Original wheels from the car restored and looking stunning!! They were in really good condition to start with and it was touch and go as to whether to get them restored or not but I'm really glad I did, very impressed...

Highly recommended - http://www.midastouchgb.co.uk

This is going to be a very smart looking traditional Coupe

A big step in the resto this weekend, the tub is finally painted and ready to transport from my parents garage to mine and start fitting up...

Shiny!

Neil

Well after a few very productive evenings and a bit of sun last night I thought I'd take some more snaps...
...the petrol tanks is a later steel GTM one which might be replaced at a later date with an alloy one. The next major jobs are sorting the gear linkage and handbrake...







A few close-ups, this shots shows the 'interesting' support the original owner/builder made to support the pedal box, I just had to keep it for posterity...



The next one shows the adjustments I've had to make to the clutch cover to clear the body, I'll tidy them up when I take the engine out again to sort the handbrake, you can also see the clearance on the clutch arm which is going to need sorting.



And this shows the space down the bulkhead before fitting the dynamo/dizzy/starter and a shed load of pipes and cables...



Two problems I'm mulling over in the back of my mind are that with the steering wheel fitted I can't see the rev counter. The whole cars could do to sit a bit lower too but the hi-lows are on there max so not sure how I'm gunna do that, the car being so lightweight doesn't help.

Andy that really is a great job!
I hadn't realised that the pedal box was mounted so far outboard on the early cars -- I suppose that the foot well being longer allows for this.
Regarding the hi-los I read somewhere -- Bill Sollis' book on building a Miglia car I think -- that if you're careful its possible to machine a little off the bottom end to allow for more adjustment -- just need to leave enough thread and check that the ball joint pin doesn't bottom out on the nut on the bottom of the rubber cone. Also you could look at machining down the lock nut or even leaving it out altogether and locking the pin in some other way when you're got the ride height you want. Don't forget you're working at a 3.5:1 ratio (I think) so you may not need to change much.
Also - particularly if you're going with negative camber -- don't forget to fit a spacer under the rebound bumper under the top arm to stop the suspension dropping too far and snapping the swivel pin.
Steve

Thanks for your advice Steve, I'll set the ride height once the body is on and see where to go from there, machining the lock nut sounds like a good option. I'd like the driveshafts to sit level which means it needs to come down an inch or so.

If I remember correctly, its long ago before they had HiLow's, machining 1/16" off the alli trumpet lowered the car 1" so you don't have to take much off the locknuts
It look great and coming along so quickly
John

I think with everything being new it is sitting very high to start with, even after shortening the hi-lows as much as they will go. Maybe after fitting the shell, a tank of fuel and fat Yorkshireman the ride height will settle

If your doughnuts are new they will settle down, just a thought, if you have a tank made think about the ideal location in the chassis Vee, I did this with my old Cox and have modified the later chassis I'm now building to replicate it and have put a tank there
Cheers
John

I was thinking of putting the battery in the V section, where did you install the battery?

Hi Andy,
I have probably posted this picture before somewhere I made the steel tank and this picture was taken in 1980 with the battery in an angle iron tray on the left side leaving room for a 10x165 spare wheel, the tank was replaced with and alli one in 1989 that never actually got used as I had a garage fire destroying the car (and garage) when filling it from a jerry can
I'm hoping I can squeeze a 13" space saver spare into the same position in my "new" car.
John

getting old forgot to attach picture

Hi Andy,
On the early cars the clutch operating arm had to heated and bent to clear the rear pontoon, the little plunger bit that sits in the slave cylinder had to be bent to match.
The other way is to cut and weld the operating arm to a new shape.
The CCC series of articles have a sketch showing what they did to get theirs to work.
Regards
Derek Hambly

Just spotted that light blue TR in the garage in the background to one of your pictures - that looks a beauty - was that your handiwork too?