OK, First job is to get the car completely stripped to a shell and scrape/burn off all the underseal and seam sealer........

.......and then blast it. Apart from some rot around the screen on the scuttle, there is nothing we were not expecting, which is always nice!

We'll start in the usual place - the driver's side 'A' panel/inner wing area. As usual, the edge of the bulkhead needs repair, as well as the washer bottle area. With all the surrounding area cleaned up, a new 'A' panel is made up and plug-welded in place.

Next, attention turns to the notorious chassis rail area. The rails on this car are very good, but there is some bulging of the outer skin, suggesting corrosion beneith. All the suspect areas are cut out, cleaned up, treated and then new sections made up and welded in place. The floors are also fairly good, so some small localised repairs are all that is neccessary here.

At this stage the small 'in-fill' pieces that sit between the inner wings and bulkhead are made up.

Moving rearward, the back section of the sills need repair on both sides. Also the inner reinforcer section of the sills. These areas are cut out and repair sections made up.

A lot of old metal removed.... a lot still to go!!!

At this point we've also started on the panels. The driver's door was very good, just a couple of bulges on the bottom lip, so we cut these out and effect some small repairs. The door then gets a skim of filler and is block-sanded flat ready for priming.

The bonnet and bootlid were also very solid but had a lot of surface pitting, so these were acid dipped to strip them back to the metal and Zinc-Phosphate primed to prevent corrosion. The bootlid is almost perfect, it just needs the badge holes welding up, and the seams re-sealing. The bonnet needs a few dinks and dents smoothing out, but is rust free.

Here we can see the other sill being reconstructed, as per the passenger side.

Also some fairly exensive repairs around the boot floor and inner arch tubs.

The rear chassis rails under the spring seats also need work, so the spring seats are removed and the underlying rot cut out.

Jason has sourced a replacment nearside door, which has no rot at all, just some minor accident damage. This is stripped and flattened out before getting a coat of 'reface' along with the other door and bootlid.

These are then block sanded and go back into the booth for a coat of build primer.

Moving on to the bonnet (which has already been acid stripped) we mark up and cut out the famous triangle vents, before smoothing out and refacing, blocking, and priming.

At this stage, some of the panels we were waiting for arrived ('a' panel, jacking points and spring seats) so we quickly press on with getting these fitted. firstly the 'a' panel goes on, allowing the nearside inner wing to be fitted. The jacking points follow, allowing the front of the sills to be finished, and then the rear spring seats (won't be used for springs, but add strenght in this area) go on.

We now drop the car off the spit to allow the front and rear panels to be replaced. We have a complete front end from a car sourced from Germany, which is mint except a little rust on the headlamp surrounds. Both headlamp surrounds are replaced, and the nose prepared for fitting.

On goes the new front end, then we move on to the rear panel, which is removed, the boot floor repaired, and a new rear panel fitted.

Next the link-boxes (this Ascona is getting a fully 5-linked 4HA axle) are aligned and fitted, including bracing 'skids'. The tunnel also receives a couple of mods for extra clearance on the prop.

The arches are then 'tubbed' out for the wide '400' spec wheels.

Nearly there with the metalwork now!! The biggest remaining job being changing the roof for one without a sunroof! The old skin is removed, and a replacment seperated from it's frame before being cleaned up and spot-welded in place.... I make it sound so easy!!!

Finally, with the metalwork complete, the 'shell gets a quick re-blast to remove surface corrossion, and then it's into the booth for an all-over coating of Zinc Phosphate primer.

Next beings the time consuming job of preparing the bodyshell for primer. this involves smoothing out any visible repairs, ensuring all panels are perfectly straight and cleaning up and smoothing out any defects inside, outside and underneath. we then go about remoulding and modifying the bodykit to get it fitted in the desired way (for a more in-depth look see the White Ascona build diary). Finally all the seams are sealed and the shell goes in the booth to recieve an all-over coat of 2K build primer.

Here we see the shell in primer, and then back in the booth to receive a coat of anti-corrosion primer underneath, and then the first splash of colour! Our specially mixed 2k polyurethane coating gives the 'show-car' finish while still offering good quality stonechip protection