I've been really busy the past few months. I've been trying to
write my thesis and get these two cars finished by August (XK 120, and
an AH 3000 mk III) - as well as work another part time job! Anyway, the
cars have really been stressing me out. In restoration terms, August is
just a short while away. So, my life has been get up - work on thesis -
eat - work on cars - go to sleep. Fortunately my girlfriend doesn't
live nearby and therefore can't accuse me of ignoring her. A Pretty ideal
life actually ...
I think I fianlly see light at the end of the tunnel. I just got
all the suspension and misc black parts back from the powder coater. All
the fasteners are back from the CAD platers, the frames are painted (actually,
the Jag frame is preped, but I have yet to spray it). In fact, everything
is done and ready to be reassembled. I have only to make the BIG parts order
MOSS (new wiring harness, and wire wheels included - ouch!) Let me tell
you, it is an incredible sight. I don't even get dirty sworking any more.
Its kind of like - I think I'll install the rebuild kit on the spanking clean
and
honed master cylinder which I will then bolt to the freshly powder coated
pedal assembly with the nice clean CAD plated bolts and then hook up the new
brake lines. But, I'm not out of the woods yet ... the Healey engine and
trans need to be rebulit and then I need to paint the two cars. The interiors
are going to be farmed out (someone owes me a favor). Perhaps I can really
get these done by next summer (cross fingers and knock on wood)
In case you were wondering about CAD plating and powder coating costs,
there is economy in scale. I sent all the fasteners for both cars out to be
plated. They were tumble blasted, $110, and then plated, $150. The plating
costs the same for 0-100 pounds of parts. The tumble blasting was done at
$50/hr. I had the suspension and misc. parts cleaned, stripped, and derusted
for $300 (this included the gas tanks, and the jag frame). You should
note that I cataloged over 500 separate parts and there were a bunch of
small parts I tied togther with wire which then only counted as one.
The powder coating cost $400, but the guy feels he underbid the job and it
should have been more like $600.
William Woodruff woodruff@engin.umich.edu
Ann Arbor MI
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