So, It's 2020 and I realise it has been an eternity since I updated the blog, mainly due to a lack of work throughout the end of 2019 and the start of this year.
What a year it has been this year (Mostly for some people a Year to forget).
However, this year has brought some great things, a new job which has allowed me to really make a fresh start on this long overdue project (10 years and counting!). We had a lock down between April and July and I'd pretty much started lockdown on 18th March when we were all advised to work from home by our bosses.
So, in the short window I had in July and August when restrictions were relaxed, I got a quote from Redline in relation to some finishing work that needed to be done on the Marcos bodytub.
And so in late September on what turned out to be a horrendously cold wet and windy day we packed off the beast of burden to Redline for the car to await its turn in the works queue.
The wheelarches inside were unfinished and needed trimming back and smoothing off to make sure that they looked like 'one wheelarch' rather than 2. The arches on this car had been modified from the outset by the previous owner and due to being sculpted previously out of 6kilos of filler each side, needed to be taken back and re-done properly in fibreglass.
once remoulded and bonded on there was more or less an internal lip within the arch, which has now been made good, as you will see from the next image. This is now ready for the anti-stone chip coating to be applied underside.
In addition to this work there have been a lot of holes drilled in a 'Trial and error fashion' long before I owned the card and generally a lot of damage and chipped edges to things which needed sorting, Joe had also found a large amount of hidden damage under paint that needed to be corrected before paint and so this was done also as part of the mandate of works. We have also templated the front edge of the arches as there is a huge gap that would allow water/dirt etc. to be thrown forward under the sills, so plates will be cut in stainless to blank these off.
Also prior to the preparation and paint works, the car has had the rear and front screens trial fitted to ensure there are no problems when painting is done, the worst thing possible would be for us to try to fit and then either not, or severe damage occurring to the painted finish when fitting. (There is a new front screen being ordered which will be heated.
other things of note are that due to the roof being made separately, you will recall from earlier posts that some bright spark had sawn the roof off to turn it into a spyder, not as this car should be. Marcos' were not made as Spyders in standard form until the advent of the Mantula Model in the early eighties. (1984 onwards) so I needed this car to be returned to how it was created in 1970 as a coupe. Digressing slightly there, the roof has a tendency to 'Sag' if sat without windows in so at the moment a pick axe handle is propping the roof up to shape it correctly to allow for the glass fitment, even though when re-attached in the first place, the door frames and glass were present for positioning and measurements for re-attachment.
It all looks a little strange at the present time, mainly due to the different colours and missing bits which I'm sure will allow it all to come together in the end. the whole car is going to need a thorough clean and all the accumulated dust really blasted out to be cleaned up. The glass looks a tad odd in places but with the front and rear screens Im told its pot luck with them as one screen may not fit another car the same as the one you are working on which is interesting - thus supporting the addage that no Marcos is the same as another.
There is a great deal of correction work to be done on the door and pillar to the trailing edge of the door as the fitment has changed so this will be corrected so that it is absolutely right before paint. there is also so much new fibreglass that it will need baking for a short time before prep and filler work is done.
Joe has also found a great deal of radial cracking on the bonnet which he is working on at the moment and will resume work on it once the New year starts and he reopens for business.
Aside from the main body work, I have begun amassing a large amount of electronic and trimming parts mainly thermal foil backed sound deadening sheeting and all relays, cables and switches to complete the refurbishment of the dash board wiring and the front panel washer jets, my dad has stripped down and refurbished the windscreen wiper motor assemblies ready to reinstall and at the point of writing, I've ordered the new washer jets and piping to go back in.
This is the main dashboard wiring loom which has had a great deal of bad cabling and connectors removed and new cabling inserted, with higher ampage capacity wiring were some had previously melted, also with the addition of the heated windscreen wiring relay, I've also had this set up for complete LED lighting and indicators so voltage stabilisers and an L.E.D flasher unit have been in stalled into this loom for me by my dad, who is vastly more experienced in electrics than I am! (He has built from scratch using drawings, his own entire wiring loom for the Marcos LM500 GT rebuild project that is going on alongside this rebuild) this saved thousands as he received quotes for astronomical amounts from several companies and so Dad decided to do it himself at a snip of the price.
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