Had a lovely day in the garage today which considering it is a miserable January day makes it all the better.

I started but bolting on the rear off side wing which went pretty easily.  I had to modify the position of the bottom of the wing to the rear of the wheel arch as it was too high.  I then proceeded to look at the front wing.  Miraculously I found the 4 pieces of steel that form the captive nuts for the bolts that hold the wing support trim which I cleaned up and painted before slotting them back into the wing.  What was a pain was finding a set of bolts to fit into them.  I have no idea what thread they are and it took about 20 minutes routing around all the bolts I have before I had found a suitable pair.

Before putting the wing on I had a detailed look at the welding on the rear edge of the wing that I had done recently having previously ground the wing back to make the door gap work.  I think this will come back to haunt me at some point.  Anyway I decided that it wasn't good enough so had another go at it with the MIG welder.  Lost of welding and grinding later I bolted the wing on.

I also noticed that there is  a bit of research needed for the A post.

I had never looked at the return checking device.  When I did it was obvious something was wrong (apart from the fact that I am holding it the wrong way round that is).  Having looked up the brochures on the Ahead 4 Healey's web site I realise I have the wrong one.  Damn.  Especially as it will be another £90 to get it rectified.  I'm tempted to have a go at making a plate myself. Something to ponder over.

I am thinking of the next steps now.  I have decided to buy the gas welding equipment from Tinmantech rather than go for a cheap TIG or pay a professional to do it.  I am essentially troubled by the prospect of a professional charging me a lot of money and then finding another fault that requires welding.  Also, I think I must be able to learn how to do it myself, it might be fun even.  My wife is going to Miami in 5 weeks which means she can collect it and bring it back to avoid me paying the import duties.  Working out what I need to order at the moment.

I am also thinking of getting the wings dipped, I realise I have been here before but it seems the safest option.  I think I could take them to be dipped in my next holiday in 5 weeks.  They are basically ready but I need to get them fully bolted on first.  I mean that I have been using just a few of the bolts to put them in place rather than every single bolt hole.  I am a bit troubled that when I bolt them up properly that some of the holes won't line up.  I think this would be good thing to get done before I take the wings to be treated.

Once done I can then weld up the chassis.  This will be fun.  Then I will have a choice, do I start to fit up the drive train or do I do all the filler work on the wings?  I know the filler work will make a lot of mess so I am thinking that this should be done first.  Against that though is the problem of what I would do with the wings whilst I do the mechanics.  After all, I wouldn't want them getting scratched or knocked if they are ready for paint.  Decisions, decisions.

Christmas is a good time for garage time and I got a few days in the garage this week.  I put the wing back on and got a sensible door gap, all good.   I did need to reshape the lower front edge of the wing and was happy with how it turned out.

Feeling quite happy with that I took the car out of the garage to get some photos: