You were only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!

I have about half a dozen partially written blog posts sitting in draft form almost ready to publish, which pretty much mirrors the current state of the restoration; lots of partly finished things that I am slowly progressing without any big note-worthy leaps forward. Things are still cooking, but not in an easily definable way! There are a few factors that have slowed the pace down and these are my lame excuses in a nutshell:

• No access to MIG welder - since my garage neighbour has moved out I have been on the hunt for a suitable (and affordable) replacement machine. Unfortunately the old beast I was using has relocated with him!
• Too cold for paint - at the moment I cannot bare metal my components as the Mastic paint cannot properly cure in winter temperatures. Frustratingly I had a bunch of parts that I had already shot-blasted, but not put into paint and they have already started to rust again ....you live and learn!
• Life outside the garage - the past few months have been a blur of other conflicting activities demanding my attention. 

So to ease myself back into regular and structured emails I have decided to be a bit more 'bitesized' with my offerings. Basically, shorter posts more frequently. To kick off the New Year here is a little overview on door removal:

First up I removed the pin and detached the bump-stop-hinge-arm (for lack of technical name):

This can then be withdrawn through the cavity between the door skins:  

To detach the door hinges an impact driver is obviously pretty handy. However, there were some bolts that just would not budge (something that I have become accustomed throughout this project!). For the tough ones resorted to my old friend LEVERAGE! I fitted the impact driver attachment onto my breaker bar and slowly applied pressure. This got the stubborn buggers moving without any trouble:

With the six screw bolts out the door can be lifted off:

I then withdrew the door glass and disassembled the winder mechanism, handle unit and quarter light:

Both doors are now ready to be stripped of paint (and probably hidden filler!), repaired and panel beat back into shape.

More updates to come. Soon. Promise!