The last few days have been spent making sure Stratos2 is packed up and ready to leave and getting the Panda back on it's refurbished wheels - that turned out really well - good enough to spend an afternoon giving it a wash and shammy dry and then doing the Alfa so it didn't look too bad.
The only part I haven't found for Stratos2 yet is the circlip collar for the outer CV joint (the one that keeps the circlip in it's groove when you pop the shaft into the CV joint). There IS another spare driveshaft on a shelf somewhere in the garage I need to find and then the car is ready for collection at the end of the month.
So, work on Beta7 has been limited this week, plus it's been wet and/or cold outdoors this week. Anyway, rear seat backs unscrewed and removed and stored. Now I can see what the original trim colour was like - I doubt it'll clean up completely but you never know. Last of the puddles have been dried out and that might give me a chance to clean up the floorpan and treat the surface rust. The aerial has been removed and the hole taped over - it'll get welded up. Both rear lights came out easily, fixings mostly broken so that's the first repair job to be addressed before they go into the storage box. The frames each have one fixing screw sheared, I doubt I can fix them properly but there are enough to hold them in place. Both frames have overspray that comes off with a bit of elbow grease and a few bits of corrosion that's probably going to bug me but I doubt there are perfect ones out there. One has a crack between the centre horizontal bar and the outer edge - JB Weld will sort that. The lenses have seen better day, lots of minor scratches but no cracks. One side Siem, the other Altissimo. The reflector bodies are rough but repairable with a little fibreglass and new rivbolt studs, a good clean and maybe a respray of the silver surfaces. The bulb holders look serviceable but one has a broken side clip, the broken bit was in the boot!
I found a minor perforation of the steel under the right light cluster on the seam. Won't be the last! I've started cleaning out the crud in the bottom of the boot and the floors behind the rear inner arches and they're all rock solid. If we get a warm day I'll think about removing the bitumen from the towers to see if they are as good as I hope! There is some plating on the inside of the boot that's odd, probably minor accident repairs? I'm sure I'll discover filler on the rear panel. The repair isn't pretty but it looks strong and will be covered by the carpet eventually.
The car was missing it's sun visors but a pair appeared on eBay this week and an offer has been accepted for them. Should be here next week. One more missing part crossed off the list!
Guy
