Genuine truth is I do not know where it was done although I have some pretty good guesses, Laurence has a lot of contacts that it is not appropriate for me to to try and pry out of him. His "secrets" are part of his livelihood so I don't ask.
As I understand it it was baked to make everything flakey then dipped to remove all the crap then alkali washed to stop the acid continuing to eat into the metal. All of the panels, donor bulkhead, doors, bonnet etc were done. The vented tailgate is brand new so still in the black finish.
The next stage is to find somewhere with a big enough setup to zinc plate it.
I reckon it wil add quite a lot of weight but once the welding, cutting, strengthening etc is done having it zinc plated is the best way I know of rustproofing it long term. I do not want to go to all this trouble and have 35 year old metal rot on me in 5 or 6 years time, I want this car to last another 20 without problem.
Work should literally start any day on replacing the floors with uprated, thicker ones, strengthening the shell, swapping the bulkhead etc. Once this is done the dummy fit of a V8 and box and suspension will happen.
Once we have a rolling shell life gets easier.
Generally I was incredibly impressed with the state of the shell considering how old it is. Without doubt if you want to build a serious car, importing a "dry state" shell is the way to go.
well done!
