Another Cordite Is Born ...

[Paul L]

Deggsy, Moulleur, DaveP & Lancelot - Thanks Gentlemen.

Comments such as "Very nice" & "Beautiful" from people passing by today confirm that poor paint is not the first thing people see.
( What is more surprising is that the car still doesn't have any wheels fitted, so it is hardly looking at it's best. )

Towards the end of today I found something that might have caused the problems with the paint finish…



Yes, that is a pool of water in one corner of the passenger floor.

No idea how long that has been there and it must have soaked through the dust sheet over the seats before reaching the floor.

Whilst it doesn't help restore the mess, at least it may help to explain it.

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Sunday - Part 1
My day started well enough when I realised that the 'missing' allen key was being used my my youngest daughter for her school project.

So that both saved me wasting hours looking for it and allowed me to fix the rear number plate light in place.



Closely followed by the number plate itself.





Next I cleaned up the holes to mount the headlights.



And fitted the headlight bowls on both sides.





This is the view from the inside and painting the inside of the bonnet has paid off.



A problem for another day is to mask off the BRG along the inside edge of the cockpit and get some Tetroseal along the top edge.



This is because when I originally painted the inside of the cockpit black, I wasn't sure where I was going to end the green.

At some point, I will have to clean up the yellow around the nose, as it now has got a lot of BRG smudges in it.



End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Sunday - Part 2:
Anyway, back to today's problems and I wanted to paint the inside of the side mirror mounting areas.



I'd previously left this unpainted because, at some point, I will make/fit a removable cover out of alloy sheet.

But for now, it was time for a coat of Tetroseal, after covering the mirror holes with tape.



Not a great photo and the 3rd "hole" is actually a reflection of the camera flash.



I also painted over the mess I had made on the passenger side cockpit wall.



Plus the control arms.





Before spending quite a bit of time crawling around under the boot floor with my paint brush.



And whilst it may not look it in the photo, the boot floor is now one colour again.



I just need to wash the dirt off some parts and give a second coat of Tetroseal to others and the floor will be done.

Then it was time to remove the centre section of the dash.



So I could spend ages fitting the rear view mirror in the tightest of tight spots.



Before refitting the dash section.



Next up were the side mirrors.





End of Part 2...

[Paul L]

Sunday - Part 3:
Then it was back to drilling out holes so I could mount the front indicators.



Both the mounting sections went in with no problem.



But I really struggled to fit the orange lens.

Eventually, I worked out this was a problem I had before and I also had a fix.

Previously I had to shape these washers to mount the indicator.
( Sorry about the blurred photo. )



But I'd already filed the inside edges of the lens to match.
( Another blurred photo. )



Once I had lined up the thinner sections of the lens with the washers, everything fitted perfectly.



It was at this point in the day when I discovered the water in the passenger floor.

I was also pretty knackered by this point, so I started winding down for the day.

So the last job of the day was to apply some etch primer to the inside of the boot floor.
( Note: This covers a much bigger area that I actually need. )



The seat belt buckles have been chipping away at the hand brake panel in the cockpit.



So I slapped on some etch primer here too.



Unfortunately, the sun is now too low in the sky to reach the car on the driveway.

So I was unable to get a decent photo of the tiger stripes and then the sun messed up this photo as I was standing on the pavement.



The good news is that it is slowly starting to look like a car again.



It seems like only yesterday that I was cleaning up a big pile of leaves.



The last thing I did was dig out the bracket to mount the rear view mirror wind deflector screen.



Next time I will sand this down so it matches the rest of the scuttle.

Until then, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Monday Morning
After doing some excess hours last week, I took some time off this morning.

I cleaned up the yellow band around the nose.



But although it was hard to get a decent photo, the paint isn't great along some sections of the edge of the opening.



So with a dry forecast for the day, I took a chance and added some more yellow paint.
( Being very careful to stick to the front edge and avoid the rear where it meets the BRG. )



I also made a start on sanding down the bracket for the rear view mirror screen.



Then there was just time to rearrange the covers and head off into town.



During the afternoon the sky over London turned yellow, which had me slightly worried.

But thankfully everything was OK when I got home and pulled the covers back over.

Cheers, Paul.

[deni]

Paul the Swordfish looks great. I can't believe you're (nearly) done and hats off for the patience and the amount of effort and time you have invested in making the car look so good. Now it's time to enjoy it....Regards, Deni

[Paul L]

Deni - Cheers.

Despite my final set back with the paint finish, I am still looking forward to getting the car back on the road again.

Recently, I've also been considering just how long I've spent on this build since I first started back in April 2012.

Unfortunately, the simple fact is that the hours are beyond counting, but it is comforting to know I am not alone.

As there are many builders on here who (through no fault of their own) are still chipping away at epic builds too.

After freeman41 posted photos of his Sypder, I worked out he had also been building from 2012 to 2017.



I hope the sight of Sammios finally getting on the road helps to inspire others towards the finish line.
( As I know I was always encouraged by seeing builds I'd followed pass their MOT. )

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Windy Saturday Afternoon
Didn't have much car time available yesterday, but I did make a little bit of progress.

First job was to make sure the cover over my wheels and tyres didn't get blown away.



As, by this point, I'd already had to rescue the BBQ cover from down the garden path.

Then I did the first round of final flatting back on the boot lid and headlight rims.





After cleaning everything down, there was the final round of flatting back.



But by the time I'd finished wiping that down it was getting too dark to see what I was doing.



Unfortunately, the summer house lighting was not much help.



So I called it a day and will have a proper look at the paint later today instead.

Cheers, Paul.

[Paul L]

Positive Steps:
A bit of an odd day as far as car work went as I managed to get quite a bit done around a lot of other stuff.
( And have just got back from a family meal out, which is why I didn't post this update earlier. )

Although the first job of the day was to clear the leaves from the driveway.



So that is an almost full wheelie bin in less than a week.

I figured with the painting done (for now), it would be safe to start using the wooden tonneau covers again.



Yet, despite having some parcel tape over the rubber pads...



They still left a visible mark on the body work.
( Excuse the poor photo. )



The only good news is that there is clearly a shiny surface under there somewhere.

Then it was back to crawling around underneath the rear of the car to put the second, and final, coat of Tetroseal on the underside of the boot floor.



I also gave the hand brake panel its first coat.



Then decided to use the same stuff on the inside of the boot too.



I then gave my dented silencers a quick polish.



Before heading back under the car again to remove the plastic from the ends of the exhaust pipes.



One down and one to go.



Except that when I tried to fit the second silencer, I realised that the first was too high.

So a quick bit of adjustment later and both silencers were in.



Whilst crawling around underneath, I spotted a dent in one of the main exhaust sections.



Not sure that I noticed that before, but clearly the car falling off the jacks did a lot of damage.

End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Positive Steps - Part 2:
Then I fitted the aero screen for the rear view mirror.



Whilst painting the 'big washer' for this screen was a real pain, it has worked out very well.



Then it was time to see if I could restart the engine after the much longer than expected break.

With the car on blocks, I need some steps to climb in the driver's side.



I took the fact the ignition lights came on as a good omen that the battery cut off switch was doing its job.

But there was absolutely no sign of the engine even attempting to fire up when I first started turning the key.

However, I tried to be patient, as I knew the fuel line would be empty and it would take a little while.

But there was still no sign of life and I was beginning to wonder if I would end up draining the battery.

In fact, I was just about to stop when there was the first glimmer of hope from the engine.

So I waited a few seconds and tried again, sure enough the engine burst into life and a HUGE grin appeared on my face.

I stayed in the car until it was idling nicely with no choke, before I got out to take this photo.

Unfortunately, the blur of the fan blade is the only sign of life.



This really was a moment of deep joy and I could instantly feel my personal motivation being recharged.

The temperature gauge showed signs of life, but I'm either low on fuel, or the angle of the driveway is messing up the reading.



Either way, I will get some fresh petrol in a can and top the tank up before I drive to the MOT.

Next job was to thread the headlight wires through the shells and getting the rubber seal in place was hard work.



At this point I should point out that the boot lid was a bit of a mess when I looked at it in daylight.

But by the time I had applied some cutting compound it was looking much better.



I then added some polish.



Before cleaning out the holes and re-fitting the 'furniture'.



I know the paint isn't great at the moment, but I took great pleasure from just looking at the passenger side hump.



As I should keep reminding myself, that neither this hump, or the boot lid itself existed when I first got the kit.

Given all the 'leaps of faith' I had to take during this build, I am still amazed at how well if has turned out.

So until next time, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Saturday - Odd Jobs:
After another hectic week at work, there was a lot of domestic stuff for me to do today.

Still, I did get a chance to do some car work in the late afternoon and every job done is a step closer to the finish line.

Unfortunately, I had to start by re-fitting a couple of the boot lid locks as they were rotating the wrong way.

Thankfully, it didn't take too long to sort that out.



At this point I should point out that I still haven't removed all the messy masking tape around the boot rain channel.



But despite this, adding the boot lid makes a big difference to the way the car looks.





The light was already starting to fade at this point, so the photos are showing some funny shades of green.



If I was being brutally honest, I would say the boot lid panel gaps have got worse during the painting process.

I then had to re-do another job, as the spacers on the driver's side front indicator were twisted.



So these needed to be turned slightly to ensure the lens would sit nicely.



I then started the car up again and this simple task still brings a smile to my face.

Then with the engine running, I was able to start testing some of the electrics.



I then double checked both the rear indicator and rear stop/tail lights using the old lights on both sides.





End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Saturday - Odd Jobs - Part 2:
At some point I need to transfer the wiring from the old lights to the new 'old' Lucas lights that Micky1Mo sent me.



I also need to work out the best way to fix these to the body shell, as the holes currently don't line up.



Unfortunately, as the lenses are made of glass, I can't cut any reliefs into them the same way that I did with the plastic lenses at the front.

Whilst it was too late in the day to start applying Tetroseal, I was able to start some masking off.





Hopefully, this will leave me with a crisp line between the BRG and the Black.

I then did a bit of scrubbing to clean up some of the old Tetroseal areas.





As this will make it easier to see which areas need a top up of Tetroseal when I have my brush out.

The last area I looked at due to the fading light and other stuff I had to do was the fuse box.
( Please excuse a run of blurred photos. )



I've never liked the idea of having the fuse box on display, so I am going to make a cover for it.



The cover will be a very basic design.



So when I get a chance I will cut this out of my last bit of alloy sheet.



With a bit of luck, I might get a chance to chip away at a few more jobs tomorrow.

So until then, take care, Paul.

[Paul L]

Sunday Scraps:
Rain scuppered my plans to start applying Tetroseal first thing in the morning.

So I did a bit more work on my fuse box cover instead.

Cut the basic shape out of aluminium.



Then hammered it into the final shape.





I knew it was going to me one of those days when it started raining again.

So I had to relocate to inside the Summerhouse, which was easier said than done.



By the time I put a couple of rivets into the bottom corners, it had stopped raining.





But that was the end of my car time for the morning, as I had other stuff to do.

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In the afternoon, I taped up the sides of the cockpits and added a layer of normal masking tape too.





Then I could add some Tetroseal.



At least this time I remembered to peel off all the masking tape straight away.







End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Sunday Scraps - Part 2:
My daughters were not going to have enough time to carve pumpkins after school on Monday.

So that was the end of car work for the afternoon and it was time to start carving...



And this is out family line up for this year.









With the clocks going back last night, it was dark outside by the time I went out to put the covers back on.



Until next time, take care, Paul.

[froggyman]

The pumkins look great, I seem to remember seeing your artistic skills
last year!

[molleur]

Cool pumpkins!

[Barber]

Carriage, pumpkins, maybe you could think something up for Christmas? - Impressive though - (both)

[redratbike]

Originally Posted by froggyman

The pumkins look great, I seem to remember seeing your artistic skills
last year!

Good memory

http://www.madabout-kitcars.com/foru...postcount=2800

[Paul L]

Froggyman, Molleur, Barber & Redratbike – Thanks chaps & “Happy Halloween!”

Carving pumpkins has become a little tradition in our house now.

And, a bit like reading stories to my daughters, I wouldn’t trade that time for a faster car build.

However, I do have today off work and will be heading outside to work on the car shortly.

So hopefully, there will be some more car photos later on.

But in the meantime, I’ll leave you with a few more of my previous pumpkin efforts.

Cheers, Paul.

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The Mummy – Technically, the most difficult to do, by a long way.







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Bond/Pirate Skull – The most artistic one I’ve carved.







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The Sammio - My entry for “October” in the Sammio calendar that never actually happened.

[molleur]

Excellent! Thanks Paul

[Paul L]

Molleur - Cheers.

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Belated Tuesday Update:
No sooner had I finished typing yesterday morning's update when a light shower of rain arrived.

But I still managed to get quite a bit of car work done in between a pile of domestic chores before darkness fell.
( Which would signal the arrival of the local small children out 'Trick or Treating'. )

Rather than follow the strict time line, I've grouped the activities together...

British Racing Green - The Final Coat
There were a couple of damaged areas where the bonnet hit the body shell (again ).





Plus I wanted to tidy up the inside of the bonnet opening where I had made a yellow mess.





I put the paint tin in some warm water before I started.



I should point out that there will be a rubber seal along most of the body shell lip.

So the fact you can clearly see the repair area is not a problem at this late stage.



Thankfully, the inside surface of the bonnet is so lumpy you can't spot anything.



The inside of the bonnet nose is now all one colour.





So once I am happy with the yellow band on the other side I can finally fit the grille.

End of Part 1…

[Paul L]

Tuesday - Part 2:

Heat Shield:
I bought a section of heat shield from Ebay ages ago and first used it around the heater pipes behind the dash.

But now was a good time to see about fitting what remained of this stuff to the underside of the bonnet.

So I started by making a rough pattern for the inside of the bonnet bulge.



Which neatly fitted into the odd shape I had left in the corner.



A bit of cutting later and I had these two pieces to play with.





Unfortunately, this stuff is quite thick, which meant I couldn't get it to fit nicely inside the bonnet bulge.

So a bit of further trimming allowed me to keep this reduced section 'flat' (ish).



Then it was time to start testing where the other piece should go.

Plan A



Failed - As the clearance above the radiator is just too tight in places.



Plan B



Also failed - Due to lack of clearance above the hose behind the fan.
( It may not look it in the photo, but it did clear the fan itself. )



Plan C



Pass - As there is plenty of room under the bonnet when it gets this far back.

Which would leave me with something looking like this.



Question:
If anyone thinks this is a bad idea, please speak now before I actually stick this suff to the bonnet.

End of Part 2…