Another Cordite Is Born ...

[Paul L]

Phil - Really looking forward to finally meeting you guys.

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Charman.tech - I love the fact your children knew the tune was coming.

I'm currently trying to learn all the words, as my version has lots of humming in it.

Once I've managed to get as far as Norfolk, then I'll think about a trip overseas.

Although it would be good to arrange a Sammio/Ribble/Tribute run somewhere.

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Chore-mageddon!
Despite the mini heat wave we've had around here all week, it has been all work and no driving for me.

In addition to "real" work, I've had to weed the entire driveway.





Then continue the tidy up between the front wall and the road.





My "garage" wall needed to be trimmed.



I also added a load of slate along the bottom of these hedges.



But it was a big mistake to start scrapping the flaky paint off this wall.



In the end, we opted for the not perfect by any means, but better than when we started approach.



Although attempting to touch up the paint on the front wall of the house was a complete disaster.

Previously, it went on a bright red and then dried to the darker red.



This time, it was still the wrong kind of red after it had dried.
( The fact the paint is over 6 years old, and stunk when I opened it, might have something to do with it. )





So I've only repainted a section of the black to give the impression this is a work in progress.
( But I now face the prospect of having to repaint the whole thing with some fresh paint. )

In addition to the above, the garden furniture was oiled and the rear garden tidied up too.

So far this evening there was been thunder and lightening and rain bucketing down.

I really hope some nice weather returns soon.

Cheers, Paul.

[Barber]

Clearly faster at household tasks than car building.��

[Paul L]

Barber - In fairness, I'm pretty much faster at everything else when compared to car building.

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New Cover:
It was late afternoon by the time the rain finally stopped and I could try out the new car cover that had arrived yesterday.



The old one was really falling apart.



But it was still able to do its main job, which was hold the heavy duty tarpaulin in place.
( Which is what actually keeps the water out. )



The next layer is my "back up" tarpaulin, which doesn't really serve any purpose.
( This wasn't really up to the job, which is why I ended up with the heavy duty version. )



Anyway, with the car finally revealed...



I checked the sky…



And took a chance to go for a very quick spin around the block.

I don't think the car likes the wet weather as it was initially popping & banging all over the place.

Eventually all 4 cylinders were firing properly, just in time for me to park up again.

At some point I need to modify my wooden tonneau covers again, as the steering wheel is now in the way.
( Whereas, previously, I was able to remove the wheel before putting the covers on. )



This is what the new cover looks like on.





If it does exactly what it says on the tin, then that will make my life much easier will just one cover instead of three.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Saturday - Brrrrrr-B-Q:
We had some friends and their children round for a BBQ and 'grown ups' braved the chill in the air to eat outside.



If you go back to Page #5 of this build, you will find this quote from 23rd Sept.2012.

Originally Posted by Paul L

Progress Report:
No real progress to report as I spent the week tidying the house & garden.
Yesterday was perfect day for our BBQ with friends and given today's rain, very lucky too.
My 'thrown together to tidy up' Cordite made it easier for them to understand the project.
I made the mistake of rashly promising it would be on the road by this time next year.
At which point one of my mates opened a "book" on when it would actually be done.
Hopefully the money laid against a 2014 finish will not be collected!!

How little did I know about the challenges that lay ahead at that point.

So this has been a running joke at our BBQs for 4 years now and it was great to be able to show them the car "on the road".

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Sunday - Plan B:
Plan A was to take the car into "town" for a bit of sight seeing / photo opportunities.

Unfortunately, my wife's car decided to pack up and would not start.

In the end, I had to tow it out of the driveway with my Mondeo and then it wouldn't jump start either.

Which meant that by the time I finally got going, if the traffic was bad, I'd never get there & back within my available time slot.

So half way there I switched to Plan B which was to swing past my mum's house.



I then took her to the shops (via a friend's house, so she could be seen in the car).



Not sure what the Sammio record for oldest passenger is, but I think 81 is a good effort.

My mum also got into the spirit of the car and was waving to pedestrians as we cruised through Shepherd's Bush Green.

Thankfully, I was back in plenty of time to head out with my wife to watch the All Ireland final in the local pub.

So my London Landmark photo shoot will have to wait for another day.

Cheers, Paul.

[DaveP]

The car suits your mum Paul. You could sell it to her and make another ?

Dave

[Roadster]

How on earth did you get your mum to climb over the side and slide down in there?
And more to the point how gracefully did you get her out.

All joking aside I love that you are getting the family into the spirit, after all the hard work now they can appreciate what you created and share the experience.

[Paul L]

Dave - There are just a couple of problems with your "cunning plan"…

My mum doesn't actually drive and there is no way I will be allowed to build another car any time soon.
( As this one has taken me far too long, so it wouldn't be fair on the rest of my family. )

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Roadster - Getting in was easier, as I turned the car around so the passenger side was next to the kerb.

But you are right, there is no graceful exit option if you haven't got the strength to lift yourself out unaided.
( Thankfully, I used a taxi drop off area round the back of Westfield with no one else around to see me help her out. )

However, my teenage daughters are still refusing to go for a spin as I am apparently "Sooooo embarrassing!".

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Cheers, Paul.

[Paul L]

Happy Shopper:
My wife took my car to work today (as her's is still broken) and I was working from home.

At lunchtime I realised that whilst I had stocked up on BBQ food for Saturday, I forgot to get "normal" stuff for the week.

Still, any excuse to take the Swordfish out for a spin.



Note: I think my latest 'build' camera is now on the blink (as the focus is off), so I really must stop dropping them!

Then with the passenger footwell loaded up…



It was a short trip back home.

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DVLA Letter:
Got home to find a DVLA letter had arrived and thought "Wow, my "C" reg. application has gone through very fast".

But instead it was a Last Chance reminder to tax my Mondeo or else!

Oh !

I was so busy sorting out the MOT & tax on the Swordfish that this slipped off my radar completely.

So my car tax has now been belatedly paid and I really need to spend some time catching up on my "admin".

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Until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Another Flying Visit:
I was working from home again today, but didn't actually have much to do.

There was a half decent weather forecast, so I made a 60 mile round trip to visit John & James @ JY Classics.



These guys have been very supportive of my build and have posted photos on their Facebook page.

I took the scenic A40 / A415 route to avoid using the M40 and it was great fun.

Although it was actually quite chilly in just a t-shirt on the way there, so I wore a jumper for the journey home.

Unfortunately, I shaved my head this morning and this seemed to reduce the grip on my flat cap.

So I was forced to wear the cap "reversed" in true gentleman racer / cad fashion when the speed picked up.
( Although I must confess I am not tempted to take the car above 70mph, which feels fast enough. )

One small bit of bad news was that I picked up a small stone chip in my passenger side aero screen at some point today.
( Not easy to get a decent photo, but it is the smudge in front of the dark green hedge on the right.)



I guess that adds to the "50 year-old race car that has been into the hay bales a few times in its life" look.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Silly Grin:
John @ JY Classics send me this photo that he took on his phone yesterday.

[Paul L]

Swordfish Sight Seeing:
I really need to park the car down the street the night before if I want an early start that doesn't wake my immediate neighbours.

So it was about 9.50am when I finally got going and this was alway going to mean traffic jams heading into town.

It took me just over 1 hours to travel less than 13 miles to reach St.Pancras hotel, my favourite building in London.

The nice man on security at the entrance insisted that I parked right outside the front door.
( Turns out he thought I was checking in! )



I also didn't notice my "proper" camera was still set in black and white mode until I got home.



But here is St.Pancras taken with my normal "build" camera while stuck in traffic on the other side of the street.



The good news is that there are now literally hundreds of photos of me and my car next to great London landmarks.

The bad news is that they were all taken by tourists, as I just couldn't find anywhere to stop and get out.

As it was, I caused a major disturbance outside Westminster Abbey when I jumped out to take this photo.



As I tried to move back further to get a better photo, the car was engulfed by people taking photos of it.

So here is the one tourist photo I managed to take myself while I was stuck in traffic.



That was a nice view and the fact I was stuck behind a McLaren meant the soundtrack was outstanding too.
( A McLaren & Swordfish convoy is definitely a rare sight indeed. )



On the way home, I quickly parked up in Holland Park, just to make the car look more like a real classic.



Around the corner from this road I lost count of the Aston Martins parked in the street.
( But there was no where for me to park next to them. )

By the time I parked up I'd done just over 30 odd miles in a little over 3 hours, great fun.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Sunday Cloud Watching:
I was very busy with work last week and had a family get together yesterday.

Thankfully, I was able to go out in the car for a short drive today, as my wife & daughters were going clothes shopping.

Unfortunately, it was almost 11.30am by the time I left, which meant lots of getting stuck in traffic.

However, before I cover that, here is a quick update on a few other things…

I've bought a drip tray.



So at some point I need to clean up the mess I've already made on the driveway.



My V5C has also just come back with my new 1965 "C" reg.

Now I can order a new rear number plate on Monday.
( As I've already got another "stick on" plate for the front. )

Anyway, back to my drive, it was definitely chilly enough for a jumper and the clouds overhead were making me nervous.

In the end, I was out for a little over 2 hours and racked up another 30+ miles, taking me past 400 miles since the MOT.

As a bit of a contrast to the beauty of last weeks trip to St.Pancaras, I drove into a local industrial estate today.









Plus a few more in black & white.







I think there will be a few more good locations for photos around here.

But at this point the sky was looking like this, so I decided to head home instead.



It actually felt like I was pushing my luck to nip into Sainsburys on the way home to grab a sandwich…



As I found myself in a bit of a rush trying to get the cover back on before the rain came lashing down.
( As, by now, it had got really dark. )

However, by the time I sat down indoors, the clouds disappeared and the sun started shining again.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Another Short Sunday Drive:
Still very busy with "real" work, so my car time has been very limited.

My "70s style" rear number plate has been ordered (yellow plate with raised black plastic digits).

Took the car to a local country park, but struggled to find anywhere not littered with rubbish.





Then I swung past Sainsburys for a quick shop, but mainly to take some measurements of the rear end.
( As the car park is nice and flat compared to my driveway. )

Unfortunately, I forgot to remove the bag of tools sitting in the boot, on the driver's side.
( Although I am not sure what a difference this actually makes. )

The gap from the bottom of the silencers to the ground is around 10 cm.



Front the top point of the wheel arch opening to the ground is 62 cm on the passenger side.



It is a bit less, at 58 cm, on the driver's side.



Just remember I can't guarantee that these spots are in the same place relative to any horizontal datum line.

So I'm only taking these measurements to see what difference removing the lowering block makes.

Which will be may next job, whenever I get the chance to do it.

As for today, the sky was looking like this when I got back to the car.



However, I did get this photo opportunity before I left.



Then I headed home, parked up and put the cover on, which brings my mileage up to 428.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

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.

[Roadster]

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.

[jones]

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

[Paul L]

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.

[DaveP]

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

[Paul L]

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.

[Roadster]

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