My 68 saloon restoration /customization project.
Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2017 9:14 pm
Bit of a long one...
I bought the Car off a friend of mine in March when he punctured the rad and cooked the engine.
The way it looked when I got it (poor thing)
I did a few bits to it initially, rebuild the head, changed out the cracked rear arches for a pair of 2" extended ones and moulded them to the body. I also relocated the fuel filler into the boot.
I then enjoyed driving it around for a few months as it was. Doing the odd patch of body work here and there but mostly just enjoying the Car.
After a little while I decided to take to the front end and do something with it,while getting under it for a freshen up.
I then started removing patches of paint work thinking it looked really Cool. Had that rat kind of look to it and it couldn't get much worse then purple flames...
Again after driving it around like this for a month or two I decided after a bit of research I'd lower the Car. I did go for 2 clicks of the torsion bar, I know there are people that won't like this but I did all the work needed to the inner wings. I cut down the bump stops, serviced the front shocks and filled them with thicker oil. Its been absolutly fine since, low and stiff but aslong as your careful there's no issues what so ever.
When it came to the back end I decided to strip it all down and clean it all up as it was quite kreeky. I used some 2" alloy blocks that I cut to shape, I used some threaded bar in place of the u clamps. Again I filled the shocks with a heavier oil, Cut down the bump stops, split and greased the leaf springs, changed out all the rubbers and give it a lick of paint... After a little back and forth I setteled on... white. I know, why white? It will get stinking dirty! I know, the truth is I'm not sure why I went for white, but I like it and that's what I've gone with.
Again I stuck with it like this for a little while. Unfortunately about 6 weeks back the head gasket went again and with the low oil pressure, compression and increasing oil usage I decided I'd pull if off the road for winter and really get stuck into the Car.
These are a few snaps from the past few weeks.
Keyless entry with door poppers, push button start and secret screw immobilizer.
Stripped the Car down.
A lot of this time has been spent stripping off paint and filler, finding holes and bad repairs. Cleaning, welding, fiberglassing, filling and priming.
You can probably tell it's been "restored" in the past, Unfortunately not to the highest of standards. Although the replacment panels have been welded on and they do the job a lot of the welding isn't very pretty. Im doing what i can to make it better looking but I'm not really willing to cut off rust free replacement panels to make the welds look better.
Last week I got my hands on a 1275 from an ital, brake servo, disk break kit (Mr grumpy)
1098 coming out.
Cleaning up the engine bay, you can see where rust has been cut out and any old metal plates have been fitted in.
Drums off
Cleaned
Painted
Kit fitted.
servo cleaned up. Going to run all new lines. Once I've finished in the engine bay. Going to spray that myself with some satin black.
Here's the ital 1275. It hasn't run in about 5 years but was told it run well before that (isn't that what they always say) going to get to that next week Hopefully, it turns freely but I'll get the compression tester on it and pull the head off to have a little look inside. Chances are I'll rebuild the majority of it if needed. But if the compressions good and the rings seem good I'll probably leave the bottom end and just swap out the valves, gaskets, stem seals ect.
I know there seems like there's a lot to do but believe it or not I'd really like to get the old girl finished up ready for next summer (miss driving her already) My brother is a panel beater/ sprayer by trade so he will to doing the spray job when I'm done (aiming for may/june) I've already got all new rubber and chrome, I also bought 2 new fiberglass doors and boot. It is just getting the frame sorted and the engine in (sounds easy right)
I know the car is a little outside the norm, it's not a straight restoration, it's also I light/mid custom with some modernisation with the electrics and half tonne of dyno Matt and sound proofing. Still trying to keep that classic look and feel but with a little somthing differnt.
I'll be going for the classic old english white, I'll also be getting a set of 101.6 to 4x100 hubsentric spacers so I can get a set of modern 15" wheels on there (once I work out all the proper offset measurements and how much space I have to play with) more then likely 15x8 on the rear and 15×5 or 6 up front, little tighter up front with how low it is.
Please try not to get to upset with my direction, I know it's a little different but with the image I have in my head it will be my perfect classic beauty.
That's about it for now I think, I'll update as I go!
Thanks for looking.
Thomas.
I bought the Car off a friend of mine in March when he punctured the rad and cooked the engine.
The way it looked when I got it (poor thing)
I did a few bits to it initially, rebuild the head, changed out the cracked rear arches for a pair of 2" extended ones and moulded them to the body. I also relocated the fuel filler into the boot.
I then enjoyed driving it around for a few months as it was. Doing the odd patch of body work here and there but mostly just enjoying the Car.
After a little while I decided to take to the front end and do something with it,while getting under it for a freshen up.
I then started removing patches of paint work thinking it looked really Cool. Had that rat kind of look to it and it couldn't get much worse then purple flames...
Again after driving it around like this for a month or two I decided after a bit of research I'd lower the Car. I did go for 2 clicks of the torsion bar, I know there are people that won't like this but I did all the work needed to the inner wings. I cut down the bump stops, serviced the front shocks and filled them with thicker oil. Its been absolutly fine since, low and stiff but aslong as your careful there's no issues what so ever.
When it came to the back end I decided to strip it all down and clean it all up as it was quite kreeky. I used some 2" alloy blocks that I cut to shape, I used some threaded bar in place of the u clamps. Again I filled the shocks with a heavier oil, Cut down the bump stops, split and greased the leaf springs, changed out all the rubbers and give it a lick of paint... After a little back and forth I setteled on... white. I know, why white? It will get stinking dirty! I know, the truth is I'm not sure why I went for white, but I like it and that's what I've gone with.
Again I stuck with it like this for a little while. Unfortunately about 6 weeks back the head gasket went again and with the low oil pressure, compression and increasing oil usage I decided I'd pull if off the road for winter and really get stuck into the Car.
These are a few snaps from the past few weeks.
Keyless entry with door poppers, push button start and secret screw immobilizer.
Stripped the Car down.
A lot of this time has been spent stripping off paint and filler, finding holes and bad repairs. Cleaning, welding, fiberglassing, filling and priming.
You can probably tell it's been "restored" in the past, Unfortunately not to the highest of standards. Although the replacment panels have been welded on and they do the job a lot of the welding isn't very pretty. Im doing what i can to make it better looking but I'm not really willing to cut off rust free replacement panels to make the welds look better.
Last week I got my hands on a 1275 from an ital, brake servo, disk break kit (Mr grumpy)
1098 coming out.
Cleaning up the engine bay, you can see where rust has been cut out and any old metal plates have been fitted in.
Drums off
Cleaned
Painted
Kit fitted.
servo cleaned up. Going to run all new lines. Once I've finished in the engine bay. Going to spray that myself with some satin black.
Here's the ital 1275. It hasn't run in about 5 years but was told it run well before that (isn't that what they always say) going to get to that next week Hopefully, it turns freely but I'll get the compression tester on it and pull the head off to have a little look inside. Chances are I'll rebuild the majority of it if needed. But if the compressions good and the rings seem good I'll probably leave the bottom end and just swap out the valves, gaskets, stem seals ect.
I know there seems like there's a lot to do but believe it or not I'd really like to get the old girl finished up ready for next summer (miss driving her already) My brother is a panel beater/ sprayer by trade so he will to doing the spray job when I'm done (aiming for may/june) I've already got all new rubber and chrome, I also bought 2 new fiberglass doors and boot. It is just getting the frame sorted and the engine in (sounds easy right)
I know the car is a little outside the norm, it's not a straight restoration, it's also I light/mid custom with some modernisation with the electrics and half tonne of dyno Matt and sound proofing. Still trying to keep that classic look and feel but with a little somthing differnt.
I'll be going for the classic old english white, I'll also be getting a set of 101.6 to 4x100 hubsentric spacers so I can get a set of modern 15" wheels on there (once I work out all the proper offset measurements and how much space I have to play with) more then likely 15x8 on the rear and 15×5 or 6 up front, little tighter up front with how low it is.
Please try not to get to upset with my direction, I know it's a little different but with the image I have in my head it will be my perfect classic beauty.
That's about it for now I think, I'll update as I go!
Thanks for looking.
Thomas.