Daytona Catch – Up

Picture of By Craig Ranson
By Craig Ranson

Managing Director – Bridge Classic Cars

With Scott’s Land Rover hiatus now over, he can get back to the Daytona. Today he’s been welding the front cradle that holds the suspension as the element was suffering from some intense rust and corrosion. With new patches welded in, Scott can put it aside to fit once the Daytona has come out of paint.

Scott has drilled out the spot welds that held the spring locator into the spring seat to gain access to the rot underneath. He then cut all affected metal out and cleaned up rust off the sound metal and applied a zinc primer to the parts he knew wouldn’t be able to access after its welded back up. Scott then fabricated a new piece and welded that in place. After repairing the spring locator, Scott lined it up perfectly to where it came off and then placed it back on. He finished by grinding flat the plug welds so that once its painted it will look like it’s never been touched. Success!

The Daytona shell is sat in the paint shop in a bright green primer as we prepare it for its final paint. Chris hand made the green primer by adding a tint of green paint into the body primer. This allows the final green paint to sit more naturally.

Meanwhile, the interior trim has landed in the trim shop for our team to begin tackling. Lydia has begun taking apart the seats by removing the old and deteriating staples. Lydia then drilled out all the rivets, hiding the bottom flap in place and the sides. the next step was to undo all the bolts with a spanner which were holding these metal bars in place. These metal bars hold the seat down into the car on the floor. Lydia then begun undoing all the laces that run through the back straps and the inner seat cover. After more staples were taken out, Lydia had to undo these metal bars holding the edges of the rubber straps in place going along the back. Before Lydia could start to get the covers off, she had to then cut the strings running down the middle, which help the cover keep tight. Lydia could then take off the middle cover from the foam and frame, peeled the foams off the rubber straps that were held in place with glue and took the outer cover of the foam and frame. Once the covers had all come off, Lydia could then look at the construction of them properly and start marking them up to help make new ones in the future.

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