Restoration Diary
12th to 14th October 2001
A series of bolts held the body on to
the chassis, and these had to be removed somehow before the body could be lifted
clear. Not including the four bolts holding the seat belt anchors to the chassis
straps at the rear, there were 
ten bolts in total; two at the bottom of the fuel
tank aperture, two at the front of each foot well, and two at the rear of each
seat pan. These last eight bolts held the body on to fairly thin strips of metal
going across the corners of the chassis 'outriggers'. I've never done any
grinding or serious metal cutting before, and neither had Chris, but the only
way to free up these bolts was going to be cutting them off from underneath the
car. The job took about four hours in total for all the bolts, as much
repositioning of the car was necessary to reach some of them. We split this over
a Friday night and Saturday 
morning. As they started to be removed, my
proficiency in grinding increased greatly, as it was important not to
accidentally hit sound chassis with the grinder. Most of the bolts came away
very cleanly with even the washers hardly being touched. The most difficult area
to reach was the innermost bolts at the rear of the seat pan, as the floor of
the body actually slopes down slightly, with the bolts being the 'wrong' 
side of
a two inch lip of fibreglass. I managed to get to them by putting the front of
the car up on ramps and the rear on axle stands, then approaching the bolts from
the rear centre of the car. Certainly not the easiest of positions, but probably
the most effective.
After the introduction of some alcohol
was mentioned, we managed to persuade an old university friend of mine, James
Martin, to assist with the body lift. Three people would be enough - wouldn't
it? I was able to lift the rear of the body off the chassis fairly easily
myself, but there were no real hand holds, and after six or seven inches,
resistance was felt so we had to re-think 
the situation slightly. At the front
of the body, the foot well areas sloped inwards at the top, so the body had to
be pulled back before it could be lifted off. With the help of some axle stands
the rear of the car was held above the diff area, and the front gently slid
backwards. This revealed the first six or eight inches of chassis just behind
the front wheel, and the gaping rusting hole where there should have been a
steel tube. What would the rest 
of the chassis be like? We didn't know if this
was just the beginning or an isolated area, but it was exactly the same
situation on both sides. With the body now far enough back to clear the
obstructions, one more concerted effort, with Chris and James at the rear of the
car, and myself near enough standing on top of the engine, the entire body was
lifted enough to move sideways and place it on my lawn. Straight away though,
over to the chassis - what was the rest of it like? The expected problem areas
underneath the felt matting, originally in place to absorb vibration, were
unexpectedly in great condition. With a little brushing, the metal looked like
new, 
with only some surface rust in places. Thankfully the areas that concerned
us earlier were isolated spots. Once the chassis has been sand blasted, the
overall condition should be very good.
Next, storage of the body was needed,
and I had allocated a place in my back garden to leave it under cover until the
time comes to work on it and prepare for the re-spray. There was no way three
people could lift this over my back fence however, so down came the fence,
through came the body, and the fence went back up again. We received some very
strange looks though - three big blokes carrying an orange car down the road and
through a fence! Once the body 
was rested on some foam filled bags, we carefully
tucked it away under a 12' x 18' tarpaulin, keeping it as safe from the elements
as possible for a few months while we concentrate on the chassis and engine.
Back on the driveway, the chassis was
given a good pressure washing, exposing even more sound metal and stripping some
of the old powder coating away. We certainly couldn't see any more problem
areas, but I'm sure they will come to light the more we work on
it!
A series of bolts held the body on to
the chassis, and these had to be removed somehow before the body could be lifted
clear. Not including the four bolts holding the seat belt anchors to the chassis
straps at the rear, there were 
ten bolts in total; two at the bottom of the fuel
tank aperture, two at the front of each foot well, and two at the rear of each
seat pan. These last eight bolts held the body on to fairly thin strips of metal
going across the corners of the chassis 'outriggers'. I've never done any
grinding or serious metal cutting before, and neither had Chris, but the only
way to free up these bolts was going to be cutting them off from underneath the
car. The job took about four hours in total for all the bolts, as much
repositioning of the car was necessary to reach some of them. We split this over
a Friday night and Saturday 
morning. As they started to be removed, my
proficiency in grinding increased greatly, as it was important not to
accidentally hit sound chassis with the grinder. Most of the bolts came away
very cleanly with even the washers hardly being touched. The most difficult area
to reach was the innermost bolts at the rear of the seat pan, as the floor of
the body actually slopes down slightly, with the bolts being the 'wrong' 
side of
a two inch lip of fibreglass. I managed to get to them by putting the front of
the car up on ramps and the rear on axle stands, then approaching the bolts from
the rear centre of the car. Certainly not the easiest of positions, but probably
the most effective.
