As if to break the habit of a lifetime (or at least, the last few years anyway) I'm continiuing to get on with the rebuild of the Sylva.
Having continued de rusting the chassis (hammerite is the work of the devil, it's either gone or it's stuck like you wouldn't believe) I decided that today, the suspension arms would get some attention.


So, out with Mr Angry Grinder again and the wire brush. Four trailing arms and four wishbones have now been done. They were all in quite a state, but they're looking quite nice now. First coat was silver zinc rich paint, but it's quite unforgiving to get a finish on it and leaves lots of brush marks. All the parts will be getting some thin coats of black in the next few days.

Paint & Rust

Or, how to get rid of it.

The chassis of the Sylva was originally coated with hammerite and what appears to be some kind of flexible base coat - in places.
Where the paint could be seen, it was still in good order. This was probably as a result fo recoating over the years. Where it couldn't be seen it was either seriously bubbling, non existent, or could be peeled away in sheets. Not good.

Here's the inverted chassis with the remaining panels removed. This is with some of the rust and paint removed with the flat wire brush in the angle grinder.

I'm now at the stage where all the remaining paint needs to come off in order that I'm able to refinish a sound chassis and provide it with a durable coat of surface finish.

My good friend Mango has some sort of arrangement with a local media blasting person and it seems that might be a possibility, but I'm unsure of timescale. In the meantime, the trusty twisted knot wheel in both flat and cup form will be pressed into service with the angle grinder. If an area can be confirmed rust and paint free, it will get a quick coat of zinc rich primer to keep the rust from reappearing. Then we'll see where we are after that. Hopefully all these rust free areas will eventually all join hands and I'll end up with a decent chassis again.
I also have four wishbones, four trailing arms and a crossmember to do. The other front upright is nearly there. After that and with a refinished chassis, I will be able to have a rolling chassis again. Pics to follow once the shed is tidy and worth taking pics in. I've learnt the hard lesson of a tidy workspace being nothing less than 100% essential.

Take a break.

Well that was some break.
I havne't been completely dormant since I last blogged on here, but if I'm honest hadn't done much worth reporting on either. I'm in the fortunate position now of being involved with a small racing team which has rather taken my attentions away from the Sylva. This may sound bad, but the good outcome is this has now reawakened my interests in the car and the project is moving again.
Since I last updated this resto, I increasingly became aware that the chassis had more issues than could be practically resolved by the method I was attempting to employ. That of restoring the car a bit at a tie without a complete stripdown. This was, in hindsight, a narrow sighted and probably naive approach.
I'm now aware that a full strip down is the correct approach and to cut a logn stroy short, that's what I have done. As we speak the chassis is sitting in the garage completley stripped down with the only items remaining on it being paint and rust, which seems like anothe place for a blog entry...

Next Project...

Notwithstanding the fact that the Sylva restoration is still very much ongoing, I have pretty much decided what will follow it. Some time ago I put virtual pen to paper and designed a mid engined sports racing chassis. I was looking to pen something that fits my own size and also reflects my love of various 1980s sports racers such as Visions, Mallocks and Pilbeams. The finished car will of course look nothing like any of the above, but they have certainly influenced what I have drawn. The drawing above gives you a rough idea without giving too much away...

Not a great del to update of late, but I have become a bit more active on the Sylva mailing list of late, so here's some pics to fill in a bit more detail.

To start with, here's the car as it was.

I then ripped the old engine out - engine bay was a total mess.

Bit of cleaning up and then the engine was mocked into position.

Engine mounts finished

Chopped up an old bike manifold

A bit nearer to a finished manifold.

That's pretty much where we are.

The front suspension is also off being refurbished and the engine has run in the chassis - see the videos to the right. I hope to have the gearchange done this week, followed by taking it all back out again to refinish all the paint in the engine bay.

You'll see that I am very much a novice welder. This leads to a huge amount of, let's call it finishing to my welds. It is far from ideal, but I am slowly picking it up. The exhaust manifold has been especially challenging as it is very thin material, but it is pretty much there now. I kept the heat low to avoid blow through and accepted the resultant welds for what they were. The angry grinder is leaving a finish which is a bit less embarrasing.

Engine mounts were much easier being heavier material.

Frustrating.

Since the angle grinder incident, I've had to take things easy.
Restricted movement in the finger due to the scar tissue. Decided to have a go at it today and the wound started opening up again - not good.
I suppose, I have to be very carefull for the next week or so.

To keep things going, the carbs are back off and I have stripped the float bowls off in readiness for a full strip to make sure all the float valves and jets are clear. Then they can go back on along with the airbox, or the part of it which will fit. I am keen to retain this as it helps the engine to run nicer. Need to use a brass wire brush to clean the old paint off the airbox and carb tops. The airbox will also give me an ideal template for cutting the bonnet when it eventually goes back on again.

Angry Grinders....

Angle grinders are often referred to, somewhat affectionately, as angry grinders. It's a strange relationship that the wielder of the angle grinder has with this particular power tool. It can rip your hand or fingers off and the sparks can blind you, but still we love them.

It takes a real idiot to mishandle an angle grinder and one moment of inattention can lead to a nast accident.

As you can probably guess by now, this very thing happened to me earlier as I cut off the end of a reundant chassis tube. The resultant gouge on the knuckle of my left index finger led to some exposed bone. This could easily have resulted in me losing a finger. Even if it could have been reattached, it would undoubteldy have led to some loss of mobility or feeling.

I have been a musician in excess of 30 years now and that would have been a major loss for me.

Please remember.

Always wear protective eyewear.

Always wear a pair of suitable gloves.

Treat the tool with the utmost respect.

Remember, it could maim you or possibly worse.

That is all....