Giving Way

Driving on the M5 last week, a thought struck me as I was overtaking another car.

If you are in, say, the inside lane and want to overtake a car in the same lane as you, any car behind you in the 2nd lane should, in my opinion, give you priority once you have indicated your intention to move into the 2nd lane, depending on that car's distance behind you. However, they rarely do, believing that they have priority and that you should wait for them to pass you before you can move out into the 2nd lane. Priority remains with the car being overtaken, within reason, not the overtaking car - at least that's my understanding and there's logic behind it, as I will explain later. 

The Highway Code is unclear on this matter and ChatGPT gave me two conflicting answers when asked - in one response it said the car intending to move to the right had priority, but in another it maintained the car wishing to move to the right had to give way to any car approaching from behind in the middle lane.

Rule 267 states; "Make sure that the lane you will be joining is sufficiently clear ahead and behind." This kind of fudges the issue - what is meant by 'sufficiently clear' in regard to the area behind you? 

Given motorway driving plays no part in the driving test, it's not surprising there's confusion. Many are the times I have not been given priority by drivers coming up behind me in the next lane out, having to swerve to the left to avoid a collision as they unwaveringly maintain their direction and speed. It's especially prevalent when the car in the middle lane is boxed in by yet another car in the outside lane, believing they can't give way to you precisely because they're boxed in. They seem blissfully unaware that they can reduce their speed to allow you in.

The logic of which car is given priority is quite simple - the driver behind you has a much better view of the overall situation than you do. You have to crane your neck around while simultaneously keeping an eye on the car you're intent on overtaking and look in all your mirrors while hoping you haven't missed the blind spot. The driver behind you is not so encumbered, having an uninterrupted view of the unfolding situation, and is hence the car that should give way - at least in terms of logic and safety.

Rule 13 of the maritime "Rule of The Road" for ships at sea states the following, which supports my logic:

(a) Notwithstanding anything contained in the Rules of Part B, Sections I and II, any vessel overtaking any other shall keep out of the way of the vessel being overtaken. 

(b) A vessel shall be deemed to be overtaking when coming up with a another vessel from a direction more than 22.5 degrees abaft her beam, that is, in such a position with reference to the vessel she is overtaking, that at night she would be able to see only the sternlight of that vessel but neither of her sidelights. 

(c) When a vessel is in any doubt as to whether she is overtaking another, she shall assume that this is the case and act accordingly. (d) Any subsequent alteration of the bearing between the two vessels shall not make the overtaking vessel a crossing vessel within the meaning of these Rules or relieve her of the duty of keeping clear of the overtaken vessel until she is finally past and clear.

In the above rule, 22.5 degrees abaft the beam of the vessel being overtaken equates, approximately, to the blind spot of a car.

It's the same in warfare. How do you increase your chances of successfully attacking an enemy? By approaching him from behind, as you have the advantage and his attention is focused to his front.

However, when it comes to traffic joining the motorway from a slip road, the car joining the flow of traffic has to give way to traffic already on the motorway, despite the motorway traffic coming up from behind the car joining the motorway having a much better appreciation of the situational positioning than the car joining the motorway. 

Why is there this disjoint in logic when the slip road is still a lane, but just one that peters out. In this aspect, it's no different to an inside or outside lane that closes ahead, forcing traffic to merge within the confines of the motorway and where the rule of an overtaking car giving priority to the overtaken car prevails, in my opinion.

When?

It seems to me that the prediction of a UK heatwave and the prediction of Trump going to jail suffer from the same problem - both are allegedly just around the corner, but seem as far away as ever. 

That said, the summer heat wave seems, according to the Met Office, a lot nearer - mid August, by all accounts, but predictions made that far ahead are usually very inaccurate. However, it's only a quirk of pressure that's keeping it in southern Europe.

Motorhome Repair

Finally repaired the damage on the motorhome where the wind-out canopy fell off and took huge chunks of fibreglass with it.

I was hampered by the use of the litres of epoxy I had left over from when I was making lampshades from cloth and epoxy; it takes each coat some 24 hours to dry, rather than the minutes it takes for commercial fibreglass epoxy. Wasn't going to waste it though.

Didn't bother repainting the decal lines, as matching the colour would be a nightmare, so I merely feathered them with white paint.

I covered the damage on the interior with large, stainless steel plates, just in case I manage to repair the old wind-out awning and cassette and decide to reinstall it at some time in the future. 

These plates will provide a helluva lot more strength than the postage stamp plates that were used originally. Can't help feeling someone had done a bodge, home install, rather than having it done professionally.

Democratic Mandate

I asked ChatGPT to list the percentage of those eligible to vote that each government has received since 1951 and not a single government had a mandate even reaching 50%, let alone surpassing it..

It took me a while to prise the answer out of the system, as it kept referring to the percentages of the number of votes cast. It pretended it couldn't provide an answer, until I pointed out it had provided turnout percentages, which means it could easily calculate the figures I wanted. ChatGPT is a bit like that - it gives you the run-around and needs to be kept on track. I just don't trust it - it's a bit like a politician.

Anyway, I finally found out that no government has received more than 37.6% of the votes of those eligible to vote, and that was the 1955 General Election where the Conservatives won.

We have, since 1951, be governed by parties which represent no more than a third of the electorate, and invariably fewer. It's a quirk of our system - we're ruled by a tyranny of the majority, which is actually a minority.

The system needs changing, as it is damaging to long term planning.

Facebook Market Scam

I think I may have found a Facebook Market scam. I can't determine exactly how it actually works, however, I can guess.

I came across a 2017 motorhome which seemed to be priced ridiculously low. On looking at the profile of the vendor, it transpired that he'd placed scores of adverts for cars and motorhomes at almost exactly the same time, all of them well below market price. He had more adverts on the go than a very well stocked car dealership. His profile was devoid of other postings.

I suspect he's copied other people's adverts, as all the images were obviously of different locations, and merely massaged the price. I'm not certain, but I would imagine he either asks for deposits that are never returned when the vehicle in question never materialises, or says he's busy and can't deliver the car, but can arrange for someone to drive it to you for an up-front fee. Naturally, the car never appears.

I found another seller, a female, using exactly the same MO and sent her a message. I got an immediate, automated response directing me to a badly spelled, GMail address.

And then a 3rd scummy seller...

If buying a high ticket item on Facebook Market that's advertised at a stupidly low price, click on the seller's profile and see what else they're selling, and when the items were listed. All being listed at the same time should ring alarm bells.

Stop Press - found loads of them. They're infesting Facebook Market.

Führage's Bank Account

Don't know what all the führore is about with regards to Führage's bank account.

If a bank refuses you an account because of something you can't change, like your ethnicity, sexuality, gender, cheese preferences, aversion to brassicas, etc., then yes, that should be illegal, but one's politics aren't a protected characteristic, nor is being an utter twat.

Go ahead and be an utter twat to your heart's content, but expect to be knocked back in certain areas because a service provider doesn't wish to be associated with your particular brand of nastiness and bone headedness. Do you think it possible that Führage can't help being an utter twat?

I don't include religion in the list of protected categories, because you can choose your religion, just as you can choose your politics.

Gender Reassignment

I don't know why people get so hung up on trans issues (with the possible exception of competitive sports, where it's a minefield).

As we grow older, both male and female transition into a 3rd, neutral gender as the hormones become tired and no longer perform the function they did while still reproducing. Men grow breasts and women beards, both become the same basic shape. Yes, they both have different sex identifiers, but they're utterly useless, except for peeing, and even that becomes problematic.

Triffid

 Hay's dad has some of these in his garden and they always shock me when I see them.

Apparently they're Sempervivum Arachnoideum - and they look creepy. I give them a wide berth when walking past them.

Customer Service

I ordered a set of panel beating hammers and metal dollies (the curved metal lumps you put behind a dent to give it the shape you want) on e-Bay, not realising they were coming from China (the price should have alerted me to the fact). When they arrived, the pack contained 3 hammers of various shapes, but no dollies.

I contacted the seller, who offered me a £5 discount on a buying price of £28.89. Regardless of the low discount offer, I reiterated that I merely wanted them to send me the missing dollies. They replied with a £10 discount offer, which still didn't approach the half way mark for the missing half of the order. Again I asked them se send me the dollies.

Then they came back with an offer of a full refund, which I accepted, as it was the dollies I was after, more than the hammers. I told them that as they'd given me the full value back, they may as well keep the refund and simply send me a new kit. They sent me the refund.

Picking apart the logic of this, they must have discovered that an entire consignment was missing the dollies and hence couldn't send me a complete replacement. I can't think of any other logic trouncing this assumption.

Anyway, I purchased an almost identical set from another seller, but wasn't at all impressed with the quality.

The dollies look as if they're made of furnace slag and are as rough as a badger's bum. If I ever use them, it will have to be with care, as the curves are somewhat irregular.

Breaking Bad

This batch of Meth I'm cooking up is really good....

Hay and No.1 Son thought I should have some PPE, seeing as I'm mucking about with some pretty vile chemicals and things that could fly into your eyes, like wires from the twisted wire grinder attachment. My specs actually protect me from most of the damage, but I do tend to end the day with 1cm long wires sticking out of my clothes and arms as they abrade and fly off.

Got a hideous cough, probably an infection, but not helped by having inhaled some paint dust. I also sound like Barry White on a day when his basso was particularly profundo.

Batteries

It seems rather strange that the government is bribing Tata, an Indian company, with millions to set up a battery factory in the UK, but isn't providing a penny of support to struggling AMTE Power Plc, a British company in Thurso that's working on a new battery, which uses much safer sodium to replace lithium, and sodium is readily available from seawater.

AMTE Power is allegedly days away from collapse. There again, if the government is opening new coal mines and granting North Sea Oil licences, we shouldn't really expect them to be supporting ethical batteries.

Instruction Manual

Why are there no instruction manuals or self-help books to tell you what to do when you die?

Are you meant to just hang around in spectral form for something to happen? Are you meant to have a little holiday? Maybe you should haunt someone who has annoyed you? Stand for a while in a very British queue? 

The religious texts of the various religions are peculiarly devoid of instructions on what you should do, despite the many reports of people coming back from the dead. They're full of instructions on what to do while alive and in an effort to reach the afterlife, but bugger all on what to do when you get there, which seems like an anticlimax.

Arbeit Macht Frei

I'll just leave this here.

I wonder if the next wheeze will be to get round the Human Rights Act by classifying refugees as non-human.

As I have said before, if the government really wants to stop the small boats, they should implement a processing centre in Calais, set appropriate caps on numbers and provide their own transport for successful applicants. Genuine refugees would then not need to travel by small boat and then people who do arrive in this manner would be immediately deported to the countries they came from. The trafficker's business model is immediately disrupted.

In the longer term, global regions should be made responsible for their own refugees and migrants within cultural boundaries, encouraged by international funds.

Hit & Miss

Ever tried drilling breeze block? Not the soft variety, but the really dense ones that weigh a tonne. Yes, you've been there before, I can tell...

You mark the exact spot you want to drill, bring the masonry bit into contact with the marked spot and, on the drill starting to rotate, the bit skitters around and starts a hole about half a centimetre from where you made your mark. 

No amount of repositioning the drill bit works - it returns to the position it chose, or skitters off in yet another direction of least resistance. 

In an attempt to place the hole exactly where you want it, you end up creating a hole 10 times larger than the one originally intended, or totally out of line with the other one you drilled, which is also about a centimetre from where you actually wanted it, but in the wrong direction.

The result? A totally wonky cupboard, or whatever you're trying to hang on the wall. 

Recipe Change

I've made another change to my keto jerky recipe. Till now I've been using skirt steak, but the effects of inflation and the rising popularity of skirt (primarily because restaurants are catching on to it) have resulted in it climbing from £8 a kilo a couple of years ago to between £15 and £18, depending on where you get it. Also, given it can be covered in a membrane, it can be time-consuming to prepare.

I therefore decided to try pre-packed stewing beef, which can be purchased in Tesco for under a tenner per kilo (on ClubCard). It's also ready-diced.

Here it is, covered in my special rub, laid out on 3 trays and ready to go into the air fryer. I used 3 x 400gm packets.

As it dries out (100 degrees), the shrinkage means you can reduce that to 2 trays after half an hour and, in any case, I prefer the mesh trays as the solid tray tends to encourage leakage of the juices on to the tray and a bit of stewing to take place. The mesh trays allow the hot air to get all around the beef.

And here it is again after 2.5 hours of drying out. It's delicious!

Buying diced steak cuts down the prep time before drying to about 3 minutes too (I use a ziplock bag), and the square chunks are chewier.

The Borrower

No more posts from me for a while on the GT6 after this one. I need to get on with it.

Found a 14cfm compressor which is not used due to the noise it produces. I offered to buy it from my contact in the trade, who I occasionally do some work for, but he wants to keep it as a backup; however, he has no problem with me borrowing it while I'm rebuilding the GT6 and could consider selling it at some time in the future - but borrowing it is sufficient for me at the sandblaster stage.

I'm also borrowing his spraying space when it's not in use for his own cars, and when the time is right.

Steve, who works in this space, has offered to spray the GT6 when I get to the topcoat stage - at mates' rates. I'd rather have a professional do it, due to my unfamiliarity with modern, water-based paints and metallics. I'm fine with the prep and primer stage and, if I was doing it in flat cellulose, I'd do it myself.

Slowly, But Surely

 Stripping the old paint off the GT6 is a real pain in the proverbial, but the result is so satisfying.

Asd you can see at the top of the photo, on the roof, the previous paint has been trowelled on and is a couple of millimetres thick. The twisted wire brush on a grinder, however, makes short work of it. 

Any rust I find is firmly ground out, treated with Jenolite and then I'm applying a coat of etch primer to the bare metal as protection as I go along. A little every day, even if just a few square inches. 

Given the noise I make with the grinder, I invested in some chemical paint remover. Modern paint strippers perform very poorly against the stuff you could get decades ago, as the dangerous chemicals have been removed. You're lucky to be able to strip away a single layer of paint, let alone the thickness I have on the GT6. Methylene chloride (or dichloromethane) stripper is no longer commercially available to Joe Public (it was banned in 2012) but that's not to say you can't find it if you know where to look. However, even Starchem Synstryp (£44 for 5 litres), which is as good as Nitromors of old, has difficulty getting through the layers and I fear it's going to have to be mechanical methods to cut through the original paint and two subsequent resprays.

As you can see from this photo below, the Synstryp has had little noticeable effect (the paint removed on the right was done before I took possession of the car), despite having been covered in plastic sheeting overnight.

It's a fact of life that, when you're restoring a car, you occasionally come across things that make you weep. This area on the nearside rear turned out to have a lot of body filler under the paint - and body filler usually, although not always, hides rust. Below is was what I found on grinding the filler away, which had to be done. Filler will have to be reapplied to get a contour (or lead loading), but for now the rust has been neutralised with Jenolite and a coat of primer applied.

Progressing around the back end of the car....

Had a go at the original rear hatch a few days ago, but uncovered some holes under paint bubbles. They can be brazed (or, again, lead loaded), but it's lucky I have a near-perfect spare hatch, which can be seen in situ in the first photo at the top.

Welding the holes up is not a solution, as welding causes the base metal to melt and would likely distort it (this doesn't matter so much on parts of the body that are hidden). Brazing only heats the filler metal, which has a low melting point. The filler metal used in brazing is an alloy of copper and zinc (aka brass), which melts around 500°C. When heated to its melting point, brass flows into the gap between two pieces of metal that need to be joined, or into a hole, creating a strong bond that can be easily filed or ground down. Lead loading is similar, but lead is used, although I've never performed lead loading myself. Lead obviously can't be sanded - it's too dangerous in terms of the dust. In any case, the extent of these holes indicate more rust inside, probably caused by a leaking hatch window seal, so the only long-term solution is cropping and brazing in a new section. That said, I'm going to use the spare hatch and merely use the glass and fittings from the old one, selling on the old one to someone desperate enough to do the necessary work on the perforations.

Ref the compressor - I've discovered that only very powerful, industrial electric compressors costing several thousand quid, or petrol driven compressors produce the 15cfm (cubic feet per minute) of air displacement necessary for good sandblasting, but even the 2nd hand petrol ones are expensive. You're lucky if an ordinary electric one produces anything more than 6.5cfm. The search progresses. 

I'm still keen on buying or making a rotisserie (like in the photo below) so I can attack the underside of the tub once I've fettled the topside. 2nd hand metal ones go for around £200-£450, but I've seen perfectly adequate, DIY wooden ones on YouTube. Rather than rotating the body in situ, the wooden ones take up more space, as they roll over with the tub - a bit like a half Michelin Man suit. Space limitations in my garage may necessitate a metal one, especially when I get the replacement chassis, which will be placed next to the car.

I have a habit of picking up used oil drums from our local Ford dealer - they let me have them for nothing. I usually turn them into braziers for burning garden rubbish.

Now I have a choice - use it to make an oil barrel BBQ (the engineers on the ships I sailed on were masters at turning these into huge BBQs that serviced the entire crew), use it as practice for plasma cutting and welding (yes, I'll fill it with water before using the plasma cutter on it) or use the metal, which is similar gauge to classic car body metal, to have a go at fabricating a new transmission tunnel for the GT6. Of course, I'd need to get some metal bending machinery for the last option.....

Talking of metal bending, my panel beating hammers and dollies arrived - without the dollies. Not best pleased with the e-Bay seller in China, but they have replied with an apology and the offer of a £5 discount, which isn't of the slightest value to me, as I was more interested in the dollies than the hammers. I have to say, however, that Chinese companies have good customer service and do get back to you immediately.

This is bringing back all my memories of 30 odd years ago, when I totally rebuilt an MGB roadster from the ground up. The MGB was relatively easy, as I'd labelled all the parts as I disassembled the car. The GT6, however, has had a lot of work done by someone else which, when combined with my lack of familiarity with the Spitfire or GT6, makes it a more taxing and time-consuming job.

Amusings

 A few amusing things I've seen over the last few days when I've been driving around the country.

This registration on a lorry that pumps out septic tanks, seen in Berkshire.

A removal van in Suffolk while going to collect No.1 Son's new car in Norwich.

Amalgamation

Self amalgamating tape - ever heard of it? I certainly hadn't, till I was researching a particularly intractable plumbing problem.

To quote Wikipedia; "Self-amalgamating tape is a non-tacky silicone-rubber tape which when stretched and wrapped around cables, electrical joints, hoses and pipes combines or unites itself into a strong, seamless, rubbery, waterproof, and electrically insulating layer."

It's like magic,  but you have to be very careful you don't accidentally allow it to brush against itself before you've wrapped it around what you intend to wrap it around, as it is impossible to separate once amalgamated. It's prevented from doing so when on a roll by a separating layer of plastic.

Fuel Prices

So supermarkets are coming under fire for not passing on fuel price drops to their customers.

But motorway service stations have been ripping off customers for fuel ever since they were invented, and no-one bats an eyelid.

OK, they have somewhat higher costs than high street outlets, but they'd get unimaginable footfall if they reduced their prices. 

We have a privately owned fuel station in Old Sodbury, which undercuts every outlet in the area by a substantial margin and is always full of customers. 

Only Gone and Done it Again!

Lidl was doing Inverter Welding machines for £39.99 - I simply couldn't resist, M'Lud. Light as a feather and under half the footprint of my old arc welding machine, which can now be sold on to help defray the cost. If I'm truthful, I prefer the inverter welder to the new MIG outfit. For a start I'm more attuned to arc welding.

I've also been playing with the sandblaster, but what a kerfuffle. It had some really heavy duty, black grit in it, but it kept blocking up. Kept emptying it and blowing it through, eventually managing to clear the obstruction, which may have been caused by residual water in the hopper clagging the grit.

Eventually emptied the black grit and replaced it with blasting sand, however, the sand is nowhere near as effective at paint and rust removal as the black grit, but the black grit is too aggressive. Will need something in the middle.

Bloody sand goes everywhere. I really need a booth in which to do the blasting in order to keep the sand away from delicate stuff - or roll the car outside to do it.

Had some trouble with my compressor, which is only just up to the job of running the blaster. When I bought it, many years ago, the oil filler cap blew off and disappeared into the stratosphere, never to be found. I replaced it with a cork, but the cork also kept being launched into space. Eventually I just left it, but the result was a fine mist of oil being sprayed about in a radius of about 3 feet of the compressor.

The other day I decided to purchase a replacement filler cap and discovered that it actually has a tiny airhole down the centre. Obviously, the original's airhole had blocked, causing pressure to build up in the oil chamber. A cork only made it worse. 

I may have to replace the compressor with something capable of about 10 or more cubic feet of air per minute. The higher the CFM, the better the blasting experience. The higher powered compressors tend to be petrol driven.

Clustered Escalation

Cluster munitions - let's have a look at the arguments.

What's the objection to cluster munitions when we're giving Ukraine larger and larger sticks to beat back the Russian invaders? A missile, which we give Ukraine, is not exactly a feather duster to tickle the Russians with.

The usual objection is that they aren't too good for civilians, but there shouldn't be any Russian civilians on Ukrainian territory, which is where the munitions would be limited to. They're targeted at troops, and troops are fair game, especially as Ukraine is a sovereign nation defending itself against brutal aggression - the Ukrainians can use what they want on their own territory. 

It's not as if the Russians, who are not signed up to the ban, aren't using them. Ukraine is engaged in an existential conflict where it's the much smaller and weaker participant. It seems ridiculous to tie one hand behind the Ukrainians' backs at a time when they're short of all munitions. Militarily they're a pragmatic necessity, the use of which supersedes all other considerations.

If we look at it politically, Ukraine using cluster munitions will not escalate the situation to where Russia uses them - Russia already is using them.

The only civilian danger of Ukraine using cluster munitions would be to Ukrainian civilians going back into land that's retaken, but given the Russians have used mines extensively, the areas are going to have to be gone over with a fine-tooth comb anyway. In any case, it's up to Ukraine as to whether it wants to put its own civilians in some future danger in preference to an immediate danger from Russia. In any case, the Ukrainians, mindful of their own people, will log where they're used.

It's OK to say; "We'll fight like gentlemen," when both parties play by the same protocol, but not when one party engages in rape, summary execution and mutilation.

The question is not whether Ukraine should use cluster munitions (they clearly have no option), but whether the USA is justified in giving Ukraine cluster munitions and whether Ukraine's use of them would erode the West's support for Ukraine?

Ethic cannot override every other consideration in war - else you simply wouldn't go to war, even to defend yourself. The more a situation becomes existential, the more ethics and morality take a back seat when seeking to survive.

Address the Root Cause

Watching the response to the riots in France and the way our government similarly reacts to challenges, it's obvious that they're treating the symptoms, rather than the causes of issues. It's a populist response lacking in intellectual rigour. 

A crackdown on certain behaviour generates a greater backlash, leading to more crackdowns, in an unvirtuous cycle of repression, when it's repression that causes the problem in the first place.

Surely it's better to treat the cause than merely react to the symptoms? Analyse and discuss.

The Tool for the Job

Ever had the situation where a couple of tools that aren't required immediately, yet are always in your face to the point of annoyance, disappear completely at the very moment you need them?

Our bathroom sink has had a blockage for some time. Hay blamed it on beard hair, whereas I was convinced it was something else. As it transpired, we were both right, as it was a couple of her plastic, tooth flossing things that were stuck in the bottle trap and they were catching all the bead hair. It was horrible.

Anyway, for month now I've been coming across 2 pairs of plier wrenches and a roll of PTFE tape in my toolbox. However, come the small plumbing job, they inexplicably vanished.

It took me half an hour to find one of the plier wrenches - it was under the new rear wing panel of the GT6 on my workbench. What possessed me to leave it there is beyond me. The other wrench has yet to manifest itself. As for the PTFE tape - it has disappeared into the interstices of spacetime and I had to buy 10 rolls from ToolStation.

I'm reading a new book, by the way. It's got a great plot and I highly recommend it.

Now where's that fibreglass matting that has been staring me in the face for the last couple of years?

You know, sometimes I feel quite guilty about posting on social media. Some reading this won't have the perfect life that I portray in my posts....

Playing in the Sand

 Oooer!

I'm going to enjoy playing with my new toy - a Sealey sandblaster obtained on Facebook Market.

Currently it has a rather coarse grit in it which was used for derusting a truck. I'm not too familiar with the different grit sizes for sandblasting, so I'll need to do some research before blasting massive holes in everything - and get suitable PPE.

I've been watching some YouTube videos on different media and the consensus seems to be that sifted play sand is much, much cheaper than commercially available media, such as aluminium oxide, although perhaps not as effective. However, one has be well protected from breathing in any silica dust.

Will have to make a trip to a nice beach with fine sand in the motorhome.

GT6 Update

I've only gone and bought a galvanised, 2nd hand chassis for the GT6. 

As can be seen from the front end (top right of the photo), it's a Mk I but, seeing as I have a refurbished front section, that's easily rectified by chopping off the old front end and welding on the refurbished, Mk III section. It will also require engine mounts welding on, but that's a minor issue as they're readily available from Rimmer Bros.

Got it for £350 against an asking price of £400, and the fact it's galvanised saves me a lot of effort. Obviously, once it has the replacement front end it will no longer be fully galvanised, but the front is easily accessible due to the nature of the way the bonnet opens and can be treated with a suitable rust preventative and would be painted the same colour as the car. 

All in all, £450 for a full chassis, which is just over half the price of the nearest equivalent I saw on e-Bay, and that one wasn't even galvanised. In any case, I can sell-on the one that's already on the car when I see how preserved it is, recouping some of the cost. The only issue is that the purchase is in Preston, but I'm sure we'll be going near there sometime during the summer.

The interesting thing about the Spitfire and GT6 chassis suspension is that there is only one rear leaf spring and it's positioned in the transverse orientation. If you look at the rear end (bottom left of the photo above), you'll see a bowed, transverse member; that's what the leaf spring attaches to.

This photo shows what I mean.

Early E-Type Jags, the Corvette Stingray, the TR4A and the TR6 used a lateral system too - in fact, most cars did. With the TR4A IRS, two fore-and-aft springs were used - hence the IRS, or Independent Rear Suspension designation, which became the norm. 

The overall chassis with engine, gearbox and suspension is shown below (not a Mk III though - more like a Mk II). The transverse, rear spring is painted yellow.

On another subject, I've been quoted £750 plus VAT by a local company for rechroming my two bumpers. That's £900 in real money. However, I wondered if there are such things as stainless steel bumpers and, miraculously, they exist. Rimmer Brothers do them for just over a grand (just under a grand on e-Bay) and I'm seriously thinking of getting a pair when the time is right.

Stainless steel can be polished until it looks like chrome and there’s no risk of unsightly corrosion. If scratched, it just forms a new oxide layer. If bent, it can just be pushed back into shape and re-polished, whereas chrome cracks. No-brainer! Below is the promotional image from Rimmer's and I can't tell the difference.

If I were to rechrome my bumpers it would be £900 all told (maybe more) and there's a good chance they would deteriorate over time anyway. It might not be in my lifetime, but it would happen. If I were to get the s/s ones, I could recoup part of the cost by selling my own bumpers, and there's a damned good chance I'd get £250 (that's how much they're going for on e-Bay) so it would come out to £800 - less than the cost of re-chroming and with a much longer lifetime.

Talking of selling bits, the I sold the bucket seats I don't want for £100, which will be added to the tool fund, or pay for a replacement transmission tunnel which, unfortunately, are available in plastic or fibreglass now. Fabricating one would be above my pay grade and scrap ones aren't, generally, worth the money.

Had an initial play with my new, gasless MIG welder on some scrap iron.

It's really awful welding, as you can see, but I have to get used to a totally new method - totally new to me, that is. The flux-cored wire is automatically fed out from a spool and you have to use the right wire size for the thickness of metal you're welding. The pieces of steel above are way to thick for the 0.8mm wire I was using (3mm and 5mm), but I was less interested in penetration and a pretty result than in gauging what setting to put on the wire feed speed to get a sufficient pool of weld material. The first few passes produced a lot of spattering, but it got better and certainly held together well.

I need to cut some pieces of 1.2mm plate to work on in order to perfect the spool speed, amperage and travel speed before being let loose anywhere near the car. About half a day of practice should be enough. For the chassis welding I'd rather use my arc welding kit, a process which I'm more intimately familiar with.

Also broke out the plasma cutter and, I have to say, it works rather well. Tried it on the 5mm plate that I tried welding above and on some 1.2mm.

Used 2 Bar and 21 Amps, which worked well on the 1.2mm plate. Again, it's a case of playing with the air pressure and amps to obtain the best results.

Did my first bit of refurbishment too - the bonnet support member.

It was covered in layer after layer of paint and good dose of rust. Gave it a once over back to bare metal with the twisted wire brush, applied some Jenolite and painted it with etching primer to stop it getting any worse. The feet still need doing with a sandblaster.

Next on the list, actually, is a sand blaster and, 2nd hand, they go for around £150 on Facebook Market. While the twisted wire brush on an angle grinder is the fastest mechanical method of paint and rust removal, there are parts of the car where a brush can't reach and a sand blaster is the only alternative. Bloody messy alternative though; however, the blasting sand is reusable a few times, if sifted. Hopefully collecting one today.

I've also ordered a panel beating set of dollies and hammers, which will come in handy for levelling some bumps in the bonnet and elsewhere.

What with all these purchases, Hay thinks I could save myself a packet and a lot of effort by simply buying a fully restored GT6. That may be the case, but it's not the objective nor the challenge and does absolutely bugger all for my fast growing tool collection. Women, eh?

An interesting fact - there are only 197 GT6s registered as being on the road, but that's according to MoT numbers and not all GT6s will have an MoT due to being exempt. However, I would imagine that most GT6 owners would have their vehicles checked for safety by having an MoT. Compare this against 434 MGBs having an MoT, so the GT6 is much rarer.

My main issue at present is space - my mate's humungous dog kennel is taking up half the space in the garage and won't be gone till he finds another van for it to go into. That's preventing me from laying stuff on the floor and appraising it, so I'm just doing bits and bobs.