It's been a while since my last update and things have progressed, slowly.
The battery tray repair is completed.
I drilled the correct mounting holes for the front section, only to find red 'dust' between the double wall section. So I treated and painted this too.
I pulled back some of the asphalt coating from the RH guard to find some cancer near the heel of the guard. More scraping treating, painting and sealing. That shouldn't be a problem for another 20 years or more.
While the guards were off I stripped back the normal problem areas on the inner arches, treated, painted and sealed these sections, along with the guard mounting stays. The normal problem areas are up near the bonnet hinges where you get dirt sitting and holding water. You can also get leaves sitting under the hinges and rotting things out from that side. All good now.
With the front off and waiting for paint to dry I decided that I'd mock up the grill to see where I had fitting issues. This is a 1-piece grill in a 3-pice front, so there are some subtle differences between the models. I've yet to work out how I'm going to run the wires for the parking lamps, but we'll get to that one in due course. Apologies for the focus on the photo, I was at full reach with the screen away from me. I think that it will only take minor modifications to have things fit. I can't complete the fitout until I receive my package of parts that contains the plastic mounting clips.
Part of the build required the repair of the cargo barrier, so this went off to get powdercoated and was an early Christmas present to myself. No more rust and flaky paint on this baby. I still have to drill the mounting holes on the bottom half of the barrier, but that is for another day.
In my mind it seems like I haven't done a lot, but it has been a continual progression of small bits that seem to have accumulated into some progress. Things like ordering a big lot of new parts takes time to get right.
Right now I'm in the process of realigning the passenger door so that the left hand guard will fit properly. This always takes longer than you anticipate due to the ability to manoeuvre the door in the x, y and z planes. Eventually you grow frustrated with the fussing and jiggling required and take a breather to do something else.
A tip for fitting the door yourself: grab a couple of manifold studs, thread them into the door hinge and poke them through the mounting holes. This aligns the mounting bolt holes and allows you to manipulate the floppy hinge with ease.
So what job do you complete before going back to the door alignment? I decided to clean out the garnet from the sandblasting 20 years ago. Many of us recognise this paraphenalia to get into the sills and the hours required to clean things up properly:
Approximately 3.5kg of garnet, a grommet from a guard, two packing peanuts, a walnut shell, numerous cuts, copious amounts of swearing and half a dozen gum leaves later, my sills are looking pretty good inside. Cleaning out the sills on an Express is an experience I don't want to repeat in a hurry. There is practically zero access behind the B pillar without taking out the seatbelt mount. At least I can tick that job off. I'll add another job to the list though, because I found that my wiper arm is hitting the bulkhead part way through the stroke. It never ends! Back to the door alignment before the parts arrive!
