I've been distracted, it was impossible not to be:

OK, so I was 50 in the summer and my lovely wife asked me what I wanted for my birthday the very same weekend that I had discovered one of my neighbours owned a classic BSA so I flippantly said 'A motorbike'.  She replied, what a good idea, what type would you like?  Now I would love a classic bike but the Healey is struggling already and the thought of it being sidelined by a bike was too much so I started to look at newer machines and eventually ended up on a Triumph Thruxton.  I went to test ride one a few months back and liked it but it wasn't just meaty enough.  Then I discovered the new 1200cc R version and the rest is history.  I collected it three weeks ago and have it already run in.  I love it.  Of course it hasn't helped the Healey that every weekend I want to be on it but today it rained so I opened the garage door again.

Actually I should talk about yesterday first.  My wife, Wilf the bulldog and I went to the annual Rawles open day.  It was fantastic as it always is.  One gets the opportunity to roam around their premises unhindered and it is fascinating.  I always hope there is a 100 being worked on but the last few years there hasn't been which is a shame.  Anyway, lots of people drive out there for a free burger, coffee and a chat so it becomes a classic car show with predominantly Healeys on show everywhere.  It is fantastic.  Now I always like seeing other peoples Healey 100's because it calms my nerves a little on what is acceptable.  One of the things that has sat on my mind a little is that my shroud doesn't have a return for a rubber trim where it sits up against the doors.  John (Healey 100 register fame) tells me that this isn't uncommon but every car I have ever seen has had them; until yesterday:

I desperately wanted to open the door and see what the trim looked like but I couldn't see the owner anywhere to ask so I settled for some pictures.  I got the gist though and it settled my mind wonderfully.

Note: the sunshine, it was lovely.

So back to today.  Too wet to ride the Thruxton to a posh cafe for a slap up breakfast so I made a bacon sandwich and opened the garage door.  Now, next week is half term and we are not going away so I am determined to borrow the puller tool off my panel beater pal, Rob and have a go at the shroud.  Having procrastinated by clearing up the garage I realised that the only thing I could do in advance of that is bolt the shroud back to the front chassis mounts so that it is fixed and therefore less likely to move when the pushing/pulling goes on.  I got down to check that the shroud was in the centre of the chassis legs when looking at the bottom of it and noticed the mark I had previously put to signify the centre of the shroud.  Something went off in my mind and I got the laser leveller out and set it up.  I then started to measure from the centre of the shroud to various points on the right hand side and was able to establish exactly how far I need to pull the shroud to get it even.  This felt very satisfying.

I marked the required measurements on the shroud and then moved on to the grille.

The last time I tried the grille on the car it was a nightmare because the shroud was being held in a position that forced the grille aperture to warp a little.  But because I have moved the shuttle the shroud now sits move comfortably on the car and the grille fitted wonderfully.  I couldn't help but notice how dull it was so started to clean it.

I rubbed and rubbed with wire wool and got bored and gave up.  I'll have to do it bit by bit I think.


When I took the grille apart I discovered that some of the studs that mount it to the grille surround were broken.  I set about trying to find suitable studding to repair it when I discovered the exact same threaded bolt in my stores, complete result.  I set about cleaning up the original studs then mig welded the bolts to the grille before cleaning it all up.


Broken studs:

Repaired stud:

I enjoyed today.