It
finally stopped raining in Austin long enough to take a
few photos of the finished car outside!
I
am delighted to report that this restoration has now been
completed and another beautiful E Type is ready for the
open road!
Installing
the engine and transmission...
Your
car is now in the trim room receiving its new wiring
harness, gauges, lighting, etc..
Gerardo has now sanded and buffed the
body and the Opalescent Dark Blue paintwork looks
absolutely beautiful.

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Beautifully restored Blaupunk with iPhone
connectivity
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Gerardo preparing to sand and buff the body
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Opalescent Dark Blue paintwork looks
absolutely
beautiful under the shop lights
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Check out SS100 stablemate in the reflection!
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Getting the car back on its wheels is
always an exciting milestone in any restoration.

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Bolting new engine frames in place
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IRS about to be installed
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Front suspension and brakes now installed
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Gorgeous Borrani wire wheels
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Car ready to be placed back on its wheels
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Painting
the outer panels...

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Wiping down the body with a tack cloth
immediately
prior to pulling the trigger
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Applying the first pass of Opalescent Dark
Blue
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Body and doors have now been painted
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To be continued...
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Your
car is now in the booth ready for the outer panels to be
painted over the next couple of days.
More
Opalescent Dark Blue paint being applied - and lots of
beautiful new chrome.

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Boot compartment was painted yesterday
evening
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Masking off the underside of the floors
prior to
painting this afternoon
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First sealer is applied
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3M Rocker Guard is then applied
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Note slight texture of the Rocker Guard
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The Rocker Guard is then sealed
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Finally the underside is Opalescent Dark
Blue
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Applying
the first of the Opalescent Dark Blue paint. First to be
painted is the cabin, followed by the underside of the
floors and the boot compartment. It is always very
exciting when a project gets to this stage - beautiful new
paintwork never gets old!
Your
bodyshell is currently in the booth being prepped for
paint. First up will be the cabin and the underside of
the floors. We are scheduled to be applying the first
of the Opalescent Dark Blue paint on Tuesday of next
week.

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Rebuilt gauges and clock
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Scuffing and seam sealing the cabin area
prior to painting
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Assembling
your rebuilt and restored IRS.
With the bodywork completed, it is now
time to trial fit all the chrome and bright work...

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Many mechanical components have already
been rebuilt
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Trimming the dash gauge panels
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Time to trial fit chrome
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Bumper mounting brackets will be relocated for
perfect fit
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Note how badly over-rider finishers fit prior
to modification
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After tweaking and grinding, they now fit
as they should
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The filler and block work has now been
completed and the car has been primed with Spies
Hecker Raderal sprayable polyester high build primer.
We
modified the driver's seat cushion, shaving 3/4" from the
foam to provide the maximum possible headroom for a tall
driver. The modification is subtle, and really not
noticeable when the seats are assembled and
installed in the cabin.

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From above, the seat bases look the same
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This view shows the difference between the
two bases
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Side view also demonstrates difference between
the two cushions
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Lead
loading in progress..
Oscar
has now begun the process of fitting the new doors..
With
the panel replacement now virtually completed, it is now
time to fit your new alloy bonnet.

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Fabricating inner quarter filler panels
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Trial fitting the new panels
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Oscar spot welding the filler panels in place
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Cabin and main structure now better than new
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Installing new Robey engine frames
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Trial fitting the new alloy bonnet
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Floors and outer
sills now welded in place...

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Floors spot welded together down the center
line
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Wurth Body Wax applied to inner sill surfaces
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New outer sills clamped in position
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Outer sills now welded in place
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Lots of progress
withe the sheet metal repairs and panel replacement...

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IRS mounting cross-member has now been
repaired and reinforced
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Lengthening trans side panel
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Trial fitting right hand floor
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Trial fitting trans cover
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RH bonnet striker panel will need to
be straightened
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Boot floor assembly now welded in place
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Lead loading corners of boot floor
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Lead is filed into shape
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Finally lead is sanded smooth
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Fabricating new
repair panels...
I am pleased to
report that we now have your body restoration well underway.
Installing the
Team CJ stroked crank, forged pistons and rods, billet oil
pump, etc..
We now have the
body and panels back from being blasted back to bare metal.
The main body shell is about what we expected to see,
although unfortunately the bonnet has several issues that
had previously been hidden beneath several layers of bondo.
We will have this body restoration underway in the next few
weeks. The last 4
images in the sequence below show the flow test results
relating to the port work done to your cylinder head.

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Left lower quarter panel will be replaced
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Main floors, inner and outer sill will be
replaced
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Bonnet has several issues and will be replaced
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IRS components have been blasted and
powder coated
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Exhaust port before port work
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Exhaust port after flow work
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Intake port before port work
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Intake port after port work
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We are expecting
the body back from being blasted back to bare metal on
Monday or Tuesday of next week.

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Car
on a blasting rotisserie
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Floors
have been patched in the past
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IRS completely torn down for rebuild
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Installing seats,
guides, valve job in progress..

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Measuring bolt stretch on Carrillo rods
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Super lightweight CJ forged stroker pistons
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Port work in progress
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Intake runners reshaped for Stage Two
application
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Machining Stage Two magnesium bronze
CJ guides for ultimate flow
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CJ guides modified for Stage Two application
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Guides installed
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Honing guides for optimum stem to
guide clearance
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Five angled valve job in progress
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The
following sequence of photographs show corrective work
to your cylinder head. The deck surface was warped
significantly, and the cam caps were also out of
alignment. These issues were remedied by several
sessions on a straightening plate in the oven, as well
as an align hone of the cam caps. The tappet to tappet
guide clearances were out of spec, and the guides had
been inappropriately staked with a 'home made'
securing solution. New tappet guides are currently
being installed.

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Head on straightening plate in oven
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Note 'home made' tappet guide hold-down kit
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Pressure testing head after straightening
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Base line flow test in progress
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Machining out old valve seats
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Align honing camshaft caps
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Previous bolt holes for tappet hold-down kit
welded up
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Weld ground back and metal finished
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Machining tappet guide bores for new guides
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Short
block engine machine work underway in the CJ machine
shop..

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Time to get this engine rebuild underway
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Machining out old liners
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Magnaflux crack checking block
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Align hone in progress - note uprated ARP
hardware
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New top hat liners installed
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Measuring pistons prior to cylinder hone
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Installing torque plate for cylinder honing
process
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Surfacing the deck of block after honing
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Tear down in
progress, interior, engine and transmission removed..

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Starting to remove the interior
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Golden Sand inner dash
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Removing underfelts revealed some well
disguised patching in the floors
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Engine and transmission now removed
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Bottom side of picture frame in poor
shape
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Picture frame will have to be replaced
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Earlier today we took the opportunity to take a close
look at the car on one of the lifts, and also to weigh
it on the shop corner scales. The good news is that
the underside is about as rust free as you could ever
hope to see in an unrestored E Type. The original
floors appear to be in wonderful condition. The bad
news is that we may have to put this car on a bit of a
diet, as it came in about 200lb over weight, tipping
the scales at 2,760 lbs.

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Original floors are in wonderful shape
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Underside of boot floor also looks very
promising
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She may be carrying about 200lbs of bondo
beneath her paint
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We will have the total restoration of this E Type
underway in the next couple of weeks...
