Last week I received a message
from Habraken in Best to notify me that the body was ready. Meaning paint
removal and shot and blasting had been completed. So time to pick up the body together
with some other parts which I left at Habraken for coating. More on these at a
later stage.
I have to admit I was rather
curious as to what remained of the body (or how big the rust holes would be)
after blasting. Well I needn't have worried, the shell hadn't disappeared
completely ...
First the good bits, the floor
area at the back of the interior and the rear valances in the boot ...
And the not so good bits. To
start with the front of the interior were bulkhead, floor and inner wings meet
...
With the paint removed the hole
in the transmission tunnel looks even more crude then it did before ...
As expected the area off the
front suspension turrets and wings is fairly well supplied with rust. But it all
in all not too bad. Although some sections will be a bit fiddly to repair ...
And some not so expected rust at
the back of both rear valances ...
... and the front lip is also
very thin in places, with lots of small holes. Probably better to replace it
with one of my spares.
Removing the paint (and filler)
also has the advantage (or should I say disadvantage) of revealing all the
dents the car picked up during its lifetime. And in this case there are a fair
amount of them, luckily most are pretty small. But also two nasty ones on the
roof ...
Also left a few bits at Habraken
for various methods of coating, to see what the
quality is. Although the company I have used in the past (Giessen in
Heerlen) always did a good job on powder coating parts, I still partially blame
them for the problems with the paint on the DHC and their lack of interest in
rectifying the problem. Of course the company they used for paint removal
(Mitraco in Genk) is to blame most here! So both companies are in my little
black book now, which means I am looking for alternatives.
And while waiting for the body
shell to be ready to pick up, I finished some of the (rear) suspension parts.
They were actually meant as spare parts for the DHC, but will now be used on
the FHC ...
Also took the opportunity to
have a little clear out. Which meant I dismantled some of the seats I have
acquired over the years. I picked out the best frames, which are now away for
coating, in readiness for re-trimming.
Ones the cloth arrives that is. I actually
tore down three pairs of seats, as they all had very faded and worn cloth, so no
use in keeping them complete. It turned out that one of the frames was badly
damaged and most of the covers and foam were only fit for the skip.
And on the topic of interior trim.
I found some original early door cards in the sales section at Rimmer's. They
are not matching but for the price I paid they are perfect for re-covering,
using the tartan cloth I am (still) working on and some black vinyl.
Talking of vinyl, that will also
be necessary to get this GRP parcel shelf covered properly. Also from Rimmer's
but the surface finish is pretty poor. On the other hand that gives me a good
excuse to have it trimmed properly. Although that might be a rather time consuming affair to carry out properly.
And this bit for the interior is
well ahead of schedule, as it will be one of the last parts to be fitted to the
car. But boy does it look good ...
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