Oh, I should report that last week I went into work to discover that the students did fantastically in their final exams.  I'm a lucky man to work with great teachers and wonderful young people.

The summer has been much better than I could have hoped for.  Florida treated us well.  We hired a car and I am still somewhat disappointed that  we were given a VW, how can that happen?  I was so hoping for a big Yank Tank.  Oh well.  It was surprisingly nice to live with and we rattled off the best part of 2000 miles in mild luxury.  I was rather taken by the sensors that tells you when a car is about to pass you on the inside or outside care of a flashing symbol in the door mirror, very cool.  I also liked the reversing camera although I am not convinced it would be good enough to rely on without turning and looking.  It's not enough to make me want to upgrade the 11 year old TT daily driver.  Well, I say daily driver but I hardly use it, what with the motorbike and the push bike.

I was incredibly pleased to get 4 days in the garage this weekend.  It has been lovely being back at home and the garage has been a big part of that.  I finished the rear end and decided to work around the car in a clockwise direction rather than prime the panels at this stage.  The passenger door (LH) is now done and the front wing is well on the way.  It is hard work though as I need to rub down a lot of filler, my arms are getting bigger as I type.   I am feeling a little bad as the amount of filler I need tells me that I should be a better panel beater, but I am what I am so I pile on the filler and rub like hell.

My birthday did serve me well, I have a real mental problem with paying for postage and the Austin Healey parts suppliers charge it by the bucket loads.  I say this because my lovely lady decided to order the parts I wanted on my birthday so that I selected the parts I really needed. I noticed that the main supplier is exhibiting at Beaulieu next month and offering free collecting from the show.  I asked for that and booked a ticket, result, I get to see a great show and save money at the same time.


The rear end finished, yippee

Mid way through loading the front N/S wing with filler, it looks much better now but I didn't take a picture.






































I spent the morning procrastinating, this included cutting back the garden trees and washing the motorbike.  I didn't just wash it, I cleaned the chain.   I know, but it is 33 degrees in London this weekend and that is very hot for a Brit.  What could I do?

Looking back it was plain to see that I wasn't going to get in the garage after work.  I am just so whacked out when I return from work that I haven't got the desire to get in there and amongst it, oh well.

So I was very much looking forward to this weekend when I could get on to the car.  I can't say I worked very hard but I did a fair bit and I loved it.  I loved every minute of it.  The shrouds match the wing tops now with a very small amount of filler and I started along the very rear of the shroud.  With the  boot lid closed the car has now got a fabulous shape.  I am hoping that I can get it in paint during the October half term so I have a deadline and a desire to meet it.

I am now away for the summer, Florida on another house swap, it is a good time of year to be a teacher.  It is also my birthday and I am hopeful that the next batch of parts I need will come my way, fingers crossed.  I need some parts for the windscreen brackets and some other bits like the cockpit trim for the front shroud so my fingers are crossed.

It has been five weeks since I last worked on the car and there was no signs of surface rust on the exposed sections of the wings so I decided that it was probably better not to rush the painting of the wings.  I now plan on priming the rear wings, boot, doors and shroud at the end of August when I next get to see the car.

Happy days.

Spent some time working on the rear wings at the weekend; the near side is finished and the off side nearly.  The door gaps are good and the swage lines look lovely from a close vantage point.  I am wondering if I need to get the car off the stands and out so that I can check from a distance but that is for another day.

I then fitted the boot lid, mounted the hinges and installed the lock mechanism.  I realise that I don't have a boot lock and it isn't on my list of parts to acquire so that is a bit of a slip on my part.  I managed to modify a piece of M10 studding to do the job and was pleased with the lock action.  The boot fits surprisingly well.  I did have to work on the shroud to get the gaps a little more consistent and by the end the lid fitted well.  I am rather pleased with it.

My main challenge is that I am now away for every weekend for the next month and will then be away for the summer leaving me little time to work on it.  I would very much like to have the rear end in primer by the time I leave in July which means evening work and so far I have found myself too exhausted after work to get in the garage.  The year 11 students finished their last maths exam yesterday so I am hoping for a little less action at work to enable me to get garage time in the next four weeks; must try harder.

Back at Easter, Moss had an offer on interior trim which included 20% off seat covers.  I had just sold an ISA to settle a credit card bill or two so took the plunge and ordered a set for my 100.  Now I know that the original colour scheme was blue with white piping but I am a mucky sort of chap and thought that the white piping would get a hard time so I opted for blue piping.  I am delighted with them and can't wait to get them on the car.  They came with a note to say that they had been crafted in person by Ana, well thank you Ana, you are a star. I still need to buy the wooden bases, seat foam and a few other bits and pieces in addition to repairing the metal frames so I am a way off doing it but hey, I'm excited already.

It had never occurred to me that I would be able to afford leather seats so I am over the moon.  When I was a kid and had my 65 Midget which I used all through university I loved the seats which were trimmed in read vinyl to match the car colour.  Back then the thought of having leather seats was beyond dreams.

I have often referred to the Swedish restoration website, link below, that has 100's of photos for reference and have looked again at it to see the way they trimmed their seats.  I suspect I may need help so have ask my mother for assistance as she used to upholster sofas back in the day for a hobby, I'm hoping she still has her tools.

http://healeyspecialists.com/restoration-of-the-first-healey-imported-into-sweden/

The filler work is surprisingly enjoyable.  I have memories of being bored out of mind mind whilst rubbing down filler when I worked at Dad's garage 30 odd years ago but I didn't find this dull at all.  I think it might be to do with the car being the apple in my eye at the moment. It might be because I have only done one wing and that by the time I have finished I will be bored again.  I don't know but for now I felt happy enough doing it.  I liked creating the swage line and the rolled edge of the arch.

It might also be down to the filler being easier to rub down or the new blocks being better to use that the small lump I used to use or possibly that the paper doesn't clog up within a few rubs.  I don't know but it is certainly better than I remember.

My next challenge is that I have surprisingly few opportunities to work on the car in the coming months as I am away most weekends between now and the summer when we go away for the month of August.  I could get my head round going in the garage after work but the mess created and the agro in emptying the garage of all the bikes and clutter before I can start work means that the chances of that happening are slim, I must try harder.  The other issue I have is that I need a few parts and I have no money left in the Healey fund which is a challenge.  I'll work something out.  

My plan is to do one panel at a time then remove it from the car and prime it before rubbing it down again then removing them again and re-priming and painting the inside in top coat before the final fit prior to painting the car Healey Blue.  This is not the quickest approach but I don't want overspray on the car and I know that I'll get some if I try to paint the panels on the car.

I started by looking at the door catches as I thought I had a solution for the poor catching which consisted of stripping it down and then adding a shim, ie a washer.  Initially the door closes but can be pulled out by about a cm.

I striped it down and added the first non-rusty washer that fitted that I could find.

The door the other side also improved markedly but isn't quite what it should be so I'll need to play about with the washer thickness at some stage much later down the road.  It is a good step forward.

I then found my fixing kits for the rear wings and discovered that I have 8 counter sunk screws for each side, great stuff.

On to the filler work, I decided I'd start on the passengers side rear wing and work round the car in a systematic way to enable me to get each panel done and then primed before any exposed bare metal could get rusty.  It seemed strange to be removing paint from a panel that had been eCoated.

I picked a section of the car that curves in two different directions as the first part of the car to use for filler for the first time I've used the stuff in 25 years.  Thought I'd rub it down tomorrow.