Pretty much ready for paint now. Nearside door is proving troublesome and I have yet to locate the holes for the seat belts. Just two more days left for preparation, lets hope I haven't missed anything significant.

A series of pictures below showing the recent steps in finishing the body panels ready for painting. I made a mistake at the front with the holes for the overriders, even after measuring three times I forgot I was only marking an initial point and not the real point where the holes were needed. Ah well some fibreglass and filler - no one will know.

The doors are proving to be a pain! If any one's fitted a cupboard door you'll know how hard it can be to get it lined up, imagine a door that is curved in several directions!!

One door is now in place with hinges and opener, it's a bit out of alignment which will have to be dealt with before Friday. The other is already in a better position so should end up being easier to get right.

Some more holes to drill for the roll bar and top seat belt anchor points then we can think about what else might be needed before painting. It's going to be a busy week.

Handbrake cable and handle are done and working. Weird mechanism, I suspect so that the driver can get out when the hand brake is on, but the handle drops to the floor after setting or releasing the brake.

Wiper drive is now all in as well as the washer jets. I think this is the last of the holes around the bonnet before paint. Although the side pipes will have a hole when I get to that point.

Boot is on just about to fix the boot handle. Only a few more holes to drill then finally the doors.

Quite a bit has been going on in the background towards getting the car ready to paint. The bonnet is on and hinged with it's locks. The wiper system has been installed - just needs a bit of tidying up in terms of drive alignment. The fuel filler and pipe are in. The doors and boot are ready to go on and the drivers side 'hoop' has arrived. Over rider bars need to be fitted.

Then everything can come off so it can be painted which has been booked for May the 2nd.

After which everything can go back on, including the engine.

Andi.

I have learnt to hate stainless steel in the last few weeks. Nice though it may be it is not the easiest thing to drill into. Unfortunately the bonnet hinge has four 7mm holes that need to be drilled through the engine bay which is lined with stainless steel. It also fits right up under the body, just where you can't get a drill. So it was a long day today slowly but surely drilling four holes so the bonnet is now hinged.

Bonnet locks tomorrow followed the boot.

Just getting this off my chest. Having spent the last few days getting the windscreen sorted I started on the windscreen wipers. I fitted the 130 deg part and put the parking block in the right place the other day. So I thought I'd read the manual to get the spacings right on the drive shaft only to find that I had no excess shaft to chop off, in fact the drive shaft didn't even reach the second wiper drive.

A quick phone call to Dax and all sorted they'll be sending out the correct drive shaft. So I moved onto the over riders only to find I have three rear and one front over rider (front ones have additional holes drilled and tapped). Back on the phone to Dax (not sure who's making more money here Dax or BT LoL) and they don't have any more front over riders so I'll have to wait.

Oh well luckily I have a load of things lined up to do before paint but it does throw out my project plans somewhat.

Can you tell what it is yet?

Just received the replacement instruments and got the Windscreen too. Been working on getting the wiring loom fixed in place which is now all done. The worst part of that was the engine bay where the stainless steel covering won more wars against the HSS drill bits but sheer numbers of bits won the day.

The brakes have also been bled resulting in more brake fluid on the floor. Don't believe these adverts for one man brake bleeding kits they are rubbish.



The lights have been removed ready for paint and I've added some connectors to make them easy to remove in the future.

Relays and fuse box have been fitted the latter requiring a rectangular hole to be cut in the stainless steel.

Still a few things to do before it can be painted but that part of the list is getting shorter.

After a lucky visit to Dax I have now acquired the rubber. Electricals are almost done, one or two connectors to add then I should be ready for the dash board and instruments.

Got a little delayed with the snow but I have now decided when to get it painted. This will be sooner rather than later on the basis that the body looks rubbish at the moment and I don't want to have to remove everything I fit just to have it painted later.

Lights on three quarters of the car now, but this picture really does show the state of the body and it's overcoat of overspray. I've started looking at painting the car now as the work involved in removing all the pretty bits then puting them back on afterwards is not something I would look forward to.

So, current view on the colour is going back to basics. As I'm wondering if I'll do another kit I may have to sell this one, hence some sense has to go into the colour choice. Blue with white stripes it will (probably) be then. Maybe a nice bright Subaru blue though.