1600 Coupe Restoration.

[MattNoVAT]

So the work started in earnest today.

I had already stripped out the boot, removed and threw away the rear bumper, the tow bar, rear and middle section of exhaust plus anything else that was not part of the car.

The after a couple of weeks thinking about where to start I decided the back end was the best place as there is a fair amount of work to be done.  Rear shocks are shot and a couple of conversations with Mark W, I decided conversion to insert type for front & rear is the only sensible/viable option.  Looking at the underside of the floorpan, the underbody sealer has faired very well, its blown and flaked in a few places and the powder coating has flaked off the rear cross member.

So, today I've spent my time removing the rear hubs and the rear suspension in preparation for Mark W to convert them to inserts.  I'll clean up the rear hubs myself and the brake dust guards etc.  Wheel bearings are good it looks like they have been replaced at some point because the copper slip is reasonably fresh.

Brake discs are OK, but I changed someones front wheel bearings so instead of giving me cash they bought new brake discs front & rear at my request for the 1600 - swings and roundabouts eh!  I had a set of front brakes refurbished by BigRedd Brakes a while back so they will go on the front and I have a rear set to rebuild that I'll use.  I have already have a stack of bits shot blasted & nickel plated so they all look good. As a precaution I will make up some new copper brake lines, the originals do not leak but the coating has blown in places and I'd rather do all that when its easy to get at.

Plan for sunday is to get the fuel tank out and remove the rear crossmember, the fuel tank needs a light sanding, treating with Jenolite and then painting with underbody sealer to protect it.  The rear crossmember will go away for blasting and powder coating. The tie rods etc will all get stripped, cleaned painted and re-assembled with new bushes.  (Kinda handy that I've had new bushes sat in my supplies for a few years!)

Thankfully, the rear ARB bushes are in great condition, being series one style they are a PITA to find...... I wasn't looking forward to tracking those down, but if anybody has a pair then I'd still be interested.

Once the back end is sorted out I'll be putting it back together but leaving the suspension loose, as thats got to come off so my body shop can do the welding.

Striping down wasn't a nightmare, considering some of the nuts had been in place for 35 years they came off reasonably easily... but that I mean I've only damaged one finger  

[MattNoVAT]

Stripped out arches, next out will be the fuel tank and then the crossmember.

[MattNoVAT]

Rear suspension removed and stripped ready for conversion.

[Duncan23]

You've got more done in 1 day than I have in several months!

Can you put up a picture showing which bit of the car the stands are supporting? It would make my life a lot easier if I could jack my Spider up (and get under it safey), but the sills are completely shot.
Thanks
Duncan

[MattNoVAT]

Duncan,

Will post up a picture tomorrow when its light.

[cheeky monkey]

Great progress Matt. is the original treatment Ziebart.?   i might have a half decent rear bumper if it helps

[Duncan23]

Great, thanks Matt.
I'll be paying a lot of attention to your resto as I'm sure you'll be done a lot faster than me. Expect a lot of annoying questions!
Cheers
Duncan

[MattNoVAT]

This car first hit the road before the ziebart or tuffkote dinol days, only the floorpan is coated in a thin rubberised paint, the equivalent to more modern underbody paint/sealant.

At the moment I'm coming down with bumpers but thanks for the offer!

Always happy to answer any questions.

[rossocorsa]

looks in remarkably good nick for it's age especially in the wheelarches I will be quite jealous when you've finished it!!

[MattNoVAT]

Bottom seams of the rear turrets need attention, as does the 6"x4" panel in the side of rear turret. Not sure what it's purpose is, it's got original plate/cover welded on then the inside has that resin coating over it, that's got to be replaced. It looks like the welding misses all the awkwardly shaped areas.   Thankfully!

[MattNoVAT]

Axle stand jacking resting point.... I have both stands in same place on either side of the car.

To jack the car up I use trolley jack, a 8" x 6" piece of old floorboard to spread the load across centre of rear crossmember and raise the car up from there, then get someone to get the axle stands in then lower gently ensuring the axles stands take the weight centrally.

HTH

[MattNoVAT]

Fuel tank out today, which took approx 30 minutes.  Now I can see exactly whats going on underneath and to be honest I'm rather pleased.

These are my workmates today plus plenty of elbow grease:

[MattNoVAT]

I drained the fuel tank expecting all sorts of crap to come out but the fuel was just about perfect, the only bits in it were the odd bit of flaked paint that blew into the funnel as i inverted the tank to empty.

After some damn good brollying with the wire brush and then a liberal dash of Jenolite.  (BTW don't use the gel form of Jenolite, its weaker than the normal liquid stuff)

[MattNoVAT]

Now the underside is exposed, as you can see there is some small areas where the underseal has blown, but this has already been wire brushed back so that all the loose stuff has been removed, again Jenolite will be used and then then more underbody sealant.

I was supposed to be going out but thats just been blown out, so I'm off to remove the rear crossmember.

[Duncan23]

Loads of progress. Good progress too. Does the good condition of the tank mean you won't put any sealant inside it?

And thanks for the pic of the axle stand points. I'll have a look tomorrow am and see if that area looks solid enoug to trust on my Spider. Your coupe underneath looks a lot better than my spider.

Cheers
Duncan

[MattNoVAT]

Yeah the fuel that came out the tank was as good as it was when it went in, so I see no reason to seal the tank.

With the crossmember off I could check its condition properly and all thats happened is the paints gone and theres just surface rust.  So this has been wire brushed off, treated with Jenolite and then resprayed the original grey colour.  Once the paint is dry the crossmember can be rebuilt.  Am amazed that the bushes are all in good shape, they must have been changed sometime before the car came off the road.

Will post up pics later of the final progress that was made today.

The rear hubs and brake dust guards are now painted black, the rear crossmember is back to its original grey and the fuel tank is drying after a liberal coat of underbody sealant.

I got a text saying check my rear struts as they looked like insert type, so I scraped the muck away from the top of the strut body and found that they are indeed insert type! Bonus... one less job to do.  They are a different design to the three insert type struts I sold a few weeks back.  

Sun has been out pretty much all day, not too hot nor cold... just perfect for working on a Beta and I am very pleased with the progress. All I have to do now is spend a couple of hours under the car scraping off the loose/blown sealant and give it the Jenolite and underbody treatment.  Once its dark I'll head inside the garage to rebuild the crossmember as I've cleaned, treated and painted all the tie rods ready for refitting, possibly next weekend but it mothers day so need to mindful of Mrs NoVAT!

[MattNoVAT]

After work today I cleaned off the remaining crud from the underside of the boot section.  Not a nice job as all the bits drop into your hair, ears and anywhere else you dont want it to go!.  Then out with the jenolite to treat the areas of exposed metal.  This is more of a precaution at this stage.  I think while the tank and rear crossmember are out, everything is very accessible, so do it now rather than regret it later.

The Jenolite is dry in 1 hour o so, but I'll leave it 24 hours and then apply a liberal amount of underseal to the bare metal areas and then 24 hours later give the whole underside section thats hidden by the tank & crossmember another coat of underseal, more for uniform colour and also improved protection from the elements. Then I have to wait until Bristol to see Mark and collect rear suspension bits.

As some of the parts that were treated and repainted are now dry, I re-assembled what I can in readiness for refitting.

[MattNoVAT]

This is one of the bits about this game I like....... putting it back together again.

[Duncan23]

Looking fantastic!
Keep going and it will be done in no time!

[MattNoVAT]

Today the rear strut bodies and rear springs all went off to be shot blasted and powder coated.  The spring pads were in good condition but the steel spring pad protector had suffered a serious attack from the tin worm.  So I've handed the pads and what remains of the metal protector to my fabrication to make some new ones.

This should all come back within a week or so and give me sufficient time to rebuild the rear brake calipers which I stripped down and bought new seal kits for. I'll give the floorpan at the back a full coat of underbody sealant, paint and refit the rear ARB and get the rear crossmember back in, refit the middle and rear sections of exhaust, refit the fuel tank complete with new fuel pipes, assemble the newly rebuilt brake calipers and discs.  Finally once the rear suspension parts have all been refurbished and returned and I have new inserts from Mark W the back end is pretty much completed.

Then I'll move on to the front bushes, suspension & brakes renovation.  

At the same time as doing the front I'll be making a start on the engine side of things.  Change the timing belt, fan belt, all filters, oil change, new fuel lines and some general cleaning and tidying up.  The engine runs very well, but the blown exaust wasn't helping matters.

It's all going pretty well so far, this weekend was written off due to Mothers day and family commitments - trying to make up mid-week but will have to see how things go.

Now, if only I could find the Swan Neck tailpipe that I cut off and saved... as I want to weld that onto the new rear silencer