Update

So the brief intermission has lasted longer than expected as I managed to destroy my Dremel. It stopped working unless you hit it and then the motor started making an electrical burning smell complete with smoke. It was still going round but at erratic speeds and I didn’t fancy electocuting myself or having it catch fire, so I decided it was time to condemn it. In all it had experienced a tough life, the shaft locking pin had sheared off about five months ago so you had to wedge a spare accessory bit in the hole when you were changing tools bits.

I did some research and found a great deal on the same model with the flexi-shaft adapter (best piece of Dremel kit ever) and a mini accessory kit for less than I paid for my original one. Suitably armed I tackled the rust in the engine bay that was accessible – along both of the chassis legs and the rear sill below the brake servo. It’s all cleaned up now and treated with POR Metal Ready, so this is now ready to paint with POR15 Rust Treatment. The plan is just to leave it with the grey POR coating for now. At a later date the whole engine will come out and then I’ll do a thorough job in the engine compartment, inside the wheel arches and under the front wings and when finished respray the whole bay white.

That said whilst all of this has been going on I’ve completely repainted the slam panel it looks great. I even gave the alloy identification plate a polish before riveting it back on. I also have a bit of helicopter tape handy so that I can protect it from damage in the usual locations, primarily where the bonnet catch engages which is the main area for damage.

To go along with this, I’ve picked up some PVC edging strip for the top of the slam panel and splashed out on some titanium fasteners. I’m not normally easily impressed, but replacing 20g bolts with ones that weigh 6g and are the same strength is the kind of thing that makes a big difference if you can afford to do it often. In this case, it’s not just about the weight saving, but about the corrosion resistance too. It’s going to look mint.

The final thing is a new slimline fan that will mount direct to the rad. The stock fan unit which had been chopped by the previous owner to fit with the oil cooler, but still weighed in at 2.28kg. Not sure what the final saving will be, but I’m expecting around 1kg. Course it would have helped if the suppliers had sent it to the right address and not to the other side of the country.

Update: Revotec 12″ slimline fan arrived and weighs in at 1.26kg.