Today I am blighted with a stonking headache, I think I may have overdone it a bit the past few days but needs really must given the opportunity the spares car offered. Last thing Mum and I did last night as Dad hobbled in to get some painkillers and generally do nothing for as long as possible was to drop the bonnet in place to keep the engine bay dry. Unlike the old bonnet, this one has no rust and only a minor distortion to the passenger side windscreen edge pointy bit that can be sorted with very gentle persuasion. The previous bonnet had a difficult dent over one wiper arm and another dent in the leading edge along with surface rust and bad paint that would have taken a while to sort, dropping this one on is a much better solution. I haven't bolted it down, that's a two person job, but it can wait for now.
First thing I did this afternoon was drop the bootlid on. This is so much better than the bootlid that was on it's genuinely pretty remarkable. There is a small area of surface rust under the lock and that's it, even the trim is in good order. The paint is a bit flat but otherwise in superb condition overall. I haven't bolted this down yet but I can probably do this one on my own if I have to, though a second person will make the job a lot easier.
Last thing I did before I finally admitted defeat to this headache was to put a door on. It's only loosely bolted in place with the appropriate shims, has no handle or latch, but it's on. Plastic cover put over the window hole until I can rebuild it all but will keep the weather out a lot better.
The most satisfying thing is the paint colour on these panels. The banger car is an earlier darker red than the more vibrant hue on the HLS but the colour difference is near enough that the panels don't look that out of place. It looks like the replacement front wing has been done in the same colour as the replacement panels, which is a stroke of luck.
This has set my timetable back a little bit on getting the car running, but I reckon it's worth it. Where else was I going to get so much stuff for free?
