Close, but no Cigar - Part 1:
I knew my recent run of time available for car work, combined with decent weather outside, was coming to an end.
So I really wanted to have reached the stage of bonding the body shell to the framework by today, but it was not to be.
However, I actually decided yesterday, that I'd rather miss this target, than take short cuts to achieve it, especially with the boot lid.
( E.g. Any fine tuning of the locking brackets is much easier to do with the body shell off. )
This was the right decision to make for my build quality & thankfully it also removed a lot of the pressure I was putting myself under.
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Anyway, that is enough about what I
didn't do today, instead here is what I
did do...
Started the morning with the all too regular task of tidying up the summer house.
Put the final coat of paint on the boot lid brackets.
Then turned my attention to this small "blemish" in the boot lid rain channel.
Part of me was prepared to simply ignore it on the basis that it would not normally be on display.
But given how long I have spend getting this boot lid to work, this seemed pointless not to spend a bit more time on it.
( Hence the decision to scrap my original plans to bond the body shell on today. )
Unfortunately, there then followed a bit of body filler "mission creep".
While I was waiting for that to set, I masked off various "holes" on the sunny side of the body shell.
So I could get some paint on the corresponding areas on the underside.
Although, it was only after I started on the rear section that I remembered that I still had some sanding to do above this section.
So I'll come to finish off painting that area later on, instead, after sanding down the filler, the boot area looked like this.
I know the rain channel still isn't great, but at least it is a bit better than before, so it got another coat of etch primer.
I removed the top bit of this section of metal from the wheel arches, as it was getting in the way of fitting the body shell.
Although it was somewhat hard to reach with my saw, as I didn't want to risk my angle grinder near the framework.
After filing away the "point" I'd made, I gave it a quick lick of paint.
Then I removed the filler cap and taped up the tank opening so I could put the body shell back on.
End of Part 1...