A week of reassessment.

This week I had to step back and take a break from working on the car. A faithful follower to this blog wrote me and asked me basically, “when are you going to start your car for the first time?”, and he “was tired of waiting”. He was correct! I am tired of waiting, too!! This got me thinking. A new assessment had to be made of what the next priorities should be. I thank him for his inspiration as I veered off track for a month.

To fulfill a request first, I snapped a picture of the rear c pillar pads that I remanufactured last week. (Thanks to David in England!) This is the left one, the right one looks the same.

As of right now, “Old Biddy” sits on dollies, one under each wheel. This makes it difficult to move her around by myself. I must get her down on the ground and rolling under her own devices.

To do so, I have to hook up the hydrolastic suspension hoses. This one will be easy.

This one will be a challenge. In hindsight, we should have hooked them up as we were setting the motor in place. After that I must check the rear connections and then call Chris, who rebuilt the engine. He has one of the very few hydrolastic pumps in the United States to set up the suspension.

And, I had a major setback this week. I discovered that the door striker plates do not match the body shell. There are three screw holes here. Remember, the actual body is a 1969 Austin America.

The striker for a 1965 MG 1100 are on the right. In comparison, the matching Austin America striker plate is on the left. Quite different.

But wait, there’s more! A friend bought me an NOS left (driver’s) door lock latch. This would fit the striker plate for the America but not the one for the MG. The installed original MG latch is on the left.

John let me have another lock latch for the America but, the door mechanism connection holes are square and not round. We do not know if this will matter.

To make matters worse, I have the America door shell but no hardware whatsoever. I hope the handle mechanism matches, if not BIG problems. In any case, the conclusion was that the doors will have to be swapped.

So this week I will shift my focus towards getting “Old Biddy” rolling and steering on her own. Following that, I can take her to the shop to have a new exhaust system installed and then I can finally start her!! THEN I can have the headliner put in. It is all about priorities! Thanks to my friend in Russia for setting me straight again!!

Thanks for visiting.

Toddy