Merlin...

[Bulldog Bri]

Engine seems to be getting looser and turning over a little easier (but only with a full charge on the battery  ) (and a second one to jump it  )

['The Gaffer']

Does the engine turn freely by hand/ spanner with the plugs out?

[Bulldog Bri]

Yep, fairly freely, have also got oil pressure now reading on the turn over so the pump repair must be good  just feel I've got to get the ignition timing correct and it's gonna go soon.

[YellaBelly]

Baited breath............

[Bulldog Bri]

It's Alive!

Had a 5 second run of firing, no starter. 

Very Happy

['The Gaffer']

Good news bud

Hope it continues to run good, hopefully with no smoke or knocks.

[YellaBelly]

Nice one Bri! Soon be purring like a kitten

[Bulldog Bri]

So chuffed with the engine, I've uploaded a small vid to YouTube

['The Gaffer']

Nice vid Bri.

Engine sounds sweet enough, hopefully just a few tweaks to get a real smooth run and tick-over

[Bulldog Bri]

Yey!!! Got the body lowered back down this evening. 

I can now look at restoring the bodywork and bolting it all back together 

['The Gaffer']

Good work, get a few pics up

[Bulldog Bri]

Now the Bulldog is out of the way, I've started back on the Merlin.

It's been moved over to the middle of the garage for ease of working on it, the first thing I want to get done is to sort out the bodywork. It had had a very poor paint job by a previous owner orange peel surface and has lots of small chips in it as well, plus a few holes and damage to repair, so I've got a lot of work ahead of me there. 

I've sparyed the wings with some old black spray paint, this will highlight the chips in the paint.

Then plenty of rubbing down with wet n dry

['The Gaffer']

That'l keep you fit Bri

Good work.

[Richard]

oh sanding lovely sanding 

Some really good progress Bri !

[Dixie]

You've been a busy boy!!!

Preperation, preperation and more preperation, thats the key.  Should look the DB's when done.

M

[Hairy Santa]

Can see you are getting somewhere now mate - what colour you going for

[Bulldog Bri]

Can see you are getting somewhere now mate - what colour you going for

The plan is Toyota's 'Metalic Dark Blue' for the wings, bonnet & boot with a soft cream colour (Looking at Mini's 'Pepper white') for the sides.

[Murdoch]

Hi Bri
Got to say mate, she sounds pretty sweet ! Purring like a tiger......
Rubbing progress looking good too, shame she wont be ready for Stoneleigh - drive down in the sun, buy a hood from the Merlin stand, drive back ..... !!!
Cheers
Steve

[Bulldog Bri]

Spent the weekend tiding up the old guages so far the 4 small one have come out really good the2 larger ones need a fair bit more work.

['The Gaffer']

Nice work Bri

How much more work do you need to do on the car?

[paintman]

Looking good....are you spraying it in cellelose or 2 pack?

I got to spray mine in the next couple of weeks unless I can get my son to do it.....he works in a body shop.

['The Gaffer']

I got to spray mine in the next couple of weeks unless I can get my son to do it.....he works in a body shop.

That would be handy

[Bulldog Bri]

Looking good....are you spraying it in cellelose or 2 pack?

I got to spray mine in the next couple of weeks unless I can get my son to do it.....he works in a body shop.

Ok for some isn't it 

I shall be attempting to spray it 

Jobs still to do are, to paint, wire, fit out the intrior, re con the wheels, have the chrome bits redone and get a new roof. IVA!!!

Not to much still  But I'd only get bored otherwise 

[Richard]

Glad to see you are coming along Bri.

This spraying lark is not as simple to get a good job as it looks is it.   Guess having the right equipment helps but I can't justify that for my little job.

We'll have to sit down with these IVA forms some time soon, I've read them a few times so have started to pull the varying accompanying paper work together, I think once done this might make a good little writeup to help others, maybe someone will do it before we do, then we can have a guide 

[Bulldog Bri]

3 weeks of rubbing down and the Merlin is ready for painting, shame the paints never arrived in time for the long weekend as they were ordered in time (over a week before) but I doo now have a boot lid that now fits nicely now

Does anyone know somewhere around Bristol that can do rechroming? as the bumpers and grill all need sorting out plus a few other little bits. And would I need to sort out the rusty bits first?

[Richard]

rubbing and sanding and sanding and rubbing, on and on it goes 

[Bulldog Bri]

About time for an update,

With fingers nearly worn out sorting the bodywork out, I started on the spraying this week. first I started with the creamy/white for the sides. This turned out to be lots of hair pulling as this paint just hated the old fibreglass (not all of the exposed areas) and just ran off. so after rubbing down again Primered up and repainted.

Next I masked of the sides and then started on the Met blue. this has gone on fantastically well and have really enjoyed the results. Will give this all about a week to dry then a very light rub down followed by a few coats of clear.

[Hairy Santa]

That is gonna look great Bri

Brill job mate

[Daley Down Under]

It does look fantastic - cant wait to see the finished result

[Bulldog Bri]

Just taken the masking off 

Couple of pics

Now the clean up then clear coat. Where the 2 colours meet there will be a black pin stripe to help hide the joins 

['The Gaffer']

Nice work, shame you have to give it back

[Bulldog Bri]

Nice work, shame you have to give it back

A little but it's given me lots to do and still learning 

Unmasked it this morning and placed a few bits on.

[Richard]

Brilliant Bri !

I'm nearly done on the paint practice and on to the real thing, darn silly idea to try to do stripes though !

Know what you mean about worn out fingers.

[Bulldog Bri]

Thanks Rich, nice to know I'm not the only one with worn out fingers 

Nowt wrong with stripes bud, I enjoyed putting them on the Locost 

[Murdoch]

Looking fab Bri, superb in fact.
One slight problem, I think I want a black one now 
Keep up the fantastic work, I owe you more than a pint or two this time !

Still looking for that cheap Cobra for the next project..... 

Cheers
Steve

[YellaBelly]

Looking pretty fine there Bri

Just hope I can get my 2shilling jallopy looking anything like

JB

[Bulldog Bri]

I've just put a 3rd and final coat of clear on the Merlin this morning, that blue is really popping, will just have to give it a gentle rub with some very high grade wet n dry then polish it.

[Bulldog Bri]

Have got tired of all the rubbing down and polishing, so made a start on the wiring. As luck would have it, I found an old P100 Cortina pick-up in a scrapyard in Radstock last week still with it's loom in so it's now mine 

Spent the week running through wiring diagrams and labeling up what went where. It's now all but in place and the ingnition part is up and running next I'll start setting out earthing points in all corners of the car and a couple inside. Then I'll be on to the lighting and dash gauges.

[Hairy Santa]

Thats really looking good, will have to bring all my jobs over to you from now on

Bri is now our official paint sprayer for the club

and our official rewire'er 

[YellaBelly]

You're much braver than me Bri. I am leaving my painting until the final job or I know I'll knack it with a spanner or screwdriver if I have to do any sizeable work to it after I've painted.

Mind you, that's assuming the paint job ends up aas anything worth worrying about damaging of course

JB