Been a bit chilly of late, so I've been looking for things to do in the small workshop (that I can heat) as opposed to the main bit (that I can't). Also been a bit of a 'Victor Meldrew' week as well - see later....
Anyway first off I finished refurbishing the Weber IDA's from the 'Doctors car'. From these
..to these .... bit of vapour blasting, flushing and lots of carb cleaner and brushing, and some plating ...
I'll be keeping them in store for now as they were original to the car, but I have got my hands on another set in similar need of refurbishment, so I'm doing them as well - much easier second time around. Now them, they might be up for sale, so if you're in need let me know. Should be ready in a month or so.
After that I thought I'd tackle the rear light units from the 72E. 3 out of 4 of the rear access plate screws had sheared off as I removed them so I had put them aside for later. So now 'later' had arrived I thought. I made a little support out of wood so I could drill vertically with my pillar drill and away we go ...
First one works like a charm, retap the hole and all done. Flushed with success we move on to the other one. First hole the sodding drill bit end snaps off (cobalt drill bit to boot) in the hole just as it's about to reach the end of the screw rusted in the hole. B*gger. Will it come out, will it hell. Never mind, move onto the other hole with new cobalt drill bit. Hole drills fine, when to quote VM "Would you belieeeve it.." the end snaps off the sodding tap. So now we have one hole with a drill bit tip jammed in the bottom and the other with the end of a tap jammed in it. Sense of humour failure follows. Retire hurt to the pavilion. After some 'quiet time' I return to the fray, get a bigger drill cobalt drill bit, drill down as far as I can (which is limited by the very hard drill/tap material in the bottom of the holes of course, but it proves to be just enough I think), fill the hole with JB Weld and redrill and retap the hole...... by which time it has warmed up a bit.
So back to the bodywork. So first on goes the door, then the outer sill, then the front wing. All just bolted/self tapped of course
As you can imagine the door was on and off a few times, and as it's a new door (to this car) and a new pillar then I am bolting the hinges rather than removing the pins, and on fitting number 3 or 4 another VM moment ...... the bottom threaded captive plate inside the NEW PORSCHE door pillar FALLS OFF and disappears down inside the fully welded and hence sealed door pillar. F**kety-duckety.
After much fishing with bits of wire and hooks and picks I managed to get it back, and devised a way of keeping it in place while I fit and remove the door, but still allowing the plate to move. I can only assume the little piece of sheet metal that holds the threaded plate 'captive' has come adrift, despite me checking it before fitting the pillar. I wouldn't care but I recovered the two plates from the old door pillar and they were a pig to get out.
Anyway after a bit of fettling, the window frame and door seem to sit well, and the door gaps to front and rear look good. Also the curvature of wing and door match really well.
I have also fitted and fettled a pattern front RH windscreen corner, and repaired/replaced sections of the door pillar and sunroof drain. All seems to line up pretty well, although there is still some rusty sections to treat, and some additional repair pieces to make/fit as you can see
Need to replace the holed oil pipes in the rear inner wing next, then trial fit the rear wing before welding all this lot in place. I have removed the damaged one, and have got some 25mm steel pipe to make a replacement from, so we'll see how that goes. If well, then I think I'll do the other as well to be on the safe side. Hope Victor won't be with me this coming week!
