MadaboutKitcars

Busy Busy Busy:
The good news (for my finances) is that my "real" work has ramped up as we reach a key stage of the project.

Although this isn't necessarily good news for my sleep patterns, as I have too much going on in my head at the moment.
( I actually started working on my laptop at 4.50am the other day! )

It also means that there has been no spare time to play with my car during the week.

But there is still some small progress to report today…

My "70s" style rear number plate arrived during the week and I really like the raised plastic digits.

Note: I actually have to wait until April 2022 before my car can legally use Black & White/Silver plates.

Unfortunately, it started to rain just as I was about to head out to fit the plates.

So for "Take 2", I just unwrapped the rear and started there.



Previously, the rear number plate light was bolted into position through the number plate itself.



But the fact this new number plate is "raised" allows me to fit the light underneath the plate.



The new plate is slightly longer than my old "V" reg. one, as that only had 2 numbers in it.



So, at some point I will need to come back and extend the number plate plinth to match.

But for now, I just filed a section of the top edge away so it would fit around the light bracket.



Then, after drilling some holes, I bolted the plate over the top, using a couple of washers to make sure it cleared.



Job done.



I knew removing the front number plate was going to be a messy job.



But eventually that was done too.



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Now there were 3 jobs on my "To Do" list before I can make any plans to head over to the Three Musketeers in Norfolk:

Change the car reg. over to a 1965 "C" reg.
- As I didn't want my 1980 "V" reg to give the came away when parked next to the "H" & "G" reg. cars of Towed, Phil & Barry.
- Hopefully, my car will now look like an earlier prototype for the final Spyder design.

Remove the lowering block
- Before I grind any more metal off my beautiful twin silencers.

500 mile 'check up'
- Basically, just giving the car a close inspection to make sure everything is still how it should be.

So one done and two to go.

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There was just enough time left for a quick trip to Ally Pally.



Thankfully I managed to get home and get the covers on juts before it started to rain.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Its good to read that the car is no longer a chore and is in fact now something you look forward to even if its just a few minutes here and there.

I love that your still driving it even with the threat of the heavens opening.

If you want a support car for the trip to Norfolk I will gladly tag along, I always wanted to see the spyders on the road.

Paul let me know when you are thinking of this jaunt... I might tag along with you and roadster...? Love to meet the three musketeers

Breaker one-nine, breaker one-nine.

10-4, Roadster and Jones, fer shure, fer shure.

Mercy sakes alive, looks like we got us a convoy.



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Jokes aside, that sounds like a great idea.

So I'd better pull my finger out and get the rear suspension sorted out.

Although, given that I can hear the rain lashing down outside as I type this, that might take a while.

Still, the Three Amigos appear to be a hardy bunch, who don't let cold weather get in their way.



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Roadster - As the car will be sitting outside, under a cover, for the winter, I want to make sure it gets some use.
( Even if it is just firing it up on a weekly basis, but ideally taking it for a quick spin too if I can. )

Unfortunately, working on the car is still a pain when you have to line up free time with dry weather.
( Something that was less of a problem when I had more free time to play with. )

The good news is that the more I drive the car, the less concerned about achieving a perfect paint job I have become.

I will still put some effort into removing the worst of the "cellulite" around the body shell, but I will live with imperfections.

As I really think I am understating the pure joy that this car brings to the streets of London in its current unfinished state.

Cheers, Paul.

Loving the new reg Paul.

And your attitude to getting out ing your creation is spot on. I will, one day, make a Kobra and may get about in it a lot before painting it . Get all the creaks and movement out of the way for a while.

I shall carry on dreaming in the meantime.

Dave

DaveP - Cheers, hopefully the "C" plate will be a good disguise when the car is finally painted.

If I hadn't spent so long building the car, I might have been tempted to paint it before the MOT.

Although I am sure you could build a Kobra in a fraction of the time it has taken me to build this.

Just make sure you build it on level ground (see below).

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Worse Things Happen At Sea...
Today started well enough as I fired the car up before I started to work on it.

The back end of the car slipped down the driveway a bit when I jacked it up to remove the wheels.



But I didn't thing this was a problem, as I have worked with the car being at an angle before.

Unbolted the ends of the rear spring.



Removed the boot lid to get access to my Frankenlid.



With that removed, I could get to the studs.



And the second nut trick helped me remove them.





At this point there was a slight technical hitch…

As there wasn't enough room to pull the spring out with the lowering block fitted.

Not a great photo, but there was just about enough room to lift the spring up and remove the block from underneath it.



I was just about to pull the whole spring out, when I realised I didn't need to.

As with the lowering block removed, I just had to put the old studs back in.
( Thankfully, I'd put these in my "might come in handy one day pile". )

Unfortunately, this was a lot easier said than done.

After an hour of fiddling around, I still hadn't managed to get a single stud fitted, which was quire frustrating.

Little did I know it was all about to go horribly wrong…

In an effort to line everything up, I'd tried bolting the passenger end of the spring in place to see if that would help.

Then I was on the driver's side pulling at the spring when I felt the car starting to topple off the axle stands.

Note: When my uncle came over from American, I had tidied all my planks of wood away at the bottom of the garden.
So today, I had just grabbed a couple of axle stands to support the car instead.
The key point (with hindsight) is that the car is now a lot heavier than it was the last time I used axle stands.

Thankfully, I was able to put my shoulder against the car to keep it balanced while I reached for the car jack.

I managed to get the hydraulic jack in position and pump it up until it was taking the full weight of the car.

Phew!

I think I was so relieved that I had averted a disaster, that I wasn't really thinking straight.

As, by now, the back end of the car had slipped still further down the driveway.

So I decided to shove the car back up the slope using the wheels on the jack.

Again, I've done this before, but (with hindsight) usually there were four wheels fitted to the car at the time.

The car was on its way back up the drive when the jack got caught in a driveway paver and stopped, but my shoving didn't.

Then, in sickening slow motion, the car slipped of the jack and came crashing to the ground.

I could see the jack crushing one of the twin silencers and my heart sank.

I had to use a scissor jack to get the car up high enough to remove the hydraulic jack.

But it then went from bad to worse as I stupidly tried to straighten the car again.

I made a point of being really careful this time and had roped in my wife to help.

Watching the car fall off the jack for a second time was almost too much to take.

This time the jack clipped the other silencer and attempted to hold the car up using the boot floor, which obviously buckled with a sickening sounding crack under the strain.

So once again, I had to scissor jack the car up and re-group one more time.

I couldn't put the wheels back on, as the rear spring was still loose and that might cause even more damage.

So this time I used a big length of wood under the jack as I tried to more the car for a 3rd time.

By now, I'd also got the planks of wood from the back of the garden.

Finally the car was straight and resting completely stable on the wood.
( Photo taken after I started packing up. )



This is one of my, now squashed, axle stands.



To be honest, I couldn't bring myself to take any photo of the damage, as it was just too upsetting.

Ironically, I was removing the lowering block to stop scraping the new silencers and now they both have dents in them.

But the boot is much worse, as it has been caved in slightly, which in turn pull away the joins to the body shell.

I spotted damage to a small area on the inside edge of the driver's wheel arches.

Although I really need to come back with a clear head another day to check the whole area carefully to get a full damage report.

However, for today, I just packed everything away and put the cover's back on, as I really couldn't face it.

Now I know everything can be repaired, and as my wife said, it could have been a lot worse if I'd been under the car!

If I can bring myself to face it, I might try to finish off the rear suspension work tomorrow, just so I can refit the wheels.

But as I type this report up I realise I have a lot of aches and pains, so I have clearly strained a lot of muscles trying to save the mess I made.

So until then, take care, Paul.

Sorry to hear that Paul
If you need another pair of hands PM me and I'll come over

Chin-up Paul, at least your OK hwell:

I can only imagine how p*ssed off you feel this evening. Drink is the answer. Tomorrow is another day......but there is no guarantee it will be any better. Good luck.

I feel for you Paul, I had a lesser but gut wrenching experience trying to change the rear leaf springs on the ng. Drink is the answer now, next week it will just be another challenge.

Sorry to hear about the damage to the car but at least it's just the car. Yes it is your pride and joy but you know you can fix it. Chin up and tomorrows another day. Just please be more careful

Bad luck Paul. Living in Norfolk, which is as flat as a billiard table, has probably saved me from doing the same many times over. Sure you can fix the damage though and dents on the silencers will just add more character.

Roadster, Micky, Oxford, Barber, WelshOne & Towed - Thank you gentlemen.

Well it is the morning after, and both the initial shock and gut wrenching disappointment have passed.

Although the aches and pains, from the physical effort I put in, have got worse, so definitely no car work for me today.

Also, my wife and I watched a programme I'd recorded on Chicago gun crime last night (my wife's twin sister lives there).

Which certainly put my little mis-hap into perspective, as no one died and, thankfully, no one was injured either.

So at some point I will finish off the rear spring work, then I'll set about fixing the damage caused.

Given all the other work I've done on the car, this will be a relatively minor job by comparison.

I will also stick to using big lumps of wood to support the car, rather than axles stands.

Take care, Paul.

PS
I forgot to mention that my insurance certificate has been re-issued with my new "C" reg on it.

Where I spotted this specific exclusion in the small print - "or use on the Nurburging Nordschleife."

Paul I really felt for you after reading your post, after all the times you have jacked the car up on the drive and then for this to happen but hey at least neither you or anybody else was injured, take care matey.

A friend of mine moved out to Australia and when his son was old enough to join him he thought it would be a great idea to have a car ready for his arrival so purchased a cheap run around which required a few repairs which he planned on doing himself. He used a hydraulic jack but for whatever reason did not use axle stands, you can probably guess what happens next the seals on the jack gave way bringing the car down on to him badly crushing his head, after a couple of emergency operations which at the time looked touch and go if he would even survive, thankfully he did but he is not the same person now.

Take care Paul and use the belt and braces approach, metal can be fixed humans are a little more difficuilt to fix.

Paul,

Glad you are ok even if a bit sore. Thanks for sharing your experience, it goes to show that care is always required and the dangers of mechanics are ever present.

Hope you get back in the saddle (as it were) next week

Dave

Sorry to read about this. I hope you're able to make the repairs soon.

Swifty, DaveP & Triumph Special - Cheers chaps.

The more I look back at what happened, the more I realise what a lucky escape I had.

As the damage caused to the silencers and boot floor when the car landed on my hydraulic jack & axles stands is one thing.

But, obviously, there isn't a single part of me that is build as strongly as that trolley jack!

And Swifty's example shows that the risks of serious injury are real enough.

Anyway, I rested for most of Sunday and even soaked in a Radox bath in an attempt to ease my aches & pains.

I've got another busy week ahead of me at work, but I will tackle the mess I made ASAP.

Take care, Paul.

Bad luck Paul I'm Shure the aches and pains will clear up quickly and the repairs won't take you much longer as previously stated at least you're in one piece which is the important thing.

how you getting on paul

Deggsy & Phil - Cheers gents.

It has been another long week at work, but at least I made some progress today…

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But before I started, I thought I'd better take a proper look under the rear of the car…

Damage Report:
Remember I was removing the lowering block to avoid scraping the edges of the silencers…



And now I've ended up with dents in both of them instead.





An axle stand took a small lump out of the Tetroseal on the underside of the boot floor.



The black 'circle' was a small fibreglass repair that was dislodged & the red metal 'hole' is where two original Spitfire panel were pushed apart.



A large 'crack' opened up on the underside when the boot floor was caved in.



It is not easy to get a decent photo of just how dented the inside of the boot floor is on the passenger side.
( Another fibreglass repair was dislodged in the centre of the boot, near the drain hole. )



There was also a chip taken out of the rear driver's side wheel arch.





So, overall, nothing that can't be fixed.

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End of Part 1…

One Step At A Time:
My main priority for today was to get the rear spring fitted and the wheels back on.

It took absolutely ages to line up all four studs and get them fixed back into position.



Then the spring could be reattached to the hubs.



Before the wheels went back on loosely.



They were then tightened up after the car was jacked up, wooden blocks removed & then car lowered back down.

The only repair work I did today was to bash the dented boot floor roughly back into shape with a lump hammer.



This definitely made a difference, as the gap underneath has closed up quite a bit.



Then it was time to head out for a short drive to help settle the suspension.

I didn't get far before 3 of my 5 gauges were all steamed up.



But at least the car seemed to be running OK, although I can't decide if the exhaust sounds different.

I made one stop for some photos to get a basic idea of how the back end now looks.





But my plan is to take it out for a longer spin another day, before re-tightening the spring bolts and fitting the Frankenlid cover.

Then I will go back to the Sainsburys' car park with my tape measure to check the new heights properly.

There was just time for a quick photo next to a Figaro.



Before heading home and putting the covers back on.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Real shame about the damage Paul but at least it was the car and not you

For a man of your talents and determination it will be a breeze to put right Oh and rear end ride height looking much better

Looking good.

The damage is a bit of a blow but with someone of your capability it should be a breeze.

As for the Exhausts dents, a suction puller should hopefully pop them out to an acceptable level

I know how down you are about the damage Paul but its not visible and it doesn't effect your driving pleasure.

If you had damaged the exhaust whilst flying over a hump trying to keep up with the Norfolk 3 you wouldn't have minded so much.

The car is still great and you are unharmed.
Time to take her for a spin again.

I was going to comment about the exhaust bumps too. When you drive the car there are sure to be little scars and such. You've just accelerated to process Paul

Fix what needs to be done and leave the rest to let driving nature take its course.

I am so glad you are back out in it. The effort you have put into the car means you deserve to drive it.

Oh and I agree. The rear looks just right

Dave