John is back!!!

Finally got back in the workshop this weekend. John and his family came to stay and John and I spent most of Saturday working on the car, with high hopes of actually getting it onto 2 wheels. I set to work finishing suspension brackets and re-doing some welds on the wishbones, while John began to fabricate the structure at the front where the front suspension will attach. The front progressed well and finished up with about half of it tacked into place. At the rear however, things were a bit difficult. Having attached the lower wishbone on one side, it became apparent that the intended location of the top mount was not feasible. After much thought, the difficult decision to remove one of the chassis tubes was made.
We were always aware when we changed from Rover mechanicals to the Ford engine, that we would probably have to move something, however, it was still difficult cutting away what was actually quite a tricky tube to cut to size. Once this was done, the top mount was tacked on and the strut bolted into place temporarily. When we tried to compress the strut, it didn’t move and the whole car lifted.

Again, much head scratching ensued with the conclusion that as the strut has been at full extension on the stops oaf a while, maybe it has a bit of ‘stiction’ and may need a technical tap to free it. Unfortunately we had to call it quits at this point and return to 2 wives and five kids........Can’t wait to get back in the workshop again!