I started the day by welding on the floor panel on the nearside, again a nice job as it was quick and left a clearly visible sign of progress.  I then trial fitted the front tunnel covering plate and the gearbox cover which all went well.

I noticed in a picture I saw on my travels that there is a gap between the gearbox cover and the rear tunnel so I am not alarmed to have it.  However, I wouldn't have been happy had I not seen that picture as it looks really odd.  I don't know what covers it either, surely it is not just carpet?  Some information hunting required I think.  Anyway, it lined up ok so I moved on.

I should have done the previously mentioned wiper motor tray but I needed some weld-thru paint which is on order so I turned my attention to the off side front inner wheel arch.

I had tried to fit this one day a long time back and knew it wasn't obvious how it all lined up.  For example I have no idea how far from the wing the ouster most edge should be?  I know there is a rubber for it and right about now I am kicking myself for not buying a set so that I could get it right.  I haven't though so I just ran on logic and got on with it.  I dd a lot of photo searching to see how other peoples cars looked in this area and bit the bullet.

Having tacked it in place I went to remove the wing to finish the job.  Being faced with the only wing that I haven't sandblasted and painted I realised that I had a little more work to do on this part.  A long time ago now I had loaded the welded joints with lead and I was conscious that I didn't really know what I was doing despite having been trained on it some years ago whilst on a bodywork course at the local sixth form college.  Anyway when I looked at the wing I could see a distortion to the areas around the lead in the paint.  It looked a little like the forerunner to some corrosion or an unhelpful reaction at the very least so I decided to get the oxy-acetelene out and remove it.  The lead dropped of easily enough but the wing took the opportunity to distort when the heat was applied.  I took the wing off to gain access to the inner wheel arch and then spent some time sorting that out.  I didn't enjoy it.  I have spent hours on the damn wings and am actually sick of them, surely they can just be finished, can't they?  

I could have blasted the wing today as it is sunny in North London but I didn't have any primer and I need to sieve the reclaimed sand.  Glad to leave it to another day.

I started to chop back the area where the shock absorber sits and noticed that some of the panel was turning a distinctive shade of red/pink.  I didn't have to hunt long to discover the cause and took the usual repair route of masking tape and tissue.

Now I do have a medical kit in the garage along with a fire extinguisher etc. as I am old enough to be somewhat sensible.  However the medical kit was from my Father in-law's Porsche 928 and the packaging is intact as originally supplied so I never want to open it.  I can't recall how I came to have this as the 928 was sold before my wife and I began dating, perhaps I should ask him.  It has occurred to me that I should see if an owner of a 928 would actually like it as they are becoming classics in their own right, I might look into that but then again I have plenty of Healey stuff to look into.  By the way, I should say that my fingers don't look that chubby in real life, just for the record.

The piece of metal designed to bolt to the shroud was in the wrong place so that needed removing and replacing.

Having looked at many more pictures I think I may need to remove some more of the panel by the shock area but I'll wait until I have done the other side.








































So I have one inner wheel arch and a few brackets left to do then it is on to the final welding everything properly session.  I can't wait.  The paint arrived late in the day so I have nothing to hold me back, well as far as I can think of that is.