if you buy a cheap airbrush you can bridge the gap, between the paint so you dont get a line

Thanks. I have an airbrush actually just thinking about it, but I think I've found the solution which I'll post up when I've carried it out. So, on to today....



It's funny how a seemingly small thing can have a knock on effect. This afternoon I was able to spare an hour or so to do what I thought would be the simple task of trial fitting the two front wings to the car now that they are painted. Putting them back on the car would mean there's a bit more room in the garage, and a bit less chance of them getting damaged by constantly moving them around. Or so the theory goes.

In the top photo you can see the headlamp bar adjustment mechanism, it should have two springs on it, it should also have a tubular spacer on the inside, which I have lost. Without the spacer the adjuster is slack, which allowed the second spring to fall off, thus eloping with the central spacer. Where do these little bits go? The other day I spent nine hours, all day removing, sweeping, cleaning and replacing every shelf, box, and container in the garage looking for two missing wheel nuts, I never found them...they must be with the spring and spacer tube!



Without those bits the car looks decidedly downcast, and when I came to fit the nice freshly painted wings I ran into problems. I've mentioned before that I have a sort of love/hate relationship with Cellulose paint. When it goes on nicely it can look spectacularly good, and it's relatively safe and easy to apply. The problems come when you attempt to refit the parts, where the slightest knock results in marks in the paintwork.



Compare the wing above in all its freshly painted glory to the same wing several seconds later having attempted to fit it. The marks haven't shown up very well but they are there alright, and look worse than the photo, all as a result of the wing catching on the lower part of the misaligned headlamp support, due to that missing bloody tube spacer!



I'm not sure about the fit of the wing that I did manage to get on either, to see why look at the gap between the lower wing and the front bumper in the photo below, that can't be right surely? I know that a certain amount of pushing and pulling is sometimes needed to get things to line up correctly, especially with the flimsy panels of a 2cv so I'll leave things for the moment until I can find myself the parts I need to align the headlamp bar correctly.



So all in all a fairly disappointing afternoon, I thought things had been going rather well of late so I was due a bit of a bump I suppose. Apart from the wing quarter panels to paint, bits of trim and mud flaps everything is finished body-wise then. I'm left with just the seats to re-do, roof to buy and fit, and a multitude of fiddly bits that I need to revisit, but the end is in sight.

I've felt a bit like Homer Simpson today.

I've had the kind of day where satisfaction is quickly followed by a metaphorical slap in the face, and then back to elation again. There were times when I could almost hear Homer's 'Whoo-Hoo' cry, quickly followed by 'Doh!'.

Before you get the idea that I'm cracking up I'll explain. I mentioned in the last post that I had lost a couple of small items that typically, turn out of course to be quite important small items. The tubular spacer that sits inside the headlamp adjuster is one example, this had been thrown into my 'box of many bits' never to be seen again, it's a complete mystery where that went, but luckily I was given a ray of hope over in the Int-2cv technical forum when a clever solution to my problem was advised.

Because I had renewed all the engine and gearbox mounts when building up the car there was a suggestion that one of the inner metal tubes contained within the gearbox mounting rubber might fit. I remembered that I had thrown away the old engine mounts, but I felt sure that I'd saved the gearbox one - 'Whoo-Hoo!'....But just a minute.... didn't I just tidy out the garage only last week and threw loads of stuff away that I 'didn't need' anymore?.... Doh!



After a good rummage around I found the gearbox mount that I thought had been binned last week, and extracted the metal tube non too delicately from inside the rubber housing. After cleaning it up with a sharp knife I was ready to fit it, and it looked as if it would indeed do the job.

I think it's fair to say that I've been a bit fussy with this build in some ways and that hasn't been due to my wanting a showroom condition car, it's more to do with not wanting what I had previously. The photo below shows the area in question before the rebuild, (note my namesake in place of a split pin). It was this general standard of 'Oh that'll do' type of construction that I wanted to better, so nuts and bolts have been copper greased, R-clips and split pins have been used throughout instead of the previous rusty old-nails!



So when it came to fitting the tube I removed the R-clip on the end of the adjuster which immediately launched itself into orbit - Doh! An old nail wouldn't have done that...I'm beginning to wonder?



The gearbox mount tube fit perfectly, and the adjustment function was fully restored, the one tensioning spring that I have left was fitted and the lamps were adjusted to where they should be. "Now we're getting somewhere" I thought, and as a bonus the aforementioned wing to bumper gap has been corrected by the now-correct positioning of the lamp bar. Very definitely a Whoo-Hoo!



The other snag I'd noticed was a slight blow from the front silencer connection, nothing much, but as it is below an opening window it could possibly be considered an MOT fail so I wanted to fix it. Once again the guys on the tech' forum came up with the solution, and quite a brilliant one it is too. I unlinked the pipe, added a couple of turns of insulation tape, smothered that in copper grease and slid the pipe back in. Worked a treat, thanks guys.



With the lamp bar now correctly aligned the nearside wing could be fitted, although not without a struggle it has to be said, with the paint on the lower wing and front bumper top being the main casualties of that little skirmish. I'm growing quite tired of attempting to fit everything without marking the finish, and have to admit that after a couple of minutes struggling I went into 'Fuck it' mode and the inevitable scratches are the result

Finally, and I don't know whether to consider this lucky or unlucky, while getting up from sorting the exhaust leak my eye fell upon this tyre which seems to be separating a little. I don't know if I should see it as a bad thing and a possible MOT failure, in which case it's lucky that I saw it, or as just another expensive setback that I could have done without - Doh!

I have a 135 Michelin in the garage with a massive lump in the sidewall where the BASTARD councils can't be arsed to fix the roads round here. If it were a firestone or a mabor then it's no great shakes, but a damaged Michelin is an expensive problem nowadays!

You have my sympathy.

Old-Nail, I have found a two litre bottle of coke/beer/whichever, with the base cut off it, is a good cheap way of protecting your wings. Just slid it over the bumper, upto the over-rider....Sorted

Or a section of inner tube.

Good idea that. Prevention is always better than cure.
There are ways of protecting them I suppose, the problem lies with me really, and my lack of patience. Unfortunately I can go from flat calm to a murderous rage in an instant! It's a real handicap when doing fiddly stuff, and I guess I just don't have the temperament for it. I've often wondered why I'm like that, but the only reason I can think of is that much of my life has been spent in fast moving environments, where a lot can happen even in a single second, and now I just seem to be stuck that way, filled with the need to press on...on...on... <sigh>

reads this:




...looks back through thread...


reads this:



...looks back through thread...

Nope. Can't compute.

I know, but I look upon the time spent in the garage as respite from my 'normal' life, that's why I manage to get in there so often! Painting, sanding, and re-finishing is actually quite theraputic I find, whereas the fiddling with wires, and the dropping of nuts and screws everywhere part is the exact opposite.



I went back out this evening and fitted the trim strip to the centre of the bonnet. It didn't go exactly to plan as the rubber grommets didn't fit, which meant I was faced with either drilling even larger holes or going 'grommet-less'...reluctantly I chose the latter.

I've just the dump tubes, indicators and under bonnet sound insulation to put in now and the exterior is pretty much done. I'm also thinking about painting the inner wings in that same green enamel that coats the front cowl as it's much harder wearing than the cellulose that's on there now.

That's really pretty.

May i suggest the plastic grey infill for the front bumper?