I realised that I hadn’t written about the front end now it’s completely stripped and painted. I’m looking after my daughter this morning, so it’s no garage for me till later. The A arms are still waiting to be cleaned, as the wire brush can’t get into the corners. I’m going to get those sandblasted as soon as I can get the old bushings pressed out. The new ones will be here soon, so I’d better get a wriggle on.

The front end was cleaned down to bare metal, or as close as I could get with the grinder and scrapers. I wasn’t happy with how clean the drivers side was before I painted it, so that got taken to bare metal again. With all the suspension and steering off, It was light enough to lift by hand! I raised it up as high as the axle stands would go safely, and cleaned the underside as well. Not even close to being fun, but needed doing. I looked like a coal miner.

Looking back through the pics I’d taken, I couldn’t ever remember the frame ever being this dirty, but it must have been! My father in law thought that the shiny black front end was a brand new one I’d bought and stuck on!. I’m going to have to get underneath and clean the underside of the floor and chassis. Not looking forward to that at all. It was bad enough taking the exhausts off. More about that later.