Early HPE restoration

[peteracs]

Visited John the body guy today. The main body and rear hatch metalwork is done. There are minor repairs to the two doors and one wing to be done. The bonnet was the main reason for the visit.

After having the doors, rear hatch, wings and bonnet dipped, the only surprise for John was the bonnet. It has corrosion in the front two corners, mainly on the underside. So the decision was use it or have the Coupe (later style) bonnet dipped and use that. The Coupe bonnet looks to have been drowned in protective underseal, but you never know until it is removed. On looking at the corrosion on the original bonnet we decided it was non structural and just cosmetic. The other issue was not wanting to apply heat to the bonnet, so the plan is to tidy up the small areas using metal filler/fibreglass.

After this we are onto filler work. Looking like I shall get the car back towards end of year now.

[WestonE]

Hi Peter

Bonnets definitely hide surprises. My Beta Spyder VX item was remade from 2 dipped bonnets and I have 3 here to get dipped to see if I can create a viable spare. I am trying hard to have 1 sound spare of each bolt on body part and the bonnet is the last item on the list.

Eric   

[peteracs]

The bit I find odd about the original car is that the main body was so bad, yet the wings, doors and bonnet are nowhere near as bad as the main body, yet they are normally the parts that suffer at least as much. I suspect the wings may have been replaced, less likely the bonnet and doors.

Peter

[peteracs]

Spent a good part of the day putting back the heater box after previously completely stripping and cleaning it. I replaced the age old foam, went over the plastics and rubber parts with vinyl restorer and applied a protective spray to the rods and metal brackets. I did contemplate getting them re-plated, but only a few parts and I wanted to get it back together now. The only issue with it is the valve which was totally seized, so will get a new one in due course. Just a few rods to now put on it and it can go away ready for the car to arrive.

[SanRemo78]

I'll check the two heater boxes I have here Peter and drop one in the post to you if you need it? Unless you plan on replacing it with a new one, probably a route I'll be going.
Guy

[peteracs]

Hi Guy

I have messaged you, but I am happy to give a used one a go if in decent condition.

Thanks

Peter

[peteracs]

I was hoping to see some progress after being in France for a few weeks, however John the body guy has been off ill for the last 4 weeks so only now just getting back to working on the car. Will leave it until after the NEC to go visit. Not expecting to see it in paint until after the New Year now. Once I have an idea when it may be coming home, I need to sort out storage for the Spider as there is not room in the garage for both and be able to work on either….

Peter

[Neil-yaj396]

Regarding storage my Coupe spent a happy winter under an all weather cover that I have. Might provide a short term solution?

[peteracs]

Hi Neil

Really not happy with storing externally under cover, so not for me, especially in winter with potential condensation issues.

Peter

[peteracs]

Visited John and the car yesterday and was presented with the usual monthly bill, which was sort of good news in that work has been progressing, did not bother with photos as all bits and pieces of progress.

They have finished all the metalwork which included repairs to the doors amongst other small parts. Also repaired the front corners of the bonnet, not welded as did not want to run the risk of warping it, so combination of epoxy and fibreglass, these are only small repairs so not structural, but complete the look. As the bonnet was dipped, any adhesion between the skin and the supporting structure is no longer there, so some adhesive has to be introduced to bring the bonnet back to a single solid unit which apparently is a bit of not too little, not too much job……

Various areas of the body, doors and bonnet have started the long road to filling, flatting, filling again etc. Will probably wait now until the New Year to visit again, but really happy with the progress, just need to get my finger out to get the rest of the running gear finished ready for reassembly.

Peter

[kbetas]

These are very effective if you have room on the driveway:  https://inthegarage.com/product/outdoor-car-shield-outdoor-car-cover/  You need to be able to get power to it but they are very cheap to run and you can connect a trickle charger to keep the battery topped up. A friend of mine has had one for a while and swears by it, keeps the car really clean and dry. He leaves the windows / sunroof / boot and bonnet open as well to keep air flowing through all parts....I bought one at the show to store the spider which is off the road over the winter. I can then keep the HPE in the actiual garage so that i can use it on a nice day. I bought a 4.3m which the HPE will fit in and they were doing a 10% discount at the show with this code: 10PRA24  They did say it would be valid for a week or so after the show. 

Also got one of these which is used inside a gazebo type tent: https://airflow-uk.com/ I keep the Beta Coupe or the HPE in it and if you put the car in there slightly damp it's usually dry the next morning!.

[peteracs]

Hi

Thanks for the info, would need to run by management who may not be too happy with it at the front of the house…..

Otherwise looks a great solution.

Peter

[peteracs]

Not strictly only for the HPE, but new toy time…

Always wanted an endoscope to be able to check that the squirted in protection was covering the enclosed part of the sills, subframe etc. Had considered a phone attachment version, but noticed this Depstech 590 on Ebay for about half price of a new one so pressed the button. Arrived today and is essentially new complete with case and accessories. The real bonus was it came with the three lens lead, the benefit is having a very short focus on one of the side cameras. The screen is a decent size and came with 32Gb storage for either videos or stills. It also can show split screen for 2 of the three cameras.

Next time I am in the garage will attempt to view the encased sills on the Spider to see how good/bad they are as one job that was not done when it was restored.

Peter

[peteracs]

Another month and a reasonable amount of progress at the body shop.

I thought the metalwork had been finished, but not quite (and still one or two bits to finish yet). I had said the doors had been repaired, but must have missed the that the passenger door needed the rot at the bottom of the window needing to be done…..

Both doors, bonnet and rear hatch now in primer.

Internally the body has had sound deadening panels applied to reduce drumming etc.

Peter

[peteracs]

Photos of internal body

[Nigel]

Looking good Peter.

There's some well placed sound deadening, and it looks very similar to
factory original.

Nigel

[peteracs]

Hi Nigel

It was John’s choice of placement etc, happy to leave to him to do what he feels makes sense.

I visited the car today, still carrying on with the prep for paint, however I saw one thing which is not something that I had on the Spider. As the front end is a late model car, including the A pillars, it appears to have a hole at the base of the A pillar. So is this for access to the sills to insert cavity protection or for some other reason? Also is it normal grommited? I guess it is normally hidden behind the wing liner.

Photo below of hole and car as of today.

Peter

[SanRemo78]

It's there on the Coupe and will be grommeted once it's been cavity wax injected Peter! And there's one on the other side too. I plan on blocking every hole with a grommet if there is a suitable one in the piles i took off the car ASAP.

Guy

[Nigel]

Peter,
I expect mine has the same holes, I've not seen them though.
As Guy said, use it then grommet it.

I'll take a look at mine next time I have the liners out.

Good pointer.

Nigel

[peteracs]

Thanks both of you, I sort of assumed that there would be original holes in the bottom of the sills like on my Spider, not at the bottom of the A pillar. Given the length of the sill on the HPE, I am also going to introduce a hole near the back end of the sill to allow filling from either end, rather than trying to get access to the whole length from the front.

Peter