So that concludes work on our 2014 RBRR entry Herald Coupe for the for the time being. This morning I have to concentrate on servicing this years entry our Courier Van!
Seriously though what a shame, nearly but not quite. In reality I just couldn't claw back those 12 hours I lost. Effectively I got to where I wanted to be Wednesday night by about lunchtime yesterday. At one stage I did consider bolting the whole thing together half in primer, and half in still drying top coat.
What did I learn from this exercise? It is just about possible to do a full chassis off restoration, including a full mechanical rebuild on a Herald in just under three weeks if you have the facilities, and the spares to hand. Where I went wrong was not building in enough contingency, another day would have definitely done it. In my defence however I had also done some customer work in those three weeks including building diffs, and reconditioned halfshaft assemblies, etc.
What did it cost? Approximately £350 in shotblasting, £300 in paint and materials, and very approximately (at retail prices) £2,500 in parts. If I had been charging myself labour I wouldn't have got much change out of £9K, which would have just about made up for some of those 5am mornings, and 11pm evenings!
Now I might have to explain to Patsy, Bill, and Andrew why I haven't managed to restore their cars in under a month each.
Thanks to James, Mike, and Ron for their help. If I ever mention trying to pull off a similar stunt like this again chaps you have my permission to slap me, and hide the workshop keys!
See you all at the Plough later, I'll be the one in the blue Courier Van asleep in the passenger seat.
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