Remember all those plans so carefully laid out in these pages last edition? You know, the ones about stripping the centre of the panels with Nitromors and then doing the edges with the blasting gun. Well here‘s how it really went.
First of all I‘d been feeling pretty rough for some time every time I‘d had a go at paint stripping . I put this very painful heartburn down to a mixture of aversion to real work and much too much pre Christmas booze. It eventually dawned on me however that it was too much of a coincidence that it only happened with such virulence when I was using the paint stripper. Well it does say the vapour is corrosive and don‘t use it in a confined space as I discovered when I finally got round to reading the warning on the tin. Trouble is that the unconfined outdoors is extremely parky at this time of the year, and so to plan B, the shotblasting.
The new gun was by now complemented by a nice big sack of blasting grit and I had a whole five evenings left to collection day so a trial session was set up. I put a wing inside my trailer and covered that with polythene so I could see and set to. The results were quite impressive at first. The metal came up ever so clean with no sign of any form of damage. Sadly this miracle only occurred at a rate of one square inch every 15 seconds or so. Let‘s see now! Four square inches per minute at 144 square inches per square foot makes one square foot every 36 minutes if all goes well. Say four square feet per side per panel makes approximately five hours per panel which for eight panels, two sills and two valances makes... Oh B****r that! Its off to the shotblaster‘s in the morning.
He was very nice about it and didn‘t ask what had become of the self help plan. He said he was sure it would be OK but ”No he couldn‘t guarantee there would be no catastrophe, but not to worry because if the worst came to the worst he had a full set of panels he could sell me. Of course, if my panels were rendered unusable that would increase the rarity of his and affect the price accordingly."
In fact the result was very good. I should have had the bottle to have it done earlier. All the rust damage was beautifully exposed and the painter reckoned his welder would be able to do a good job on them. So off they‘ve gone stacked (all but the bonnet) in the back of an estate car. Next time I see them they should be in pristine condition.
I‘ve finally been persuaded by our editor to take out the wiring loom. It took two and a half hours of careful unpicking but I reckon I can probably remember how to put it back again. Whilst doing this it was necessary to remove a few bolts in the vicinity of the wiper motor to get at a well hidden plug and during this procedure the wiper motor came off in my hand (honest). I was a bit worried so I e-mailed Tony to ask if it mattered much. He replied "Only if it rains". Isn‘t advice wonderful?
To try and generate a bit more space I decided to fit the roof next. You will remember that this was the vinyl covered job with the sunroof obtained from Fred‘s and having come from a scrapper. First I lined up all the screw holes to make sure it would fit and then balanced the whole thing on four corks to hold it clear of its intended bed. This provided clearance to squirt nasty black sealing compound all round before lowering one corner at a time into place. Clever or what? Well it would have been if all the screws had fitted which they didn‘t. Three of the rear edge six didn‘t line up with the speed nuts and I dropped one of the side screws down a hole into the nearside sill. Otherwise no problem. Anyway that sealer is so nasty there‘s no way I‘m having that roof off again. Unless...
There turned out to be an unexpected problem with the sunroof. Having got the roof on and the sunroof cleaned oiled blacked and polished I introduced the one to the other only to find that they had already met. That is to say that when I offered up the frame of the sunroof to the aperture (or hole as we say down our way) it became gradually obvious that there was one there already. Not a whole glass and seal job of course but certainly a whole frame. Careful examination of the roof fitting in my hand revealed that it too had a whole frame, similar but not identical to the one in the roof. B****r.
Setting this problem aside for the moment I calmed down by making some new brake pipes. Very therapeutic that is. The ones I made earlier were a little too short to allow for gentle smooth sweeps and were in danger of splitting at best. I also spent some time on the heater box which was the subject of such extreme violence when the engine came out. Surprisingly, though much altered in shape it appeared still functional so I spent a couple more hours in peaceful repair using bits from an old heater from Barry Swallow. Hope he doesn‘t want it back!
Suitably calmed I tentatively raised the subject of the sunroof with two frames at the Thursday Bees Wing gathering. The existence of two sunroofs was strenuously denied by all who should know. There definitely was only one P6 sunroof not now in use and that was the one which was partly affixed to the roof now on my car. That after all was the roof it came with. OK then. Where did the excellent and now highly oiled and polished one come from? I knew as soon as I‘d said it it was a mistake. Previously fairly disinterested minds were brought to bear on the problem and all came to the conclusion that I‘d nicked a roof from some extremely rare motor at Fred‘s and should return it at once. Protestations that I only had a frame for the other were to no avail. Tony reckons he showed me where all the bits were and gave me the hinges. I‘m sure he‘s right (He usually is. Ed!) but I daren‘t tell him I‘ve lost the hinges. (Oh dear! we haven‘t any spares Ed)
While taking off panels I‘ve come across several badges made from perspex, all bearing pictures of the Rover Viking ship. All of them were in poor condition but the boot badges were worst. They cover the hole in the boot for the spare wheel mount. Prizing them off revealed the design milled into the back of the badge with the remains of the paint flaking away from the design. Cleaning and painting with the appropriate Humbrol enamels has made them to all intents and purposes as good as new. As these go for up to forty quid a time that was effort well spent. The bonnet badge is proving harder to restore since stresses have cracked every example I‘ve seen. However I won‘t give up on that one yet.