back on the road ..........fingers crossed

[chugga boom]

Well after looking at john turners gussey at the weekend its motivated me to finish my lusso wings off as they are just gathering dust, will keep you all posted on progress

[chugga boom]

made progress today, all 4 wings , running boards and the plugs for the front wings have finally gone into colour . I need to paint the headlamp bowls and brackets, therostatic shutters and underneath the running boards, hoping to get all this done before the bank holiday weekend so it can all be fitted over that weekend, so fingers crossed will post some pictures this week

[chugga boom]

AS PROMISED MORE PICS

[fay66]

Looks like a nice bit of quality spraying

Brian
8227

[chugga boom]

i think the best part of the whole thing is the prep work thats been done, i've got a fri/sat boy "OWEN" who is only 15yrs old, he wanted to learn how to do body work so i've taught him, most of the prep work was done by him prob 90% of it anyway, some parts he couldn't get right as he hasnt the experience yet but concidering the size of the repairs (the whole wings end to end in filler!!) he's done an incredible job, he also dry sanded the polyester spay filler and wet flatted the 2k prima before paint, dont get me wrong they are not 100% perfect but i'm not trying to achive concours with this car i'm just trying to make it a tidy usable augusta, owen is the little guy in the pics of my ardea, unfortunatly he's heavilly into austin mini's!!!!.......i am in the process of curing him "brain washing" to the lancia way of thinking, hopefully in the near future he will be as normal as me  , bank holiday weekend is looking promising to fit all of this, off to Don Williamsons tonight to "borrow some parts "of him "thankyou Don", need to get the lamps painted next and a few other bits n bobs, the wing swap isn't a straight forward job......... as far as we can see my car has had a bump on the n/s front at some point and has moved the front axle back, someone has then welded up the rot without straightening the car first , so i want to repair this "properly" while the wings are off, will keep you all posted and thanks for your interest

[chugga boom]

made a bit more progress, painted the shutters, headlamp bowls rear lamps and running board brackets, all the wing piping and runningboard strips have arrived this morning along with the moulding for the roof (another job ) its coming together slowly so hopefully bank holiday weekend it will transform ( fingers crossed  )

[chugga boom]

MY GOD AN AUGUSTA'S A STRONG CAR!!!! stripped the car of its wings today+ rad shell and bonnet, removed fuel tank and gauge, cut out all the rubbish that had been previously welded into the bottom of the chassis leg and measured up to see how bent the car actually was, anyway it was 35mm at the top of the sliding pillar and 10mm at the axle mounting point/chassis leg. the car we thought had been wrotten and lightly bumped then welded up afterwards WRONG!!!! we think at some point its been propperly snotted and had the font axle changed then cowboyed to get it back on the road, even after cutting out the intire bottom of the leg out and the outer skin the axle wouldn't pull more than 4mm forward, time to rethink, bear in mind the back axle is strapped down to my ramp with 15ton rated ratchet straps, the cars wieght is supported on the ramps jacking beam, front wheels are off and sylvester chain block (ratchet type) around the front axle and anchored to the front of the ramp, when under tension the axle would just pull to its correct position but as soon as the pressure was released it would spring back, the augusta leg is 3 layers so next we attacked the center membrain with basically a cutting torch to heat the leg up whilst under tension, result!! we got down to 14mm set back pretty easily, as for the next 14mm now that was a challenge, i wont bore you all with the full story but more cutting, more heating then more cutting , more heating then..........think you get the drift, brief account of the day, complete car on ramp at 9.30 am, by 10.30 all 4 wings and running boards lamps radiator shell and lamps removed! by 11.30 fuel tank + gauge removed car strapped down, bodge work cut out etc, by 7pm tonight the car is finally STRAIGHT!!!!, all thats left to say is with all my years experience as a panel beater i have NEVER seen a car so strong and so hard to pull straight! gives me huge confidence if the car was ever involved in an accident!!so back to the unit in the morning to start welding (the tank) back up, hopefuly i'll still get it finished this weekend, thanks to my dad again, giles and owen for all their help today (yes it took 4 of us!) i've took pictures of the whole job , cant be bothered to post tonight as i'm knackered but will post over the weekend if i get to come home 

[DavidLaver]

Well done !!   ...and what reassurance to the rest of us...

Am looking forward to seeing how those legs go togeather - when John Turner came to see my project he pointed at what I thought was the only bit that DIDN'T need attention and said to have the covers off and make sure the axle was attached to something solid.   Apparently not uncommon "back in the day" for those big beautiful brakes to spin the axle out of its mounts.

David

[chugga boom]

just for those of you out there who haven't judged my sanity yet, it is now 10.50 pm........i'm at my garage.......putting the 1st coat of colour on the inner wings  , made great progress today, got all the welding finished, succesfully burnt out a grinder  spray sealed the inner wings and sills and am now painting them, hopefully tomorrow i will get sum paint on the bulk head or maybe flat and polish the wings before i fit them on monday, will update you soon, anyone out there able to lend me a hammock for the garage??

[ncundy]

You're mad, properly mad 

Keep the story going...........excellent stuff!

[chugga boom]

thankyou for your kind comment i aim to please  , finished at 12.15 am, went home and spent the rest of the evening with my girlfriend  , to be fair she's been very understanding about my madness but i was told (sunday we're having a family day + the grass needs cutting), had to do a bit of a re-think so i was back in the garage early this morning to rub down the bulkhead and front axle, my aim was to get it all finished by lunch time, anyway 11.30 came and after a brief phone call i was allowed another hour to save going back tonight to finish the job off( lads its a good threat that works  ) by 1.15pm i was at home mowing the lawns, bit of a result that i'm pretty pleased with, so fingers crossed the wings will be going on in the morning. my dad has been busy today trying to remove the fuel sender from the tank, for those that dont know they are made of mazzack and over the years corrode and expand nicely making it impossible to remove without breaking, as my sender is broken but complete we are (my dad) is trying to save it and repair it, he is cutting around it ( removing mazzack ) to hopefully free it off, will keep you all posted on his progress, anyway here's some more pics

[chugga boom]

more.......

[ColinMarr]

James,

Fantastic! I’m full of admiration and a little envy - I think!

Colin

[chugga boom]

thanks colin, there is alot of work to do on it to bring it up to scratch, i'm not going full blown restoration but i want it tidy, i'm pleased with the way its coming along and eventually i'll repaint the outside of it too, more pics to follow when the wings go on

[chugga boom]

what a day!!!! 12hrs to fit the wings and still not finished!!, needs wing beading as i dont like the stuff that we have been sent, needs bumpers , running board treads, electrics (lights) , fuel tank painting etc, hopefully get most sorted this week, anyway here goes see what you think, honest opinions on the change please