DHC report nr. 23; Sorting parts

Dropped of the body shell today to have it shot-blasted and coated. Decided to have the seams hot zinc plated before the whole body is coated in a 2K epoxy primer. After that I started on the parts boxes, sorting through them to see what needed coating. Delivered the first batch of circa 40 items to a local coating firm to have them powder coated;

And almost finished this piece of kit;

By putting some extra supports in the middle of the anti-roll-bar it can’t bend as much as it usually does. So should sharpen the handling a bit without sacrificing comfort

DHC report nr. 22; Interior retrimmed

Not much visible progress on the body shell since last time, but I haven’t been completely idle the past few days. Started on a body spit, thanks to Robbie and his welder;

And making plans for a simple support frame to mount the body on. This is meant to make life easier for the paintjob. Will use the measurements from the workshop manual for that.

But the most important piece of progress this week was the interior. That’s completed well ahead of schedule, and I think it looks rather nice;

Especially the new tonneau cover;

Next week I have a short holiday, which I will use to bring the body away for shot blasting and sort all the bits that need coating. Also on the list of things to do is mount the rear coil overs on ‘t Kreng and do some welding on her.

DHC report nr. 21; Mounting mud flaps

Have been working (in between other commitments) to get the body ready for shot blasting, next week. Today did the preparations to fit the mud flaps. Wanted that done before the body will be primered. And as I hate self tapping screws I borrowed this little tool from a friend;

Looks like an ordinary pop rivet tool, but in fact is for fitting threaded steel rivets. After some measurements and drilling the necessary holes, the rivets could be fitted;

The end result will enable me to fit the mud flaps without much problems;

Only job which needs to be done is welding the back of the rivets to the body, just in case they decide to lose some of their clamping force. I also need to drill a new hole in the left hand rear wing to fit a nice period aerial. And one of the welds from the RH front towing point is cracked so needs to be repaired before next week.

DHC report nr. 20; More under body protection removal

Finished removing the under body protection and seam sealant this evening.
A few pictures of the work done;

The engine bay.

The front of the left hand sill.

The left hand mounting points for the back axle.

The left hand floor section.

The right hand front inner wing.

The inside of the left hand front suspension turret.

There are a few minor jobs left to sort before the body will be brought away for shot blasting and coating with an epoxy primer. Hopefully will finish these somewhere next week.

Also have to construct a body spit, most of the steel bits for which are already in the house;

I only need two pivot bearings, which will be sorted by a friend, and a few hours of welding and it should be OK.

DHC report nr. 19; Removing under body protection

Slow progress this evening. Removed the remains of the under body protection from the left hand rear-wing area. Took me well over an hour to get everything of. Lots of nooks and corners to make life difficult.

The black patches are black paint were the paint stripper didn’t penetrate the under-body-protection.

DHC report nr. 18; Seam sealant removal from boot

Spent two tedious hours in the workshop this evening. Removed the seam sealant and sound insulation from the boot. Not the nicest of work, but it has to been done to get the best effect from the shot blasting. A few pictures of the result of this evenings work;

The spare wheel well after 30 minutes of scraping and chiselling.

Inside of the right-hand side of the boot.

One of the floor seams.

The (surface) rust that was hidden underneath the seam sealant at least proved that the work was necessary. A comforting thought indeed!

Trial fitting compression struts

While removing the temporary suspension from the DHC's body yesterday I used the opportunity and borrowed a compression strut kit, meant for a friend’s Mk2 Escort.

Needed them to trial fit under a TR7, as I still want to change ‘t Kreng’s front suspension to compression struts. Looks like a very straightforward upgrade for the front suspension. Only need to weld the two brackets to the front chassis legs and modify the joints for the TCA’s very slightly in the lath.

Some measurements showed that with my favoured ride-height for ‘t Kreng, the struts are still pointing slightly downward so should add some anti dive under braking.

Next challenge is to make some decent drop links for the anti-roll-bar!

DHC report nr. 17; Removing seam sealant

At last found some time to remove the temporary suspension and start on the worst job so far, removing what is left of the seam sealant and underbody protection. I started on the inside. Finished the engine bay and passenger compartment, which leaves the boot and the underside. Will see if I can remove the under-seal with the car on the lift. Hope to have everything of by the end of next week.

And an interesting picture how they used seam sealant at British Leyland;

You are looking at the seam between floor pan, RH inner sill and bulkhead. And yes those arrows are pointing at fairly large holes which were simply plugged with sealant!

And I will need a spit/rotisserie for the body to make life working on the underside a bit easier. This is prompted by the fact that I found someone to prepare the body for painting. And he only wants to do it if he can access the underside of the car properly. So I’ll be visiting a local steel vendor in the very near future.

And a few pictures of the finished result of the most difficult and time consuming repair, the fuel filler surround;

Repair panel in the rear bulkhead.

Fuel filler hole repairs.

Repairs to the inside of the fuel filler pipe surround in the boot.

Repairs to the outside of the fuel filler pipe surround in the boot.