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Another GTE 8V back on the road....

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  • Looks great mate...bet your buzzing. Nearly there.

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    • Aye nearly there Staffy, but still more grief to tackle - read on...

      We now have a Front Suspension and Brakes.
      Both Front Calipers needed the pistons and seals to be removed and cleaned up, and I renewed both rear brake cylinders due to broken bleed nipples.

      Given that I has completely ripped the whole braking system off the car, Master Cylinder, Servo, Brake Pipes, Calipers (in fact the only thing that stayed on the car was the Brake Pedal) I was convinced that something would screw up, but the complete brake circuit filled up with fluid and bled ok.


      The brakes feel solid and the Servo is working fine when the Engine is running.





      Having said that, I needed the assistance of the wife to work the brake pedal whilst I bled the brakes, but she kept on whinging about her leg aching because there was no Drivers Seat or room to work the Brake Pedal, can't think why...



      After a wee tidy up, drivers seat and wheels were refitted, and after 18 months of toil the car was gingerly lowered onto its wheels and backed out of the garage under its own steam....





      The Front Wings and Bumper/Spoiler are only temporary fitted to the car purely because I don't have any other place to store them, but it was good to see the old girl almost looking like a car again.


      Not all is as it seems though, I already knew that the back of the car has some grot that needs seeing to, so the car was driven back into the garage and raised back onto the stands ready for more surgery.

      The R/H corner of the car has rusted away in the usual locations









      Fortunately, the Shock Absorber top mount and the spare wheel well are all fine and solid



      So it's time to break out the big hammers and Mig Welder again.

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      • Drivers side rear end sorted out...

        Eventually resorted to the usual solution, chop the lot out including the rear 10 inches of the Chassis Rail which was rusted to nothing at the back. There is still a rusted section of the rear panel in the photos below, but that gets chopped out later in the repair, there is only so much you can chop out at one time before you start losing the shape - and the plot.....





        First part of the fix was to fabricate a replacement rear chassis rail. I attempted to make it out a one piece section but this proved too difficult with the tools I have available, so I eventually fabricated it by welding together two "L Sections"



        Chassis Rail welded in using the rear bumper bracket as a guide for alignment



        Remainder of the rust cut out of the rear panel and an attachment angle welded in



        Top section of Rear Panel fabricated and welded in



        Replacement Back Panel "Joggled Section" fabricated and welded in, I know replacement back panels are available but I would rather spend the money on something I can't make, and 80 per cent of the panel was OK and holding the remainder of the rear end in the correct shape.

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        Replacement lower part of rear panel fabricated and welded in

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        Replacement Boot Floor panel fabricated out of two sections and welded in complete with Bumper Bracket







        Back on to the outside, replacement lower quarter fabricated and welded in







        All done, including refitting the Fuel Pump Wiring





        Next up is to carry out the same job on the Left hand side, but it's nowhere near as bad.
        One again, the right hand side of the car is always the worst...




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        • Nice bit of fabrication

          L.

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          • great job

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            • After a long winter break, here we go again and the 2019 assault to finish the GTE resto...

              As per the R/H side, the L/H side lower rear sill was rotted out






              Gave it the usual surgery, chopped out and repaired







              Then it was time to re-spray both sides and the back of the car, not easy in a 20 x 10 foot wooden garage full of welding and grinding shite as the spraying process will always stir up the air and cause copious amounts of dust and crap to fall on your best efforts to apply a perfect Clear Coat finish.

              So, in an attempt to prevent any dust and crap falling back onto the paint job, I decided to create a tent between the car and the rest of the Garage on both sides, the rear, and the floor.
              I took me a full day of grafting and half a roll of masking film.






              Here's some pictures of the results











              Was it worth the effort to create a tent around the car?

              Unfortunately no, despite my best efforts the Clearcoat was still speckled with particles of dust, not a massive amount but still enough to piss me off.
              So the moral of the story is to just accept the fact that I don't have a Spray Both with all that dust extraction stuff, and to find a way around the dust problem.

              The solution appears to be to apply copious amounts of Clearcoat, then to sand and polish the Clearcoat back to a mirror finish.

              Having gave this a whirl, I have been giving it 3 coats of Clearcoat, then sanding down with 2000 grit Wet and dry, and finishing with 3M Buffing Paste and Polish, and it works a treat.

              Both Doors painted inside and outside







              Two new wings and the Front Bumper after Primer





              I have always taken a bit of a slagging for my GTE having a pair of Spot Lamps mounted on the Front Bumper, most folks said it ways OK on a Ford Escort, but an absolute no-no for the GTE.
              In my defence, I needed the extra light when I was driving on the Scottish single track winter roads back in the day when the GTE was my daily runner to and from work.

              That was a long time ago, so the Spot Lights are now binned...








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              • i guess some of the dust is overspray wafting round ! its come out well though

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                • Front Bumper, Wings and Doors finish painted and now back on the car..







                  In hind sight, I am really glad I binned those Spot Lights.
                  Full steam ahead with the rest of the resto, the Rear Beam is getting removed tomorrow and as far as I know it has never been off before, so it could be fun and games.

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                  • Great Job on the painting mate, Will need to do the same my self one day. What size compressor do you use for your painting?

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                    • The Compressor I have used for all the painting is actually an "Aldi Special".
                      It was on offer about 4 years ago for the princely sum of ?160 and has never missed a beat. It only has a cylinder capacity of 50 Litres, but more to the point it has a Twin Cylinder Compressor that chucks out 14.5 CFM (Cubic Feet per Minute) which is more than man enough for Paint Spraying, and it will power all my Air Tools.
                      I have a 500 NM Air Rattle Gun which uses a humongous amount of air every time you press the trigger, this thing powers the Rattle Gun no problem.

                      It's been absolutely hammered for the past four years running all my Compressed Air Tools, but is now on it's last legs.



                      The same Compressor is available at Machine Mart as an "Airmaster Tiger 16/520 3hp", and I would not hesitate to buy another one.



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                      • That's a very interesting thread, just been through from page 1, well done on the resto

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                        • Rear Beam removed and restored, in the end it came off the car without too much of a fight.





                          Fuel Pump Assembly removed and restored.





                          Having gone this far with the resto, I decided to remove everything else from the underside of the car so I could underseal whole underside.
                          Fuel Tank, Exhaust, Hand Brake Cable, all Fuel Lines and Brake Pipes removed.
                          The whole underside and Inner Arches were undersealed using Waxoil, ball ache of a job but well worth doing in the long run.





                          Fuel Lines and Brake Pipes renewed along with "Flexi Pipes"





                          Fuel Tank refitted



                          Fuel Pump Assembly refitted



                          Fuel Filler Hose restored and refitted





                          Exhaust refitted (Harvey - thanks for the info on repacking the Silencer Boxes, I will be carrying out the exact same fix but I need to save up for a Tig Welder first)



                          Rear Beam ready for refitting.



                          Rear Beam refitted with new Rear Springs, Shock Absorbers and Hand Brake Cable.





                          ]

                          I now have a totally rot free underside on the car...
                          Next job is going to be reinstalling (and finding) the whole interior.




                          Comment


                          • Originally posted by AndyGee View Post
                            I now have a totally rot free underside on the car...
                            Next job is going to be reinstalling (and finding) the whole interior.
                            a genuine achievement which you can only get from 100s of hours of hard work! admirable, but also depressing for those of us who havent started yet

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                            • Originally posted by DarrenH View Post

                              a genuine achievement which you can only get from 100s of hours of hard work! admirable, but also depressing for those of us who havent started yet
                              Hi Darren, aye it is an achievement to have finished all the Fabrication and Weld repairs, and you're right, it has taken 100's of Man Hours.

                              As an illustration of the work involved in the repairs, I have taken a photo of the "Templates" I used to fabricate the repair plates during the weld repairs, I estimate that around about 4 square meters of steel plate has been used. The scary thing is this does not include all the repairs that I could buy repair panels - Outer Sills, Rear Inner and Outer Arches and Front Top Panel.



                              You mention it being depressing for those folks who might need to start similar repairs, but ironically, on reflection I am a wee bit depressed that the fabrication and weld repairs are finished as I really enjoyed this chapter of the resto...

                              Thanks for the comments

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                              • damn! you kept them all! i usually make templates out of other templtes until they are the size of match box lol

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