|
|
|
May 17, 2015 18:23:07 GMT
|
Well,it all started when I bought this  From a a guy who looks remarkably like this  First challenge was it didn't quite fit in a little garage I rent at work...  So, spacered the door out and concreted a ramp  That got it in,minus bumpers,with a gnats ball hair to spare   And thats where here the fun started..... |
| |
Last Edit: May 17, 2020 4:12:09 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
jpsmit
Posted a lot
Posts: 1,274
|
|
May 17, 2015 18:37:32 GMT
|
|
Impressed with the space! That reminds me of a good joke, A proctologist wanted to become a heavy duty mechanic and for his final exam he got 150%. stunned and confused the doctor asked why he had exceeded 100% on his test. His teacher told him that he rebuilt engine was worth 100% and the bonus came from him doing it all through the tail pipe!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
May 17, 2015 18:39:02 GMT
|
Strip down an assess. Not a rolling restoration by any stroke of the imagination. Made a trolley to move it around on sans suspension.   That gave me the chance to see how much of this the car contained  Answer to that ,was way more than anticipated |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
May 17, 2015 18:58:07 GMT
|
A lot of the unforeseen work revolves around "repairs" in the cars past. I use the word repair very lightly,bodge job would be a better description Cut the windscreens out. This was one of the first cars to use bonded in windscreens. Ahead of its time. They then cocked its status up a bit by fitting a steering box, while everyone and their dog had moved onto steering racks...  First of the special tools,picture hanging wire with handles cut out both screens beautifully,both out unscathed. Ends of the wire soldered to stop it fraying when I pushed it through the sealer.  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
May 17, 2015 19:03:21 GMT
|
Scuttle panel didn't look to bad,until I found this "repair".....repair turned to despair. Thought this would be the lowest point. Boy, was I wrong.....  |
| |
|
|
bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,971
Club RR Member Number: 71
|
|
May 17, 2015 19:21:49 GMT
|
|
Booked and marked
I'm in for this journey
Loving the clever dolly with suspension mounting points
|
| |
|
|
bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,971
Club RR Member Number: 71
|
|
May 17, 2015 19:23:11 GMT
|
Impressed with the space! That reminds me of a good joke, A proctologist wanted to become a heavy duty mechanic and for his final exam he got 150%. stunned and confused the doctor asked why he had exceeded 100% on his test. His teacher told him that he rebuilt engine was worth 100% and the bonus came from him doing it all through the tail pipe! What's a protocologist  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
May 17, 2015 20:21:29 GMT
|
Thanks Guys! So, a bit of a clean up and my heart sank even more. Both windscreen frames had been covered in fibreglass resin, the water had got underneath and eaten the frames away. The back had the same issues...  Can understand rust at the bottom and in the corners,but not 50mm from the top.  Decided the best way forward would be to flip the car over and see what demons lurked underneath So, made the mark 1 version of the rotisserie to flip it over.    First look underneath was not as shocking as expected.pressure washed it at the same time But, that was the first quick look, lol  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
May 17, 2015 20:55:14 GMT
|
Been looking forward to this thread. Now bookmarked for future updates. Are you still storing it in the small garage? Presumably working on it outside when weather is more favourable. Nice work on the rotisserie and cradle by the way. Is that your work place where you build the tools. Looks like some pretty tasty kit in there  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Car lives in the little garage which is about 40m away from my workshop at work.  Can pull it in there over weekends to work on,if nothing else in the way. So, carried on having a look see. Sills had been overplated another bodge job and the chassis legs had been repaired. The chassis leg repair once cleaned up,looked like someone had used a sparkler instead of a welder...   Once cleaned up it looked like this  Plate not even connected to chassis leg. Just resting on a pile of pigeon poo. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Decided to remove the front windscreen scuttle panel seeing it was already poked and see what lurked beneath  Learnt how to sharpen spotweld drills as I figured I would be using them a fair bit  Got the panel off  Finished stripping the car. Love the way the speakers were fitted.....  It was time for a major reassessment of this rust bucket, so it got wheeled back to its little garage whilst I pondered on what to do....  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
In the meantime I had had a bit of luck finding parts. A couple of good barn finds down in Dorset.   Managed to get a couple of tail lights from a bloke in Capetown. Couple of hiccups on that with broken ones packed in the middle of the box,no damage to the box,so make your own conclusions. Guy had a big attitude change when I got PayPal to reverse his funds. Became all sweetness and light and all of a sudden wasn't to busy to deal with me.. In fairness he did sort out his mistake and we became friends..but at this stage of the proceedings it did leave a sour taste in my mouth as this project wasn't look too rosy .... And a major decision needed to be made...  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Found more parts in Europe. Bartered with a couple of tail lights. Was time for a major rethink. Cut my losses and get out would have been the logical thing to do. I could recoup some money for the new parts I had found. And the scrappy would most likely give me £50 for the rust.. I had taken on more than I could chew. I had started a project without the money to save it and it had headed South when the Chicken was facing North. curse word....  Had been a slight glimmer of hope on the chassis leg when I heard about these in Denmark. One in the bottom of the photo was what I needed. Wasn't to be though. Got messed around. Don't know if it was a cultural/ language barrier thing,or if the guy was just a prat, but the deal never happened...  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So. Decision time. These cars are fairly rare in the UK. I can think of three of them that are original UK cars. There are another two left hand drives imported by a bloke in Leatherhead. And there is apparently another one lurking in Scotland,reeking of Whiskey and up to no good,lol
So,plan was.... To carry on trying to find the bits I needed. This had been hampered by a couple of blokes from the Southern Hemisphere who had been systematically raping the European parts bin and shipping it all back to Australia,not for the love of oldskool,but for the love of coin. It made parts harder to come by.Pity,but that's the way it is....
Decided that no further work on the car would be carried out. No cutting ,welding etc. until, I either had all the parts I needed or I had a workable way of repairing or fabricating the bits that I needed.
The windscreen frame was a problem. Repair panels could be made with a shrinker/ stretcher I thought. Need one of them then. So I set about finding out how they work and made one.....
|
| |
Last Edit: May 18, 2015 5:14:44 GMT by Deleted
|
|
|
|
|
May 18, 2015 10:33:29 GMT
|
Save it!!! A fella with your skills and also an awesome arsenal of tools/equipment will find it easy. See how I did my screen surrounds section by section in the Rx3. Took a while but worked well. It would have been soooooo much quicker had I had a shrinker/stretcher (which is why its one of the first tools we bought last year to kit out our new workshop) I love Rx2s. In fact I think they have a nicer shape than Rx3s. You will have one very sweet rare (in the UK) car once its finished. Check out this bad boy... oldschool.co.nz/2011/forum/index.php?/topic/31862-wldrx2s-1974-rx2/ |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
May 18, 2015 10:57:56 GMT
|
|
Awesome thread.
I do get the feeling though that you are a little further on than where we are at?
|
| |
96 E320 W210 Wafter - on 18" split Mono's - Sold :-(
10 Kia Ceed Sportwagon - Our new daily
03 Import Forester STi - Sold
98 W140 CL500 AMG - Brutal weekend bruiser! Sold :-(
99 E240 S210 Barge - Now sold
02 Accord 2.0SE - wife's old daily - gone in PX
88 P100 2.9efi Custom - Sold
|
|
|
|
|
May 18, 2015 11:44:55 GMT
|
|
@johnnybravo my friend is currently in Australia and is able to import parts etc back to the UK. There will be quite a few parts in australia for this beauty so do you want me to message him and see what we can find??
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
May 18, 2015 12:13:31 GMT
|
|
Yes. Thread not up to date. Stay tuned.....
Thanks for offer, have people in Aus. Just don't like the silly prices they want for bits.
|
| |
|
|
luckyseven
Posted a lot
Owning sneering dismissive pedantry since 1970
Posts: 3,839
Club RR Member Number: 45
|
|
May 18, 2015 15:57:38 GMT
|
Hey, Johnners. About time your awesome skillz found the wider audience they deserve. Still chuckling at Uncle Era as "Hello Gandalf"  What's a protocologist Someone you only want to shake hand with if they've recently washed... |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
May 18, 2015 16:13:51 GMT
|
|
|
| |
|
|
