With the straps balancing the body we fashioned some support for the back and were able to comfortably keep the body above the chassis.
With the engine, suspension and wheels still on the old chassis now wheeled in and out to give us good access to the body.
We were going to have to weld on some patches to the body where the rust had eaten away vital areas and to do that we needed to get to the metal. We set about tearing out all the insulation from the inside of the car, and discovered a layer of tarry gunk holding it on.
We released the limitations of our straps that supported the body. In order to avoid too much lateral pressure they had to hang the body too low and getting underneath wasn't easy enough. They were replaced with a scaffold bar wrapped in carpet underlay to protect the body work that hung from the winch hook using a chain.
This solution was excellent and allowed us to raise the front high enough to get underneath more easily.
Ross's dad came up in the afternoon to help us and make our first new patch. He shaped a new piece to cover the majority of the nasty rust and also cut away the ragged edges.
With the new piece held in place there was an immediate improvement on the appearance of the body that lifted my spirits considerably.
The task now seemed more achievable.
On the sunday I spent most of the day up at the garage on my own cleaning away the paint and gunk from areas that either needed looking at or were going to be welded. In the afternoon my folks came over to see the setup for the first time and give me a break from toiling with the drill and wire brush for a while.
This was a messy and thankless task and I ended up with bits of rust in my hair and eyes despite wearing pretetive goggles.