My Avante Build

I’ve been busy painting over the last few weeks. I’m doing the “roller paint” method using Interlux Brightside paint – its an experience, and its coming on well.

You can see the progress on the PAINT pages.

Here is a quick video of the Avante running, with windscreen and side glass fitted.

I put the Avante in for MOT last week, and it failed! But it was a good failure

Split pins missing from rear wheel hubs
One brake cylinder not working
Leaky petrol tank
There was also a problem testing the front brakes due to the tracking being so far out

So I’ve replaced the wheel cylinder and re adjusted the brakes, and I’ve fitted a new petrol tank and the slit pins – I’ve also re-set the tracking so both wheels line up in the same direction

I’ll take it in for re-test on Wednesday

Wing mirrors are a real problem on there’s low slung cars. Trying to find something that looks stylish, but is also usable is difficult. I did buy some lovely chrome torpedo mirrors, which looked great, but gave zero visibility! Then some cheap aftermarket mirrors which gave vision, but were so sloppy in their fit and design they looked horrible.

Finally I bought a pair of Mazda MX5 mirrors on eBay and WOW! They fit well, they look good and they give me the necessary visibility along the flanks and also over the rear wheel “hump”

So job done – they’ll just need painting eventually!

Well the weatherman lied! I got a decent Saturdays work done, but Sunday was a washout. The main work was to totally remove the shattered windscreen, this has been completed. I will now get a small piece of Lexan to form a “fly-screen” for the bottom 6 inches of the aperture. I removed the windscreen wipers (don’t need them for MOT without a screen) and the washers.
I vacuumed the car out to get rid of as much glass as possible too.
Other jobs involved a lot of rubbing down still, and I rubbed down and primed the door handles. They are a very rough pair of BL handles, with pitted and scratched chrome, so I rubbed them down, sprayed etch primer, and will finally paint them satin black. Eventually I’ll look for some NOS chrome handles, but that can wait.

No disruptions this weekend and the weatherman says sunshine tomorrow.

I have two tasks set out, first is to take out the dashboard which will allow me to finally cut out all of the old broken screen, and the second is to finish rubbing down all of the front end. The sidelight surrounds have been filled and need sanding and leveling. and of course the front bonnet needs the celly putty smoothed down. The nearside wing hasn’t been rubbed down at all yet, so I’ll pull the car out into the sunshine and get that side done.

Hopefully pics to follow on Sunday!

A weekend of bodywork, rubbing down, filling, rubbing down, filling! It doesn’t sound much fun, but strangely I am finding it therapeutic and when you see the end results, and a final smooth finish, it feels good.

Rear Valence

The rear valence panel is now shaped and rough sanded. It means everything is at least flat and level, and the bulge in the middle to accommodate the pulley on the Ford engine looks right. The next job is to fix it in place, and using some spacers, create the curvature to match the line of the engine cover. Then I can add a return fold along the top to add strength and to finish it off. I’ve decided to leave it rough sanded for the time being, as it isnt MOT critical, and I can take it off anytime to finish it and paint it.

Door Handles

I have removed the outside door handles so that I can strip the paint off them, and also fill the scrapes in the handles themselves. They are in quite rough shape so I’ll dechrome them and paint them satin black.

Windscreen

The old screen is almost out, I’ll remove the dashboard to access the bottom of the screen, and run a hot knife through the mastic to release it, then out comes the screen. The plan is to make a small fly-screen out of lexan to get it to MOT, it’ll be about 4 inches high only, but should make it more pleasant to drive without too much wind buffeting. I’ve seen a road legal racing De Tomaso Pantera with such a screen, so legality should be OK.

The plan to get some work done over Xmas and the New Year was put on hold due to the freezing weather. But now its a bit milder we can start work again.

Rubbing down continues

Right, back to getting the paintwork ready for the frist coats of Rustoleum. I should get the paintwork ready finished this weekend. I’ve given most surfaces a good coat of yellow celly putty, and rubbed most of it down, but there’s still some to go. If i get some paint on this weekend I’ll take some photos.

Windscreen

I’ve bought my new screen from Uroglas and its stored ready for fitment, but fitting wont take place until after MOT now, I’m not taking chances!!

Well its been a long 6 months since my last update. I missed out on Stoneleigh but was confident of getting roal legal by July. So what happened?
Well I was ready for MOT in June, booked in, went to get the car from my lock up and! Broken Windscreen!
So no MOT, and now a long wait for a new screen.
Meanwhile work has progress in areas that I’d prefer to be doing when road legal, such as rubbing down the bodywork for painting, finishing off the front sidelight/indicator surrounds. Also working on the interior.
I’ve bought a pair of Mazda MX5 wing mirrors, they just look more attractive than the aftermarket mirrors I planned to fit, and they work too – I can see out of them. I think they’ll be more stable with no vibration during use.
So, in the last month the Avante has gone from being prepped ready for MOT, to getting prepped ready for paint, and that means lights taken out, numberplates removed, door handles removed. It looks like a step backwards!! But as its soon winter I would have taken the car off the road anyway, so its a good time to be doing the paintwork.
I’m painting using Rustoleum as a primer and Brightside as a topcoat. The reason for this is that the Brightside doesnt like to adhere to the yellow celly putty I’ve used as a filler primer over filler repairs, but Rustoleum sticks to it really well. So a couple of coats of Rustoleum grey mix that I’ve got for chassis work, a good rub down to totally flatted, and then as many coats of my mix of Sapphire Blue / Largo Blue Brightside as are needed to get a thorough gloss finish. The rubbing down will be a pain, but whatever paint job I did, there would be orange peel, and I’m used to rubbing down the celly putty, so I’ll just get on with it!

Well the target date of Stoneleigh kit car show was missed, but not for want of trying. A few more jobs and a few more days and we’ll at least be MOT ready.
The windscreen surround has been reglassed and ready to accept the screen now. I’ve bought another screen too, just in case
The rear engine panel can now be fixed shut.
The axle boots have been renewed.
I’ll put together the list of jobs done, and to be done later.