Purchasing Bits

Well, since it has been a while since I last updated this blog I thought I would share some of the latest developments in my world.

Recently had a chance to visit the Shepton Mallet Classic Restoration show, which was good even though we'd had a hell of a snow shower in that region. Whilst at the show I had managed to secure a fairly long section of Dark grey carpet to match the leather interior of the car in my mission to cut down on the sheer number of colours in use inside the car. White/Grey/Black and blue and red.

Also purchased som new Light covers and some Smiths Gauges to replace the ones that are not in a good state at all currently.

Since this show I have also visited the NEC Classics show and was given a new pair of Bonnet inserts in Marine Ply so that I can replace the ones I have that are rotting through.

I have also been in contact with another forum member who was able to supply me with brand new Laser Cut Radiator brackets which will be fitted to the front of the chassis at the same time that we re-model the A-frames at the front which the bonnet will eventually be mounted to.

Basically things will start mving again very Quickly over the next few months as Im now doing massive amounts of overtime to pour money into this project in order to get her finished for the spring of 2013 or by late this year so that I get enough time to get everything right before the highly anticipated Luxembourg trip in 2014 (Which I want to be a smooth reliable affair with this car!)

Final chassis stripdown/ Engine Clean

This week I had some quality time with the car again! weather was perfect for it too. I   had one or two final things to strip from the chassis, these were the Fuel line cable, the rear Brake line hoses that run along the centre of the chassis to the front of the car, and removal of the fuel pump which was still attached to the front of the fuel line (I had run out of time for all these when I last worked on it last October/November. The Brake cabling is eventually going to be all braided hosing (Looks nice and to comply with modern safety requirements) so what is there currently can be stripped and just used as a sizing guide. (Excuse the milk carton 'Rat/Mouse Bait' container, we do have little critters running around here at times)

View of cabling running along the 'Gearbox tunnel' rails

I used some snips to cut through the cable ties these arent a problem to replace same applies for re-assembly really.

Remaining hoses at the rear and the sticky/cable ties holding these final items in place.

After all these items were taken off I was left with a completely bare chassis which now only requires a bit of cutting and re-welding on the front end, and then it is ready to be trailered away for shotblast/Galvanise/Powder coat in Gloss Black.

Focus then moves to the Engine, it is a very grubby looking beast at the moment and as this is another of those little jobs that requires only the purchase of some de-greaser I cracked on without hesitation.

Using a stiff paint brush, (With all items in place) I dabbed on the GUNK Degreasant (Pictured Below costs about £4.99 for this size of tin, there is also a spraycan version) to as many parts of the engine as possible, (Rocker covers, manifold cover, timing cover, Block etc.) SAFETY GOGGLES AND GLOVES/MASK essential Here.

You can see the grease and oil already starting to run down the front of timing cover

Above is a first picture showing the early stages of application, now as most of the outlets/inlets to the engine are covered by the manifolds carb, covers, it is fairly safe to pressure wash the engine as this will give away any areas of grease that are still in place, just apply More Gunk to the affected areas and rinse off I sprayed carefully using a Turbo Lance on a pressure washer, it sprays in an oscillating high powered action that has conveniently removed the flaky paint from the Rocker Covers and the Block itself (In Red) This will be rubbed down and re-sprayed in a High Temperature colour yet to be determined, There are further piccies below that show the progress.

Immaculate shiny Bell Housing required minimal cleaning.

Grubby Greasy Timing Cover.

Engine During GUNK application

Initial Spray Down showing a vastly more clean manifold cover and loose paint blasted off the Black Rocker covers.

The plan for the Black Rocker Covers is to have them blasted and Chromed so that I have a nice shiny engine, possible engraving on these covers with the Marcos Badge?

That was all I had time to cover this weekend, hoping for more summer visits to do some more work but really at this stage, the major work is to get the chassis prepped for treatment which is going to be exciting, whilst I also look for a new home for the Marcos in order to be closer to where I live so I can just 'pop out' to work on it as opposed to driving for an hour and a half each way.

More Soon.

Gazza

03-07-2012
Hello!
Not a great deal to report unfortunately, which is sadly due to lack of funding at  this moment in time I have pretty much stalled on the restoration, I'm doing a few small jobs that dont require a great deal of cash eg cleaning up the major parts of the Engine and cleaning down the Gear Box.
Very shortly I may start degreasing the tunnel section of the bodywork so that I can have this already for when heat resistant material is put down on the areas where heat is likely to affect the bodywork.
Weather has not been especially good either, but have gotten into my dads Garage as he has recently purchased a reserve Essex V6 unit to work on as a side project, this particular unit used to be from a Gilbern Invader and has a number of modifications that give a few additional features the layout hasnt changed much either. Im also looking to house the vehicle Closer to me shortly so that I can get access to work more easily on it and when I have some spare time to do so /evenings etc.