Rexanne - Gold s2 restoration project

Steve-A · April 04, 2011, 09:54:50 AM

Cheers Cliff, thats great

I\'ll have to go measure what i\'ve currently set mine to, and see how it compares!

CHC (RIP) · April 04, 2011, 10:00:56 AM

Glad to hear that the new Watts Link resolved the alignment issue rather than the body twisting during the recent re-build.

Steve-A · April 04, 2011, 10:16:28 AM

Yeah, I was very glad of that too! I was a bit scared, as since I did all my cutting an welding work I have read people talking about needing to add temporary bracing to hold the suspension mounts steady while repairing the area. So they don\'t twist in the heat.

Steve-A · April 04, 2011, 06:00:30 PM

Grabbed an hour or two today to keep stripping back today. Despite there being many many more parts to clean and paint or replace on the front end, it seems much much less daunting having already been through the same experience with the rear end, and also not having so much welding ahead of me.

The engine bay is looking quite bare now.

Next time I get to work on the car I\'ll tackle the front suspension, before finally tackling the brake master cylinder and brake lines.

Once its all to bits I\'m gonna focus on the chassis first, then I can start bolting parts back on one by one as and when they are restored. I\'ve decided that I\'m going to carry on with the POR15 across the underside of the chassis, along the chassis legs and up into the wheel arches. The main engine bay I think I\'m going to paint satin black, rather than factory gold. I think that should both look good and be practical in terms of not snowing up the dirt as much as the gold would.

A quick question for you guys: Can I remove the steering box, without having to take the dash out? I\'d like to remove the box, and I presume that means steering rack too, to check for rust under it and paint around that area. But I\'m really running out of space to store stuff and I\'ve no other reason to remove the dashboard!

Ian65 · April 04, 2011, 06:41:05 PM

Quote from: Steve-A;753867A quick question for you guys: Can I remove the steering box, without having to take the dash out? I\'d like to remove the box, and I presume that means steering rack too, to check for rust under it and paint around that area. But I\'m really running out of space to store stuff and I\'ve no other reason to remove the dashboard!

you don\'t need to touch the dash Steve... the steering column bolts up underneath the dash and you can unbolt it. You\'ll need to remove the ignition lock / barrel housing and this is a bit awkward because they used shear bolts to fit it so the heads have snapped off. I drilled mine out.
Use a ball joint splitter to free the pitman arm from the steering links and draw the steering box and column out through the engine bay.
Be careful with the steering column though because it\'s collapsable and the pin that joins the two halves of the shaft is pretty fragile... don\'t go whacking it with anything!

Steve-A · April 04, 2011, 06:42:44 PM

Awesome

It\'s a good job everyones likely to be driving when I meet up with you guys, or the number of drinks I\'d have to buy would leave me very poor!

A7RXY · April 04, 2011, 07:15:15 PM

I think Ian will tell you its not about buying drinks, although nice of you to offer, its about keeping these cars on the road as there are a few of us getting on in years.

Dibs a very young 59

CHC (RIP) · April 05, 2011, 07:44:54 AM

Quote from: A7RXY;753888I think Ian will tell you its not about buying drinks, although nice of you to offer, its about keeping these cars on the road as there are a few of us getting on in years.

Dibs a very young 59

Too true Dibs.

Cliff
A younger 56 next week

CHC (RIP) · April 05, 2011, 08:54:42 AM

Quote from: Steve-A;753867Grabbed an hour or two today to keep stripping back today. Despite there being many many more parts to clean and paint or replace on the front end, it seems much much less daunting having already been through the same experience with the rear end, and also not having so much welding ahead of me.

The engine bay is looking quite bare now.

Next time I get to work on the car I\'ll tackle the front suspension, before finally tackling the brake master cylinder and brake lines.

Once its all to bits I\'m gonna focus on the chassis first, then I can start bolting parts back on one by one as and when they are restored. I\'ve decided that I\'m going to carry on with the POR15 across the underside of the chassis, along the chassis legs and up into the wheel arches. The main engine bay I think I\'m going to paint satin black, rather than factory gold. I think that should both look good and be practical in terms of not snowing up the dirt as much as the gold would.

A quick question for you guys: Can I remove the steering box, without having to take the dash out? I\'d like to remove the box, and I presume that means steering rack too, to check for rust under it and paint around that area. But I\'m really running out of space to store stuff and I\'ve no other reason to remove the dashboard!

And this time last week it still looked like a car too! :eek
No reason to have to remove the dashboard and really you don\'t want to go that route - honestly. In saying that, if you did have to go this route just checkout my details on JAZ.
Cliff

Steve-A · April 09, 2011, 08:29:28 PM

These last few sunny days have been so nice. I was lucky enough to finish work friday lunch time so could get out and work on the car

My friend Dan swung on down and we carried on stripping the bay. This was the pile of parts we stripped out.

Thanks for the tips on steering column removal Ian, it was very useful. In the process of removing the parts I found 3 areas that\'d need rust repairing.

The steering idler arm mount needs work, as does the bottom of the suspension turret where it meets the chassis rail and there\'s a small spot under where the battery try goes that needs work, but that\'s basically just cosmetic.

With a little help from Ross today (pictured!) we gave the bay a once over with a cloth to remove 28 years of oil and grime.

Then I got busy with the grinder.

And welded in some new metal into the suspension turret and inner arch.

Not the prettiest job, but the wind was causing me issues, the main thing is its strong. I\'ve cut out a template and my fathers sourcing me some suitably heavy gauge steel for the idler arm section of chassis rail early next week.

While I was on the rust hunt, I dared to look under the windscreen trim. And found this lovely spot on the top of the drivers side A pillar.

It failed the screwdriver poke test, so I\'m sure it\'ll need cutting out and replacing. My windscreen has 4 chips in it already, so I figure I\'ll probably just have it out and fix the rust and have a new screen fitted.

Either way that can wait till the front end/engine bay is done, if I\'ve gotta pull the screen I\'d like to minimise the time with the screen out, so I don\'t have to try and weather proof it for long, and seems no point putting a fresh screen in now, only to have to be super careful covering it when doing welding/grinding/painting on the rest of the car

CHC (RIP) · April 09, 2011, 08:54:27 PM

Well you might as well have taken this lot out too cause everything else came out for one reason or another - perhaps you should have bought a separate shell instead and a few boxes of bits :rollin:rollinjust like a meccano set.

The engine bay has come up really well after 28 years and I suppose it was inevitable that you would have found rust of some degree BUT it could have been a lot worse! Really good to see that you have got straight into it and Rexanne is coming back together already.

Real shame about the A frame :Hammerthough but having got to this point of the restoration you can\'t stop now - just think, by the time you have finished this;
a) you\'ll need a bloody long break to recover and get you social life back:rollin
b) you\'ll have virtually a car that I suppose should be classified as better than new

The project is coming on brilliant Steve - well done and thanks to Ross too.:Thumbs-up

David Nock (RIP) · April 10, 2011, 11:30:47 AM

Yes, and many thanks from me too. You\'re into areas I might have to visit in the future, so mighty interested in what you\'re finding.

As you know I caught the rear suspension points just as the first spider cracks started to appear....It\'s all about what to be looking out for as I\'m working on Gus.

Any Drinks should go the other way Steve.....You deserve \'em mate.

CHC (RIP) · April 11, 2011, 01:23:14 PM

No work on Rexanne yesterday Steve? Don\'t tell me you\'re slacking mate? :rollin

Steve-A · April 11, 2011, 01:42:31 PM

:rollin:rollin

Sorry, I\'m trying to earn some money today! Don\'t think I\'ve got much on for the end of this week though, so could well have some decent updates then. My dad should have picked me up some thicker steel to repair the chassis near the idler arm mount too

CHC (RIP) · April 11, 2011, 02:43:53 PM

Quote from: Steve-A;755438:rollin:rollin

Sorry, I\'m trying to earn some money today! Don\'t think I\'ve got much on for the end of this week though, so could well have some decent updates then. My dad should have picked me up some thicker steel to repair the chassis near the idler arm mount too

It\'ll give you a few days to re-charge your batteries then and plan your next steps.
ps - I was only joking about you slacking mate as normally you have been working on Rexanne most weekends..

What condition was your Clutch Master Cylinder in when you took it out? - if they haven\'t been used for a long time they tend to cease up as does the Slave Cylinder too!.