1987 3.2 Carrera Backdate project - Sladeys hotrod

[murph2309]

Dude - I feel your pain....and I never had to fight anything like that. Keep going - you'll make it, I know you will. Can you feel the collective force willing you on here?

R

[sladey]

Dude - I feel your pain....and I never had to fight anything like that. Keep going - you'll make it, I know you will. Can you feel the collective force willing you on here?

R

Thanks - much appreciated. Tonight I will be mostly cleaning crap off stuff - good for the soul

[hot66]

What ever you do, don't look to see what Andytat has for sale !

Haha it's non varioram though. Anyhow after the current works I'm putting that off for a good few years

Non vario is a revvy 'er motor though

[sladey]

Yes I've heard that. However for a daily driver the extra torque will be nice. Also it seems a little on the pricey side (IMHO)

As I say though, after Mikes involvement I'm shelving the idea for a few years at least

[sladey]

Brief update tonight

Roof is almost there now


Cleaned up the heat exchangers from this


Also I've been holding the heater tubes in with self-tappers which weren't holding them on very securely - I decided to replace those with rivnuts which will make them more secure in future

Note the edge of the hole is chamfered down quite severely - if you don't do this then you can't remove the lower rocker cover ( note these are 993 heat exchangers fitted to a 3.2 Carrera)

[sladey]

OK, not a great week-end due to non-car stuff

Anyhow, moved the car on a bit

Fitted the latch and gubbins onto the carbon Bonnet that Nick supplied. I've got to say the quality of this item is superb

Had to drill a hole to let the latch thread fit through


After a fair bit of fannying around I got the latch fitted and the bonnet closing nicely. I also got the internal light connection added in - needed another small hole for that behind the hinge (which you can't see here)


Lookin smoooth


Yesterday spent some time fitting the O/S wing. Now this is the one I started my bodywork saga on so I was keen to make it fit. Initially it was an aweful fit and I wasn't sure what the problem was. However after about 10 coats of looking and one of cutting it started to take shape


It's still not there - the bit behind the wheel slopes in so I'll need to persuade that out. However I'm pleased with it so far and especially pleased with the gap to the door. I've actually spent less time fettling this than the new one I fitted on the other side. Be nice when I've finished it.

Chatted to Mike Bainbridge on the engine. We're gradually running out of things to go wrong! The case on the other side was also damaged along the mating faces so that has gone off to be refaced. The pistons were a tad sunburnt which is probably a consequence of the ignition being advanced to cope with other previous problem in the engine. This extra damage moves the engine's ETA in to next week.

Neil is cracking on with the sill repairs and will shortly be on to adding the panels back on.

We had a talk about doing the actual spraying and have agreed to use a mate of his as it's a fairly intense (large) project for me to learn on. At this stage I mainly want it completed.

Ordered new headlining last Wednesday from Fenn Lane. Chris at Fenn Lane said he would get it out to me Friday and he's been as good as his word - along with stainless support bows - they arrived this morning.

Currently looking at options for getting the screens removed and reinstalled after the respray - should be getting them out before long.

I think the roof is there now.

Drilled out the locking wheel nut socket so it fits over my longer studs.

Finally starting to look a bit like a car again

[Nige]

Ossum!

[sladey]

chiz yothe

[Nige]

Are you painting the carbon fibre or leaving it nude?

[sladey]

I'm painting it - which is just as well as I've burned it a couple of times with stray sparks. It looks cool but it doesn't suit my image of the car

[Nige]

Watch those stray grinding sparks as they are just hot bits of metal filings melting into the surface ready to rust out when you get that nice new coat of paint on.

I happened upon this when grinding near the rear windows on my Beetle years ago, the hot grinding residue melted into the laminated surface of the glass and then would rust out in little flecks every time I washed the car.

[sladey]

Thanks yeah I've been warned about that - I need to go over the windscreen with a razorblade at some time

[Gary71]

Looking good!

My rear screen is full of sparks despite my best efforts at protection and I've never been able to get them out.

[sladey]

Ah well - what evs - I'm pretty sure mine will be as well

[Lightweight_911]

OK, not a great week-end due to non-car stuff

Anyhow, moved the car on a bit

Looks like pretty good progress to me !!