Wednesday 25 September 2013

The Kit Delivery to Shipping Company Warehouse - Info on arranging shipping

So the journey has started....

DDR will deliver the kit anywhere local if the shipping company you have used requires, shipping companies often have a loading warehouse. The companies I have used to date have been fairly priced but for someone like myself who has never imported on this scale (or really doesnt have a clue what they are doing still!), they have been excellant on Customer Service and keeping me updated and explaining stages. I really couldn't of asked for more so far and im sure it will continue.

I used;

Miami - to Port in UK; https://www.freight-calculator.com/

Uk Port - My Door; http://www.johngood.co.uk/


So DDR have now delivered to the warehouse, below are some photos that are on their facebook page as well. The journey at sea from Miami to the UK takes roughly about 20 days, plus customs time.

The UK agent's I used have a deferment fee (optional) which means they will pay the customs charges and fees etc... and I will pay this to the UK agent with a small fee for doing so. This can speed up UK customs clearence by 2 / 3 days sometimes as UK customs will wait till your money has cleared before releasing the container.

Im expecting delivery once shipped and clearing customs to be the last week in October, just in time to spend the winter in the garage, hopefully the snow wont come this year!







The windscreen below better make it across safely!! Theres enough warnings on there!





Saturday 21 September 2013

Updates and The Car Dolly

The last month has been busy at work which is fine by me as the car is not here yet. However the car dolly
has almost been completed now with just the braces to go.

In the pictures below it shows you the structure, the actual wheel legs as I will call them will be closer together more towards the centre of the dolly, they are only where they are for balancing purposes as I have not put the bracings on yet which are required.


As you can see this gives me a slightly higher Dolly then normal and will make it more comfortable for working on the chassis and underneath the chassis. Each dolly wheel can take up to 200kg of weight which is ample, when working underneath axle stands will be placed underneath  in positions around the car in case the worse was too happen.

In the below picture you'll see the cross members can be moved so its possible to change where the weight sits across the frame so as the weight increases at the back I am able to adjust it on the frame to keep it stable. In the end my Gf's dad came up with the idea of what are like cup holders welded on, so it means they can easily be slid and stay in position just by lifting up the frame once its on the dolly.


As well as this because of the build starting in winter now which was not planned, the garage needed some help to keep any heat in at all. Its an old garage from the 60's and so has a corrugated roof which sits on the top of concrete blocks with plenty of air holes between! So firstly I repaired the sealant between the roofing parts to make sure there were no leaks and I then filled in all the holes with expanding foam. On the scale of things, working through winter in minus C temperatures this will make little difference but it will make me feel better, every degree it can keep in will help!

I've also bought two powerful halogen lights to light up the garage better and will be buying a small fan heater as well, that with the floor being matt'd will make it as comfortable as its going to get!

I'll soon have more pictures but here's a teaser pic of the car being prep'd for delivery which should be soon and I can provide more pictures.