Conversion of a 1959 2 door into a convertable

[benb]

Work had slowed a bit while i was waiting for parts. Now the all of the hood parts are here i've sprayed
the hood bows in the car body colour and fitted them also repaired and fitted front spoiler.

The car is going up to Sydney on Monday to have a hood made.Then rub down spray the car again,fit
wiring loom, get rest of the upholstery done choose some wheels.....

[Iain Hall]

Just curious but what model corolla are the rear discs and callipers from?
I have a corolla diff to go under my project (a 57 two door) and I want to convert it to discs all round .
You are doing a lovely job on the car BTW

[benb]

sorry im running a drum brake rear end from a KE70.

If you want disc brake rear end you could try the rollie forum i've seen a post on there.

[Iain Hall]

Thanks for the reply Ben, since I posted I have taken one drum off and the Nissan N16 discs that I have fit perfectly so I just have to find suitable rear brake callipers and make mounts for them which should not be too big a deal I may well be using some rears of an EB Falcon as they fit the vented discs and have provision for a hand brake.

[benb]

Picked up the car from the upholosterer today, who did a wonderful job with the hood

[C6Dave]

The hood looks like a nice fit so he did a good job. Hard to tell from the images but looks like you went with Vinyl?

[Iain Hall]

Sweet job on your hood and I really like the colour combo with your paint. You are certainly setting a bench mark that we will all find hard to meet with your restoration.

[benb]

After i got the car home i removed the hood to start preparing for the final paint. I then sprayed
with purple guide coat so i could rub down and find any imperfections.






Then it was off to the panel shop to a spray booth i hired to do the final top coat.

[ptitterington]

Fantastic job you have done here. Looking forward to seeing more.

[benb]

Now at the fitting up stage, ive began feeding the wiring loom through the engine bay and connecting everything.Also
ive fitted the front grille and all the chrome parts.

[Iain Hall]

sweet as a Nut mate!

[benb]

Just came back from short camping trip for christmas so back to the car, was busy at work before christmas so
work had slowed. I have almost completed the wiring





I have also painted and fitted the front and rear bumper bars and fitted the chrome blades



Nearly finished laying the sound deadening, will also lay against firewall to reduce noise from engine bay, our yellow
car has this and it really helps

[benb]

I have also fitted front windscreen and rear side windows



then mounted the extractors can't really see in the picture, should get the exhaust soon



i managed to get a gold faceed speedo in Kilometres from Denmark

[Fingolfin]

Wow, Ben, that speedometer looks a treat! I'm very fond of the metric system. Brilliant work as always that you're doing on the car.

[Lukezaid]

Hey Ben I just Joined up I shall have to get some pics of the traveller and sedan up here

[benb]

Still fiddling around with wiring, almost done just need to get indicator's working, i will be useing VW Tailights.
The car now has the exhaust fitted




I have also finished all heater piping and mounted the heater




I have chosen Toyota Lite Ace rims as they have the same stud pattern as the corolla iam using, just had some
lugs welded on to hold the original hubcaps. They look very similar to Austin Healey Sprite rims.

[benb]

I also made new door trims for the upholsterer recover. I have chosen to use modern high back seats from a
Daewoo Cielo

[benb]

Things have slowed a bit since last post, but ive almost finished with the wiring and have fitted the Vw Tailights
and the semaphores.





Also the upholsterer has finished with car and i have started fitting everything, seats door trims etc.

[benb]

Things have slowed a bit since last post, but ive almost finished with the wiring and have fitted the Vw Tailights
and the semaphores.





Also the upholsterer has finished with car and i have started fitting everything, seats door trims etc.

[benb]

Well it's finally finished!Since getting it registered ive been driving around sorting out any teething
problems, all is going well only lost a hubcap. to fix this had some original lugs from the early model
cars fitted to hold the hubcaps better.

Some pictures from one of our first drives.