Making Her Pretty

The Hole in The Rear Undertray

The hole needed to be repaired, as the undertray is almost impossible to find now.  Time to do some plastic welding.

The Pipes are Calling

The pipes were in a sad state both outside and within the Termignoni rear cans.  Some significant wire brush and renovation work in the pipes was in order,  as well as some internal welding in the cans to get the bracket mounting point remade and  sorted.

The Rivet Band Saga

Removing the rivet bands is no easy task, plus they are easily damaged, as I found out.  These have been a pain to find, so I now needed to get some made – thank goodness for laser cutting!  I have been selling these in sets of 4 plus rivets across the globe and have a few more left, but they are in the style found on a recently restored SP5.

Throttle Bodies

These were particularly grubby.  Although functional, they look to have gathered 25 years of grease and grime and are certainly past their best.  A full strip down, clean-up and replating were necessary and reassembly time consuming, but very therapeutic.

Frame, Wheels and Swing Arm are Back!

After attempting to paint the frame myself, even though the finish was decent, an old friend of mine, Matt Manderson (First Place Finish, Nr Bicester), couldn’t stand for me to make a mistake and told me to get the bits over to him so the finish would be strong and hard wearing with 2 pack paint and an oven.  He also did the wheels in 1994 Strada/SP5 colour, which the same as the frame, as well as polished the rear swing arm to remove the scuffs and anodising.  Looks superb.

The Top Yoke

After removing the carbon fibre cover on the top yoke, it was hiding a pretty messy surface as well as a nicely drilled hole.  Went and found a very tired replacement so stripped it back to bare metal and with acid etch applied, I got some Hammerite Silver (smooth) and applied.  Unfortunately this stayed too soft for real wear, so I go it painted with the panels.

The Bodywork

Matt Manderson at First Place Finish in Bicester, did a phenomenal job.  The quality of this paint is never going to be cheap, but it looks stunning.  So happy with the finish and is the finishing touch for the 888.