 It's now April 2001 and the viva has been off the road for about 6 weeks. I am now resigned to driving the Nova, which
is not as much fun at all, though it is very good on petrol. I am still welding the offside sill.
This has taken rather longer than I expected, as it always does really! The pic on the right will give you some idea.
In addition to this, the engine has lost it's head. this now lives on Mark Tate's Viva x14, as it takes unleaded petrol.
The rest of the engine bay has been stripped of any ancillaries not now needed and the gearbox and block will come out soon. The box
was knackered anyway, second and third were a little difficult to locate! Most of the interior has now been removed and either sold or put straight in the bin.
Some of it was very crusty!!
The inner wings have fared the best by far, mainly because there have been replaced sections in there in the
past and the rustproofing was quite extensive to say the least. What I have noticed is that some nice zinc primer works
well, though using a heavy gloss topcoat just causes it all to chip off and look crap, then rotting.
I think I will be investing in plenty of that underbody schutz to protect the underneath, then painting over that! So, much work to be done
but it is looking far better. More details as soon as I have them!
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When I needed a new car because the white Viva was pretty ropey, I looked for
another HB and ended up buying this! Very cheap and with a load of extra bits,
it was a good buy with no major rot. It had been dismantled though and needed loads
of things doing to the mechanical side, especially in the braking department. The
original engine was pressed into service after a minor rebuild and almost all of
the original parts were used, even the crap wipers.