I’d decided to fit the ’56 nose that I had instead of the original ’55 one. Both were in pretty poor shape, so it was a lot of work either way. I marked up all the dents, and put it against a flat surface to see how badly it was twisted. Pretty badly was the answer. After a fair bit of bending and twisting I was happy with the way it sat, so took out all the dents. There were lots of holes for grommets etc that I’d rather move to other places, so I filled these in while I was at it. The nose mounts flush against the wind deflector panels, and on a ’55 the headlights stick out. On a ’56 the headlights are recessed, and there is a recess in the deflector for them to sit in. As the intercoolers needed to go where the recess was, i needed a plan ‘B’.

I bought new headlamps with LED sidelights which are quite shallow, and after some measuring decided I could cut the backs of the buckets flush and still have enough room for the wiring. Some careful cutting and welding later (and some time in my latest toy from eBay, a shot blast cabinet) and they were done. Happy with it all, I took them back apart and gave them a coat of rattle can primer before carrying on with the nose. The tabs are in a different position on the ’56 nose compared to the ’55 nose, and only half of the mounting holes are available with the intercoolers in, so i carefully cut off the tabs and made new ones for both sides. Should be fun mounting that by eye!