Hello,
Picked this up in April as I was missing my old P6, even though it was a rotten heap and a money pit.
It's a 1964 Super Minx, 1600, with a column shift auto. 53k on the clock, no idea if it's genuine, but it's pretty tidy and no real disaster issues have cropped up yet! This is a bit of a catch up, I've been taking pictures as I go and putting a few bits on another forum I use but for some reason didn't get round to putting it on here so here it is!
So I drove it back from Dereham in Norfolk to my parents' place in Thetford, and everything was cool, so I took it back to Essex and everything was still cool... so that was a start!
Gave her a wash, polish, wax etc, and she comes up pretty well - she's had a lot of paint I think, and there's quite a lot of overspray which I'll have to do something about, but visually quite good:
Changed the oil, front pads changed, couple of other bits.
Took the spot lamps and front badge off:
Took the wood dash off because it was cracked and I don't really like it anyway - I was going to have it remade in black acrylic or something, but I actually like it off:
Note manky carpet.
Then started collecting some bits for it. Had some -2" springs made for the front and got some lowering blocks for a mk1 Escort for the back. Took hubcaps off, hate them and they kept flying off:
Much prefer it with plain/white wheels but the rears really didnt fill the arches at all to the point where they looked a bit lost, so I sent them off to Banded Wheels Essex to have the rears banded 1.5" and all four powdercoated.
I'd also ordered a new carpet and started pulling out the old stuff and put some deadening down:
I cleaned up and painted the floor as well, and filled a couple of small holes with metal filler as they were away from the chassis rails but I'm keeping a real close eye on them and I think they will want welding over winter.
While the wheels were away and it was on stands on my sisters drive, I fitted the new carpet:
Put the speakers in "properly" by mounting them to bits of MDF under the carpet under the front seats as I didn't want to molest the doors too much and no room in kick panels. Relocated stereo from glovebox to under dash... not sure on this looks wise but so much easier and cleaner than how it was in the dash. New plates went on, also fitted stupid gear knob which I unashamedly love:
And the wheels came back!
Fronts, powdercoated:
Rears, banded 1.5" and powdercoated:
Fitted up with some push-through centre caps and shiny nuts:
Fill the arches? ****ing hell, do they... they were rubbing at first but the arches have a lot of filler in them (all four) and it's kind of solved itself....
Cleaned up for the Maldon show:
She wants to be a bit lower at the front - in the first pic with the wheels fitted, it's a lucky angle and it's more level than that, but that's my aim. I think the plan is to replace the spring cushions up front with items off a Mustang II as they apparently result in about another inch drop.
Plans at the moment.... get another inch off the front, have a proper go at the underside and clean it up, deal with any nasties I find (looks pretty fair I think but who knows) and then waxoyl it. Sort out the rear leaf spring packs, maybe take them off and clean them up but definitely fit a new centering pin as one has snapped, it's still in there but needs replaced. Got a red moon metaflake steering wheel on the way as well and want to sort out rear speaker situation. Need some touch up paint as well. Some bushes want replacing. Well to be fair they probably all want replacing! Thinking about having the exhaust replaced from manifold back with a cherry bomb and a nice outward rolled tip. Also got some tidying up to do inside, new furflex for the doors possibly, and some of the vinyl's pretty tatty so I'll aim to replace it all.
Longer term.. I want to metalflake the roof, change from a dynamo to an alternator, fit a brake servo. Maybe a spot of pinstriping.
Longer longer term... tidy up the paint, possibly remove some chrome (hillman lettering primarily), I'd like to lose the wing mirrors in favour of door mirrors or peep mirrors. Maybe an engine change at some point in the far future if I keep it that long. Looking at the MX5 swap done to the Avenger on here gets you thinking, but it would need a fair bit doing before that point.
Cheers for looking, will update as I go
Picked this up in April as I was missing my old P6, even though it was a rotten heap and a money pit.
It's a 1964 Super Minx, 1600, with a column shift auto. 53k on the clock, no idea if it's genuine, but it's pretty tidy and no real disaster issues have cropped up yet! This is a bit of a catch up, I've been taking pictures as I go and putting a few bits on another forum I use but for some reason didn't get round to putting it on here so here it is!
So I drove it back from Dereham in Norfolk to my parents' place in Thetford, and everything was cool, so I took it back to Essex and everything was still cool... so that was a start!
Gave her a wash, polish, wax etc, and she comes up pretty well - she's had a lot of paint I think, and there's quite a lot of overspray which I'll have to do something about, but visually quite good:
Changed the oil, front pads changed, couple of other bits.
Took the spot lamps and front badge off:
Took the wood dash off because it was cracked and I don't really like it anyway - I was going to have it remade in black acrylic or something, but I actually like it off:
Note manky carpet.
Then started collecting some bits for it. Had some -2" springs made for the front and got some lowering blocks for a mk1 Escort for the back. Took hubcaps off, hate them and they kept flying off:
Much prefer it with plain/white wheels but the rears really didnt fill the arches at all to the point where they looked a bit lost, so I sent them off to Banded Wheels Essex to have the rears banded 1.5" and all four powdercoated.
I'd also ordered a new carpet and started pulling out the old stuff and put some deadening down:
I cleaned up and painted the floor as well, and filled a couple of small holes with metal filler as they were away from the chassis rails but I'm keeping a real close eye on them and I think they will want welding over winter.
While the wheels were away and it was on stands on my sisters drive, I fitted the new carpet:
Put the speakers in "properly" by mounting them to bits of MDF under the carpet under the front seats as I didn't want to molest the doors too much and no room in kick panels. Relocated stereo from glovebox to under dash... not sure on this looks wise but so much easier and cleaner than how it was in the dash. New plates went on, also fitted stupid gear knob which I unashamedly love:
And the wheels came back!
Fronts, powdercoated:
Rears, banded 1.5" and powdercoated:
Fitted up with some push-through centre caps and shiny nuts:
Fill the arches? ****ing hell, do they... they were rubbing at first but the arches have a lot of filler in them (all four) and it's kind of solved itself....
Cleaned up for the Maldon show:
She wants to be a bit lower at the front - in the first pic with the wheels fitted, it's a lucky angle and it's more level than that, but that's my aim. I think the plan is to replace the spring cushions up front with items off a Mustang II as they apparently result in about another inch drop.
Plans at the moment.... get another inch off the front, have a proper go at the underside and clean it up, deal with any nasties I find (looks pretty fair I think but who knows) and then waxoyl it. Sort out the rear leaf spring packs, maybe take them off and clean them up but definitely fit a new centering pin as one has snapped, it's still in there but needs replaced. Got a red moon metaflake steering wheel on the way as well and want to sort out rear speaker situation. Need some touch up paint as well. Some bushes want replacing. Well to be fair they probably all want replacing! Thinking about having the exhaust replaced from manifold back with a cherry bomb and a nice outward rolled tip. Also got some tidying up to do inside, new furflex for the doors possibly, and some of the vinyl's pretty tatty so I'll aim to replace it all.
Longer term.. I want to metalflake the roof, change from a dynamo to an alternator, fit a brake servo. Maybe a spot of pinstriping.
Longer longer term... tidy up the paint, possibly remove some chrome (hillman lettering primarily), I'd like to lose the wing mirrors in favour of door mirrors or peep mirrors. Maybe an engine change at some point in the far future if I keep it that long. Looking at the MX5 swap done to the Avenger on here gets you thinking, but it would need a fair bit doing before that point.
Cheers for looking, will update as I go