Door - Offside

The driver's door on RJW307R was bought many years ago from a nice man in Swindon who had a load of '7 spares to get rid of. As far as I recall his was an unfinished restoration, but in any case he had done a great job with the door I bought. Using a sound white shell, he re-skinned it very professionally and even left it unwelded, so that it could be fettled into place.

For some reason it grabbed my attention today, so I had a go at getting the door into shape and producing good door gaps. It was proud of the B-pillar at the bottom, but by pushing hard on it and then clamping up the skin where it meets the top of the door, I got them about right.

Just a think skim of filler to blend things in, and it should look ok when finished.

Steering

Watching the first grand prix of the season today got me thinking. Whilst we all waited to see what the new cars would look like, I have a very clear vision of my TR7. That is - original. Ok, that is a contradiction in terms where restorations are concerned but my car is going to be as near to factory fresh as I can get it.

So, this morning was all about making nice things to go back on the car and I started with the steering column and brackets. These have had never been taken out of the car and were the only fittings left inside the shell, and gosh were they a mess. Oil, paint, dust and rust had all made their mark so it was time to clean up.

The steering column was split at the various universal joints and disassembled, wire brushed and given a coat of etch primer. Once this was dry, good old Halford's satin black paint was sprayed on.

The garage's wooden beams are ideal for hanging things off.

Tidying Up

As the welding stage comes to an end, we get to the "it is starting to look better" phase. It really is amazing how much of a boost can be had by getting things into one colour. I am blessed here as, by some miracle, the red oxide primer I am using has a striking resemblance to the TR7's original Flamenco paint.

TOP TIP! If you are feeling down because your car looks like a jumble sale of colour, rub it down and apply some paint (preferably red oxide, but not if your car is in Triton Green as that will induce nausea). It will make you feel like you have made massive gains.

Oh, and buy a vacuum cleaner from a car boot sale and keep it in the garage for sucking up the dust that inevitably accumulates in your restoration project.

Headlamps

Is it me, or are my sheds emptying of TR7 spares? I guess you wouldn't know but it certainly appears so to me. Wandering in to the outhouse these days is a joy, as I am starting to take an interest in the various spare parts I have amassed over the years.

And so it was over the last couple of weeks as I decided to rebuild the headlamp motors. Here is a snapshot of the procedure:

Unbolt the motors from the lift mechanisms > Wire brush them > Disassemble them > Try to follow the procedures in the "How to restore..." book > Get totally baffled about how to set everything up > Grease everything in site > Repair the wiring (using solder and heat shrink tubing > Put it all back together > Seam seal the gaps > Spray them in zinc primer > Spray them with stone chip paint > Spray them with satin black paint  > Hope to God that they will work when reconnected to the car in many years' time.

That was pretty much it  for the motors, but I did mount them on new lift assemblies which was the icing on the cake. These have been sitting in unopened BL boxes for many years, and now I don't want to throw the boxes away. Is that a bit weird?

Halfords made a profit today as I spent a small fortune on paint and anti-rust products. The nuts, bolts, washers etc from various parts of the car were dunked in a solution of Kurust gel and left to behave overnight. This stuff is supposed to remove rust in this way, but the instructions were rather difficult to implement. Given that I was de-rusting in an up-turned aerosol can cap, how on earth was I supposed to measure the "one part Kurust, nine parts water" thing? With a teaspoon? In the end I just mixed some of the stuff up and chucked in the metalwork. We'll see how it does - I will either end up with my entire garage dissolved, or nuts more rusty than I started with.

Finally, I decided to strip one of the headlamp pods so that I could paint it. Stupidly I used a cup brush on the angle grinder, which removed the paint very effectively but also cut grooves and scratches into the alloy surface. Again Halfords provided the U-Pol etch primer in a can, which was applied to good effect. The next job is to spray this one with lots of high build primer.

Rear Wing - Offside - Part 4

Hello! it's been a while!

The reason for the lack of posts of late isn't due to a lack of activity, but is down to my camera running out of batteries and me forgetting to buy some replacements.

I have been pottering in and out of the garage over the last few weeks - stripping here, painting there - and between jobs trying to sort out the rear outer wheel arch. You'll remember that I welded in a new arch to the wing, and since then have been trying to get the profile right.

In essence it isn't right yet, but it is getting there. Knowing as I do that these things must be perfect for the eye to wash over them when painted, I am willing to put in a lot of time over this.

Things aren't helped by the fact that I should have butt welded the new lip in place, but instead I let the two panels overlap a bit. That is always the dilemma, as butt welding always runs the risk of blowing through and ruining everything. At the time, the overlap seemed safer.

The cost, of course, is more filling and a less even playing field to, er, play with. However the profile is coming on nicely now thanks to a thin skim of filler and lots of high build primer (which may I say is very pleasant to work with, not least because it smells like vanilla ice cream).