ScottAndrews
Well-Known Member
I bought my coupe in 2006. 3.0 CS with dual Webers. Good straight body, no sunroof, so relatively little rust. The only serious rust I have found is in the aft part of the right rocker, where water from the rear window dripped down inside. I bought OEM parts (inner rocker) and a quarter panel repair piece years ago, so that should be a fairly easy fix. Have not seen any other perforations. Fortunately the rocker repair wil be under the rocker side trim pieces (didn't even know about this rust until I removed those crusty rusted trim bits.
Original clor was Fjord, but someone painted it black along the way. It will go back to Fjord.
Started the project by buying a set of staggered Maxilite Alpina replica wheels to serve as inspiration. My wife loves them, so that's a good sign!. These will run Michelins Ultra Perormance All Season 4 tires, 205/50/16 on the front, and 225/55/16 on the rear. The old 14 inch wheels are pretty shabby, although I'll probably put cheap tires on them and use them for working wheels in the shop. Somone may be intereasted in them, since they seem to be period correct.
I also bought the full suspension upgrade system from Carl. I will be visiting San Diego in March, so he agreed to put it on a shelf for me until then, so I don't have to ship all that big heavy stuff.
My plan is to cryoblast the under side of the car to remove 50 years of grime. Then remove the engine, suspension, and subframes. I'll repaint or powder coat the subframes and struts, re-coat the underside (after any repairs, which I am pretty confident will not be much), and then re-install the suspension. I may replace the seals on the diff, and I'll inspect, and re-pack the CV joints, replace the boots, replace the wheel bearings, and rebuild the brakes, probably with all new hard lines. I'm sure there will be numerous other small projects under the car (fuel line, filter, and pump, for example).
I plan to totally gut the interior. It is the worst part of the car. All the wood needs to be redone, all of the upholsery is original, and it shows, etc. I did this with my 80 Euro 635 about 15 years ago, and it was a fun and easy job. Hoping to find some Scheel-Mann seats along the way.
With glass out, and the interior out, I can then address any body issues, and do the repaint. Unlike my 635, I am NOT painting this one myself!!! That car came out great, but my wife came ohme one day and said "do you know there is a large blue cloud outside our garage?" Yikes!! So, I'll leave that to the pros.
The engine runs strong, and there is no noise from the trans. I do have a spare Getrag 265, so I may swap that in. We'll see how involved that is.
I'll probably do a full leak-down test on the engine, and then decide if anything needs doing in there. If anything it is probably a valve job. My experience is thatthe bottom end of these M30 based engines is really bulletproof, so unless it was seriously mistreated, I expect the engine will be fine. I drove it 250 miles hom back in 2006 witout any issues. From there it is just a lot of cleaning painting and renewing things in the engine bay. I plan to do a full custom stainless exhaust (found a guy out in the Sna Joaquin Valley that builds these for Porsches and other exotics)
I do have a question: What do folks use to replace the heavy cracked sound deadening on the inner wheel wells (around the front shock towers)? Mine is a mess, and definitely needs to be replaced.
I'm estimating this will take about 2 years (I have a 72 Bronco engine swap and freshening to do for my son this summer, so that is sure to slow things a bit!).
I have been super busy for the past 10 years or so, and the car has been stored in a garage...out of sight, out of mind.... I had forgotten what a gorgeous car the coupe is...
Pics from 2006.
Original clor was Fjord, but someone painted it black along the way. It will go back to Fjord.
Started the project by buying a set of staggered Maxilite Alpina replica wheels to serve as inspiration. My wife loves them, so that's a good sign!. These will run Michelins Ultra Perormance All Season 4 tires, 205/50/16 on the front, and 225/55/16 on the rear. The old 14 inch wheels are pretty shabby, although I'll probably put cheap tires on them and use them for working wheels in the shop. Somone may be intereasted in them, since they seem to be period correct.
I also bought the full suspension upgrade system from Carl. I will be visiting San Diego in March, so he agreed to put it on a shelf for me until then, so I don't have to ship all that big heavy stuff.
My plan is to cryoblast the under side of the car to remove 50 years of grime. Then remove the engine, suspension, and subframes. I'll repaint or powder coat the subframes and struts, re-coat the underside (after any repairs, which I am pretty confident will not be much), and then re-install the suspension. I may replace the seals on the diff, and I'll inspect, and re-pack the CV joints, replace the boots, replace the wheel bearings, and rebuild the brakes, probably with all new hard lines. I'm sure there will be numerous other small projects under the car (fuel line, filter, and pump, for example).
I plan to totally gut the interior. It is the worst part of the car. All the wood needs to be redone, all of the upholsery is original, and it shows, etc. I did this with my 80 Euro 635 about 15 years ago, and it was a fun and easy job. Hoping to find some Scheel-Mann seats along the way.
With glass out, and the interior out, I can then address any body issues, and do the repaint. Unlike my 635, I am NOT painting this one myself!!! That car came out great, but my wife came ohme one day and said "do you know there is a large blue cloud outside our garage?" Yikes!! So, I'll leave that to the pros.
The engine runs strong, and there is no noise from the trans. I do have a spare Getrag 265, so I may swap that in. We'll see how involved that is.
I'll probably do a full leak-down test on the engine, and then decide if anything needs doing in there. If anything it is probably a valve job. My experience is thatthe bottom end of these M30 based engines is really bulletproof, so unless it was seriously mistreated, I expect the engine will be fine. I drove it 250 miles hom back in 2006 witout any issues. From there it is just a lot of cleaning painting and renewing things in the engine bay. I plan to do a full custom stainless exhaust (found a guy out in the Sna Joaquin Valley that builds these for Porsches and other exotics)
I do have a question: What do folks use to replace the heavy cracked sound deadening on the inner wheel wells (around the front shock towers)? Mine is a mess, and definitely needs to be replaced.
I'm estimating this will take about 2 years (I have a 72 Bronco engine swap and freshening to do for my son this summer, so that is sure to slow things a bit!).
I have been super busy for the past 10 years or so, and the car has been stored in a garage...out of sight, out of mind.... I had forgotten what a gorgeous car the coupe is...
Pics from 2006.