keeping the faith...

[akku]

Ever get those moments where you just look at the pile of rusty metal in front of you and think "Dear Lord, what am I doing with my life? I could be snuggled up nice and warm on the sofa with my wife watching season 2 of lost on pirate DVD eating cake rather than freezing my nuts of in the garage taking what skin I have left on my nuckles off!"

?

Much done, much still to do.

And I never know when to stop. I've started stripping out the engine bay now, did I plan on doing that? I can't remember. I did have some vague thought that the car might be back together and possibly ready for an attempt at the MOT by end of March... LOL.

Heres some pics of this weeks tinkering so far. Not very photogenic really.

The bulkhead ares is good, some surface rust from under the sound deadener areas of course but easy to deal with.



MC and servo look narsty though.

Battery tray is OK at least




More minor surface rust, but lots of it.



The front panel and splash guard are inch deep in sludgey crud - yuk



The rear end is about ready for final prep at last though



Just got to start on the front...



One day, I will be sitting here... LOL

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Stick with it man, you are doing some sterling work to that car, I salute you. You might be thinking ‘what am I doing with my life?’ but there’s plenty folk, me included, who are asking ‘why aren’t I doing something like that with my life?’

[akku]

God I'm looking at the interior shot and thinking, damn, the clutch pedal's out of allignment, I have to pull the freakin pedal box and weld in a new end spacer

I'd forgotten all about that its been so long since I actually drove the damn thing.

I'm thinking how far I want to go with the engine bay. Last night I was all for pulling the whole loom out, and the brake pipes, etc. and doing it panel finish in there like on my V8 Victor. Looks ace, but who sees it? Is it worth adding another month to the project?

[qwerty]

Yeah stick with it you know you'll look back and laugh when its all finished.

[autohausdolby]

What car is it dude? A Vauxhall?

[akku]

1970 Vauxhall Ventora

[autohausdolby]

Cool - can't you get the shell media blasted to get rid of the surface rust/crud?

[wagoneer]

Far better to be out there doing it rather than dreaming. Eastenders or cool car?
It's looking good as well, keep going.

[street]

Looking good man!

Its gonna be a killer car when its finished, such a beautiful shape them Ventoras.

When you embark on a project such as that, you need some encouragement and reassurance now and then to see you through.... i know i do.

And if you've got no one around you that shares your enthusiasm, thats where RR fits in!

Seen me through many a dark moment.......

[samyboy]

keep at it, looking good

[Deleted]

I usually get it the other way around with the thinking. Sitting inside watching Lost on pirate dvd, thinking, what the hell am i doing with my life, i could be outside in the garage welding or fixing up my cars ;D

[mattblack]

I've been a bit 'down' with the Rambler lately...

It started when I found the oil seal had gone on one of the rear hubs... tried to pull the hub off and broke the (admitidly already welded) puller... so off to Halfords for a new one... which was curse word, and bent the hub flange . so, buy another (better) puller... and find out it won't clear the boss of the hub . Make some exstension pieces and try it... said extension pieces aren't strong enough... re-design them and try again. Puller breaks...

At this point I say a very rude word, followed by 'it', and decide to have a look at at the rot in the boot floor... which is of course worse than I thought... so I start taking the towbar off, and find I can't get to one of the bolts until I've dropped the fuel tank, which I was going to do anyway. Tank is held on with one strap and threaded hanger... nut is seized on the hanger, and I can't get a socket on due to the length of thread protruding. So out with the nut splitter, and after a bit of a struggle off comes the nut... which allows the tank to drop...on me. So I scramble about for something to prop it up with while I get the jack under it. After a lot of jiggling about to get the filler neck through the boot floor the tank is out... and I find it's got a pin hole in the top..

...Oh, and I also took the bumper off... that was the easy bit... ;D

But it will all be worth it, I'm sure...

[alpineandy]

AlistairK, Get a heater. Block up some of the drafts. It makes a difference.
(I may still be a cr4p mechanic but at least I'm a cold one rather than a freezing one :-)

[Davenger]

It'll all come right in the end mate.
Every project seems like you're working away for ages and nothing's happening, then one day you're putting it back together and you've no idea how you got that far

[bstardchild]

I think you are doing a cracking job - if it all gets to much and you can't see the wood from the trees do something that you know you can start and finish and then tick it off on the list - completion leads to enthusiasm - well it does for me

[akku]

Thanks for the kind words guys.

I have two heaters in there, but the garage is so big and its soooo cold at the moment and I'm a bit nesh so I think draft excluders and more will power will prevail.

I'd have blasted it if I though I was going to baremetal it, I'm looking into some blasting options for the underside and suspension etc. but I'm very very tight for cash at the moment so elbow grease is the prefered option.

Also I have to define where the line is drawn on each job.

mattblack - you're making me glad I didn't buy that Rambler when I was tempted! I think it was one of hismates also had a matt black '61 Buick Special station wagon, I guess I'm glad I didn't buy that one either.

[reanimation]

Yeah, you are doing a top job, its looking great.

I too asked myself that this week with some days to spend tidying up, moving house, and trying to make use in the garage, picking an easy job, to get started; to remove knackered dash and fit a nice one. not that easy, since all screws were fecked, and trying to video my own progress didn't help either. the learning curve is gonna be step getting my car done before RCS!

As much as i was thinking why am i trying to fix a B reg Sierra, I know that if i did normal things like watching TV and sitting in pubs and going shopping all the time, i'd be totally bored and unfulfilled. Bring on the next sesh!

Keep up the good work