PROJECT 'S' - February 2002

At last the trend has reversed, after a year of doing nothing but take things off the 'S' - from parts, through paint to body panels, I have finally put something back on.

As I mentioned last year, I am tackling what is probably the trickiest part of the restoration first - the re-building of the A-post. So far, this has taken considerably more thinking and staring time than action. The significance of the A-Post - and hence the reason for starting here - is that the alignment of the A-panel where the door hinges bolt on is critical (with a very small tolerance) to the fit of the door. The position of the door is dictated by its fit on its top and rear edges. So by clamping the door in place with the correct gaps to the top rail and rear side panel, the position of the A-Post and the inner and outer A-Panels is determined.

To complicate matters a bit more, when the inner A-panel and hinge brackets were removed, there was nothing left of the part of the inner wing that acts as the closer to the A-Post. A repair panel for this part of the inner wing for a Mk 1 is not available and the return on the later version is shorter than it needs to be. A strip of steel about an inch wide will therefore have to be welded to the rear edge of the repair panel so that it can be spot welded to the outer A-Panel.

So what is this momentous addition to the car - well actually out of the five panels that make up the A-Post and A-Panel, I have welded the A- Post inner along its top edge - all of two inches of weld !. I was about to re-attach the parcel shelf to this panel but the spot welder kept blowing the contact breaker on the fuse panel. Turns out that the work bench socket has been wired to a 20Amp contact breaker instead of the 40Amp one that it should have been.

So although only a very small addition, this is a real psychological boost, my next target is to get the spot welder working, the shell up on the rotisserie and at least one other panel welded in place before the next edition of The Register.

On a separate note I recently found a dash rail ashtray on e-bay, but I was out-bid. With at least 2 years before such items become essential, I think I can bide my time and look for the bargains.

Cross-section through the A-Post with inner and outer A-Panels, A-Post closer pannel and the inner wheel arch