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If you are familiar with this site you will know that the car is well used!! All-year use in all weathers is great fun, but to be fair does not do the copndition of the car much good, unless you are anally scrupulous with the cleaning and polishing, which lets face it - we aren't!!


Ok - so this is in the process of repair, but rust meant it was almost impossible to remove the headlight in one piece. In fact when we took the car apart one side would not come apart at all, meaning we had to make a new headlight/clam support arm.
Steering wheel is showing the miles, as are the knee panels and dash.
Corrosion under the footwell/sideskin - a great dirt and moisture trap does not help.

The following pictures were taken the day before work started, in fact just after I had returned from a wet track day at Abingdon - hence the dirt and dust - didn't seem much point in cleaning her!!







Broken rear light was the result of a wheel bouncing down of the tyre rack we had on at the last visit to Abbeville...


Most of this would be replaced as we moved to wide track...


Looks like rust on that headlight - there is some but most of that is the reflection of a brick house!




Poor quality original powder coating does not help a chassis weather the miles...


Even the leather interior was showing signs of wear and tear - here the centre console, behind the handbrake.


Drivers footwell - that brown patch on the centre/right of this picture is just dirt, but it does indicate where the corrosion is on the outside of the side skin.


This second hand and well used exhaust would be replaced...


More flaking and corrosion of side panels - in this case just in front of the rear wing.


Paint bubbling...


...and the damage wraps around under the car.


Oh dear!


Rear chassis rails as they dissappear inside the rear ali panel.


This section has retained moisture from a previous wet outing...you can actually see the bubbles formed by the electrolytic corrosion...


..these bubbles are corrosion happening.


Joint at the front of the A-frame, where the body work can be peeled back, so thin has it become through corrosion into flour!


In these shots the surface rust has been brushed off with a wire brush - previous attempts to slow down the corrosion process.


Pre-brushing.




Evidence of previous problems with engine mounts, shown here where the exhaust has dropped and damaged the side skin below.


Bit tatty.


Front wishbone mounts and tabs were pretty corroded - I  was worried that these might have lost strength by being thinner than they should have been.




Passenger side footwell has a nice dent in it where we have been a bit enthusiastic in lifting the engine/gearbox assembly during previous work.


Shot looking up the inside of the main side skin in the engine bay. Looking back towards the side of the footwell box, where it meets the side chassis rails. This forms a nice wedge where grime and moisture collects and is the most common area for corroding of the side skins on the outside (see previous pics.)



 
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