1967 E Type roadster (JC) Team CJ Stage One restoration

Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows: This E Type has already had substantial sheet metal replacement carried out elsewhere. Our brief is to finish the restoration of the bodyshell and carry out a partial restoration to painted and rolling stage. The car will eventually be refinished in Opalescent Dark Green.

I thought you might like to see some photos of the car outside in the Texas sunshine. I understand that the car is being collected early next week.

Installing the new convertible top was the last thing on our list of jobs to do before sending the car home for the rest of the interior to be trimmed out and installed by the proud owner.

Door glass and chrome has now been installed, as well as the rear bumpers, etc.

We now have your bonnet installed and adjusted and have begun installing your chrome and lights.

I am pleased to report that we now have your drivetrain installed, including your engine, CJ5 five speed, etc. Your seats have also been trimmed in your chosen suede green hides.

Engine bay filling up nicely!		CJ5...of course!
Suede green trim should look great with Opalescent Dark Green

We have now installed the front frames and the re-plated front suspension. The steering rack and rear suspension unit that you rebuilt yourself are also now in place, so your car is on all four wheels for the first time in a while!

IRS now installed		Nickel plated front suspension has been assembled and installed

We now have the rubber seals installed, as well doors and boot lid fitted and latching. The interior has been insulated with Dynamat Xtreme. The next stage will be to install the IRS that you rebuilt yourself, along with the front suspension that is currently away being Nickel plated.

With the sanding and buffing now completed, it is now time to start re-assembling your car.

As you know, we painted your car last Wednesday, just before Thanksgiving, and already have the sanding an buffing process well underway.

		The bonnet has been colour sanded  and the buffing is underway

Time for some Opalescent Dark Green! First we painted the insides of the doors and the boot lid, then the underside of the floor pan. The metallic is subtle, but if you look closely at the enlarged photograph of the underside of the boot lid you will get an idea of how the finished car will look.

Underside of the boot lid	3M rocker guard	Sealer
Opalescent Dark Green	Drying in the Texas sunshine!

With the main bodywork now completed, the car has received two good coats of Evercoat Slick Sand sprayable primer filler. This will be dry blocked with 120 and 180 grit before the entire car is primed with DP26 sandable primer early next week.

It is now time to put the welders away and to install your new bonnet.

This is what was lurking behind your RH side cowl panel	With corroded metal cut away....	New panels were fabricated and welded into place
	Lead loading to obtain a perfect rear lamp fit
Using a special spot welder attachment  to pull a low spot from the bootlid
Time to put the body on an engine frame jig
Installing the new CJ engine  frames	Time to unpack the new bonnet!

Lawrence has been dealing with the corrosion beneath the LH screen pillar and down into the pillar leg that extends beneath the dash. The following photographs show that area of the car, basically being fabricated piece by piece and going together like a 3D jigsaw!

This is the front LH cowl	LH screen pillar remover	Not very pretty!
	LT makes a card template of the panel to be replaced	Working his magic with the English wheel
Looking quite pleased with himself!	Inner panels are then repaired	Fabricating the new pillar leg
	Trial fitting....
Spot welding the new pillar to the new pillar leg		Priming the underside of the cowl repair panel
	Everything lining up nicely
Trial fitting seal and screen	Screen fits perfectly!	Finish welding cowl panel into place

The rear bulkhead repairs to the handbrake access panel have now been completed, the IRS cage mount bolt sleeves have been replaced and we have turned our attention to the rust holes in the forward edge of the boot lid aperture.

Access panel repairs now completed		IRS mounting sleeves have also now been replaced
Testing the sleeves with a 5/16" bolt		Next up is to repair the corrosion at  the forward edge of the boot opening

It is now time to address the rust under your RH A post and screen pillar. Once we have cut away all the corroded metal, we will treat all the exposed surfaces with Wurth Body Wax before fabricating replacement panels and welding them into place.

The starting point	With the rusted panel cut away	Cleaning back to bare metal
Acid washing	Making card templates for the replacement panels required
Zinc 'weld thru' primer	Wurth Body Wax

The following photographs show a few areas that will need some further sheet metal replacement, although nothing particularly serious. A couple of the internal sleeves are missing at the IRS mounting points. These will have to be attended to as this is obviously a structural concern.

More corrosion that will be cut away	IRS mounts missing inner structural sleeves (x)	And on the other side of the car (y)
Floor now ready to seal with DP90	Cutting away rust in upper/rear wheel arch	More rust on rear bulkhead
	We will now address the sheet metal repairs that are needed

No too many nasty surprises after plastic media blasting, although obviously both doors have some problems and the corrosion underneath the A posts has actually spread beneath the screen. We have acid treated all of the welds and joints and will be sealing the entire body in DP90 on Monday.

This E Type has had a lot of panel replacement done prior to arriving at CJ. Some of it is fine, although certain areas will undoubtedly require a little more care and attention. At this stage we are concerned about the corrosion up beneath the A posts and under the cowl. Once we have the shell back from plastic media blasting in few days, we will obviously know more.

Small holes in the rubber seal channel....	Indicate problems beneath	A post and cowl sections on both sides of car are bad
Early (61) roadster doors..	More corrosion under left A post	This area will be addressed once car has been media blasted
	Captive nuts missing inside both hinge posts
Hinges will be rebuilt	This will need to be tidied up...