Slow Progress

I can't understand what's going on with people selling car parts these days! We're heading towards the mother of all recessions and it seems like some people can't even be bothered to return an email to make a sale! My search for a heater box has been fruitless so far because of this kind of apathy. I've emailed 3 ebay sellers and one second hand parts company to make enquiries and only got one reply (from an ebayer) and that wasn't good news! I've just sent an email off to the Spitfire Graveyard so hopefully they'll be able to help me out.

I'm also still waiting on orders from Canley's and Moss. I suspect that the snow hasn't helped things this week but I'd really like some parts to arrive soon. There's a lot to do before the HCR and I'd like to get the big jobs out of the way as soon as possible!

In the meantime, I've been messing about with various other things. Inspired by Chris Marsh (http://ukcjmspitfire.blogspot.com/) I have drilled out my heater controls. It's always good to lighten things up where you can and this is a really thick piece of metal which is perfect for this type of 'swiss cheesing'! Saved 20 grams on the stock weight.

I've also taken the heater valve bracket off. I was going to bid for a stainless one on ebay to replace it but I missed the end of the auction so I figured I'd bend the old one back into shape and lighten it. I didn't touch it around the top, where it's pretty flimsy but the base, side and front got a drilling. It's lighter by 15 grams and it looks pretty good! It just needs deburring and powdercoating to be perfect!

Tune in again next time for some much bigger and much more expensive weight savings!