Since Christmas I'd been hoping to get the underneath of the Lotus Cortina painted, but the cold weather and the damp from the constant rain had been preventing me from doing this as quick as I wanted. I did however, manage to fit in the odd dry day here and there and eventually managed to get the floor finished.
The first stage was painting two litres of red oxide which was then followed by a good dousing of stone chip primer. The final coat was two litres of Ford Ermine white.
Once this had time to harden and dry it was time to start fitting up. Good friend Dave Maton came up for the day and we started making progress refitting some mechanical bits.
The battery lead went on first. (The battery is in the boot, so the lead has to run from back to front.) The leaf springs went on next, followed by the back axle and hand brake cable. The differential was next and then we got down to the laborious task of making up brake pipes.
Since I've had the car all I seem to have been doing is removing parts and cleaning and sanding, so it felt really good to actually start fitting bits back on. Progress at last!
With it being an ex-rally car it's had a had quite a hard time in the past and although the floor is rust free, the out riggers have taken a bit of a battering. They are still solid though, so I'm happy to leave them as they are.
While Dave was here, I got him to help me remove the additional 'works' fuel tank. (So called as they were mainly fitted to the 'works' rally cars.
This is a very rare item and I've already been offered good money for it. However, it's a vital part of the cars rallying history, (Along with the roll cage) so I will be keeping it. (See 'works' fuel tank below)
We'd had a good day, but by mid-afternoon we'd done all we could and called it a day. I appreciated the help from Dave and as said, I now finally feel that I have turned a corner and I'm now moving forward.
Always carry a spare Maton in your boot! 😄
