1967 E Type roadster (DA) Total Team CJ restoration

Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows: Another Team CJ special in the making, this Southern California car will feature just about every available CJ performance and reliability upgrade.

I am pleased to report that the restoration of your car has now been completed and we will be making the transportation arrangements in the next few days.

Final road testing underway. I hope the custom interior has come out the way you imagined/designed it!

Putting the finishing touches to your interior installation..

It is now time to install your interior and the remaining brightwork.

Laying stereo wiring in place	Masking off prior to installing the chrome beading	RH headlamp glass and chrome  trim now installed

We have now received the custom Suffolk & Turley interior, created precisely to your specifications.

Tan with black piping	Tan and black door panels

We now have the lights and most of the glass and brightwork installed. The next step will be to begin road testing prior to installation of the interior. Speaking of the interior, we really need a final decision on colors and options soon!

Lots of Dynamat insulation!		Bumpers and lights now in place
	3.8 style center dash trim

As you can see, we now have the engine and transmission installed. The engine bay is filling up rapidly!

Installing the CJ flywheel and new clutch assembly	New CJ5 five speed mated up to rebuilt engine
Newly polished valve covers installed		All chrome has been sent off for re-plating

Back on all four wheels!

Now for the fun part! The photos below show your car starting to go back together.

Front suspension has been  installed	Rebuilt booster and new master cylinder going into place
Rebuilt rack, Poly bushings tho'out	New SS heater pipes

The following photos show Carlos color sanding and buffing the body...

I am delighted to report that yesterday's shoot went off without a hitch and the car looks great in its new Opalescent Dark Blue livery!

After weeks of blocking and sanding, it's finally painting day! We will be painting the bodyshell, doors and bootlid today followed by the bonnet tomorrow. Watch this space!

First a thorough cleaning...	Then masking...

We have now sealed and painted the undeside of the car, as well as the cabin and boot compartment.

Great care is taken not to get any rocker guard inside the car...	All joints are seam sealed before applying rocker guard	Boot is also seam sealed
Two light coats of rocker guard were then applied		Both footwells were replaced
Area above IRS also receives the full treatment	Exhaust hanger studs have their threads taped	Tinted sealer then applied
	The first of the Opalescent Dark Blue paint going on...

I am pleased to report that the Slick Sand stage has been completed and the car has already been primed. We have put the car back onto one of the rotisseries so that we can paint the underside, the firewall, the cabin and the boot compartment Opalescent Dark Blue before final sanding and painting the outer panels. Look for the first of the Opalescent Dark Blue later this week!

The photographs below also show progress with the engine rebuild - something which should also be completed in the next few days.

Cabin was stripped to bare metal then etch primed...		Boot compartment also sealed
	About to apply high build primer
	Back on a rotisserie so we can paint underside, cabin, firewall and boot	Amco bar holes in overriders were welded up
Trial fitting bumpers, etc	Scrubbing engine block after machine work
Crack in oil pan	What it looks like inside	Welded up and repaired
Painting inside the block with Glyptal paint	Pistons meticulously balanced	Measuring deck height
	Measuring piston dome volum	Crank ground to .010 and .010, ARP rod bolts used on rebuilt rods
Original timing chain cover was badly pitted	A good used alternative was  supplied	Pro Race dampner installed
Ready to receive the head...

We have just about finished the filler and blocking stage and hope to be applying the Slick Sand later this week. The panel gaps have been fine tuned and are absolutely perfect. Later this week I will shoot out and send you test panels for Opalescent Dark Blue and Opalescent Silver Grey, as well as various hide samples.

Bonnet completely stripped	Modified headlamp opening was refinished with lead	Doors being re-installed, with seals and latches
	Etching primer baking in Texas sun
Check out the fit		Headlamp chrome was a challenge, but now fits beautifully

We now have the modifications to the headlamp openings completed and have trial fitted the new headlamp covers and chrome trim. The last couple of photographs show your completely rebuilt IRS assembly.

Series 1.5 openings will be modified  to accept S1 style headlamp covers	A lip is welded around the edge of the opening
Shaping the lip to accept the glass and rubber seals	Starting to take shape	Conversion is now complete

We have now finished installing the new footwells and sills and have begun the process of modifying the bonnet to 'enclosed headlamp' specifications. I am going to be sending you out some paint samples this week for your consideration!

Spot welding the passenger footwell in place		New driver's footwell installed
Lead loading front and rear panels  above new sill	Time to install the frames and the bonnet	Removing old open headlamp diaphragms
These holes will be welded up	Damage in lower valance beneath the bonnet mouth	More holes to be welded up
	Metal refinished after hols welded up
	Enclosed headlamp diaphragms and brackets

Lots of progress this week!

Stripping 40 years of underseal from the underside of the car		With outer sills removed, inner sill are remarkably rust free
Just a little surface rust on the support braces	Footwells will be cut out and replaced
Cutting out the footwell		As good an inner sill as you will ever see on an unrestored E Type
Applying Body Wax		New sill is trial fitted with doors in place
	New bushings pressed into radius arms	We put them in sideways for HP IRS rebuilds
	Differential (3.54) completely rebuilt	Front calipers will be used on the rear
Front suspension has now been Nickel plated		Darrell prepping the driver's  floor for the new footwell
RH sill now installed	Getting ready to install the new LH outer sill	More Body Wax....

With the monocoque completely stripped to bare metal, the next step is to put the car on one of the rotisserie jigs and cut the outer sills off. This is more of a precautionary act than anything else, as there is no obvious sign of rust in either rocker panel.

Amazingly, other than replacing the outer sills (once we have rust proofed the inner box sections), the car really doesn't need any other sheet metal replacement. In fact, I am pleased to report that this is the best condition (unrestored) E Type bodyshell that we have ever seen.

Although not quite totally rust free, (I maintain there is no such thing) I continue to be amazed at how solid this car is. The photographs below show us stripping the primer and also burning and scraping away all the sound deadening material from the topside of the floors, inside the cabin.

We have also received all your powder coating back and will start rebuilding your IRS over the next few days. Your original gas tank was in great shape, so we simply had it blasted and powder coated alongside your IRS components.

Aircraft (paint) stripper made quick work of the primer
	Body is amazingly sound	Light green areas have been sealed  with BASF etching primer
Removing sound deadening material is a nasty job	Footwells will be replaced	Powder coating of gas tank and IRS components

As you can see, we already have both the engine and IRS rebuilds well under way. Your engine was standard with factory pistons and bearings, etc. Later today we will be submitting your front suspension for Nickel plating.

	Engine was factory standard throughout	Flywheel will be replaced with Team CJ alloy flywheel
Head will gas flowed before and after polishing and porting	Crank will be custom machined to accept modern rear seal	3.54 ddifferential ratio
	IRS components ready for blasting  and powder coating	You did good job disassembling and  cleaning your front suspension, Doug!

This is unquestionably the best packaged car we have ever received at CJ! I am pleased to report that not only did your E Type survive the journey from Southern California without incident, it is also one of the most solid, unrestored cars that I have ever seen.

I hope you enjoy watching the restoration unfold over the coming months!
 

Shrink wrapped E Type	We will convert this 1.5 car to enclosed headlamps	There are a few minor bits of accident damage
		Outer sills will be cut off and replaced
	Boot compartment looks to be amazingly solid