Cleaned up two of the upper suspension arms. However, one of them needs the rivets drilling out that hold the rose joint housing in place. Metal prepped the other one ready for painting.
Not particularly happy with the way that the enamel is taking to the uprights, suspect that when the car was originally built it was Hammerite rather than enamel that was used. Will probably save the enamel for the inlet manifold if I ever get around to repainting it.
Stripped the damaged front axle assembly. The steering rack is the most obviously damaged portion, with it's cracked housing and bent rack. It does still run freely over the unbent portion, this is good since it means the pinion should still be in good condition which was something I was concerned about. I can't however work out how to release the bearing that is holding the pinion in place. The drivers side suspension members that bore the brunt of the impact are obviously dented but the offside suspension assembly is still good, will keep that intact and transfer it across to the new assembly. The shocks and spring appear fine, as does the anti-roll bar. Brake discs and hubs looked good, spinning the hub showed that the disc hadn't buckled since the clearance between the disc and upright is a mere millimetre. The drivers side upright and attached rose joint have been twisted by the impact.
Looking at the chassis it is likely that I'll have to cut out more dead metal than originally thought. I was hoping that I would just be able to cut out the diagonal that goes up to support the top of the suspension assembly. Due to the amount of deformation of the metal it is likely that the long chassis member will need to be cut back at about 45 degrees and a new piece welded in that will then support the diagonal. Conceptually fairly easy but it's likely to be a couple of tricky cuts and weld in order to get it all to work. Still need to look at how the engine mount interacts with the diagonal.
If I can do the welding next week, then theoretically Kate should be back on her wheels by the end of the week. Which leaves a week and a half to fit the fibreglass components...