2.2s Targa rebuild

[murph2309]

Couldn't resist a trial fitting of the non-s bumper, just to see what it'll do to the profile....I think it's going to look great.

[alfacat]

Hi Murph
I for one am a big fan of the non 'S' bumper look, I'd go with that.
Good luck with the resto, lets hope the 'tin worm' is only skin deep.

All the best

Ian F.

[murph2309]

Next up, the interior:

Luggage bay first - out came the skanky carpet to reveal that most was OK on the inside, except for the cardboard cover that will have to be replaced - note the bracket on the lower LHS that is for the 'ford fiesta' washer bottle, that had been helpfully self-tapped through the inner wing....

It's also apparent that the luggage bay hasn't been touched by respray (save the wet flatting gunk form a previous outside respray). Worth noting the black 'hand painted' tops of the suspension mounts - I'm going to take a load of photos of this to see what we can do to recreate it later.



A pic to remind me how the carpet fitting went on the wing



Out with the tank - this was really gummed in and not helped by the fact that I had planned my fuel so badly that I had nearly half a tank in there



Should be fun to clean out then....



Label everything up on the heater stuff and yank it all out



Not too bad in terms of the spaghetti behind





On to the interior proper then.

[murph2309]

Slightly raggedy around the edges - but it's 42 yrs old, so not too much of a surprise





Getting off the vinyl padding to keep a note of what's below (sorry abt the focus)



On the otherside however, we start to get a sense that all might not be well around the targa bar and the B pillar.....



Door stripping and a reminder of how the internals should look when returned...inside the doors looks great, I think they are going to be OK







Then all the rest of the stuff - seats front & back, steering wheel, gear linkage etc:





And John saved this - he managed to get it off by carefully dremel'ing off the rivets - major result.

[murph2309]

The good, the bad and the ugly:

So with interior and windows out, we were able to see some of the, ahem, 'issues' that I'm dealing with - most seriously is the dissolving targa bar - both sides, and along the top of the rear wings. I'm thinking this might have had some impact on the torsional rigidity of the car...

Note on this first shot the innovative rubber bung that had been made in times gone by to cover the holes up - this has been going for a while...



After a quick wire brushing - nope, doesn't look any better But you can see where the rubber bung was useful...



The other side - and to be honest the main reason I got going on this resto was the rust bubble, which started like this:



and had this underneath - you can see that the lip is also disintegrating, it's like this all round the rear window frame.



The B pillar and outer sill are looking a bit pants on the LHS





And there's the usual at the scuttle:





On the plus side, it looks like the back seats and parcel shelf are in good nick:





Not great, but not a disaster either. Floor looks in relatively good nick and we'll have to see what's uncovered when I get to the cleaning. The sills & B pillar I'm not worried about, that was expected. We'll have to see what the metal magician can do with the targa bar. Not sure whether rear wings are saveable or not - hoping they are as they seem to be rarer than hen's teeth at the moment.

Funny thing is, when you've lived with the holes for a week or two, it doesn't seem so bad and it makes me think again that this resto was started just in time.

Looking at the targa bar and the good shape of the parcel shelf, it looks to me that the water runs forward to the base of the targa bar and just sits there under the silver trim - it was actually still wet under there when we took it off. Much waxoyl under those trim strips when it all goes back together!

[murph2309]

So, wings off, electrics harness out and on to the cleaning.....



Some evidence of repairs in the luggage area - that'll be needing a new tank support and and long suspension pan then..







Inner wings not looking too bad, although not sure whether battery boxes are saveable. Wing end closer not looking too clever either, that will need to go and I'll be needing a new front slam panel + lip







Under the watchful eye of the gaffer - who wasn't around when the noise and dust were incase you're thinking of letting the social know

[Darren65]

Lots of nice shiny stuff there Richard, hope it stays that way as you work through it

Darren

[murph2309]

More cleaning - burnt and scraped off the floor stuff






Found a bit of a hole in the floor around the pedals. And the 'gussets' have some issues too - part of the targa strenghthening...




Engine bay took chuffing ages, but is nearly done now



Hoping to get the rear wings and rockers off next week and a rotisserie so I can complete the stripping before going into metalwork at the end of March. Overall the floor is looking pretty good and the rear bulkhead / parcel shelf in great condition pre-blasting, let's see how that comes back later on. Better than the targa hoop anyway....!

[murph2309]

So - I had a visitor last week and we've made some more progress:



It does look quite dramatic when you get the rear wings & sills off - that really is a 'no going back now' moment - if there was any doubt.



And also we're going to save this - it's the American vin / construction date tag that is 'not removable'. I wanted to save this as it's one of those details that it would be a shame to lose. It sits on the driver's side b-pillar and we're going to let it in to the new one and then I can make myself popular with the painters by asking them to work around it...



Then it was up onto the rotisserie.

[Bootsy]

That look on Barry's face - priceless

"Not another one!"

[murph2309]

I thought this one was even better....I think he loves his job really....

[Bruce M]

Is it just me or does Barry have another job

[murph2309]

That's spooky - but there ain't nothin hapless about our Barry...

[murph2309]

So an interesting question will be how to ensure that I get as much protection against rust in the future. Looking at the factory protection, the stone guard only goes up a certain way in the inner wing and they seem to have tried to get some underseal up there, with limited success. Actually the top of the inner wing has virtually no protection and was starting to show signs of surface rust.



And on the LHS it's even easier to see





And John also noted the same lack of treatment on his car too - seems this might be something that was common practice and will need sorting on mine.



And after a wire brushing, looking pretty good.



So as we get to the end of the topside and Barry having had a good look around it, in summary:

1) Front end looking messy, will need new slam panel, tank support, battery boxes, front chassis legs & long suspension pan
2) Front wings saveable, but will need a new wing closer on RHS
3) Front drivers-side inner wing has had a repair & will need some re-work (also might explain mis-matched strut on that side)
4) New Inner and outer sills & B-Pillars
5) Targa bar is saveable (hurray)
6) Rear wings also look saveable (double hurray)
7) Parcel shelf, firewall, seats & floor (apart from hole around gussets & pedals) all looking good from the topside
8 )Bonnet & engine lid all good

In the grand scheme of things I think I am getting away pretty lightly at the moment. But no smugness should be inferred - I know how restorations have a habit of biting you on the bum - it's a matter of when, not if.....

ps, let me know if there's too much 'look what I'm cleaning detail' I think it's probably only interesting to me, but I am enjoying documenting what's being found along the way -it will get more interesting when it gets to Barry's

[johnM]

Hi Richard
It's looking good. Looks like you have been busy with the wire brush. Did the rotisserie work ok. You can keep the photos coming for me it documents the rebuild also the details of areas that are not easy to see.

Kind regards