1974 E Type roadster (VG) Team CJ restoration

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Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows: This is a one owner, very low mileage car that will be totally restored incorporating a number of practical Team CJ upgrades.

Interior installation now completed.

CD and satellite radio is fairly discreet and not too modern looking		Installing new seat belts
Freshly trimmed seats are the last thing to go into place		Gorgeous Suffolk & Turley hides

Installing new speakers	Shiny new set of dayton wire wheels
Installing the rear cubby box		Rear bulkhead trimmed out
	Lid trimmed and installed

We have now finished road testing your car and all that remains is to install the new interior and convertible top.

Your seats have now been restored and retrimmed.

Installing the Dynamat. Your car is next in line to have its new interior installed.

We now have all your chrome back from the platers and have been making final preparations to fire up he engine fo the first time.

The following pictures show the installation of your uprated cooling system and the new stainless steel exhaust, etc.

New CJ radiator installed		Ray installing your new alloy expansion tank
	New exhaust manifolds	Installing the SS exhaust

Engine bay slowly filling up....

Note polished manifold shields
New SS exhaust	Fear not, the wheel is just temporary....

Engine and transmission now safely installed.....

Preparing to install the rebuilt engine and drivetrain....

Installing the wiring harness	Rebuilt engine about to be mated  with transmission	Starter motor has been upgraded

I am pleased to report that your car is now back on its wheels. We hope to be installing the rebuilt engine and the rest of the drivetrain over the course of the coming week.

As you can see, we now have the bonnet painted and have the carb rebuild well underway.

Time to paint the body....

Your car has now been primed and we have been trial fitting (and grinding on!) all the chrome and brightwork. We are scheduled to be painting the car towards the back end of next week.

With the bodywork completed, we have now applied the Slick Sand and have begun the final blocking stage. Over the next few days, the car will be blocked with 120 then 180 grit paper. It will then be primed with high build primer and sanded with 400 then 600, at which point it will be ready for paint.

Sheet metal repairs have now been completed	Lead loading also finished	Bare metal was sealed with BASF  etching primer
	Slick Sand drying in the Texas  sunshine
LT blocking the boot lid and surrounding quarter panels	Doors and bonnet are latched for the blocking stage
	Subliminal marketing in guidecoat!

The following photographs show Lawrence fabricating various panels and restoring/re-assembling your bonnet.

Lower air intake was rusty	So we fabricated a new one	See rust in original panel LT is holding up
Both front wings had some rust issues		Holes for 74 overrider shocks have been welded up
RH wing just had lower section cut away and replaced	Etch primer and Wurth Body Wax is used during re-beading	Lower wings won't rust again any time soon!
Time to start assembling the bonnet
	This is the bonding adhesive we use in the CJ Workshop
Cutting away rear part of the RH wing	LT fabricated a new wing

As you can see, we have rock guarded and painted the underside of the car which has now been removed from the rotisserie and placed on one of the frame jigs.

First we sealed the restored tub in etching primer	Seam sealed all the joints	Masked off the outer panels
	Applied 3M Body Schutz
		Then painted the underside black

Both floors have now been installed, as well as the new outer sills and the fabricated rear bulkhead panel. Lawrence has now turn his attention to the firewall before tackling the bonnet. Please let us know whether you would like to keep the boot mounted luggage rack.

The second floor is now welded in place		The outer sills have also now been installed
	Rear bulkhead panel was fabricated  and spot welded in place
Cleaning up weld repair prior to applying lead body solder	Bulkhead closing panel installed	Installing the new bulkhead firewall panel

The sheet metal replacement has begun...

One of the new floors has been spot welded in place		Trial fitting the front kick panels
Doors are temporarily hung before installing the outer sills		Inner box sections coated with Wurth Body Wax

It is now time to get the body restoration underway in earnest. After the initial blasting, Lawrence cut away all the bad sheet metal and thenwe blasted the newly exposed areas again, before sealing with BASF etching primer. Th tub will receive new floors and sills, but really isn't in bad shape compared to some we have seen.

	The rust beneath the car really wasn't too bad
Lawrence cutting away the  corroded panels	After a second blasting, Orlando is  blowing the tub off prior to priming	The BASF etching primer is an  excellent anti-corrosive
		Andy has been calling you to find out if you want to keep the bootlid luggage rack

Putting the finishing touches to your rebuilt engine....

Installing your pistons.....on Monday we will assemble and install the cylinder heads.

It is now time to start reassembling your engine.......

Installing the new head studs
(Flashback) Gasket surface being welded up	The gasket surface after being  resurfaced	Installing the new liners
Rebuilt and balanced rods	Installing pistons to rods

I thought you might be interested to see some of the work in progress on your cylinder heads. As you can see, they needed some pretty extensive welding!

Your front suspension has been rebuilt and your transmission is being rebuilt at the present time.

Assembling the new shocks and springs	Rebuilt hub carriers having bronze bushings installed	New brake lines fabricated and installed
New adjustable shocks installed	New shocks for the front, also...

A couple of photographs for Barry and the guys at Turbine Services.......more tomorrow, I promise!

	IRS components have been beautifully powder coated	Diff completely rebuilt

I am pleased to report that we now have your engine fully disassembled, other than the few remaining badly corroded head studs. We broke two stud extractor tools (so far!) and have to wait for replacement tools before we can remove the last few studs. This engine was an absolute bear to take apart. It fought us every step of the way!

Finally managed to get one of the heads off...		Many of the head studs are very badly corroded
Removing head studs		All of the head studs will be replaced as a matter of course
	The second head finally separated from the block!
Time for a full rebuild

IRS parts for powder coating	Cleaning and painting the differential casing

As you can see, the car is now completely stripped out and has been placed on a rotisserie jig ready for plastic media blasting. We have started to disassemble the engine, although at the time or writing, the heads are stuck firm.

By the end of today (12/13/04) the car will be ready to go on the jig and be sent out for plastic media blasting.

	Suspension is pretty grimy!	Floors actually appear very sold indeed
This car has obviously been a major leaker!	Front susp will be rebuilt
	With the engine out, we can finish  stripping ou t the engine bay	Gas tank looks solid

As you can see, your car is slowly coming apart and the restoration is well underway. Before we started the disassembly we carried out some basic tests of the engine - including compression and mechanical oil pressure tests. I am afraid the results were not very encouraging, with compression readings all over the place. One cylinder was down to 40 psi...

Labels dated Sept and Oct 73 found behind the dash	Stripping out the interior has revealed a pretty sound bodyshell
Quite a bit of surface rust in the boot	Removing the dash and wiring
Car will be rewired	4 speed will be rebuilt
I'd be interested to here how this got bent!	We'll have the engine and trans out later today