@ V8TVR1978...

When you see him (Mike) tell him his old man is still waiting for his test drive...

@ V8TVR1978 I sent you an email reply regarding your offer when you go to see Mike.

I talked to Mike a couple of months ago. The car is in storage for now. It is not quite finished because he is on the road with his job (long haul trucking, is rarely home and just doesn't have the time to complete the restoration.

I talked to Mike about a month ago and he still hasn't had much spare time. He still needs to get the gaskets for the exhaust headers and a pair of shocks, front ones i think.

If/when I hear more I will post for him if he doesn't have the time.

What a cracking rebuild, I've really enjoyed reading the thread. Good luck on getting the car sorted out, hopefully you'll be all finished and back on the road for Spring.

After a long hiatus, and after trying to sell the car twice without a single offer, I got back down to work last weekend. I didn't get a whole lot done but it's less to do next weekend. A slew of personal reasons have kept me from working on the car.

Anyhow... I bought all new radiator hoses yesterday and some antifreeze... filled the system up and nothing is leaking. Mind you nothing is under pressure either, but I was concerned about my radiator after paying so darned much having it rebuilt.

After borrowing a high interest loan a couple years ago to pay for this endeavour, I finally got it paid off a couple months ago and now have a few bucks left over to finish the job.

All in all it was a kind of wasted weekend. All I accomplished was installing the driver's seat and the radiator hoses. Next weekend I'll do the rest of the interior and exhuast gaskets if they've arrived by Royal Mail by then.

Can't wait to go for a ride... my goal is to have it running by the end of July or sooner.

I've been really busy and living on the road long haul trucking hasn't left me much time to work on the car, or update this thread... but I do have some news.

Since I bumped this thread a couple months back I've:
Installed the oil cooler and radiator, replaced all the coolant lines, and filled the system. It's leak free.

I got a massive PAS leak at the banjo fitting, a thicker copper washer did the trick... topped off, leak free.

Installed headers with big bore gaskets... the old ones were smaller... should breath better now. Also hung the rest of the exhaust.

Ordered a K&N cone air filter... 2 5/8th clamp on style...

Hooked up all wires... I cut back a few wires and crimped new connectors on the ends that had been corroded.


All that is left is to hook up the fuel lines, put in a battery, and turn the key with one hand while holding a fire extinguisher in the other...LOL I also need to get some 1/2in to 3/4in bushings for the rose jointed rear trailing arms I bought.

I'll also need a four wheel alignment.

That's it, that's all. I can't wait to drive it before the snow flies!

Brilliant crack on!

Jimbo

It was a really good weekend tidying up.
Not much time to write about it now, but in essence I'm
running out of "finishing touches" I can do to the car.
I could have had the engine running if I wanted to but
figured I'd better wrap up the exhaust near the fuels lines,
the headers etc etc. Just to be safe.

I really am running out of things to do to the car AND IT'S AN AWESOME FEELING!!!!

I was pretty drunk last night and not into writing much, but here's how my weekend went.

I was about to get the engine running and even poured in some fuel, which promptly leaked a pool
under the car. Apparently I'd forgotten to do up a couple hose clamps between the tanks I'd undone
when we put the body back on. I had undone them to give the tanks wiggle room between the body and chassis.
I let the fuel evaporate and crawled back under the car, went over all the hose clamps and make everything
ticky boo. I also added a lot more zip-straps to various under car things... hoses, hand brake cable etc etc.

While under the car I realised I should probably get some of that exhaust insulation wrap for key areas
before I actually attempt to start the engine, so I put off starting the engine for another day. My K&N
air filter hadn't arrived yet so I'm waiting on that too.

I then hooked up the reverse light switch, ran new wires for the fuel gauge, and wired up the fuel pump.
With that out of the way I was now able to put the interior back in the car.

The fuel rail inlet and fuel pressure regulator outlet had gotten dust in them in a bad way, so I unhooked
the cold start injector and blew out the rail with compressed air. I plan to pump a few litres of gas
through the rail as well, backwards, to flush out any other junk inside.

I bought a few grounding straps and ran new grounds to the block, frame etc etc. The car seems fine
electrically and I tested all the lights, horn, power windows etc etc. One problem I have is the battery
light on the dash comes on if the key isn't in the run position. Alternator wired wrong? I also ran
all my spark plug wires.

I can't seem to find the wire that runs from the firewall to the starter solenoid. I't like it's
just not there! I might have to wire up a new start switch. Anyway, I jumped the solenoid wire straight
to the battery... my rebuilt starter works fine.

My "to do" list is now this:

4 wheel alignment.
Rear trailing arms.
Tighten front bumper and reconnect front turn signals.
Put the headlights back into the light pods.
Install front spoiler.

Other than that, I can't think of one darned thing that needs to be done. I'll probably find something! LOL

[edit] And piss me right the f&%K off! my rebuilt rad is leaking where the little sensor is at the top
of the rad... nothing major... took all night for the coolant resevior to drop half an inch... After so
much spent on having the rad rebuilt, I'm loath to take it back out of the car. I'm tempted to try that
"Bar's Stop Leak".