It seems a long time since I had anything to write about, it’s the 15th October and I’m still waiting for the body to leave the UK. The shipping people seem to be shifting the goal posts all the time, every time we think we are ready the find something else to change, I’m sure John in UK is wishing he had never heard of me.
I have been looking for a suitable material to make the packing pieces that go between the chassis and the body, something that I can shape with the equipment I have. It seems all sorts of material has been used from hard rubber to aluminium, in the end I have settled on PVC sheet ¼’’ and 1/8″ thick plus Formica for shims. I searched around for a supplier of PVC sheet and in the end was directed to the warehouse of what must be the major supplier. A huge selection of plastic in all forms but seeing my needs were so small I was directed to their rubbish bin where there were quite large pieces of just what I needed for the taking, the price was right too, free. It is true about one man’s rubbish in another man’s gold. The minimum datum is ½” so will have plenty of selection to get the body settled right. This has been cut with a hole-saw in the drill press into 2″ discs with a 7/16″ hole, a very tedious job.
I have purchased a variety of bolts, all needed as the car is being upgraded to a B spec., included in this are 4 extra special bolts to hold the body on. The normal are special hex-head with a countersink part under the head. If this is turned off a standard bolt not enough head is left to put a socket on so I understand the usual practice is to build a fillet of bronze under the head and then turn that off. I have opted to use 3/8 NF countersunk Allen head bolts, off the shelf, must be just as good and much easier. All the cup washers for the chassis bolts have been cleaned, rust-proofed and painted and the 4 extra have been made from frost plugs.
The rubbers under the cup washers are at over 40 years old, really passed their used by date so I shopped round to get some suitable sheet rubber to cut these out of, managed to get some from Gasket Specialists in Ellerslie. After a bit of thought I used a hole-saw in the drill press and then punched the centre hole with a wad punch. The outer edge was cleaned up on the grinder. A good but dirty job done.
It’s now 31st October and the body is I hope about to leave the UK. Talk about a drama, the last hiccup was the shipping people wanting 345.00 GBP to move the crate from High Wycombe to London in the end our friend John is getting a local carrier to do the job for 135.00 GBP, this at the exchange rate today works out at $451.61 NZ for a move of what is really a very short distance. We should be very glad we live where we do.