Topic: Her Majesty's DBS Progress: January 2021
Been at it day and night!
Lots of coachwork going on, and I am also restoring a DB6 for a customer, that was purchased in pieces, so it's a guessing game as to what goes where...quite the challenge..
The Sharknose panel is complete, and now attention turns to the front bumper again. Fit is absolutely critical, and here you see the steel bumper with a thick coat of copper, which will be block sanded, re-coppered, blocked again and finally chromed. Add 40 hours to the bill, and it should be about $3500 for chrome on both bumpers. Note the very good fit on the side, and even spacing to the front wing and bodywork. Initially, it was splayed out a bit, and now it follows the contours of the body. I always look for that fit when judging at concours events.
Yours truly with nose to the grindstone. Well, back to work, you've no idea how its piling up!
Creating the holes in the virgin aluminum for the bumper mounts. Took some planning to get it right, and I made a special pointer that fit into the bumper mount, and dimpled the centre of the hole, so it was a matter of transferring the hole centre to the other side, all by hand. Result is a very nice, symmetrical bumper fit, and have a look at that grille fitment: 1/8" gap all round!
Her smile is the most important, and most complicated part of the bodywork. As with people, the first thing you see is the smile of the car, and this is where I put the hours into. Shut lines, grille fit, contours, line extensions, etc all add up to a proper and pleasing result.
The Girling front calipers soda blasted and ready to plate in Yellow Passivate, very hard to do nowadays, and "illegal" in California*
* "illegal in California" means that Government contractors can perform that process and get away with it nicely. Cash is king! (Non traceable transaction...)
The completed front and rear calipers. Those are the handbrake extensions with pads on the rear calipers.
Body shop porn: The bonnet and doors are finally given their respective coats of 2 part epoxy red oxide primer. The correct colour as original, but far superior in their durability, coverage, and adhesion capability. The original red oxide primer was nitrocellulose, a deadly and not very long lasting material. I had to drive to Nevada to collect this primer, as, for some odd reason, they also don't sell that in Ca. You can buy grey or black, not red. Getting the idea that Ca is insane yet?
Lastly, when I test fitted the Lockheed brake servoes- 2 on the car, one for front, one for the rear brakes- I noticed that the brackets flexed under load. You wouldn't notice this while driving, as they are hidden away underhood, so I made some templates, cut some metal, and had my welder crack on. The brackets now are solid, and won't crack as the originals are prone to do. A trip to the powder coaters, and, viola, job done.
Next step is to mount the body on to the rotisserie, which will require the fabrication of brackets for the front as the Sharknose has changed things drastically, and strip the remainder of the underside. The body may then be prepped, and the whole business primed with the red oxide primer. I hear that Nevada is lovely this time of year...
Stay tuned for more updates, and please visit my site for more timely updates and photos: OHMSSDBS.com
Cheers, Tom
