DHC report nr. 28; Shot blasting finished

After waiting for more than a week, I was able to pick up the body from Giessen where it was shot blasted and coated in an epoxy primer. As we agreed that they would store the body over the week, they found a nice place for it on top of their canteen;

Which give me the opportunity to inspect part of the underside of the car. First impression is that they did a very good job indeed;

Clearly their forklift drivers are used to moving in tight spaces;

And after strapping the body onto the trailer it was time to head home;

But before putting her in storage I took a few more pictures, as they say so much more than words;

Hopefully I’ll be able to bring her over to the guy who is going to do the paint preparation and painting within the next week. Otherwise it’ll have to wait till mid June, when I return from a holiday in Scotland.

In the meantime I’ll busy myself with the cable looms, heater and back axle (to start with).

DHC report nr. 27; Coating parts

Picked up a few boxes with coated parts yesterday, which means that most of the parts that needed coating are ready now. Today, being a day off from work, I used the afternoon to check them over. A few pictures of some of the parts before and after powder-coating;

And the springs after they got a much needed new coating. As they got a different treatment as the other parts, I thought it a good idea to go for something completely different. So I went for blue to match the piping in the interior;

Also received the connectors for the wiring loom yesterday;

They are just in time for my holiday which has just started today. Plan for the coming week is to start on cleaning and checking the wiring loom, and re-assemble and prepare as much parts as possible. So everything is ready when the body is finished. But if the weather allows I’ll first pick up the body shell next Monday. And then I also have to prepare ‘t Kreng for Le Carerra in June. At least I don’t have to worry I feel bored in the next few weeks.

DHC report nr. 26; Checking wiring loom

Planned to pick up the body and the coated parts from Giessen yesterday. But as the weather forecast on Friday spelled a fair chance of rain for the Saturday morning I decided not to, and leave it till next week, when my holiday starts. Of course the weather was brilliant on Saturday morning !

So with nothing better to do I started on the wiring looms instead. All connectors inside the car’s cabin are still in good condition so I will only clean them up, but otherwise leave them as they are. The same can’t be said of the connectors under the bonnet;

As they have been hanging in harm’s way for nearly 30 years they are pretty dirty and oxidized. The plan is to replace all connectors underneath the car with new ones. For this I am going to use the same connectors I used on the front of the car;

But even connectors inside the car can have their problems as the handbrake switch lead shows. The connector just fell of when I took the loom it is attached to out of the storage box;

Also found some time to take the brake pipes from one of my cars. As they are copper-nickel based, they still are in pretty good condition. But as this picture shows even with these you have to be careful;

This one definitely needs replacing. As do the pipes on the back axle. Their fittings were steel instead of brass, as a result of which they were rather rusty so I won’t reuse these. Which means I’ll have to visit local brake specialist C&C Parts in the very near future.

DHC report nr. 25; Progress on shot blasting

Went over to Giessen this morning to drop of a few more parts that will get powder coated. Gave me an opportunity to have a look at the progress on the car’s body. They finished shot-blasting and zinc treatment of the seams just before the weekend. And they were in the process of coating everything in an epoxy primer, which should be finished by now.

Have to admit it did look pretty good. Sadly I forgot my camera, so will have to wait for a few pictures till this Saturday when I will pick her up. Also the parts I brought over to them for powder coating should be ready then.

DHC report nr. 24; More parts sorting

Not much visible progress to report at the moment. The body will be back from shot blasting by the end of next week. Hope to have the body spit ready by then, so that I can bring it to the paint-shop as soon as possible. Also sorted all the parts that need a new coating, this should also be ready by the middle of this month. A few of the parts going for some special treatment;

Except for the bodywork the car will be very black indeed. Some of my friends think I should paint it completely matt black. I am afraid we won’t get an agreement on the body-colour I have chosen for it!