1955 Traction 11B "Barn Find" Project

That’s looking remarkably clean and rust free 😀

First I went for the heat gun and scraper. This softened it all and got the big chunks off.

Then I went for a paint stripper (decap) that made it into a gloomy sludge.

I then used baby wipes to wipe all this sludge off.

Then I went for the wire wheel on my drill which polished off the rest (and covering me in tar)

It was dirty but there was not much to do, only the rear of the engine bay. The rest of the engine bay I wire wheeled and I will give it a slight sanding before apply an antirust primer and then a couple of coats of top coat.

I can then start rebuilding the front end and engine 😀

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Another day in the barn working on “Vinny” as named by my wife, Julie.

I have prepared the engine bay for a quick coat of paint (primer and a couple of final coats) so I can start putting back all the parts I have stopped of in the past 6 months.

I have cleaned and prepared the handbrake assembly which came up quite good seeing as it was coated in mud. I have a feeling this car may be similar to the Peat Bog man – it has been preserved for the past 44 years in the barn by a layer of mud after its last owner drove it through their potato field. I have only found one small rust hole so far in the floor pan of the drivers side. Fingers crossed this will be the trend 🙂

This lift is the best thing I have bought in a long time (and it will be a long time before I can afford anything thing else 🙁 )
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Handbrake mechanism cleaned and ready to be painted
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This is the number stamped into the bulkhead – it will be covered in paint soon so caught it on camera
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I could not save the MEV 7 4 marks but I hope to put these back when all finished. I know it is a shame to lose this originality but I am not restoring this car to original but to a nice drivable smart looking car (in the end). Hence me changing it to grey which I saw a fine example at this years Retro Auto show in Paris. With the chrome it looked fantastic.

So here is the first coat of the final colour.

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I then started on the steering rack. It is in a terrible state but it did work OK when I was pushing the car around.

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But if anyone has any ideas how to release the steering arms from the steering rack I am all ears. I am assuming there is a SPECIAL tool for the job. I have tried a pulley, heat, hammer and swearing at it.
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I just forked out for another specialist tool – the 1964-T which will get the steering arms off. I seem to be collecting a very good set of specialist tools now but without them some of these jobs would be impossible for sure.
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Got my new tools today, which was quick. This time from PAT2D here in France, ordered before midday and it arrived this morning.

5 minutes and both steering arms are off 😀

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Needed a bit of persuasion though

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And how about this for a spanner – 50mm is no problem now and then end cap of the steering rack is now off.

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