2017

Saturday, 11 November 2017

3.8 coupe boot floor off

3.8 coupe boot floor off

 

3.8 coupe boo newt floor on

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Friday, 10 November 2017

Wiper motor wiring

IMG 5308 2

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Wednesday, 08 November 2017

3.8 coupe body shell

Everything in front of the wheel arches is new.

 

3.8 coupe new floors and sills

 

And no prizes for guessing the fate of the boot floor and rear guards. Everything behind the wheel well goes too.

 

3.8 coupe original boot floor

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Wednesday, 30 August 2017

Another tardy update

Since the sale of my red car the fire has gone from my belly for this blog.

My current 3.8 FHC project is making slow progress.

Bodywork:

Shell and bonnet stripped. Pretty much the whole bonnet is unusable. The body has rust in the usual places. The door frames are OK. I have just taken delivery of AU$14k worth of replacement panels. ETA for shell completion; mid 2018.

Drivetrain:

Engine is stripped. Crank on standard and looks OK, bores on +20. I'll wait until I have the body back before I start on it. I have decided to reuse the Moss box that came with the car and this has been rebuilt.

Suspension:

The IRS is just about finished and the front suspension is rebuilt and ready to be installed. I have rebuilt the steering rack.

Brakes:

Everything is rebuilt and awaiting reinstallation including a full new set of lines. I'm going to use Volvo 4 pot calipers on the front.

Electrics:

Heater finished, dash panels instruments and switches finished.

Chrome:

All boxed up and will be going off to the chromer soon.

 

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Wednesday, 08 March 2017

Britney update

Apologies for a lack of posting the last few months.

Current state of play:

  • car arrived without incident
  • car has been completely stripped to components
  • body shell is due to be sent off to Minus Paint to be chemically stripped in the next week or two
  • both engine frames are too rusted to be used; new ones are on their way
  • most of the plating is back
  • most of the sandblasting and powder coating is done and awaiting pickup
  • Engine, gearbox and diff are still together while I decide what iteration of gearbox and diff I will go with

 

Disassembly has shown the car to be surprisingly complete, but there was a lot of rust on most of the components. The body shell has had some "repairs" done and has been sprayed with some sort of undercoat. The quality of the metalwork on the repairs is poor however. They have made their own panels and once the paint is off the full extent of the damage to the shell will become apparent.

So now there will be a couple of months waiting for the body to be stripped. In the interim I'll be collecting and sorting all of the components I've sent out and I can then commence rebuilding the various subassemblies. The plating, despite a lot of rust, has come up very well.

More, and some pictures, soon.

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