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Same here Gareth, going to be great!! Don't think she'll be in paint for the Nationals (we'll have to see) but she'll be on the road nonetheless. Very muddy and cold but you have to power through .

So another update. I would have photos but my SD card corrupted again . Got the engine in pieces and very nearly stripped. Turns out the reason it was seized is due to the gudgeon pin being seized to the conrod and not allow the piston to move up and down. We managed to get one piston out before calling it a day. The cylinders, cam, crank, etc all look ok so I might just rebuild the engine with the original bearings without doing any rework to the block or say screw it and do the whole engine rebuild job whilst it's out. I'm undecided at the moment .



Alex

A couple of salvaged photos for you all . They're not much but all I have at the moment
Alex

Did a bit more on VGV (aka rusty) today with my brother. Got the rear windscreen out and cut off the rear quarter. Now need to do all the prep work by welding in new steel before welding on the new quarter . Hopefully I'll get a lot of the prep work done tomorrow and Wednesday as I'm not at work.
Alex

Which one are you restoring Alex? the one on axle stands or the one in the bucket?
Fair play, you gone to work on this one

I'm not too sure myself anymore . Definitely am, and it's going to work on my wallet very well

Today was the day that we broke out the welder!! Only got it out at about 4 O'clock so couldn't do too much but did a little bit. As my brother has been using it frequently (I'm a year out of practice), I let him do it (also meant I could blame him if it went wrong ). I had a go on the MK3 shell I have and I was surprised that it went as well as it did so we may be taking it in turns to weld and make patches.

Prior to today we have been cutting out rot, removing the rest of the rear quarter, removing the headlamp panel and getting ready to rebuild the nearside. It's not going to be perfect as we're doing it all outside with no experience but it seems to be going ok at the moment . Also honed out the engine and it's come up good so need to order the bits for that, clean it up and rebuild it. Cleaned out and painted the new petrol tank too as I just felt like it .

Status right now is we just need to tidy up a few edges, then the headlamp panel can go in. Then, weld up the floor and inner sills and fit new outer sills. Then we can prep the inner panel where the front and rear wings are and weld those on. Then move onto the other side and finally the rear before doing the rest of my page and a half list . Still need about £200 worth of bits too .

Well done mate

I see some nice new panels Coming on nicely Alex well done.

Cheers guys .

Today we did a bit more on Rusty. My brother made a new panel, and welded it in, for the wing/bonnet runner to sit on and repaired the curve where the wing goes. I made a patch for the end on of the (think it's called) slam panel and welded that in. We did grind all the welds flat but I didn't get any pictures of that. Just need to repair one little bit then the headlamp panel can go in .

Watch this space
Alex

Good job on the welding. Scuttle corners, they always go around there. A job I need to get around to doing. It looks like the previous owner of TDT lobbed a ton a filler there. Has a nice rusty orange crack running from the glass to the bonnet lip now! Wish I noticed before I got it painted.

Cheers Gareth. I think it's because that were the water sits quite happily and doesn't move . Ah damn that's annoying, hope you get it sorted.

Yesterday and today we had a bit more progress on Rusty before we ran out of welding gas (got more coming tomorrow ). Repaired the bits where the wings weld to, the front valence and even got the new headlamp panel in . Also, my brother made a start on the passenger floor. We're getting there, slowly

Great stuff Alex, cracking on with it now!

Bet this is an unexpected update for you all .

With the heavy rain over the last couple of days, I decided to uncover this one to let it dry out. I'm surprised to say it's no where near as bad as I remember (must be like whiskey, gets better with age ). I then wanted to get the rust off the stainless trims on the doors from when we did grinding work a couple of years ago where sparks occasionally got under the covers and that came off fine with some metal polish and is as good as new .

I then wanted to look at the passenger door lock as it doesn't want to lock/unlock from the outside. Again, I'm not really getting my priorities right am I? After a soak in WD40 didn't do much apart from help the door open easier instead of hanging on it, I managed to get the handle off (something I couldn't do two years ago as the nut kept spinning on the thread but a gentle pressure meant it came undone) . I then stripped the lock and the barrel needed some persuasion to come out. I'm not sure if I caused the damage (think I might have done) but you can see the pins are now all bent over but the handle is fine, could have furred up with rust maybe? Anyhow, I'll fit a new barrel I got from Gareth at the nationals tomorrow .

More updates will maybe be in a year or so after PDA's rebuild . Or sooner if it goes..

The lock barrel looks fine, it's the wafers that look done for. You might be able to flatten them out again but if not, I have a tin full of them here if you need some. I'd have to send you the tin though so you can match some up to yours as they will be specific to your key's cut.

I'm going to try and flatten them out like you say but if that doesn't work, I bought this from you at the Nationals so I'll swap out the whole thing