Tri-Carb Project

[petnatcar]

Things are moving along at the paint shop. It should be getting some primer in the next few days.

Can you tell me why the grill surrounds are installed before painting?

Thanks,
Pete

 

[BigGreen]

Fit and remove ... to avoid problems after painting

 

[Healey Nut]

The grill surround is just sitting there so that the painter can make sure any filling he has to do doesn’t affect the fit of the surround .

 

[Healey Nut]

I declare my hardtop as complete , my next task is to make up a new dash pad , as you can see the old one is a little tired . Paper template kinda sorta made up , I will rough cut it out then make some adjustments and shape changes by matching it to the car once I get it back from paint .
I will reuse the original front bow with rubber pad along with the de mister vents and just replace the plywood , vinyl etc .
The car is in primer right now and getting its final blocking out etc before her coat of Healey Blue .

 

[Healey Nut]

So here she is in Urethane primer before final blocking and paint .

 

[dougie]

Can you start to see the finish line....

 

[Healey Nut]

Can you start to see the finish line....

Not yet but it’s come a very long way from the decrepit state it was in when I bought it as an abandoned project in numerous boxes.

 

[Healey Nut]

So I went to see the car yesterday , all the wings/fenders doors have been off the car and back on so my custom fender vent grills and the stainless beading could be installed . My painter paints the joint edges of the fenders and allows some overspray on the top edge of the fender . They all then get refitted with the beading in place . The plastic film gets removed and the beading masked with masking tape . Car now gets painted and the colour blended to the overspray at the beading . Car gets clearcoated and masking on the beading removed before the clearcoat sets up . This is the way he did my other two Healeys and it works great . No risk of scratching new paint installing beading .
So hopefully this week the car will get its final coat of Healey Blue .

Today was windshield assembly day , original glass , rechromed original frame , new corner brackets and seals etc .
It was fiddly and a challenge but patience perseverance jigaloo and ratchet straps paid off .

 

[Healey Nut]

So finally she’s painted , my painter just sent me this . Needs a few days now just to set up and I can bring her home to do the pretty stuff . The finish line is in sight

 

[HealeyRick]

Looks great! This is where the fun part begins.

 

[Healey Nut]

So I got the car home yesterday (Sunday) , got her up to a nice working height on my custom Dolly blocks . Gave her a good cleaning that sanding dust gets everywhere .
Started to add some parts , she’s looking like that little rally car already .

 

[Healey Nut]

Busy couple of days . It seems like everything is a bit of a chore , take this bit off to put this bit on and of course nothing fits exactly as it did in mock up but I’m getting there .
Of course I’m discovering that no matter how much planning I did I’m still missing little stuff .

 

[Healey Nut]

It’s the little touches that count .
This vintage switch panel has been kicking around in my parts bins forever . It came in a box of spares with my first Healey 20 plus years ago .
All I had to do was build a little rally car with lots of lights to use it . .
I need to find a source for the tiny bulbs , they are like screw in xmas light bulbs . Even I don’t get them working they still look cool .
They all have bulbs in them but only one of them is good .
Im on the hunt for a pair of those Vintage rally stopwatches to mount on the dash too .

 

[Editor_Reid]

Beautiful! Very clean and period-correct installation.

 

[Healey Nut]

Tks Reid . The chrome has just the right amount of Patina , matches the period cigarette lighter notice the white metal has those tiny bump like blisters that white metal gets with age .

 

[HealeyPassion]

So I got the car home yesterday (Sunday) , got her up to a nice working height on my custom Dolly blocks . Gave her a good cleaning that sanding dust gets everywhere .
Started to add some parts , she’s looking like that little rally car already .

It's lookin' great!! Congrats on getting to this point!! The end is in sight... sorta if you use a long lens!... which I tend to do!

 

[Healey Nut]

Another part of the journey completed . Full leather no vinyl from AH Spares .

 

[Healey Nut]

More progress pics . carpet underlay done , rear seat delete carpet area done . Some finish details done . Need a break from the glue fumes for a bit .

 

[HealeyRick]

What did you use for insulation under the carpet underlay? Why did you choose the one you did (looking for some suggestions for myself)

 

[Healey Nut]

The stuff on the floor has a rubber granular backing and is more durable and is supposed to be like the original (came from McGregor) , the other stuff is just regular jute and I had a pile of it as it gets used as a protective shipping wrap on the machines I install/service so it was FREE!!!!!!