Great SC rebuild.......

[Chris Spencer]

Keith - I can adapt the spray gun for a spray on tan to go with your haircut and manicure !!!

[Jack]

I am now suitably impressed with the North of England. Not only is it deceptively far away, they have firms which can turn round a complete car interior in 1.5 weeks.

The seat is a work of art. Exactly as it was originally, but now in brand new leather and a light brown colour that Amy chose to go with the paint. The base has been cleaned and repainted, and it now smooth and despite being invisible once fitted is reassuringly completely refurbished.

The carpets we will have to see how they fit, but initial impressions are very good. I'm pretty sure they will have copied the templates exactly, now comes the test of how good my templating skills really were

You all need to see the photos of these things, thanks go to PJM Motors who have been helpful, flexible, the quality of their work is second to none, and very reasonably priced (despite Keith's protestations!) - and all this in just over a week with a weekend in the middle. http://www.pjm-motors.co.uk/index.html no wonder they're busy in there.

Jack.

[Peter Holden]

Up North lad!!!!
Shropshire is not in the north.
Shropshire is Gods own County. It is not in the north or the south it stands alone.
Typical of you southerners, any thing north of Watford is North

[Amy]

Well, I am a very happy little Jowetteer

The seat, carpets, door cards and other little bits of trim have been transported back from Shropshire (not the North, apparently!), and they look wonderful. I have been very excited all day, waiting to see what the seat looks like, and it's surpassed my expectations.

The leather I chose is 'biscuit' coloured and will look lovely next to the BRG. The carpet is a darker tone 'new ochre' and is trimmed in the same leather. We'll no doubt take lots of photos both before, during and after it's fitted to the car It's all currently in the parents' house gracing their living and dining rooms and we'll start with the installation tomorrow.

Yay!
Amy.

[Chris Spencer]

Peter is correct - anywhere North of Watford Gap is considered North ! - I am however very Northern - hence the Grumpy Northener tag but have resided 'In't South' for the last twenty odd years.

[Jack]

Peter is correct - anywhere North of Watford Gap is considered North ! - I am however very Northern - hence the Grumpy Northener tag but have resided 'In't South' for the last twenty odd years.

You can't tell

See you shortly, time to get some carpets in this car!

Jack.

[Jack]

What a day. Carpets are not fun.

It all started with the panel behind the seat, slightly different on SC to SA, and a panel that I'd had to repair when we were rebuilding the inside of the car.

We'd got the fittings from PJM, and I was pretty sceptical about the way they worked, basically a circular fitting that goes on the carpet, with three pins that go through the carpet to a popper on the other side. Very effective, but not pretty. After some discussion, considering other ways to fit them, but in the end after looking at the Javelin and some more thinking we decide that if they were original they will be fine.

The carpets start to gradually go in, behind the seat is quickly dealt with, the parcel shelf covered with slots cut for my very special battery box, and by then I'm starting to get a bit better at things and moving more quickly. Then I hit the delights of the sides of the footwell. Originally we don't think these were carpeted, but it is looking good done this way, and should be good for sound deadening.

Fitting in progress:

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Finally the big carpet goes in - right the way through from behind the seat to the pedals, luckily not too many fixings required for that one, the newly refurbished seat will be holding the back of the carpet in place.

Couple of photos of the work so far - more progress to follow tomorrow, along with a visit from the press

Things starting to look like they're nearly there:

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One very tired worker next to the frankly infuriating side panel:

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And the crowning glory, a Centenary Badge in front of a freshly chromed front grille Note the shiny chrome strip down the bonnet - I did that

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Time for bath and bed now, very long day but the work is showing on the car now.

Tomorrow there will be a seat, and the carpets will be finished. Then all we've got to sort is the hood. I can't say I'm looking forward to that little job.

Jack.

[Amy]

Then all we've got to sort is the hood.

Well... not quite!

The carpets are looking really good - I keep having to resist the temptation to cut and polish the battery box shelf as it's going to be carpeted as well, but as I'm in paint-cutting mode, it feels wrong to have such a large panel left untouched by cutting compound!

Whilst Jack has been doing carpets, Chris and I have been doing the rest of the bodywork - we've been working round from the nearside door round the back of the car. We'd flatted and cut all round to the boot as of this week, and Chris and I today managed to get through flatting (Chris's job - requires his expertise!) the rest of the panels round to and including the bulkhead, with me following behind with cutting compound. We've also T-cut other bits like the door skirts, inside of doors, etc.

We finally ran out of cutting compound just before I managed to get the offside wing finished, so will be picking some more up at the motor factor's in the morning. I then started T-cutting the nearside and managed one small panel before dinner (and we called time for the day as everyone was shattered).

Whilst we had been carpeting and bodyworking respectively, dad was fettling various things in the background, including some caps for the felt that goes up the side of the windscreen - I'm sure he'll be taking pictures, it's been something of an effort doing them! He also sorted chrome trim for the door handles in the door cards, so these are ready to go on when we're all done.

So, we're getting there - we should get the bodywork T-cut tomorrow, so then it's just some touching up and then two coats of wax and it'll be done! (Phew...). The wheels all need to come off though as there's currently some slightly dodgy and rather mis-matched paint, so plan is to take off the rear wheels tomorrow and prep them prior to getting them sprayed (that'll be Chris again then - what would we do without him?!). The regulator needs checking - dad did fix it we think but we haven't actually checked it since. The hood is a bit job as Jack says, and there are various other things which will need doing - not least detailing the car - in order for him to be in tip top condition for his starring role

I'm really looking forward to getting the seat fitted as I think it'll look superb and will really finish the car off. I'm a bit scared about putting it in too soon, then getting it dirty though

Another long day tomorrow I think - thank goodness for the extra hour's sleep tonight... Must remember to wear gloves as I'm giving a talk to a lot of clever lawyers on Monday and at this rate shall be appearing with not just green fingernails but hands and forearms too!

Amy.

[Forumadmin]

Just looking at the front of the car made me think that Chris. when he gets there. will also polish the front exhaust pipe.

Today started with checking operation of the windows. First found that the driver's side did not go fully down. That required a countersunk screw rather than bolt on the quarter light guide at the bottom.
Then on the passenger side there were two problems. Firstly the glass grated at the top of its travel. That required refitting the channel and inner door cap. But it also suffered from not lowering fully. Fitting a countersunk did not solve the problem. Contorsions were required to try to find the problem; but with no luck. So the window will just have to not drop the last couple of inches.
The inside of the door was painted as there was still some bare aluminium.

Next I had to cut out a piece from the door cap so that the door closed.

As Amy said, I spent a few hours making the draft excluder caps on the doors. This required making a hardwood former, beating the aluminium around it and then heating till nearly melting to take out the creases. They were then filed, ground, emery clothed and polished.

Then I refurbished the chrome surrounds for the door opening lever slots. These needed some work to take out the dents and scratches before fitting to the door cards.

I have been told that Scott brought over two headlamp rim motifs in brass ( as well as the tails in stainless), but we have searched high and low and cannot find them. Scott where did you put them? I am sure you will remember as you had only not slept for 36 hours!

[Chris Spencer]

Not much for me to add as Jack, Amy & Keith have covered the work undertaken, it still leaves a decent amount of work to be done but if we can get the majority of the paintwork polished by Sunday evening / the seat in and other odds done it will leave next weekend clear for the final detailing - great day today all done with a team spirit and few laughs - as per the norm at the expense of each other.

[Amy]

Another full day in the garage today and we're getting there! Mum came down to the garage mid-afternoon to see how we were getting on and was very impressed with the carpets and door cards (all of which are now fitted to the car).

Chris and I carried on with paintwork - I started on the nearside rear shroud with the T-cut and by the time I'd done for this evening had done the whole of the n/s shroud and wing. It doesn't sound like a lot but it takes a long time to do properly!

We currently have all four wheels off the car as the paint on the front and rear wheels didn't match and Chris wasn't happy... two of them are now painted and laquered with two more to do next week. It's a nice gunmetal(ish) silver that complements the BRG really nicely and picks up on the chrome.

Jack continued with the interior and having finished the carpet fitting, he started attacking the glovebox which we had fitted prior to Wakefield but which has been a bit sticky - much head-scratching a few expletives ensued:

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Having done the wheels, Chris set about touching up the paint as there are various bits that needed a spot or two filling in. He went over everything with two coats today and will do another couple next week before flatting, etc:

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(Note the rather smart doorcard in the pic above).

The 'to do' list is still quite long, but many are quite short jobs - I need to finish off cutting and T-cutting the bodywork but much of it is done so this will be done next Sat and the waxing won't take long. Jack will battle with the glovebox and dad has various tasks including checking that the regulator is now allowing the dynamo to charge the battery - this is more of an issue in the darker nights as we'll drain the battery very quickly using the headlights.

Oh, the verdict from mum is that he's looking very smart
Amy.

[Chris Spencer]

Again not too much for me add - much done with still a little left to do - for 'little' read all of next weekend - no doubt that Keith will get some of the odds done in the week. It is all very hard and tiring work especially when we all have day jobs that we are committed to but the results are very rewarding - the car is really starting to look the part.

And now a little message for Jack - Those wheels - I did them, and all that polishing, and the touching in of the paint, and, and, and !!!

[Srenner]

Ah, yes, there's nothing like hearing "Nice to see you, here's a wrench, try to make yourself useful".

Yes, I coughed up, er, graciously donated a set of brass motifs, ready for the chrome shop. I hate to think I left them on your work bench, as I 'm sure that is just a black hole in disguise.

They were with the alloy spears and the hold down knobs, wrapped in paper and inside little zip-top baggies. We used the other parts, so they should still be wrapped in white tissue in a plastic bag, somewhere in the Clement's Garage Of Pain and Endless Work. I seem to think they were inside a small gift box, but for some reason that day is a bit fuzzy and I might be fantasizing.

Could be we took them to Amy's flat, and least likely that I left them in one of your front rooms. For sure did not take them on the hookers,dykes and cars part of the trip. Fun trip, that one was.

Regards,
Scott

[Amy]

Ah, yes, there's nothing like hearing "Nice to see you, here's a wrench, try to make yourself useful".

Scott, don't be silly, noone would have said such a thing. Now "here's a spanner, make yourself useful" on the other hand is a distinct possibility...

Yes, I coughed up, er, graciously donated a set of brass motifs, ready for the chrome shop. I hate to think I left them on your work bench, as I 'm sure that is just a black hole in disguise.

They were with the alloy spears and the hold down knobs, wrapped in paper and inside little zip-top baggies.

Thank you Scott. Chris and I have been telling dad pretty much exactly that for the last week, but then we all know that dads don't listen to their daughters

For sure did not take them on the hookers,dykes and cars part of the trip. Fun trip, that one was.

Have you done the write up of that trip yet? I've been looking forward to reading it!

Amy.

[Forumadmin]

Since both Amy and Chris saw them that would be after Wakefield since I did not think they were around when you were in the garage, except for the lunchtime before we left. Thus it is up to them to remember where that was, and what they were in. What colour was the gift box? They seem to be available so will try to get two from a Jaguar XK120 spares place.