Bye Bye Bodywork

We it’s half term and I’m getting a little garage time. So on with the strip down of the body. As with anything British Leyland the rust is everywhere even on the cardboard inner wings that push the air flow through the radiator. However from what I have exposed of the chassis so far it looks amazingly solid with little to no rust penetration anywhere towards the front end. This could be however because this is where the engine is blasting oil out of any gasket or seam keeping everything well greased and the rust at bay. But we’ll see what the rest is like when the body comes off, fingers crossed.

The interior is mostly stripped out now with only the steering column, dash and little of the loom left. Again bloody great holes in the floor rear quarters and when removing the drivers side seatbelt mount it literally just crumbled away in my hand and fell out! So far from a safety feature and would have given zero resistance if ever needed again. However this was never my intention when starting this project, and the seatbelts themselves will clean up well if needed for the Spyder.

The transmitter tunnel was removed which gave me my first good look at the clutch slave and gearbox. Everything looks in remarkable condition but I still have no drive, which I’m told from the fella purchased the car from it was the clutch, however I was sort of hoping for a weeping slave cylinder or possible clutch pin drop. If the clutch itself was crackerd then I should have been able to get some sort of smell, sound or grind from the gearbox when the engine was running, however it will be stripped anyway and will cross that bridge when I get to it.

 So off with the bonnet also and stowed that by the side of the house. I was hoping to recoup some funds with the sale of the body once removed however it’s not really looking hopeful now as I have seen body’s, bonnets and hard tops all for sale local to me in roughly the same condition and they are not fetching very much. I think I’ll get the rest of the body off and just list the full lot on eBay with a £1 start price and just see what happens, a couple of hundred would be nice but I can see the scrap man getting a free treat really, which is a shame but it is what it is. And it will soon be in my way so need to get it shifted.

So a few hours later and the body has officially divorced the rolling chassis. Anyone that says it’s not possible to remove the body on your own needs to go and give their head a wobble. Anything is possible if you think logically and use your brain. I managed to get the front end lifted high enough to get a length of wood under supported on axle stands and by then just physically lifting the back end and propping it up precariously with lengths of wood allowed me to roll the now separated chassis away from underneath. 

I did struggle a little at first as two body fixing bolts were hidden under some sound deadening pad, which suddenly explained why the rear wheels were coming off the ground when I lifted the back end. However I didn’t fall into the old handbrake cable trap. Many people forget to fully disconnect the handbrake cable and this then makes things a tad difficult when trying to lift the body clear. 

 So let the dog see the rabbit as such. The chassis looks in superb condition and I’d be more than confident that a decent wire wheel down and protection would be good enough, however I think a proper dip and strip would be best allowing me to get in fresh cavity wax and topcoat protection all over. More good news is that now since the clutch line has been cut, and I select a gear the wheels lock up, so that would make me think the gearbox is not shagged which is good. The master cylinder once removed was full of sludge and jelly, so possible just a good bleed would have sorted it? 

So next bits to get on with is the disposal of the body either through sale or scrap. The body tub was literally disintegrating as it was removed and I really don’t thing anyone would make any use of it however will stick some adverts up and see what interest I get.... if any. The rolling chassis is now in the main garage and I can get on with stripping this down to component form. This will require a fairly sizeable shopping list in regards to any perishables item along with brakes, uj’s, ball joints etc... but so far this is all very enjoyable and confirms that I prefer the building or construction more than the final driving probably.