Oh yes another 1973 rhd 2.4E

[Bigfoot]

sorry, thanks Rich might night you to pop over, talk Singapore and use your charm....! That may help

[sladey]

use your charm....!

You have met Rich haven't you Adam?

[murph2309]

Exactly. There's a point of no return and when you're over it, you have to have the funds to do it properly, otherwise you'll be wasting the money you've already spent

Thus you need to be given access to the correct funds "I know it's a nightmare love, but we won't get the money back if we don't finish this off to a standard the market is looking for....we can choose what to do with the car once it's finished....but we have to finish it to a high standard now.....if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have started it, but we really have to finish it properly now......"

QED

[hot66]

.....if I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have started it, ......"

Richard, even you should know this a phrase never to be said .... it's basically admitting you didn't / don't know what your doing and you're not such an expert afterall... you'll never hear the end of it !

Always stick to the story that you knew it was going to be tough and where we are today is part of the master plan and in the end the result will be worth it . Then add some flowery promises of a romantic weekend away in the freshly restored Porsche to a fine hotel in the countryside ... don't forget to throw in some comments on how much your mates have lost in depreciation on some modern car or how another mate with no hobbies spends every weekend out on the lash etc etc

Come on , you lot are appearing to be amateurs at this man-maths thing

[murph2309]

no - you see the beauty is in admitting the position of not knowing. Shows humility - BUT you say "I'm much more experienced now and now it's clear what has to be done....I've learned so much...."

Women love a bit of humility for a while....makes us seem much more responsible Bit like the equivalent of being able to ask for directions when you're lost....

Weekend away sounds like a great addition though....

[Daveuxb]

Adam you have mail

Dave

[sladey]

I just hide it and then be more generous than usual.

On seeing her diamond earrings on Christmas morning my wife's first comment was "Christ how much did those wheels cost then!"

[murph2309]

it's basically admitting you didn't / don't know what you're doing and you're not such an expert afterall... you'll never hear the end of it !

I don't think I could ever credibly claim the expert route without a great deal of jollity and "there, there" head-patting....

[Bigfoot]

Ha ha thanks guys, shelly is being really good about it to be honest and really loves the car, think I feel a bit of guilt because the invoices are constant at the moment (so many of you guys can appreciate that I'm sure)
Totally agree Rich, I'm trying to do everything the best I can and get a really nice car, but working silly hours all the time it's quite tricky to fit everything in. Luckily I travel around nationwide weekly and been able to drop/collect parts reasonably easy.
It has been truly invaluable receiving comments and advice from ddkers so far.... would have made a total hash of it otherwise. Talking of which, I would really like some advice on wheel refurbishment, few decent options ideally..?

[sladey]

You're going to go through plenty of ups and downs. Keep sharing on here and they'll keep you sane/talk you in from the ledge

On the wheels:- Nick Moss or Biaggio (if he's still going)

[Bigfoot]

Well I picked up the new engine lid and front bumper from Porsche last week and took them down for Barry who will start work on the car next week all being well. I first booked myself in before I had bought my 'project car' 3 years ago and the day has finally arrived. I'll be getting regular updates from Barry and like Kieron I propose to post them on here. Barry had chopped off the rear outers and I'll be ebaying them along with the front wings, bumper and engine lid soon.

Whilst at Porsche I collected the new oil tank



Disappointed its not very retro but mine, as it turns out, wasn't original to the car any way.

I realised before Christmas there is no way my car will be complete by CLM and if nothing else has taken a little pressure off, a chat with Darren and the paint process was a reality check! Again, naive of me, I thought it would be in and out in a week....! Looking at the extent of detailed work going into Kierons has confimed that, stripping every single inch of the car back to bare metal.

I took all 3 sports recaros to get retrimmed and will also be ebaying the spare one upon its return.

[Bigfoot]

So let the build commence.......



Apparently the offside is pretty good: the very front A-arm mountings are miles off, but they're irrelevant as they belong to a replacement panel, which in turn we're ditching. The rear engine mount is a fraction low, which is apparently usual, and will present no issues for Barry to resolve. Length is perfect.

The nearside is obviously where the trauma has been, and no doubt why that inner wing was replaced at the front. The torque tube is bent a fraction, and the rear engine mount a little further down than the offside one: neither are significant issues. The car is about 4mm shorter on the nearside than the (correct) offside, and the suspension mountings for the steering rack cross-member are riding a little high.

At some point Barry will try the screen jigs, just out of interest, but since we're changing all of the metalwork around them, it's more out of interest and to aid Barry 'reading' the car rather than anything else.

So, nothing much to panic over, no more or less than to be expected to be honest. Barry will do some light tugging and get it back into shape fairly easily.

[jtparr]

Adam
Good to see it with Barry....definitely in safe hands

[Bigfoot]

Crikey you're not kidding!

Just had an update, cut a long story short the rear window jig fits perfectly but front one doesn't.....






Strangely a great relief the car is rotten as when I drove the car at CLM I complained about the handling and Barry has confirmed why: "Frankly, having looked at it more closely, I can only conclude that it must have driven like a real old dog: none of the core structure of the car remained in tact, and as the next batch will show, the floor and sill repairs were barely attached to each other or the car. "







I can't explain the relief Barry has the car, all of this was totally covered up and in the wrong hands could have so easily have been bodged together AGAIN!!

[Bigfoot]

Floors removed...





Generating quite a bit of recycling