We decided to do some work in the garden during the Corona virus lockdown and once started I didn't want to stop until it was all done.  It took ages.



This is the new patio complete with a raised bed for planting veg.  Would be full of earth by now if the shops that sell it didn't have such horrific queues to get in.

New shed and bike getting a service.

A massive pile of rubble awaiting the arrival of a skip tomorrow.

I have pondered over what to do next for the best part of the last month and decided that I should do all the bits that require painting Ice Blue.  There are lots of bits and pieces such as the tunnel cover and the bonnet catch bracket.  The two items that require proper work on my behalf are the screen pillars and the panels that go behind the grille and I have decided to do the screen pillars first.  Some chap sent me templates for the behind the grille panels in exchange for templates for the heat shields that mount on the underside of the bodywork above the exhaust.  It seemed like a good deal and I now have two templates and a few pieces of aluminium to make those panels.  However, the pillars won and I started those first.

All the bits laid out.

I trial fitted the edge of the screen surround to the pillar but I knew instantly that my repair work on the threads to the pillar was unsuccessful.

The four screws were loose in the pillar so I knew I had to do something.  I had two choices, fill the holes with aluminium and then drill and tap a new thread in or drill some new holes and tap them.  I knew there is something uncivilised about drilling new holes but nobody is going to be able to see them and it is certainly a lot easier to do.

I used the existing screw holes to locate the screen surround in the correct position and then started drilling.








































I have to tell you that I did a lot of procrastinating before I drilled into those recently chromed windscreen surrounds.

I even put tape on the drill bits so that I wouldn't drill through the pillars.

It worked out ok in the end and the two sections fitted together well.

When I tried the new corner brackets on the screen surround I was rather struck by how long the screws were and how much they protruded from the bracket towards where the screen will locate, something I will look into.

Very much liking the newly chromed windscreen pillar bases.

I noticed that they had numbers stamped into them that are also stamped into the pillars which I presume makes them a pair?  They didn't fit together very well though and this I will also look into.