There was another small problem with the grill. There are four small brackets in each corner so that the grill stands proud of the metal work, only the two top clips had disappeared leaving a couple of metal blobs where they had been soldered/welded onto the grill. I bent up and drilled a couple of replacement brackets from 30x2 mm ali strip. I decided to glue these brackets to the grill using Gorilla Glue, I ground off the blobs of metal and sanded clean the back of the grill before gluing and left it a couple of days before reattaching to the car. Unfortunately at the first wriggle when screwing the grill back on, both brackets came unstuck, useless. I considered pop riveting them on, but that seemed a bit brutal, so I ordered a tube of PU18 polyurethane bond/sealant and re glued them, success, they are now really stuck fast.
The little plastic squares that the screw are protruding through are cut from a marg tub and keep the screws in place when the grill is being offered up to the car for re-attachment.
With that job done I thought I would like to attach, to the front of Stella, my MAC (Midlands Automobile Club) badge that Jacquie bought me at the Goodwood Revival for Marjorie, my Morgan Three Wheeler build. (Mac being my name of course) The perceived wisdom is not to attach anything else to the grill and restrict the airflow to the radiator, nor to drill into the front bumper to fit a badge bar.
I decided to make a bracket from the ali bar that I used for the grill and fit it to the bumper bracket. It looked good, but I like symmetrical and decided I needed another badge for the other side, a STAG OWNERS CLUB badge, that'll do it.
I used my electric drill first with a flap wheel to get rid of this coating and then I could use the polishing wheels on my bench grinder to get the finish I required. Both pieces of equipment clamped to my workmate.
That's better, both brackets nice and shiny and ready to mount on the the front of Stella. The first photo shows the difference between polished and unpolished and the second photo they are both done.
I think the 'Stag Owners Club' badge needs to stand about an inch higher to match the MAC badge, so I will probably make up a new bracket at some point.
At the moment though, I have a slightly more urgent job as Stella had to be rescued and piggy backed home the other day, as she failed to proceed. I was only a mile from home, but suddenly after a couple of hiccoughs she just stopped. No spark! A new coil is on its way and hopefully that will sort the problem, but the very helpful guy at Pertronix said it is possible that the failed coil might have taken the Ignitor with it, in which case a new Ignitor will also be required, fingers crossed.
I have to say that the breakdown service provided by my classic car insurance company 'RH' was excellent. They kept in touch whilst I was waiting for the truck to arrive, ensuring that I was safe and OK. The breakdown guy not only got us home, albeit a short distance, but got her up the drive and helped me back Stella safely into her garage, I couldn't ask for better.
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