Parts Party

The fibreglass bonnet went on Saturday - a chap from Olveston came and collected it for £250 for his Spitfire rebuild, which he's dressing up as a racing Spit. Had a good old chinwag with him about classic cars - and ailments. We just managed to squeeze it into his Ford Ranger.

Thought I'd clean up some areas of the GT6 that had accumulated a light dusting of rust and got a bit carried away. 

I've ordered a 5L container of Jenolite to protect the rusty bits the wire brush can't reach. It's just basic protection so it doesn't get any worse and I may apply a coat of etch primer to keep the damp at bay over the winter, as it's going to be a very long time before I get round to taking all the old paint off, which is trowelled on and rather thick. May resort to chemicals to get the majority of it off, as though the twisted wire rotary brush is very efficient.

The bits of welding that have been done leave much to be desired and will necessitate some rewelding and grinding flat.

Then I decanted all the parts from the car's interior.

The Recaro style seats with the yellow piping are probably going to be sold, but I'll first check out the plastic wrapped original seats for fag burns. That said, original pattern seat covers are readily available, as are most parts - that's the benefit of sharing many parts with the Spitfire, which is still quite common in the spares or repair market.

Nice Strombergs! In desperate need of fettling - with care.

Loom and wiring. Might be worth getting a new loom, especially after my experience with the SL 500's biodegradable loom.

I actually have two tailgates, both in good condition, one having the glass.

Doors are a definite advantage on a car.

Rear wing panel hidden under the spare tailgate.

Various boxes of delights.

Till the car was empty.

I'm missing a windscreen, a valance, one headlight cowl and the bonnet supports for the front of the chassis. I bought a 2nd hand, refurbished front chassis section on e-Bay (image below) on an offer of £100 against an advertised price of £150, and am hopefully collecting it from Reading soon. 

I'm rather tempted to take the body off (there are some 16 anchorage bolts) and send the chassis away for sandblasting and powder coating. The shell can then be put on a homemade or purchased rotisserie for ease of fettling.

I do, however, have a mystery part.

I haven't the vaguest idea what it is. It's not a manifold though. It's a large bore pipe with 6 outlets (or inlets) having a large bore hose attached to each one. Yes, the engine has 6 cylinders, but I already have the inlet and exhaust manifolds.

Update - it's apparently an air box for the EFi, so the previous owner told me. Surplus to requirements though, as I'm sticking to the Strombergs.

I've ordered a MIG welding kit, using the proceeds from the fibreglass bonnet sale, and that should arrive Wednesday. The mega-spend has started!