April

“Spring has sprung!”

Progress for April has been good.

Our new front leaf springs have arrived replacing the old ones which were in a poor condition. Unfortunately, immediate fitting wasn’t possible due to the discovery of a badly worn front hanger bracket (the ‘eye’ is egg shaped!) – this will have to be sent away to be repaired. This explains why the shackle pin had been welded into position! Four new shackle pins will have to be sourced before we can hang the springs too – we might as well fit new ones, as we definitely won’t want to have to replace them at a later date with all the work that would entail!
 

The axle beam and track rod have received their topcoats of paint and await the return of all the constituent parts which make up the front axle and suspension. Two new King Pin kits have been purchased and are ready to be added to the Stub axles which Stephen finished stripping and refurbishing last month. He continues to for-go his lunch breaks at work and has now rebuilt the offside front break assembly (with the assistance & guidance of Pete) complete with new break shoes. The nearside one should be complete this week if he can find the energy.
 

Rebuilt offside brake assembly with new brake shoes

The floor traps have been disassembled and all the aluminium edgings have been reshaped and tidied up to remove the score marks and ‘dings’.  

A supplier of suitable floor coverings has been located and hopefully, once we receive some samples, the lino can be ordered and then the traps can be covered.

The repaired plastic dashboard moulding has been refitted and now awaits the next visit of electrical magician Mr Sharpe so that the actual dash itself can be reinstated.

With Stephen in demand elsewhere on a couple of days, I’ve taken the opportunity to take control of the workshop space and had the front fibreglass moulding up on the work bench to continue its’ repair and preparation. Next weekend it will get its first light coat of primer to check how successful I have been!

Saturday the 18th was a landmark day for us – after a couple of false starts the rear fibreglass moulding was permanently fitted.

Finally the rear moulding is permanently fitted - time for a brew and a butty!

The previous weekend we had made up the last fillets of woodwork to support the rear name glass which now fits perfectly in the aperture.
We are extremely pleased to have achieved this as we have replaced / rebuilt virtually the whole of the back end of CDK (new boot walls, floor, framework, seat box and of course all the supporting, shaped woodwork). Not to mention the hours put in repairing the fibreglass moulding itself.

All that remains now is to re-hang the boot doors and make up two galvanised steel panels which mount from inside the boot behind the rear light clusters. This will also allow the new wiring to be trimmed to the correct lengths in preparation for the re-instatement of the rear light units. A bonus is that we now have a very handy place to store away all the bits and pieces that have been scattered around the workshop for the last 4 years!
 

Final nearside panel being attached

During a check to see if the rear screen window rubbers had enough clearance around the new back shelf it was discovered that over the years vibration of the screens in the rubbers had worn away the fibreglass around the upper edge of the window aperture – so much so that in some places it was non existent. A liberal coating of ‘instant bus’ (glass fibre resin filler) quickly solved this! Not a great deal remains to be done at the back now - time to start moving our way down the offside!
 

Late April - The lino samples have arrived and we have settled on a suitable colour for the recovering of the centre aisle and floor traps. Also in the sample pack was a grey coloured lino which will be suitable for the area of floor around the driver's seat and up to the front wheel arch - unfortunately it is only (allegedly) available in tiles. As we need several meters of it we will have to contact the manufacturer to see if they can supply in roll form. It is a very close colour match to the original.

Also sourced have been the required shackle pins to enable the springs to be hung. The damaged hanger bracket has gone away to a local firm to be reamed out and have a steel collar inserted - once this is returned the springs, axle & radiator can be refitted. Then perhaps, our pockets can stop sweating for a while!

The front fibre glass moulding is now looking good after many hours of attention. This was in just as bad a condition as the rear one following numerous minor collisions over the years. This will have to await the completion of the electrics before it can be refitted.

The air filter oil bath tray has been removed from WEB, repaired, painted and fitted to CDK along with the air intake 'mushroom'. We'll have to find replacements for WEB at a later date.

At long last we feel we are getting somewhere with more bits going back on than are being taken off!