Patch'n Paint'n rear end

The main project of the day was cleaning and painting around the back end of the car, the spare tire hatch and the lower rear fenders. I had scraped and wirebrushed this area on my previous "car day", so today was sanding, then a coat of primer and a first coat of white enamel. It is looking good, but I will probably do a second coat. Due to 5 or 6 degree C temperature today, I used two electric heaters to warm things up, and will leave them on for a couple of hours into the evening.

While waiting for the paint to dry I had a look under all four brake drums. I found the shoes and wheel cylinders to be surprisingly clean and neat... cleaner than I have ever seen on my cars, and there is plenty of wear left on the shoes.

I also patched the hole in the front right fender "wing" with some "glaze" filler. I will let that dry thoroughly before sanding it for painting.

And, finally, I stripped the tail light lenses and rear trunk handle from the parts car as they were in much better shape than the white car. That parts car just continues to give and give!

Rust 'n Dust

Spent the whole day scraping and wire brushing the undercarriage and the suspension and steering gear. Hard work, but satisfying. No serious problems discovered, but two big piles of rust and dust were scraped off. The car is probably 4 or 5 kgs lighter now.
The rubber bushings and grease cups are all pretty rotten... I will have to set that as a project some time in the next year or two.
Next stop... the paint store.

 Two big piles of rust:

After:

Before:

Dark Underworld

For the first time since I've had the car I had a good look at the underside today. It is now up on jackstands and the wheels are off.
At first glance it looks quite the mess, but upon closer examination it all looks amazingly good! There is surface rust, and some packed on dirt and mud, but everything important that I can see looks firm and solid, especially the exhaust system and the drive shaft (propellor shaft to Brits). The suspension and steering gear are all pretty rusty, and will need some good wire brushing before I can properly assess them, but the rubber boots and bushings seem to be in one piece.

I also removed the bumpers today, and will send them in for an estimate on replating. The rear bumper on the parts car might be OK if the replating costs are prohibitive.

There is quite a lot of bubbling and surface rust around the spare tire compartment which is accessed by a little compartment under the rear bumper. I have given that area and the trunk (boot) a good brushing, and my next task will likely be painting of those areas.

What next?

So, phase one complete! I finished the interior work today with the installation of the front door panels.
In honour of this job done, I decided to fire her up to get some clean gasoline into the carb, resettle the tires and clean up the garage a bit. The engine turned over OK with the starter, but wouldn't catch. I checked the plugs and found them dry, so the problem was fuel supply. Checking the fuel pump I found no fuel getting through, so I went and got some fresh gasoline and dumped in 10 litres. Still no flow. So I jiggled the flex tubing at the pump, and sure enough, got the prime going. With that, she fired up with just a few turns.
The engine certainly purrs beautifully.
I drove her in and out the driveway for a while. There was a fair bit of white exhaust when she was cold, but that settled down when she warmed up. I will have to watch the coolant levels. While I had her running, I checked some of the electrics for the first time. Was pleasantly surprised to find almost everything working: lights, wipers, gauges, right turn signal... but no left... will have to sort that out, and the radio came on, which I had not expected. It still does not receive any stations, but the light comes on and there is a bit of static. Not sure what that is about... will check further down the line.
The dilemma now is, what to tackle next.
The trunk (boot) needs cleaning up and painting, and then having the liner stuff replaced which will be the next project.
The bumpers need removal and rechroming. That will be a bit of an expense.
The big decision is what to do with the bodywork. There is some rust bubbling here and there on the lower panels... not serious, but still noticeable, and the whole undercarriage needs the surface rust scraped or sandblasted. I would like to do it myself, in keeping with the whole project, but a professional would have the tools and skills to do a better job. I think I will consult with the guy who did my Westfalia and see what he has to say.
It is very satisfying to have the car complete inside, and to find that it is very driveable, and ready for licensing any time. I will wait until the road salt season is over before I do that.

The Doors, Remix

No, not those "Doors", but I think Jimmy might appreciate what I am doing!
I reinstalled the Rover's doors today. It was a pretty straightforward job, but I did have to borrow a few bolts from the parts car to replace 3 or 4 that had their heads rather stripped, and it was a bit tricky propping the doors to just the right level for inserting the bolts, with scraps of lumber. Quite satisfying though, to get them making just the right thump sound as they closed.
The next step was the fabric door panels. Again, nothing is quite straightforward on this kind of task, and I did have to take some time adjusting and refitting the fabric on the boards, jimmying the mounting clips, and the fiddly job of remounting the handles with their little retaining pins. The rear doors are finished, and looking very spiffy indeed. My next "car day" should see the front door panels mounted pretty quickly, and then I may well start her up to let her run a bit and back her out of the garage for a cleanup before beginning a new stage of restoration, probably get her up on jackstands to have a good look at the undercarriage and suspension parts.

Interior done!

I pretty well wrapped up the interior work today. I finished installing the radio, though I am not hopeful of it ever working, and ditto for the clock. Indeed, because the radio is for slightly later P4s, the clock would not fit right, and I had to jimmy it in. Looks good, but not likely ever going to work.
Then reinstalled the walnut dashboard and the front seat... and thats pretty well it for the interior.

Before and after:

I then went to have a look at the doors and prepare them for reinstallation. I discovered that they needed some lubrication of the fittings, and then noticed the very pocky door handles... just wont do with the snazzy new interior! I then cheked the parts car and found that all four outdoor handles were in nice shape, probably re-chromed recently, so I swapped them all over to the good car.
That pretty well was the day, so next day will be reinstalling the doors.


Before:

After

Back at it.....

I got back to a bit of work on the car today after being away all of December. The first challenge was the radio, as it needs to be installed before I can reinstall the walnut dash fascia and the steering wheel.
I installed the 12aq6 tube that I determined was the needed one, but on checking the radio, I still get no reception. So, the dilemma is, do I reinstall the authentic old radio just for appearance sake, or do I purchase a new "Retrosound" unit? Pat convinced me that for the little time I would actually be driving, it is not worth the price of the new unit, especially sacrificing the authenticity of the old radio, so I proceeded with reinstalling the old unit.
When I say "reinstall", that is not really accurate, as this car never has a radio, it is a swap from the parts car. This means there continue to be little challenges in the fitting, and I had to do a little bit more cutting of the mounting frame of the dashboard. I did almost finish the job by the end of the day, but it still needs a couple of screw holes drilled and screws fitted. Hopefully the next car day will see the dash fitted and the interior pretty well concluded.... To be continued.