More paint!

 

The rad just needed a scuff over with a scotch pad and quick buzz with a flap wheel to remove some light rust. Masked off the main section to avoid any build up of paint which could reduce air flow at all. I later took this off and gave this section a light dusting of paint.

 

 

Gave my caps a quick polish to tie in with the accents on the Cam cover;

 

 

And got it back together. I did consider painting the fan motor but quite like the original 'mottled metal finish' on it.

 

 

 

And then I realised the only parts left un touched in the bay were the ARB, ARB mounts and engine mounts. This sent my OCD into overdrive and I drove straight to the unit to strip the parts off and get them on their way. The ARB and mounts are now done. Just the rear bracket to do!

 

 

Yes, my garage is a monumental crap hole at the moment! That's on the to do list before the car comes back!

Top notch!!

 

:)

Plenty done this weekend. Got the engine up there and onto the crane ready to be dumped in;

 

 

And in it went;

 

 

Got it bolted in, hung the rad, and shoved on a few other pieces to get an idea of the final look. Forgot just how tight the bay is!!! Overall pretty happy, although need a new distributor pretty badly as it's letting the bay down big time.

 

 

Also, before the engine went in I finished fitting the brakes (I was missing 2 slider bolts for the calipers) and got 20mm spacers on so I could actually fit the standard wheels! Looks much better than before with a mile of arch gap! (excuse the pic quality!)

 

 

Test fit of the front wheel with a 3" lip now everything is all bolted in and there's some weight in the car;

 

 

Yeah, they poke a little!!!!

 

 

30mm too far by my measuring! SO.... they're booked in with Voodoo in a couple of weeks to have 17ish mm taken off the back of the face and I'll be ordering 2 2.5" lips from BBS. After that they should fit like the rears. Nice and snug!

 

I have 4 days at the unit from Thursday to Sunday so there should be a ton of progress next week.

Very impressive and yes you need to do something about the distributor. 

 

It's just up too high and too visible and obviously elderly compared to the rest of your engine bay

 

:)

Completely agree - I need to pull it on Thursday and get a new one ordered. Ill get it through TPS or GSF so it'll be here and fitted friday.

Had 3 full days on the car from Thursday to Saturday so managed to get a load done! Started off with finishing the headliner and getting the car sealed. This was a horrible job and one I had been putting off. However the headliner has come out ok. Few more tweaks and I'll be happy!

 

A pillars started to go in;

 

 

Followed by the screen to tie the front section in. From this point we had an 'anchored' section to work with and pull the liner about a bit more aggressively.

 

Rear screen was up next as it was there with the new seal. So chucked that in.

 

 

Got the B pillar trims and sides in too. These were the worst as the rubber was quite perished. It looks fine from the outside but I had to be so careful not to rip it too much when pulling the glass in. Finished off the headliner and shoved some more trim on;

 

Saturday was a day of interior work. My parents are moving so I couldn't use my old room as a storage unit any more. With the car now sealed I could grab them and set about reconstructing the interior.

The carpet was pretty dusty!

 

 

All cleaned up and thrown in;

 

 

After this I added more sound deadening to the doors, built them up, sorted the seatbelts and rear trim then started on the dash. It was actually really easy to get in after removing the clocks and vents to get some access. With the throttle cable, speedo cable, clutch cable and bonnet release all attached I connected the contacts for the few switches I have and pushed the dash back into place.

 

Now this was out the way I could start getting seats in! Rear bench was first naturally. As soon as the lower section went in I knew the interior would work!

 

 

Got the rear seat in with the upper latches;

 

 

And the fronts after that!

 

 

Only the clocks missing from the dash which I'll chuck back in next weekend

 

 

Very happy to see the car looking like a car again!!

Very little to update on at the moment really. Well, nothing that makes for good pictures anyway!!!

 

Jobs we're working on at the moment;

 

- re-attaching the chrome gutter trim. Had to make a tool to rivet these back on as there isn't enough room to get the gun in ordinarily
- Bought some NOS headlights, fitted them, forgot to take pics
- Heat wrapped the manifold and fitted with the rest of the exhaust
- loom laid out and then stripped of the horrible plastic. We will tidy the loom up, shortening / lengthening relevant bits then re-wrap in TESA tape
- New struts bought for the tailgate - I can actually open the boot properly now for the first time in 3 years!!!!
- Clocks in

 

And then I realised that I needed a notch. I havent lowered the car too much yet, but the drive shaft is 1.5 cm from the chassis leg! And checking the other side it's only 2cm, so notches both side are to be done. As a result the front suspension / linkage etc is completely stripped back down for access!!

 

More tonight including loom work, and finally finishing the headliner and all interior bits too (rear view mirror and struts). I've decided against putting the grab handles back in and potentially the interior light as well.

 

That's looking excellent!

 

Steering wheels on the wrong side though, thought you'd have noticed that

 

haven't updated in a while - mainly just been saving and getting the little bits done, like sorting the engine, getting all the trim on etc.

 

Picked these up at the weekend though;

 

 

Well happy!

 

Will have the car started this week, then bonnet on and off to MOT!

Apologies for the the lack of updates - photobucket screwing everyone destroyed any enthusiasm I had to keep build threads updated!

 

If you follow me on IG (@charleston_) you'll know where I'm at, but if not it's basically done. Just a bit of height and camber adjustment, brake tweaks and few bits of trim to add.

 

The pic below was as soon as it came home, and I had chucked two wheels on. The rear arch currently sits on the side wall (hence camber needed) and the front it too high. After adjustment I should lose most of the tyre into the arch.