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Wooders28

Full scale car projects?

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Having seen a few a few comments about, full scale car projects on here, and quite a good few of us got them on the back burner, so figured I'd start a thread to post up your build pics / progress ,(and @Toolmaker72 comment about not boring us, please, bore away!! 😀

Here's mine....

Bought my 1981 Pontiac TransAm back in 2002, had 12 months Tax & MOT (no idea how it passed tbh....) but was bought as a driving project while down at the ,Mopar Nats. The wheezy 305/350 was never going to stay, but worked ,so.....🤷‍♂️

 

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The first thing to do, was attack it with a belt sander, and get rid of that horrendous paint!! 🤮

Sell the wheels, and get a set of snowflakes...🙄

 

As winter arrived, so did the constant rain, and the inevitable, leaking T -Tops 💦😳, so took the decision, to buy another car " just to see me through the winter..."  and stick it in my workshop, attack the known rust issues, and see about replacing the power plant.

 

After a bit of, just cut that bit out, and that bit, it became clear, that the boot (truck) floor wasn't worth saving, and the tail panel wasn't much cop either......😬

 

2021-11-30_08-34-27

 Luckily, boot floors had just become available as a pattern part, so set about getting one shipped over.....(💰💰💰😭)

 

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I'll dig out more pics, and get them uploaded.

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(Not sure if editing is the right thing, or doing another post?, anyway...)

After messing about getting the boot floor nailed in, and trying to fabricate the bottom half of the tail panel, a friend of a friend spied one in a junk yard,while on the hunt for a car in Texas, so a couple of phone calls later , one arrived (a bit more expensive ,but so so much easier..)

 

2021-11-30_10-35-39

 

Next to tackle was the front clip, stripped ,blasted and painted, with new poly bushes, new bearings ,springs and discs.

I'd put the word about, that I was looking for a 350 SBC to give it a bit of life, and kind of come up trumps ,with a 1987 Z28 Camaro, that someone had started to restore, but the body was just too far gone. This gave me the 350TPI engine , 700r4 gearbox, the full wiring loom ,and also driveshaft etc.

There was enough parts left of the Camaro (boot lid, wheels, brakes ,LSD/disc axle etc) to claw some money back on the deal too!! 

 

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The plan, was to leave the engine stock, and get it all up and running, but a pair of Edelbrock heads popping up for sale swiftly changed that route...🤦‍♂️

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Having to strip the motor to fit the heads, I may aswell swap out the cam, the lifters, the push rods, intake manifold ,runners , and then I'd need to update the injectors,  while it was in bits....🙂

But this meant that the stock ECU would need to be reprogrammed. Luckily, I know someone who's a dab hand with Megasquirt (he designs them..), so passed him the loom in a box, and it came back as a plug and play!! 😀👍

 

 

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As life moved on, and 8 years after the temp 6 month job I took north of the border....😬, it /she (?) finally moved out of the rented workshop, and into its own stable next to my house, certainly easier than the 500+ mile round trip to turn a spanner!! 😀

 

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Pair of rear discs came up on ebay, so set about doing a rear conversion, again ,wasn't on the list of jobs needing doing, and didn't really have the funds or the time, but....

 

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Seemed daft not to replace the bearings whilst the shafts were out, and a moser diff cover just looks right, plus they had a deal on anti tramp bars so.....🙄 

Unfortunately, the disc conversion didn't come with the necessary hoses and fittings, but luckily, found the front braided hoses and fittings seemed to fit, so brackets tack welded onto the tubes (although, I'm maybe now thinking they may foul the exhaust?....😳) , all poly bushed, naturally...

 

Made a shot blast cabinet out of an old IBC, stripped all the calipers (fronts were new, but wanted them all the same) gave them a blast, and sent them off to be powder coated. 

 

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Found one of the springs missing in one of the rear calipers, and none available to buy new, and didn't come in the new seal/caliper rebuild kits !??!  (Just goto a junk yard, was social media's answer..🤦‍♂️), so ended up having one made by a local spring company (actually got 5 made, as it was only a few quid more, its the setting the machine up, that's the expense).

Lack of research (re- common sense...), meant that my new brake booster (disc/drum) wasn't much use, and also the brake bias compensator (disc /drum), but managed to sell those, for almost what I paid for them, and buy the correct new set upto so it wasn't the costly over sight it could have been! 

 

Next was the fuel tank -

The fuel tank had seen better days anyway, so a replacement was always on the cards, so went for a ,fuel injected converted tank, from Rock Valley, again, not the cheapest, but (at the time) one of the only ones available RTR.

This set up is what was used to run the engine in the above clip, but a couple of years of modern alcohol/ petrol blended fuel, sat in there, didn't do it any favours, and when dropping the tank to do the disc conversion, it sounded like it was full of gravel....🤬

 

 

2021-12-01_08-13-23

Pump solid, filter disintegrated, fuel sender seized...😭

There's now a ,Aeromotive Stealth 340 in there, which are more resilient (apparently.....) .

 

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Decided to clean the engine and box up, and give it a lick of high temp paint, 

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 I'm not sure how, but using the same primer and the same paint, the PS pump is different colours...🤷‍♂️

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Figured as the pulley will hide it, it wasn't a major issue...

New oil pump, strainer plus treating it to ARP bolts throughout , should be reliable...(famous last words 😬

Couple of hours rubbing down the plenium and SLP runners and the hand polishing, but came out not too bad..

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Really should stay off eBay 🤦‍♂️

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Back to body work,.....

While trying to fit a new (to me..) boot lid, I found the hinge panel full of filler....oh good.

Of course, it meant the underneath was shot to, so turned out to be a load more work,  than I hoped it would be..

 

2021-11-30_10-34-33

 

Boot lid lines up, which is a bonus 🤣,

 

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The rear bumper is a bit scabby,  someone thought in their wisdom, to use wood screws, to screw trailer indicators to bumper, so to pass the UK MOT test 🤬🤬, so had to come up with something better LED's!! 

 

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Although this was MK1, and didn't quite tick the boxes, and a bit underwhelming, especially after I found Velleman did a 12v sequential driver...😀

Couple of hundred solder joints later, and it's taking shape,  but still needs to be finished, before starting the opposite side..😳🤯

 

 

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Next ,was to blast and send the rad panel off for powder coating, then a week or so later, and no call to say it was ready, went past on the off chance, to find the place empty, they'd gone bust, no rad panel....🤬🤬

Bought a new rad panel off ebay, with a Global shipping cost from the US to the UK of only £28, why would you not! 🤷‍♂️

Well, I got refunded via PayPal, and when I contacted the seller, to see if it was just out of stock etc, they insisted they hadn't refunded me!?! Many phone calls and emails later, turns out the item was too large to go through the Global Shipping facility, so it was 'liquidised ' 😳

After attempting to repair the wings (fenders), I closed my eyes at the cost ,and bought a pair of reproduction ones from Texas TransAms ,plus a new rad panel.....🤞

Success!! (Definitely not £28 delivery 🥺)

 

2021-11-30_10-34-12

 

 

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Started on the front lights, quite liked the Angel eyes (Halos), but the shipping just made it a no no (over double the price to ship, than the lights themselves...) Luckily, a set came up on eBay ,but 'for show use only' as they where a blue halo....

A couple of pairs on long nosed pliers through the bulb hole, a load of patience and some high intensity white LED's later 😁

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Not as good as the ones on the market atm, and not switchbacks , which would be perfect ,but they'll do....for now 🙄

 

 

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Moving onto the heater system.

I've fitted an AC delete, and removed all the AC system from the loom, I'm in Scotland, so only really need a heater....

Mine had damage, and one I bought off eBay had damage, just not in the same place, so I've managed to bodge one out of the two.

 

2021-11-30_08-59-17

All the Vac lines had perished, but easy enough to replace, once in bits.

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3 hours ago, markbt73 said:

Absolutely superb!! 

Funny how I used to see the MGB's on the roads every single day, and think they where just a, normal, car! 😬

When I moved house last year, there where a couple of MGB wheels left in the garage, but driving out of the estate, I noticed the rear light of one tucked away under a cover in someone's garage, so they've got them now. 😀

A mate of mine did the MX5 swap (Miata) on one, and it makes a really nice driver (although a later ,big rubber bumper ,model...) 

It's a car I'd be tempted to have a electric conversion on (sorry...😬) , more than enough power and range wouldn't be that much of an issue.

 

1 hour ago, Belong said:

only one of 12 in the world...... F81 M3 touring

Have you rebuilt it?

Do you have any of the build pics?

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Been a bit busy working on a buddies car interior (Jaguar Mk2) Pictures below.  
My project the Jaguar xjc has stalled for a while waiting for stock of a new batch of panels to be stamped (door skin).  I have been working on the engine though.  Stripping and checking mainly, replacing oil seals.  Machining a new tool to enable correct sizing of the rear crankshaft seal.  Basically the engine crankshaft bearing holders are line bored but not the holder for the rear crankshaft seal.  Although the holder is dowelled in position on the end of the engine block, to size the seal a tool is located within the rear bearing holder so that it can then size the seal.  The seal is referred as a rope seal which is fitted to two halves of the holder.  All old school techniques which I find interesting.      🙂

 

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On 12/3/2021 at 7:37 PM, Toolmaker72 said:

Been a bit busy working on a buddies car interior (Jaguar Mk2) Pictures below

Looks brilliant mate, great job!! 👍

 

On 12/3/2021 at 7:37 PM, Toolmaker72 said:

The seal is referred as a rope seal

Similar to a, Graphite Gland packing seal, you'd use in steam systems? 

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Picture shows the rear crankshaft seal. Just placed within the holder. There is a scroll on the crankshaft bearing the seal fits around to pull oil back into the sump but basically thick string to stop any oil getting on the flywheel and clutch.  Also uses semi set red gasket sealer on the back end and colloidal graphite against the actual crankshaft 

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A few pictures of the engine build.  That rope seal 2nd attempt at sizing came out perfect this time with no grease ingress between the two split halves. 
New main and big ends bearings fitted whilst apart.  
Sump on just to stop any dirt getting to the bottom end parts whilst I find time to fit the timing cover and new water pump

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11 hours ago, Toolmaker72 said:

A few pictures of the engine build.  That rope seal 2nd attempt at sizing came out perfect this time with no grease ingress between the two split halves. 
New main and big ends bearings fitted whilst apart.  
Sump on just to stop any dirt getting to the bottom end parts whilst I find time to fit the timing cover and new water pump

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Looking good!! 

Did you go for a rebore /oversize on the bulld? 

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The block was previously built about 12 years ago with a 20 thou over bore.  Car wasn’t used so less than a couple of hundred miles if that. Then life gets in the way.  18 months ago car went in for full body restoration.  I noticed a stuck valve which I bent by turning the engine over whilst stuck down.  So the head came off to repair and I didn’t grease up the bores in the block as it stood for the next 12 months.  So yet more work cleaning up the bores but luck was with me and all was ok.  So while doing the bores I’ve stripped everything and replaced all seals so it’s as good as new again.  
Engine spec is basically a series 3 xj6 block and big valve head but I’ll be running 3 big su carburettors as per an e type.  That’s mated to a manual 5 speed gearbox (LT77) to a late xjs rear axle with limited slip diff and out board rear disc brakes.   Front and rear axles have also been fully rebuilt with new poly bushes and a set of eibach springs front and back.  Fronts are short versions for a xjs track car.  Rears are sitting on modified mounts to lower the rear somewhat.  Not sure how low yet as they are my own design.  I made a set of additional spacers to pack under the spring to raise the rear if too low as a similar design to Jaguar spec on the front springs.

Front roll bar is upgraded and uses a Aston Martin db7 item.  Rear axle uses a roll bar from standard but one was never fitted to a series xj6 so I’ve made mounts to fit the body to accommodate a rear anti roll bar.   Brakes are all standard but new.  Original fronts use 4 pot calipers anyway so plenty of stopping power just all new.    
Finally I’m using a pair of external fuel pumps rather than built into the fuel tanks.

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7 hours ago, Toolmaker72 said:

Then life gets in the way.

Ain't that the truth!! 

Sounding like it's going to be some motor, once it's finished 👍

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A lot of hours have gone into it.   It’s turned into a nut and bolt rebuild 😳.  Well almost, haven’t had the gearbox in bits yet 🤔

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17 hours ago, Toolmaker72 said:

A lot of hours have gone into it.   It’s turned into a nut and bolt rebuild 😳.  Well almost, haven’t had the gearbox in bits yet 🤔

Aye, an, 'over winter project ' has kind of been extended somewhat....😳🤣

Funnily enough, I've not stripped the box either, it worked fine, so it's just had a new filter and a deeper pan fitted, although have a rebuild / shift kit sat on the shelf, just incase...😬

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21 hours ago, Willy iine said:

.

No room at that Inn at that point 🙄

I don't have the will power, not to clutter space up.

 

2021-12-10_08-25-57

 

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Proper man space 👍

My garage is similar.  Two cars within.  Stacks of wheels one side. Upholstery work benches the other side.  Any spare space used for seats waiting to be upholstered together with a spare Jag rear axle  😊.  Trying to get the time to build a mezzanine type floor for storage of seats and car parts.  Hasn’t happened in 8 years though lol

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My garage use to be super cluttered too at my previous residence.  I could not believe the amount of stuff I had in the garage when we moved out and once I got use to my current garage, I could not believe how tiny my previous garage was when I went back there a few times to clean up the place to sell.  I think it was like 400 - 450 sq ft, a typical modern 2 car garage in the USA.  

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On 12/22/2021 at 6:21 PM, Willy iine said:

My garage use to be super cluttered too at my previous residence.  I could not believe the amount of stuff I had in the garage when we moved out and once I got use to my current garage, I could not believe how tiny my previous garage was when I went back there a few times to clean up the place to sell.  I think it was like 400 - 450 sq ft, a typical modern 2 car garage in the USA.  

Sorry, I was meant to reply....🤦‍♂️

I don't have that unit anymore, I don't live in that country.

400-450 is an awesome size! 

In new builds over here, they try and get away with the smallest they can, so seemingly around the 315, with the legal max (without planning permission hoops to jump through, but still has to be 1mtr away from a boundry, take up less than half the garden etc), is 323.

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5 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

Sorry, I was meant to reply....🤦‍♂️

I don't have that unit anymore, I don't live in that country.

400-450 is an awesome size! 

In new builds over here, they try and get away with the smallest they can, so seemingly around the 315, with the legal max (without planning permission hoops to jump through, but still has to be 1mtr away from a boundry, take up less than half the garden etc), is 323.

No problem at all!

Yeah, I do realize garage size differs greatly by location and the age of the development.  In my area, which is a suburb of a major city in the USA, unless the home was built before 2000 there are not many single family homes in a good school system area (which is a huge deal for real estate value) with a garage larger than 775 sq ft.  However, 775sq ft is not big at all once you place 3 cars and all your tool cases, shelves, cabinets, village trash/recycle bins, etc. etc.  

My house was built 40 years ago before all the recent zoning restrictions took place, and the developer forced an oversized  3 car garage with over 900 sq ft on a normal sized 4 bedroom single family home.  It looks like a regular 3 car garage house from the outside, but once you open the garage doors one realizes it goes in much deeper than a normal garage for the extra storage space or to park a 4th car.    I was very lucky to have found this gem.. there is only one other house in the entire community with this layout.  The house was renovated top to bottom by the original owner in the last decade including floor plan changes so it looks modern inside.  The garage has an open attic so there is room for expansion if desired, but I'm pretty happy where I am right now and considering my kids have zero interest in cars and RC, I don't imagine them coming back to wrench on their cars at dad's place on the weekends after they graduate college, so..

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7 hours ago, Willy iine said:

  I was very lucky to have found this gem

At 900 sq ft, very lucky! 

I'd still fill it with J̶u̶n̶k̶ car parts though...

Can only presume, you bought a garage with a house?😁 ( pretty much my remit).

 

4 hours ago, Toolmaker72 said:

Not much movement with this but it is all together now.

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That sir, is a thing of beauty!! 😍

Great work.

Not sure if it was years of owning Mini's (first love and all that) , but I do like an SU carb. 

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15 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

At 900 sq ft, very lucky! 

I'd still fill it with J̶u̶n̶k̶ car parts though...

Can only presume, you bought a garage with a house?😁 ( pretty much my remit). 

:lol: Haha, yeah I can see that.  It's very easy to fill up the space if I am not careful.   I use the most compact and modular carts/tool cases as possible (without compromising function) and keep the garage more of a clean play room/lounge setup.  This way I can enjoy the space when I am not working on my cars, similar to my pretend RC shop and music room, there's a sitting area to just enjoy the atmosphere with some music and drinks when off season.  

2 more months and my cars come out to play.  I'm starting to get the itch again.  Still on the fence whether to do the HKS CBE on my GR Supra this season or not.. I want to, but the stock exhaust is one piece so it's fairly big.  I don't want that ugly thing in my garage and it's too long to make the turn into the basement storage so I'd have to cut it and couple it when I sell the car in the next 10years or so.. or toss my kids stuff out of the shed and keep it in there.   Either way, kind of a hassle.

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We moved to a smaller property 18 months ago, (turns out the dream of owning a large property ,doesn't include the time and expense of maintaining a large property!!...😳),  and although the garage is bigger than the last place, its meant half of the garage is stuffed with plastic storage boxes, full of ,well just stuff....

On 2/1/2022 at 2:41 PM, Willy iine said:

 I don't want that ugly thing in my garage and it's too long to make the turn into the basement storage

I've taken to the pulley systems ,advertised for bike storage, to hoist parts/ car roof box, into the roof void, not sure if that's an option? 

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7 hours ago, Wooders28 said:

We moved to a smaller property 18 months ago, (turns out the dream of owning a large property ,doesn't include the time and expense of maintaining a large property!!...😳),  and although the garage is bigger than the last place, its meant half of the garage is stuffed with plastic storage boxes, full of ,well just stuff....

I've taken to the pulley systems ,advertised for bike storage, to hoist parts/ car roof box, into the roof void, not sure if that's an option? 

Oh geez, I know what you mean by larger property usually requiring more work for lawn care, cleaning the house, etc etc.  My house is not that big and the land is pretty small for an American 3 car garage house.. like 0.25 acres and I hire a landscaping company to do lawn care, and the lawn is equipped with an irrigation system so no need to baby sit lawn sprinklers.  I use to do lawn care all the time at my parent's place as a kid and my dad was a lawn decorating maniac.. he had me working early morning to dusk often on weekends and I hated it.. so I already did my full life's worth of lawn care in my teens.   :lol:  I don't even own a lawn mower nor grass trimmer.  

Thanks, the pulley system is very functional, but my garage has finished drywall ceilings so would not want that thing hanging.   If I was 10-15 years younger I would probably modify the  garage to have a 2nd floor lounge and separate storage area, but I just don't see myself using my garage enough from this point forward to justify that.   

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