Another Cordite Is Born ...

[Paul L]

[Mark Evans] Hello my Sammio building chums and welcome to Another Cordite Is Born. [/Pete Mate]

Sorry, I couldn't resist a small tribute to those inspirational TV shows.

But jokes aside, a warm welcome to my Cordite build thread.

I will use this for both my own record and hopefully a guide for others.

Here is my time line so far:

11/02/12
Joined this forum purely with the intention of doing research for a future build.

Unfortunately, the Sammio enthusiasm is very contagious and before I knew it...

13/04/12
Visit Gary & Mike at the Poole workshop & reserve Cordite kit No.7.



20/04/12
A day that can only be described as a "moment of madness".

Phoned a guy about an ebay ad, went to bank, drove to meet him, bought car!

A 1980, V Reg, Spitfire 1500 which was an unfinished project.



22/04/12
Car was delivered to my house.









It included lots of new bits including this steering wheel.



It has also got new foam sets & leather covers to rebuild the seats.

I just hope the restoration work done on the rolling chassis & engine are good to go.

( I keep getting a sinking feeling that I am in way over my head here )



Those with a keen eye for detail may have noticed this now stored on my drive.

Unfortunately, this will also be my garage & workshop for most the build.

Next Steps...
Do nothing for a while on the car whilst I tackle some chores around the house & garden.

My family must come first and the car will be done in spare, not family, time.

I now need to agree my kit configuration and put the final order in with Gary.
( At this point I'm leaning towards a double hump, with doors, but no tail fins )

I will also get a new "ageless" registration number before I'm finished.

That's all for now, cheers, Paul.

[davecymru]

So much sounds so familiar good luck mate and if I were you the first thing i'd invest in is a pop up gazebo for those moments when you want to "pop to the garage"

[WorldClassAccident]

Double humps are the wat to go!

[Psycho pops]

Mmmmmm I remember promising my wifeI would finish her herald before I laid a hand on mine...... they are so appealing these Sammio builds the Heralds not finished yet.
Pops

[tlrtone]

welcome to the "build-it-on-the-drive-club"

Looks like a nice donor, so you should have minimal prep to do before you can build the Bond-mobile....

[lancelot link]

Paul ...go girl !

That looks like a decent donor ...love the steering wheel too.....

Will keep you posted on no. 7

[Mister Towed]

Hi Paul. Donor looks very tidy, I hope the chassis is as good as the bodywork...

You should get a fair bit back when you sell on the parts you no longer need.

Good luck with your build and I look forward to seeing some pictures of your progress.

[Paul L]

Thanks for all the encouraging comments gentlemen.
I'm sure I will be relying heavily on this forum's support in the months to come.

I've haven't slept properly since I bought the car as it was all a bit of a blur.
I think the size of the challenge ahead is giving me mild panic attacks!

So I need to break this down into small steps that will build my confidence.
Therefore I have now set myself two simple (ish) tasks to start the project off...

Construction:
Work my way through all the parts (new & old) supplied to rebuild the seats.
Order any missing bits & pieces, then clean & Hammerite the seat frames.
Put everything back together to give me two, as new, tan leather seats.
Obviously seats are not an urgent priority, but a start, no matter now small, is.

Destruction:
Start stripping off the parts I want to sell to reduce the overall build cost.
I'll start with the doors, boor lid, windscreen, front & rear bumpers and bonnet.
Plus soft top, frame is in place, but it came with a brand new cover, still in its box.
As mentioned before, I'm new to ebay, so still lots of things to learn here too.

Timing:
To avoid adding to my stress levels, I am not putting any deadlines on the above.
This makes sense for me given the current weather and a family birthday this weekend.
Once I get a feel for how long the "simple" tasks take, I can form a better project plan.

So until then, take care, Paul.

Gary - I'll drop you a PM next week with some ideas about my final kit spec.

[mulberry]

paul you might find that your spitfire seats will be to big for your cordite.

there`s very little room in the sammio. and im guessing it be roughly the same... but good luck with your build

gary and mell

[Straight Sixer]

Greatest thing about the digital age is you can take loads of pictures of every little bit so that when it all goes back together (in about four or five weeks!!!!) you'll have all the reminders you need and plenty to upload on here for those of us who are trailing behind you.

Best of good luck with your cordite.

Len.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by mulberry

... paul you might find that your spitfire seats will be to big for your cordite...

D'Oh!

Thanks for the advance warning Gary.
In which case, I guess the finished seats will become part of the ebay sales.

Len - Thanks, digital photos are a great invention for this sort of project.

Cheers, Paul.

[lancelot link]

Originally Posted by mulberry

paul you might find that your spitfire seats will be to big for your cordite.

there`s very little room in the sammio. and im guessing it be roughly the same... but good luck with your build

gary and mell

what he said .....They are snug little cars ....seating options range from tractor seats ....don't laugh thats what I put in number one to set her up and also in a later one for MOT...
Through Clubman Classics , Sammio home grown created from Ikea breakfast bar stools , Modified Minor , homemade benches , DAX buckets , boat seats etc etc...

The Dax seat as recommended by Towed , isn't the cheapest option but they are a bloody good seat and fit well...

[Paul L]

Slow Progress Report:
It has rained pretty much every day since the Spitfire arrived on my drive.

Which is why I wasn't supposed to buy a car until I'd moved to a house with a garage!

I've really only had a few hours to get anything done.
At least this allowed me to start stripping my donor.
Nothing too exciting, but I cleared the boot of parts.
Removed the boot lid, rear bumper, rear lights & headlights.
I had to clean paint over spray off the side windows to take ebay 'before' photos.
I'd just started to unbolt the doors when the rain started again.

So not much of a start, but at least it is a start.






Next Steps:
Remove the doors, hood frame & bonnet.
Then get myself organised on ebay & start selling bits.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

[JG]

Looks like a perfect donor car, dare I say it, almost too perfect. I'd be so tempted to get the Spitfire back on the road as a runner.

John

[garyh]

Paul, has it stopped raining yet!

[Paul L]

Progress Report:
There was a strange yellow thing in the sky this weekend!
So I finally got the chance to remove more parts from my donor.
This included the doors, front bumper, hood frame & bonnet.
Thankfully getting a decent donor means no problems with unbolting.
I haven't even had to use so much as a squirt of WD40 (touch wood).

And this is what my donor looks like now:



Project Timing:
The Good news - It took me less than 6 hours to get this far.
The Bad News - It took 21 days to rack up those 6 hours!
Finding spare time when it wasn't raining was pretty demoralising.
But hopefully we will eventually get a summer & my pace will pick up.

Next Steps:
I now need to sell these parts ASAP as storage space is a real problem.



I will move all this stuff as soon as I've taken the photos ebay.
So that will be the main focus of my efforts in the next few weeks.

Until next time, take care, Paul.

Replies:
JG - I hope a nice donor saves time & money on the rolling chassis.

GaryH - Thankfully the rain finally stopped & I got some more work done.
I was considering switching my build form a Cordite to a Sammio ARK!

[Mister Towed]

With 20/20 hindsight if I'd spent double what I did on a donor I'd have been on the road months ago and it would ultimately have cost only a couple of hundred pounds more. But then I wouldn't have had all the 'fun' of repairing my rotten chassis.

I'd advise any new builders looking for a donor to do what you've done and get a really good car with an mot that someone else has spent their money on. It'll pay dividends in the end.

[davecymru]

I agree completley!

Paul, looks like you've got yourself a really nice looking donor there, I'm jealous of all the shininess!

[tlrtone]

Great donor by the looks of it Paul, you should net a profit from selling all the bits and buying your Cordite kit.

I had a good donor and the money made from selling the bits I didn't need, paid for the kit and some materials. I reckon mine has cost me about another £1000-£1500 with new parts and paint etc, so all in all a cheap way of enjoying the summer - cheaper than a family holiday!

[lancelot link]

All progress is positive Paul ...keep it up , its looking good so far !