Chassis mistakes

Chugging around from Slicks to Marks in the transporter I could sense that Chris was becoming increasingly tense. There are always concerns that the old beast will let us down, as in the past, gasping it’s last at the crossroads at Standish creating gridlock mayhem or dying outside RG engineering attracting a crowd of grubby, smirking welders offering advice and jump leads. Our fears were unfounded as the old dog performed quite well sparking up first time. We left the engine running whilst we loaded the chassis, just to edge our bets, plodded down Preston road and into Standish. Green lane was traffic free, as was Westmead. Then, Chris suddenly switched to military mode instructing me to reverse the vehicle right up to the garage; he proposed then to quickly leap out hastily opening the door. “As soon as it is unloaded don’t hang around, go back to Slicks, don’t over rev but don’t stall it, for god’s sake….come on quick, it’s the neighbours they are all watching, they think I’m strange at the best of times, they will certainly assume I’m mental if they spot this primeval iron contraption being hidden in my house!” I complied with the military orders ‘doing my part to ensure the covert operation ran like clockwork. Chris does seem to hold an unhealthy, paranoid opinion of his neighbours. If he wants to pursue his own hobby in his own house why the fuck should his neighbours object? Having said that, I don’t live in Westmead with ‘tete dust’ floating in the air or angle grinders screeching and rasping so it is probably prudent to keep a low profile when possible. The wimp.

Chris managed to grind off most of the rough edges that Andy had missed to reveal a sturdy, brutish but strikingly attractive chunk of steel. It was essential that the body tub was lifted onto the chassis to verify that all the new brackets matched up as they had done prior to welding. Everything seemed perfect until we realised that the rear support members had been fastened to the chassis ‘in the wrong place’. Andy had taken the underside of the chassis as the horizontal plane instead of the topside. This resulted in the rear outriggers being located too low and too short to meet the boot panel. This minor disaster can be rectified but it is another delay we can ill afford.

This has been another pissy day.