In the late Summer of 2005, while the concrete was drying on my workshop, I took some photos of my de-mounted cab, an audit as I called it in my notebook at the time, detailing all the rust and trying to work out what to surgically remove and what to replace. It was incredibly daunting. I took pictures which I annotated in PAINT with a view to taking them on a disc to Iain McKenzie to discuss.
Soon afterwards I went up to Iain’s Fairmile Restorations workshop in Worcestershire, stayed at a B+B for a few nights and spent the days with Iain, picking up tips, taking pictures and joining in as much as possible in the construction of some replacement inner arches to replace the metal under the scuttle (picture above). I learnt about shrinking and stretching metal and spot welding.
There isn’t an official name for the inner arches because originally they were part of the pressing that makes the side of the cab’s scuttle over the wheels and the wings were bolted up into them. On mine, as you can see in the picture, these were beyond repair. Iain came up with the idea of putting a flange on the side of a replacement inner arch so that it could be welded to the inside of the cab wall in place of the rusted-away one.
Here I am giving stretching a go.
1 click here to read about the tricky business of welding the inner arches to the cab sides.
2Iain sold me some steel and I fabricated some parts in the Autumn
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