Yesterday I got in the garage in the morning and started looking at the wing.  I bolted it up and positioned the rear edge to give a very reasonable door gap.  The issue I have now is that the wing bows out in the centre.  Actually the wing is quite out of shape.  Not having another car to look at mens that I don't know how the shape of the wing should be exactly but it is clear that it needs some cutting and shutting to remove some metal and lose the bulging but where is not clear.  So I took to thinking about what was needed when I became distracted.

Initially, by chance, I found the original door hinge bolts that were rusty and tired looking.  What I noticed was that they were steel made whereas the new bolts I have been using are some kind of alloy and as a result too soft which cause the cross head to deteriorate when being screwed in and out of the door frame (I have the correct Phillips bit too).  I turned on the wire wheel and got cleaning them as it seemed that these would be better to use than the soft new replacements.  After I had cleaned up about six or seven of these I caught the wire wheel with the bolt and it pulled it out of my hand into and around the metal guard cover before spitting it out at high velocity.  As it is a good day I had the doors open for some day light and therefore the bolt was able to sail out of the garage over my garden and into the neighbours garden where they were sitting having a cup of tea, damn.  We are having a little battle about falling apples and broken glass house windows so I thought it best to check the bolt hadn't landed near them, fortunately it hadn't, phew.  I put the bolts down and turned my attention to other stuff.

I have the use of my Mother in Law's 4x4 this week so it seemed like a good idea to so see if I could get the wings sandblasted.  So I called the chap who did the bulkheads some time ago to discover that he has retired.  He is an interesting chap and was kind enough to recommend two people to me who were both nearer me in sunny North London (it is today, even in October) which was good.  He went on to criticise the first for using soda blasting which he thought was too gentle to the metal as it 'needs to be aggressive to get the rust out and find the holes' but then said the second one he recommended did something better, but what I didn't catch what exactly.  The second chap had an eBay advert which I looked up and it looked pretty impressive so I gave him a call.  He seemed knowledgeable and was happy to do the work and better still he could do it in the timeframe that suited me this week.  I asked for a price and got a guide of £65 per wing but maybe more depending on the amount of rust.  This made me wish for the preretirement days of the original man, oh well.

I then got back to looking at the wing and decided that I really should get the welding equipment situation sorted as I had a week off work to enable me to collect the cylinders.  A few phone calls and I had it sorted.  I had previously rented a set of cylinders from BOC the dominant supplier however they were charging me north of £130 a year for the rent and some years I hardly used the stuff so I decided a last April to return them.  There are a couple of companies who now stock rent free cylinders which seemed a much better deal for me.  I paid £220 to rent two cylinders and £108 for the Oxygen and Acetylene gas which can now sit in my garage until I need a refill without worry that I am wasting money.  The only worry is if the company goes bust and I end up with two worthless cylinders and no one to refill them but it was a risk I had to take.  I duly headed north to Hertford to collect the bottles.  Job done and I could return my attention the wing, or rather I could start procrastinating again, time for a beer and some dinner!

The only issue with yesterday is that having spent or committed £600 plus to the wings and gas I have raided my 'toy' fund which means I will have to wait some time for the Di2 electronic gears upgrade I have planned for my push bike, oh well.

For now I need some breakfast, Wilf needs a walk then I have a good few hours to look at the wing and get brave with the angle grinder.