I've had a thoroughly testing week looking at the windscreen components.  I think the Coronavirus lockdown must be getting to me as the whole restoration has been testing but now testing feels remarkably close to frustrating.  Oh well.

I did get the pillars to fit into the bases well having attacked the pillars with a file.  This felt awkward though as I am conscious that these items are original and rare and it seems somewhat loutish to be adjusting them in such a way.  However once done I looked to fitting the new metalwork that I had bought for the screen only to discover more frustration.

I noticed that when I trial fitted the beautiful looking fold down links that I couldn't get the spring assembly to fit.  On further investigation I discovered that the two links were different.  One had a hole for the spring assembly that was too small for it to fit.  I thought about drilling it out but then realised that the hole would then rust and probably quite quickly.  I then noticed that the slots on the other end of the links were different distances away meaning that, potentially the screen would pivot at an angle.  When I fitted the knurled knob one of them wouldn't screw onto the pin because it was already rusty.  When I looked at the knurled knob in detail I saw that the chrome plating looked like it wasn't completely over the item meaning that it too would rust.  Finally when I went to fit the screw into the pin I discovered that it had a different thread and so didn't fit either.   Aaaarrrgghhhhhhhhh.

So I contacted the supplier who said that they would look at them but because they were on a reduced staffing level they couldn't say when they would.  Wonderful.

On a different note I bought a new solenoid from another supplier because somewhere along the route of Healey restoration I was told that this specific supplier sold the best quality solenoids.  They are the same price as the two companies I generally use so I thought why not.  I noticed on their website that they advertised I number plate lamp that was chromed metal and complete with a glass lens so I bought that as well.  When I got the thing it was cheap, nasty and made of plastic.  I emailed to say that I wanted a refund and was told to send it back to Germany.  Germany, why Germany when I bought the item in the UK and the postage will cost double.  I wouldn't mind but there was no apology either.

I see this from both sides.  It must be hard for a company to make money selling Healey parts when there is a competitive market and limited customers.  I mean how many knurled knobs can a company sell a year?  And whilst this lot cost the best part of £240 they probably had to do quite a lot of work for the amount of profit they would have made.  However, they have got to quality check this stuff.  If they sell two things that fit together then they should check that they do actually fit together.  If they say the lens is glass then it ought be glass.

Rant over.  I wonder if this is lockdown related?  I mean I think I rant too much these days.  Got to chill a little.

This all happened during the week.  Yesterday I did the very few final jobs from the patio such as fitting the ground anchor for the Triumph in its new position and dropping back the wheel barrow and power supply to the in-laws from where they came before continuing with the screen.

I had the devil's own job getting this far.  The passenger mount is secured but the drivers side is just resting in place.  The screen surround doesn't fit together and will need some modification, gulp.  I can't really see what has changed with the regards to the pillar bases as I have had them in place since the car has been in colour.  The only thing that has changed is that I have bolted up the wings fully with the beading in position.  On that front you can see the wing mount for the screen when in the lowered position on the screen and that is because despite allowing some room for manoeuvre when cutting the beading to size I didn't leave enough.  Oh well, again, better to have it too long than too short.

Whilst being thoroughly miserable I also noticed that the rear shroud has got cracks in the paint from the boot aperture at the corners which is very sad.  I don't what I could have done about this I had this section welded as part of the process of restoring them.  I haven't even driven the car since the paint was done which could means that once I do even more cracks are going to appear.  I am consoled by the fact that this was never going to be a concours restoration nor was I doing it to sell for lots of money.  I have always hoped that I would end up with a useable and reliable car that is good to drive and looks good.  And it looks good.

On a positive note, the screed does fit in the bases ok and if that hadn't happened it would have been an astronomical cluster f***.  It does look good.