ask the painter for
some extra paint because I have forgotten stuff before.)
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| Some finished bits in fetching self-etching primer |
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| Passenger's side firewall support with original Rootes bolts |
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| Driver's side firewall support also with original fasteners |
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| The rear soft-top cover with 1+ hours of elbow grease applied |
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| More elbow grease - the least awesome part of the restoration game, but the key to awesome paint jobs! |
2 comments:
It looks like you've got all the bits sorted but mine an earlier car so I can't be sure ( that's my escape any blame excuse) great to see the progress as always
Andy!
Bodywork was S L O W but the mechanical work breezes along. The machine shop reworked the head, honed the block and resurfaced the flywheel in a day! I think I caught them on a slow day. The parts from Sunbeam Specialties and Classic Sunbeam will be here this week. I may have the engine from grungy, tired and rusty to slick clean a lookin’ new in two weeks.
It’s nice to trade the sand paper and welder for wrenches!
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