Suspension

 Thurs.02.11.06. This has been another bitty day. During the morning the foot pedals, rear brake back plates along with the right hand radius arm have received their final coat of Hammerite. Terry has confirmed that he does not have a complete hide of Magnolia leather that was left with him four years ago: reiterating also, that if it was still in his possession it would probably be mouldy having suffered water damaged. He has suggested that a new, ‘medium to good’ quality hide will cost approximately £180.00: he awaits our instructions. The lower front spring bushes recommended by Revington TR have been returned. They are unnecessary, serve little or no purpose and fit quite badly.

The past few days have been slightly eerie and have felt like ‘the quiet before the storm’, ‘the retreating sea before the Tsunami’, ‘the bullet that is never heard’ or as Big Ron manager once said of Doug Ellis just before he was given his P45, “I have the total backing and support of my chairman”. There is a storm brewing.

Fri.03.11.06. Certainly not a storm but merely a fart of wind. The promised rapid rebuild of the car is not happening. Each piece of progress has been hard fought. The construction of many of the basic units has proved to be frustratingly difficult as much of the configuration and assembly is quite different to that of ‘mainstream’ or Ford engineering, which Chris is more familiar and accustomed to. The poor quality of modern machining of the replacement parts has also hindered the build as many of these new components do not fit as well as they ought. At this moment in time what is ‘on view’ at Westmead does not appear to be anything like the £9000 that has been actually spent.

Throughout the morning I had laboured monotonously, cleaning the slave cylinder collar, the thermostat housing, the bell housing and plate, plus also, the timing chain cover, all for the second time. Having cleaned, rust proofed and applied Hammerite to the cover previously Chris decided, as a final coat, to spray paint the external area of the object. But, the spray reacted with the Hammerite adversely and created a crusty pitted surface. This has had to be removed and re-treated. So, never, never, ever, ever spray over Hammerite: I suppose anyone can make mistakes? Although silvery in colour, aluminium is one of the dirtiest materials to clean. The dust is very fine, blacker than a black thing usually settling into every pore on one’s skin, into every imaginable orifice. When I had finished the cleaning process I resembled a ‘black and white minstrel’ with glowing teeth, sparking bulbous eyes beaming from beyond the black greasepaint. Luckily, I was rescued from my tasks by a phone call that took me to Preston to collect the re-built overdrive gearbox.