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[phunkie hiboy]

Got a couple more things sorted this weekend. The gearbox is due to go away to be rebuilt, after Easter. This particular generation of BW35 box doesn’t have an oil cooler and as we’re likely to tow the Portafold, we need one. The fitment is quite easy, After the sump and valve body is removed the casing is drilled in the right place (there are two bosses cast into the casing) and tapped the right thread for the adaptors to be screwed into. I have another box (out of a Stag) which I removed the cooler pipe from the front pump to the front adaptor and fitted it to the “Met” box, fitted the valve body and sump back. Then test fitted the new cooler pipes (managed to find a company on the net that makes sets of brand new Rover V8/BW35 trans cooler pipes).

 

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Today I started to fit doors. After refurbishing the hinges with new pivot pins and fitting them to the drivers door, the door was fitted to the body shell. After a bit of shimming we’ve got to the best position for the moment, still got to carry out the patch repair all along the bottom, so still a bit floppy.

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[Manky Monkey]

Good to see the body with doors on -suddenly looks like a car!
Chris, can you PM me the details for the cooler pipes please. I've got heavy duty rubber pipes on mine, but they've chafed on the front axle.

[phunkie hiboy]

Done.   

[phunkie hiboy]

Well haven’t got a lot done this weekend. Wheels day Friday and family stuff to do today and Monday. Not too much done Saturday with all the visitors to the shop, one, Charlie Turner, all the way from Cape Town. He’s an English guy who moved out to the Western Cape and runs, with his partner, a guest house, check it out here …… http://www.thecoachhouse.co.za/
He has a couple of classics, including a Met convertible (picture’s not too good, but you get the idea)

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The radio set up that we’ve bought for the car enables the controls to fit where the originals did (very wide fitting), but is fully electronic (including controls) has Bluetooth and USB sockets for Ipod & memory stick.

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The original radio was complete with a mono speaker in the centre (bit like an early portable radio) and a louvred grille to cover it.

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It would be impossible to fit the radio in the original place and be able to use the buttons. We worked out that if the louvers were cut out, the radio together with a small panel to hold the USB sockets would fit.

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But it would have to stay that way when not in use. With a little more thought and a sliding tray under the radio unit powered by a small motor, it could be made to retract. So now we’re looking for another but complete speaker grille to use as a flap/cover. This is where Charlie came in. He had just re installed and original radio  (updated to FM) and had to replace part of the dash where two gauges had been fitted. For this he had bought, from the states, a small part of a dash. He used what he needed from the dash piece which left the louvred grille untouched. And this is what he bought me from South Africa.

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So keeping the raised portion, round the outside, intact, I cut the grille out and shaped the corners.

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And now in front of our dash …….

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And finally positioned where it will be fitted. All I have to do now is build the operating mechanism for the radio tray/slide and the grille panel.

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So I did get something done this week, even if it was a small item, we’re still moving forward. And I wouldn’t have been able to do this without Charlies help,thank you. This is becoming a global car now!!

[Manky Monkey]

That's a hell of a favour -nipping over from South Africa!
Your radio sounds like something from Mr Bond's Aston. 

[phunkie hiboy]

Sorry it’s been so long coming, but now I have all the major project, customer cars out of the workshop I can do a bit more to this little project!!
Needed to find something smallish to do in the couple of days leading up to our holiday, which we’ve just come back from.
Easiest, in terms of reasonably quick to do was the front/grille panel. I haven’t got any pictures of it on its own, but it has been media blasted and there are a number of issues that have surfaced.
Both ends are in need of attention, so we’ll start with the left side.
This is what we’ve started with ………….

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The return has been removed and a two inch strengthening piece spot welded all the way down, a new return fabricated and welded on.

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Showing the final cleaned up portion, with half side light hole cut.

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Now to the other side, which is a bit more difficult.

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I cut this piece off.

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And added a two inch strip behind as with the left side.

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Then a piece over the top.

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Finally welded on the new fabricated return.

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Fabricate new upper part/headlamp lower ¼ section, joggle fitted as opposed to the original that had only 9 spots of braze holding it from top bottom! All the bare metal bits were painted with rust inhibitor.

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Finally a coat of epoxy primer to protect it.
I still have some work to do on this, capping of the bits next to the head lamp potion and some hammer work on the dented bits.
After removing the rotisserie front portion, the front panel and the panel behind were fitted. This is needed to be done to enable the wings to be offered up.

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[Manky Monkey]

Nice to see you today Chris & good to see you're still working on this.

[phunkie hiboy]

Yeh, good to catch up today, Andy.

[Olds]

Great to see some more progress on the Met. 

[phunkie hiboy]

It's good to get back on it!!

[phunkie hiboy]

I’m still managing to fid small bits to do, between customer jobs. Here’s another small job that needed doing at some point.
The gearbox cross member is rusty, bent and has been repaired before.

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You can get new ones of these but they’re around the £200 mark!! First thing to do is to remove the damaged parts.

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Then fabricate some new repair panels.

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Then the original part to the blasters, to get rid of the rust.

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Fit and weld on one end.

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And clean up the welds.

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And with the other end on, it’s complete and ready to have powder coated.

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[Manky Monkey]

Good as new. 

[phunkie hiboy]

Yeh, and it only cost me 10 quid for the blasting and some time 

[phunkie hiboy]

Had a spare hour or so today. Started out bolting in some of the super structure around the radiator area, so I could fit a couple of front wings on.

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Then took the doors off and sorted out the best wings to fit. I had the original ones off the car, but I also bought a pair from eBay a while ago. The eBay right wing was better than the original, looks like it had  been replaced, as the metal is really thick and there are no holes for the Met script on the side.

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It topped up that the left wing that came off the car was better than the eBay one, again it looked like it had been replaced sometime in its life.

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The white area is filler and paint. When it was blasted, they were having hastles removing this, so I had it back and am sanding it off with a grinder. Once the filler’s all gone, the wing is repaired and the dents are gone, I’ll take both wings back and have them lightly reblasted.
The wings line up remarkably well, with identical door hole sizes and they sit at pretty much the same height to the tops, so not too much adjusting to be done!!
This is how it looks from the front now.

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[Manky Monkey]

Why, it's very nearly finished!