Good Friday meant a return to the garage after a while away due to a combination of factors: March is a busy time for teachers as there is enough time to make changes for final year students and for those changes to make a difference, my wife and I celebrated our anniversary with a lovely weekend in Nice, I actually did some cycling and that takes time and basically I was a little cheesed off after the last session where my fears on the position of the front bulkhead came to life.  Anyway, a few weeks away and I returned with fresh energy and optimism.  I realised that I had quite missed the place and the car.  During my discussions with my panel-beater friend he was clear that the first thing to do way to put the axel back in and take measurements to check that the chassis is aligned correctly.  He said that if that was good then the body issues could be attacked with confidence that the finished car will be good to drive.  So, back to the axel then:  

Step 1: rear springs.  These went in amazingly easy compared to the first time I fitted them and made me feel happy to be back working on the car.

Step 2: fit the axel.  Blimey the thing is heavy.  It took a lot of energy to get it out of its long term resting place, unwrapped and moved to the other side of the garage, a mere 8-10 feet away.

I decided that I needed to take little steps and have regular rest so I used the excuse of needing lots of photos to provide the rest, lousy excuse for being leisurely I know but I took it all the same.

Once the axel was in I sat down and had a coffee, you can't possibly know how much effort that took a pen pusher to do unless you've done it yourself.  Now on to the tricky bit, getting bolted up.  Since I last fitted the axel I had extended the pins in the leaf springs that the axel sits on and it certainly made life easier to locate the axel.  Maybe it was better because the springs had been fitted before but easier it was.  Last time I had my wife and her friend, the big South African cyclist/runner on top of the car as ballast but this time I managed to get it done without much fanfare on my own.

Once nicely bolted up I took a look at the front again.  My panel-beater friend had noticed that one side of the front wishbone sat lower than the other and I soon realised that offending side was fowling on the chassis.  So I removed the wishbone and removed the metal on the chassis that the wishbone was catching on and re-fitted it all and hey presto both sides had a full range of movement.

Step 3: take measurement and hope.

Now the day was good anyway (not working on a Friday must be good, right?) but it got a whole lot better with the tape measure in my hand.  Every measurement I took from front to back was millimetre perfect.  I closed the garage door and collapsed into the bath to sooth my old back which was (and still is) grumbling about the axel fitting.

On to the bodywork.  Before I left the garage I took measurements from everywhere and no clear picture could be ascertained but after lots of pondering I concluded that the top of the bulkhead where the shroud mounts was a few millimetres further back on one side.  I don't think the shroud needs to be moved much at the back to have quite a significant movement at the front because of the length of it.  However, I am going to have to do something about it without having too much of an impact on the position of the A posts and therefore door gaps etc.  I am also reluctant to undo all of the welding I have done to the A posts and the bottom of the bulkhead / sill area because it will make a mess even though I have generally just tack welded everything to date.  I am resigned to having to revisit the door gaps though and everything that comes with it, oh well I signed up for a challenge and boy have I got one.

On Sunday I got round to fitting the final wing on and taking the car out of the garage.

It was quickly clear to me that the wheels didn't sit evenly, very disappointing.

The first picture above shows the wheel in further than the picture below it.  I am conscious that the wings look a little thrown on, which they are but the alignment is definitely not correct.

The sides looked fairly even so I was happy with them.

I cant quite work out where all the issues stem from but I am clear in my mind that the shroud is not positioned correctly.  I called up a friend who is a panel beater on modern cars and asked for his opinion.  He called round tonight and suggested I take measurements to check that the chassis is aligned and that the wheels on each side are square.  Once done then it is on to checking the bulkhead.

I am beginning to fear that I need to move the bulkhead and therefore upset the position of the doors and wings.  It feels very frustrating at the moment.  I am away at the weekend so it will be a few days before I get back into the garage and at the moment that feels like a wise idea.

Having received a delivery of bushes from Ahead 4 Healeys I set about fitting the wishbones.  Naturally I realise straight away that I had been a pillock of the highest order.  The mounting posts for the wishbones are on the chassis that had been zinc plated by the previous owner and so, of course, the wishbone pins didn't fit properly.  To access them to remedy this I needed to take off the inner wings that I have only just fitted; 2 steps forward and 1.5 steps back.

Anyway, I thought that this would be a fairly relaxed job and it was although it took a while.  I started at about 9:00 and by 12:30 I had only fitted one side.  I had to stop at this stage because Spurs were playing Arsenal at 12:45 and I couldn't miss that for the world ( 2-2 in case you were wondering).

I returned in the afternoon and fitted the other wishbone and then got as far as one wing and a wheel.  I need to get in the garage tomorrow to do the same to the other side and see where we lie with regards to alignment, exciting times.

I went to see John last weekend and had an enjoyable couple of hours checking out various items.  I managed to get the bulk of a fuel pump repair kit, a spacer for the pedal bar, a replacement control box and a gearbox cover to the rear tunnel.  That was pleasing.  I also managed to locate the position of the tray that the wiper motor mounts on to as I can't find any measurements.

I discovered that John has owned this car since the mid 60s, how cool is that.

I took the chance to see what happens where the pedal bars go through the body.

And discovered that a bracket is required for a return spring to the brake master cylinder.  This was a good time for that to happen as it would have been awful to realise that after the chassis was painted.

Having previously asked I knew that Ahead 4 Healeys do not stock the brackets welded on to the chassis to mount the battery on.  John and I discussed the battery possibilities and I am thinking that I should go for a single unit as the cost of the twin batteries and the battery clamps is extremely high compared to a single equivalent.  I have been lucky enough to own a few MGBs and have always been happy enough with their twin set up but the final nail in the coffin was that the modern batteries and the brackets are not the original style.

I am thinking of reusing the clamps removed a few weeks back and making new brackets for a single battery.  I will ponder this for a while.  Another area for consideration is the removal of the battery circuit breaker switch in the boot.  Apparently they were frequently removed back in the day.  I don't have one at the moment so I may consider that a long way down the road.