Next Steps

Whilst the body is away its time to start planning the refurbishment of the interior and suspension.

Interior

The rear seats are in pretty good condition and should't need too much doing to the. The front passenger seat is pretty good too but as always the drivers seat has taken a beating over the years. The leather is worn, the bolsters are flat and the fabric is torn. Im hoping to find an interior genius to bring this back to life.

Suspension

The front and rear suspension has been removed as whole assemblies so time to do some research into the best way for refurbishing these units - IM guessing there's a supplier out there that specialises in this and it might simply be a case of sending it away, maybe even service exchange, but time will tell.

I plan to fully refurb or replace all main suspension components with subtle upgrades that will improve handling without detracting from the originality of the car too much.

Final Strip

Build Day 7

Today we completed the strip down. The original plan was to acid dip or sandblast the body but this seems excessive given the generally good condition of the body, with the exception of the repairs required to the O/S rear quarter only necessary due to a poor previous repair. With this in mind we decided not to fully remove the dash nor the headlining as these are notoriously difficult to refit.

So the last little bits of trim, door latches and the like were removed and the engine bay stripped back as far as possible without fully removing the loom. Once the car has been sprayed, the loom will be tested for continuity (it worked when we started the strip down so should still work) and then the outer conduit will all be replaced making it look like new - well thats the plan!)

We did a bit of rubbing down and fortunately most of the rust spots found were surface rust only. There is a little bit in the boot that will require a small repair which will be done when the rear quarter is attended to.

Hoping to get the tub over to Stuart at Carsmetic early in September for him to start work on the bodywork.

Ready to be sent to the body shop for repairs and paint

Further Strip Down

Build Day 6 (continued)

Today was a good day and a lot of progress was made. With the front suspension out much easier than anticipated we decided to crack on with removing some other bits and pieces.

1. Front wiper motor assembly 

Front wiper motor assembly

Front wiper motor assembly removed

2. Fuel Tank

Electrical connections disconnected

Fuel Tank removed

3. Brake Servo and Master Cylinder

Brake servo and master cylinder removed

4. Heater Matrix Hoses and Connections

5. Rear Wiper Motor Assembly

6. Gear Shift and Linkage

So at the end of build day 6, the engine bay looks like this...

End build day 6

And the interior looks like this...

Interior at end build day 6

Front Suspension Removal

Build Day 7

Having had the engine assessment back, it seems like a good idea to fully remove the front suspension and replace/refurbish as necessary.

The first step is to disconnect the gear selector mechanism which attached to the cross member.

Gear shift selector connection

With this detached the column has to be disconnected from the steering rack.

Steering column/rack connection

The font suspension is fixed to the body via four mounting bolts. Two at the front and two at the rear. While supporting the suspension with a Jack these bolts are undone and the whole assembly is then lowered and removed.

Fornt suspension is held in place with four mounting bolts

The whole assembly is removed in one piece