Ok so with the left hand engine bay panel being left too short after a previous accident after they attached the radiator support panel it was out of whack. But it wasn't too much of a problem in the 80's you just go and drill extra holes where you need them and make good use of metal teks to attach the bits and pieces that you need to attach and cut back any pieces that wont fit anymore.
So unsurprisingly the radiator panel looked like a well loved piece of Swiss cheese (side thought here, do subway cut the slices of Swiss cheese thicker to make up for the holes or do you just get less cheese per slice) Any way I had managed to pick up a front radiator cut from a wrecker knowing that I would need one. I also managed to get a hold of a NOS radiator support panel off dun Dun DUNNN... E bay which as we know means I probably paid more for it than I should have but hey it was NOS and it looked like it was exactly what I needed.
And I say look like because I thought it was until you look closely,and so obviously it was wrong. But as I like to say even the sun shines on a dogs **** some days. As luck would have it and when comparing my cut panel to the same month/year car in his workshop Matt was able to determine that the cut was the correct one I needed. Woo Hoo!
So after drilling out all 71 spot welds, yeah he counted them for me (and I am sure cursed me as he drilled them) the panel was unpicked from the rest , had the rust repaired and was reattached to the front end, after some minor rust repairs.
Here is the NOS panel. Looks good doesn't it, pity its not right. And as we know once you compromise on the build it easier to keep compromising and I don't want to do that... Yet.
The differences are subtle but they are there
Looks its starting to look like a car for now oh yeah there is more major work going to be undertaken in the future (because what has been done so far is minor... ha ha ha).
