The weekend was exciting and an eye opener at the same time. The normal weekend now I visit Adam and the guys at Mustang Maniac to work on my car. The week was filled with long days and long nights until Saturday Morning. I was up with the sun and spring in the step itching to get on my way. I even packed my tools the night before to save time for the morning. After what seemed like a long journey I arrived at the office and found Adam on the phone who was making arrangements to pick up the rotisserie from the other yard. All was agreed I hoped in the big F350 truck and of we went to get it. Mandatory tea breaks over we arrived back in good time, the sections were taken off the back of the truck and taken to the panel shop where my car is. The rotisserie is in three sections, the two ends and a large centre bar to keep the ends from moving apart.
We started at the back and checked the brackets lined up with the rear bumper holes, the bolts were passed through the holes and tightened up hard to the frame.
We then moved to the front and lined up again where the bumper irons are attached. Here we had a problem. One of the bolts was sheered into the nut on the chassis rail so it couldn’t be bolted in correctly. I looks like that there were previous attempts to remove it as well which didn’t go well should we say! Eventually the guys managed to get the bracket in place and found that there needed to be a longer steel bar made as the bracket was catching the front rail. A thick piece of steel was cut into lengths and drilled out to match the holes and was welded to the brackets on the front of the unit.
With the car still on axle stands the hard work was then to line up the car and balance it close to the centre point in order to make it easier to roll. With so many adjustments on the rotisserie it takes some serious working out. You have to make sure it’s high enough that when it rolls over the chassis does not hit the rails and the roof is also clear. Once the adjustments were close enough the whole thing was bolted up tight and the centre rail double checked. The pneumatic pumps at the end of the units lifted the car into the air and off the axle stands. Slowly she was turned over and the underside was exposed for the world to see. It’s one thing to look underneath on a ramp, but on its side it reveals a whole lot more, the parts I thought would be OK need looking at again now they are in the broad light of day, well under heavy strip lights anyway.
With the car rotated and exposed, every little hole or rust spot was picked up. Discussions were made about what will be replaced in what order once all the bare metal was exposed.
What was Adam’s parting shot to me before I left on Saturday evening? “Now the hard work begins.” I honestly thought it already had.
Sunday.
Today is Mothers Day in the UK so it was pretty much a right off as far as getting to grips with some dirty cleaning and polishing in the man cave. But hey, I was treated out for a nice meal so I shouldn’t complain. I will just have to make up for lost time over the Easter weekend now, that’s all there is to it.