The floor pans had rusted
through and the carpet on the passenger side was removed some
time before the car was taken off the road. It was quite novel
to see the road moving through the holes, also a little damp at
times!
New panels were fitted to
rear & front wings, wheel arches front and back & another
boot lid was found. Both doors were re-skinned.
All the mechanical parts and
the engine I stripped and re-built myself during the summer out
in the back garden. I replaced the big ends, piston rings and
timing chain at the same time as thoroughly cleaning all the engine
parts.I had no intention of doing much to the engine as it was
running really well when I took it off the road, but I thought
"I'll just do the big ends while the engines out, and maybe
I'll see how easy it would be to do the timing chain --- ".
And before I knew it the whole engine was in little bits
on the patio.
All the mechanical parts were
wire brushed clean, stripped, painted and re-built, replacing
all worn or damaged parts. This too was not planned to be done
to the extent that it eventually was, but the same thing happened
and although they are not restored to new condition, they are
all in good shape and should last a good number of years.
The whole point in my doing the restoration
is not to end up with a concours Herald, but a good looking, reliable
car that will be used daily.
I plan to do some modifications
and have already put disc brake on the front. I have an alternator
ready to go on and would like to improve the heater, as it used
to be that if you had lights, windscreen wipers and heater on
together, everything used to go dim and the radio went off!
I hope the alternator will fix this. Also if I can put a multi-speed
switch on the heater it should improve it, rather than 'no heater
motor on' which did next to nothing or 'motor on' which fried
your legs and drained the battery!
