Moke Owners Association

The Begining of a Beautiful Friendship Part 4

Continued from part 3

Summer has now come and gone, many an hour has been spent in the abyss, and Slomat has now undergone a major transformation.

She now sits on her side showing her underbelly.

With many an hour spent, the grinding on her underbelly is now completed.

Any pin holes or repairs needed after the grinding have been carried out.

No more rust yeh! With Slomat now prepped and ready she finally gets her first coat of paint (all be it etching primer) to her underbelly and side boxes. From here I have turned Slomat back up the correct way so as to grind the welds on the inside (mmmm lots here to do).

Many an hour also spent on the inside floor now, summer now behind me, nights getting shorter, time and daylight no longer on my side. Keep on plugging away at it and it will get done I keep telling myself.

So here it is now drawing closer to Easter (no hope now of humouring the thought of making the muster) oh well maybe next time.

Time has rapidly slipped away from me (while still spending quality time with my family and friends), I now find myself in a very good position for the time I have spent.

The beginning of autumn has yielded a prosperous advance on Slomat.

With all but minor repairs and grinding left, Slomat is now on her side again. I now have a lot of things going on.

Her under body now bears a generous coat of body deadener so too has the under bonnet areas, wheel arches, side and battery boxes. Side skirts now ready to be welded in place.

Whilst all this is going on, the Front and Rear sub frames have been completely disassembled, stripped of all traces of surface rust and what was left of any original paint, grease and anything else you may think of, they have now been sent away to be revitalised.

My engine has also been stripped down and sent to Link for a once over, after Link viewed my engine components we decided to machine and balance the crank, flywheel etc and give the block the once over in the acid bath, a quick hone and she will be ready to reassemble..

Many parts have been purchased from our sponsors and from club products to make all this happen. With all these new parts & bits that have been refurbished I am starting to run out of room in the abyss, nowhere to put them due to the Slomat not yet being ready to fit them. Slomat`s body is now on the side again, more body prep going on now for the final assault to the finishing touches to the underbelly before undercoating. Whew!!!

In the not so distant future I am hoping to have the underbelly in its final colour. Once this is completed Slomat will be finally turned right way up for the last time.

Once there I will then start the finishing touches for bits you can actually see!

Gotta go now, talk again soon. To be continued in Part 5

C you on the road & keep on mokin`

David Pullen 1128F