Update report - May 21, 2021

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Update report - May 13, 2021

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Update report - May 11, 2021

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Update report - May 6, 2021

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Update report - April 30, 2021

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Update report - April 26, 2021

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Update report - April 12, 2021

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Update report - April 8, 2021

Repairing both outer sill panels and fabricating rear firewall cover panels.

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Update report - January 25, 2021

Align honing in progress.

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Update report - January 15, 2021

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Update report - January 13, 2021

It is now time to start going back together with the Miura.

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Update report - November 11, 2020

We have now wrapped up the sheet metal repairs to the engine cradle, rear main frame and the bonnet hinge frame. The body will be removed from the chassis table later today.

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Update report - November 6, 2020

A beautiful new high performance radiator, complete with replica FIM tags, and continuing repairs to the engine cradle and rear bonnet hinge frame.

Stunning quality replacement radiator
Starting to tack weld the new lower frame rails to the rear bulkhead and floor
	Seams and joints are now all TIG welded
Rear bonnet hinge frame had corrosion issues and had been poorly repaired in the past
	TIG welding repair panels and new tubing at the hinge points
	The first brace panel now welded in place
	Ready for primer and paint!

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Update report - November 3, 2020

Rear frame and engine cradle construction progressing well!

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Update report - October 28, 2020

Andy has been making excellent progress with the frame repairs and fabrication.

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Update report - October 23, 2020

Lots of progress fabricating and welding the lower/rear chassis rails and engine cradle.

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Update report - October 14, 2020

Andy has begun trial fitting the newly fabricated rear frame rails having welded the new vertical frame struts in place on the bulkhead.

Update report - October 8, 2020

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Update report - October 8, 2020

Andy has been making great progress with the rear bulkhead repairs/reconstruction.

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Update report - October 1, 2020

Both cylinder heads now fully assembled.

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Corey has now completed the machine work to both cylinder heads.

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Update report - September 24, 2020

The follow sequence of photographs show Andy fabricating your new rear chassis rails.

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Update report - September 22, 2020

Cylinder head rebuilds underway in the engine shop as the front frames are being prepared for refinishing in the Coachworks.

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Update report - September 11, 2020

Lots of progress at both ends of the Miura on the chassis table.

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Update report - August 6, 2020

We have now disassembled the front end as we prepare to refinish all the black areas. At some point in the past the front end was painted gloss black, although the Miura frames and bulkheads were painted more of a satin black when they were new. Interestingly, when we removed the data plate from the right bulkhead area, the original satin black finish was clearly visible beneath the plate. Gently rubbing the satin black paint with lacquer thinner revealed what is presumably some of the original orange paint that would have been applied by Bertone.

We understand that the frames came from Marchesi finished in satin black. The frames were then united with the body by Bertone, who also painted the cars for the Lamborghini factory. Once the cars were assembled, the factory sometimes touched up certain areas with more satin black. The last three photos in the sequence below show the area beneath the data plate.

Front end has now been stripped
A little lacquer thinner aided detective work!

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Update report - July 27, 2020

The Miura body has now been secured to the chassis table in preparation for repairs to the rear engine cradle and chassis rails.

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Update report - July 17, 2020

Darien has now completed the tear down of this Miura engine.

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Update report - July 15, 2020

Engine tear down underway..

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Update report - June 8, 2020

Removing the engine for rebuild and inspecting the rear frame and bulkhead, both of which will be repaired and refinished before the engine is reinstalled.

	Rear subframes appear to be generally sound

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Update report - May 2020

Our next task will be to rebuild the engine and restore the engine bay to concours appearance.

 

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Update report - August 25, 2019

Last week we started going back together with the restored and rebuilt suspension. We also refinished the air cleaner boxes and painted the newly fabricated front suspension cross-member.

Starting to reassemble the front suspension
	Nuts are temporary and will be replaced with yellow Nyloks once suspension geometry has been set up
Rear shocks and springs have been restored and repainted to original specs
	New cross-member has been painted along with the new sway bar links
	Gratuitous photo bomb by the Bull Award from last weekend's Concorso Italiano

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Jake has fabricated a new front suspension cross-member to replace the damaged original.

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Repainting the Koni shocks, springs and rear half shafts.

Springs were media blasted back to bare metal, Konis sanded down	Half shafts and springs repainted in correct 'Miura' colors
	Shocks are painted to match springs, except for upper mounts which are left Koni orange

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Josh has now removed and disassembled the Miura's distributors. Both units show significant wear and it is obviously a long time since they were serviced.

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Jake has been busy fabricating a pair of rear license plate lights for the Miura. Thanks to Andrew Romanowski of Lamborghini Club America for the loan of a pair of original lamp housings for us to replicate.

Once painted, the new lamp housings are virtually indistinguishable from the originals	New housing on left, original on right

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Thanks to Andrew Romanowski of Lamborghini Club America who loaned us a pair of fuse box covers to copy, as our Miura was missing its 'leather' cover. Although often referred to as 'leather' fuse covers, they are actually made of heavy grained black vinyl. The P400 and P400S covers are very slightly different so we created templates for both, for future reference.

We also machined new Delrin escutcheons that sit behind the window cranks as we were missing the one for the driver's door.

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We were honored to receive a visit from the maestro himself, Valentino Balboni, earlier this week. He was kind enough to spend some time going over the Miura and making some suggestions and recommendations to the Team CJ crew. Needless to say, he also test drove the car and gave it his official seal of approval!

Today the Miura was one of three cars in our care that we took to COTA to support the Drive and Give charity event. I am happy to report that the car drove and performed flawlessly, even in Austin's infamous traffic!

Valentino Balboni inspecting the Miura	Time for a test drive!
Headed out to COTA just after dawn today	Keeping good company in the pit lane at COTA

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Attending to a few more items on the Miura ahead of our visit from Lamborghini legend Valentino Balboni next week.

New Miura badge installed, minus the screws which held the old one in place	Fuel pump cap painted 'Flash Red' per original, new braided fuel line installed
Tires changed from Michelin XWX to original spec Pirelli Cinturato CN12 215/70 R15	Chassis stamping painted 'Flame Red'

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We have been spending some quality time with the Miura correcting a few originality issues and fabricating some previously missing components.

Corey machining new bronze bushings for the cable stays for the bonnet and engine cover
	The first of the bushings attached to the new cable
Incorrect headlamp lenses
Correct lenses now installed	Previously missing BP plate
Braided fuel line for fuel pump	Installing correct style Kangol seat belts
Incorrect 'square' indicator switch previously installed	Correct 'round' Lucas indicator switch now installed
Fabricating a heat shield for the oil sending unit
Powder coated semi-gloss black (second shield is for another Miura owing friend)	Fabricating the previously missing passenger footrest
An original footrest kindly loaned by Andrew Romanowski of Lamborghini Club America	New foot rest now installed

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The paintwork repairs to the lower valance have now been completed.

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Performing some minor body repairs beneath the nose of the car. Prior to replacing the old shock absorbers, the front end had been bottoming out and causing damage to the lower valance. Our repairs are now virtually complete and we expect to be painting the valance early next week.

Prior to replacing the front Koni shocks the car had been bottoming out, damaging the lower valance	This was the worst of the damaged areas
Panel is cracked around the hinge
A small hole was lurking beneath this previously repaired area	Metal to Metal aluminum based filler
	Repaired panels now ready for priming
Damaged areas now primed	Repaired areas will be painted early next week
Using the Spies Hecker color match camera	Glad to see I am not the only person working at the weekend (Valentino Balboni video)

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Today's update outlines the correction of a couple of issues related to the Miura plug wires. The first problem was that the conduit brackets were held to the cam covers by extremely flimsy little wire clips, all of which had been repaired (soldered) several times in the past. The next issue was that the conduit clips were installed 180 degrees out, meaning the plug wires ran down the center line of the engine, rather than sitting beneath the shields.

Chris fabricated new conduit clips from stainless steel stock. They look almost identical to the originals, but a far sturdier. He then installed the new clips so that the plug wires are now protected and hidden by the shields.

Next task (already underway) is the repair and paintwork of the damaged bodywork beneath the nose of the car.

The plug wires had been sitting along the center line of the engine	Original clips were extremely flimsy and were constantly breaking
Chris decided to fabricate new clips
	Installing the new clips
Plug wires and clips now hidden beneath shields	Job done!

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The headlamps on the Miura had recently stopped working and they were also suffering from decades of grime and condensation stains behind the lenses. Chris has now removed and disassembled both headlamp assemblies, cleaned all the internals and corrected the electrical issues.

Both headlamps were a little grimy behind the glass lenses	Disassembling the lamps for a thorough cleaning
Inner edge of glass lenses were stained following many years of condensation
Reassembling headlamps after cleaning	Looking a lot better!
	Electrical issues resolved, headlamps fully functional once more

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I am pleased to report that we have completed our upgrade of the clutch hydraulic system and the clutch is working perfectly, with a noticeable improvement in pedal feel. Thanks to Valentino Balboni for the recommendation and advice!

Rocker panel removed, exposing the fire extinguisher line	Comparing old (L) and new fitting bore ID
Old fitting	New fitting approximately .035" larger
Time to address the clutch master cylinder
Before modification	Almost .050" greater ID after modification
Fabricating and installing the new hydraulic hard line	Our new hydraulic line is the straight line in this picture!
Showing where the new hard line meets up with the new flex line (using original mounting holes)	Showing the new flex line terminating at the slave cylinder
We took the opportunity to tidy up the routing of the fire extinguisher and brake lines	Rocker cover replaced, clutch upgrade now completed

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We have already rebuilt the rear brake calipers and installed the new Quick Silver headers and exhaust. Having investigated the clutch hydraulics, we believe the biggest restriction is in the aftermarket braided clutch line, not the ports of the master and slave cylinders. That being the case, we are going to replace the small bore braided line with larger steel line to see if that provides a lighter clutch pedal feel.

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Update report - October 14, 2017

Earlier today legendary Lamborghini factory test driver Valentino Balboni piloted this beautiful Miura for three "aggressive laps" around MSR in Houston. Mr. Balboni had driven the car previously and I am proud to report that he declared our recently completed mechanical work a complete success. He told the owner of the car, who was a passenger for the laps around MSR, "It is like a different car...better than expected."

Click on the photo below for a short video clip of the legend behind the wheel.

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Update report - October 10, 2017

I am pleased to report that we have now completed the transmission rebuild and been busy tuning the rebuilt Webers on the Dyno. Earlier today I took the car out for some initial road testing, which went very well.

Click on the image above to watch a short video of the car going through the gears on the Dyno

Road test video # 1	Road test video # 2

Installing the engine and transmission after the rebuild	Preparing to reinstall rear clip/engine cover
Time to run the car through its paces on the Dyno	Tuning the rebuilt Webers on the Dyno

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We have now completely rebuilt the Weber carbs and will be wrapping up the transmission rebuild in the next couple of days. We are on schedule to reinstall the engine and transmission on Wednesday of next week.

Carb prior to disassembly
	Air corrector jets were very sooty
	Measuring float height
Cleaning carb bodies
Carbs now fully rebuilt
	Comparing old (L) and new (R) synchros
	Assembling the main shaft with new synchros
This is the shifter box	New gaskets used as we go back together with the transmission
Installing the diff spacer (bearing retainer)
Assembling the shifter box

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Removing and disassembling the transmission for rebuild.

8mm wrench has apparently been wedged in place for many years...	Removing the clutch cover
	Differential is in good condition
	2nd gear synchro is in very bad shape
Comparing new 2nd gear with original (on right)	Comparing old and new synchros
Plenty of evidence this is not the first time the transmission has been apart

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When the time comes to go back together with this project, we will upgrade the headers and exhaust with a superb quality replacement system from Quick Silver in England.

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I am pleased to report that we now have this project underway. Interesting to note that the engine is date stamped July 27, 1967, meaning we removed it on its 50th birthday!

Work underway	Rear clip will add a little Italian flair to my office for a few weeks
Webers will be rebuilt
Engine and transmission removed	Interesting that the engine was removed on its 50th birthday!
Cylinder heads are also date stamped

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The following photographs cover the relocation of the driver's seat belt shoulder anchor, and the installation of new front brake rotors.

Installing a seat belt anchor point over the driver's left shoulder	Cutting an access panel behind the seat belt mounting point
Fabricating and installing a panel so back side of seat belt anchor can be accessed	Belt now positioned over driver's shoulder, rather than across his neck
	Horns replace, now working
Installing new front brake rotors
Lock tabs folded over	Rear tabs had not been previously folded, which has now been corrected

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Today we have been fabricating and installing new brake lines and balancing the road wheels. Previous balance weights had been glued in position where they contacted the calipers when the wheels rotated. There is so little clearance between the top of the calipers and the inner surface of the wheel rim, that you really have to use clip on weights attached to the inner bead. Several of the old balance weights were missing altogether and others were barely attached.

Hard lines to rear calipers were strained and actually cracked open when removed	New lines were fabricated and installed
New line fabricated and installed much tighter around top of front right caliper	After cleaning FR inner rim, damage caused by old brake line contacting inner rim clearly visible
Balance weights had been glued where there was insufficient clearance for calipers	Cleaning inner rims prior to re-balancing wheels
Bead clip balance weights are a simple fix to caliper clearance problems	All 4 door hinge pins are now secured with cotter pins and E clips

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Another productive day working our way through several issues. Unfortunately we discovered a few new issues, such as brake lines rubbing inside wheels, and defective air horns, etc, but we were still able to check off several items today.

Brake line rubbing against inner rim of front right wheel	Witness marks show where brake line has been contacting inner rim
Engine cover release handles were missing grommets on both sides	Missing rubber grommets caused handles to rattle and clunk around
A little shrink wrap and a custom elliptical rubber washer was a cheap and cheerful fix	Lock nut was missing from the back of the driver's side handle - now installed
Door hinge pins need securing	Upper passenger side pin literally about to fall out
#3 fuse was vacant and keyed, so we decided to use it for the new fan relay	Fan relay now wired in
Fan relay positioned by battery	New circuit breaker

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We are happy to get this new project underway. Our first task will be to address several electrical issues. We have already rebuilt the right hand headlamp mechanism, installing a new bronze crank gear, rewired the headlamp motor and rebuilt and rewired the fog lamp switch. You now have fully operational headlamps and fog lamps.