How did you get your engine so shiney and clean?
Chamonix 3.0CS Restoration
- Thread starter HB Chris
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- restoration list
Lots of hard work, sweat and a few tears. When I bought the coupe I removed everything I could in the engine bay and had Chamonix paint mixed into rattle cans. I cleaned and then sanded and masked everything I couldn’t remove, driver inner fender is hardest but I taped and used aluminum foil cover the harness. Anything black was powder coated satin black, air cleaner also powder coated, every visible nut, washer and bolt was replaced with new. New fuel hoses, coolant hoses, booster hose, new matching clamps, new brake and clutch masters too. Valve cover, intake manifolds, water divider and thermostat cover were vapor honed and I shot matte clear ceramic on them for a factory finish (paint and powdercoating just don’t look right). I had the radiator recored as well. That was the first six months as I did wheel wells also, it was not fun but had to be done.
Rolled both front fenders today with the help of Phil Slate, former e9 coupe and also e9 race car owner.
Hi Chris
You are a brave man to take it on after the body was finished in paint.
It looks like you got it done without any problems though.
It is a job on my to do list at the moment.
Do you have to roll them a lot or a little ? ie what kind of upwards angle is recommended on the lip
and over how much of an area is needed to be done ?
I borrowed a roller last week from a friend so I plan on doing it soon .
Rolled from 10-2, slowly changing roller angle and using a heat gun. I did passenger side.
Excellent job!! My car had the-16" BBS wheels with 205/55 tires and the lowered springs when I backed over a bump and bent out the driver-side lip and cracked the blue paint. The inner lip can also cut your tire, even with 14" wheels. Any coupe with lowered suspension needs to have the fenders rolled. There are places that know how to do this professionally that will not crack your paint. All of this was repaired when the amber reflectors were removed and the color changed to Turkis.
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Another two hour struggle that ended well, installing the handbrake upgrade. I finally figured out the trick, and yes it involves holding the button down, but that isn’t all. The rod from the button has a hook, facing down, that needs to hook over the ratcheting pawl. The only way to get it back over the pawl if your rod came out as mine did is to use a smaller but long enough bolt or even a thin screwdriver where the mounting bolt and washers go to keep everything in place. (I installed the washers and bearing first and used a small screwdriver) This allows the handle to move forward and the plate with gear/notches inside the handle to move rearward enough to release the pawl by moving the smooth upper side to let the rod slip over it while pushing it in and holding the button down. I taped the button down and used a hose clamp but the rubber handle can slide up so I tightened the clamp a bit more. Then the notched plate slides forward and catches on the tunnel with a small notch. Now you can insert the correct bolt by gently pushing it in while using the screwdriver or thinner bolt to hold the washers in place as you withdraw this bolt. Driver seat is temporary until seats are done.
I did a similar job on mine recently.
I had to replace my handbrake cables anyway and I wanted to put in the needle bearing upgrade .
When I removed the rubber boot I found a bit of a mess , a previous owner must have lived on a very steep hill or something.
1 of the 2 brackets coming up from the floor to take the cross bolt / pin had previously broken away from the floor.
Then they mig welded it back in place to “fix it “ , it was NOT pretty !!!
In doing so they welded it out of alignment by about 2 or 3 mm so with everything put back together the 2 or 3 mm caused the handbrake lever to no longer follow the center line of the car , but instead it pointed to the left by about 10 or 15 degrees.
Oh yes they fixed that too .
They bent the handbrake lever so that it pointed straight again .
It was one large pile of sh…
I had to walk away from it and make a decision. Keep going and get the job done and never be happy knowing it was bodged or stop progress and do it properly.
So approximately, 5 hours later , the grinder had carefully been put to good use removing the 1980’s “repair” and I tig welded the bracket back on , this time in the correct place and I then put in a M14 cross bolt and nut and also the recommended 2 needle bearings and 4 thrust washers.
So it took longer to do , but I’m definitely happy that it’s done properly now .
Zeniths are back after rebuild and look lovely! And worthy of being shown on the oak table as well.
why yes they are ... all with perfectly new bolts, nuts, fittings, etc. really hope this solves the basic running issues ... it should, just wishing you a little extra easiness.
The coupe keeps biting back.
If only one of the choke housing nipples wasn’t broken off and one idle solenoid was not returned. I have a work-around though.
It’s always good to have enough Carbs on the table
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Who said too many carbs are bad for you?It’s always good to have enough Carbs on the table
yep, those are very pretty ... and they do make such a beautiful sound.
Carb woes continue.
niacc
Member
Great looking work, Chris.
niacc
Member
Chris did you removes the intakes and valve cover for vapor blasting?
Yes, valve cover, manifolds, water divider and thermo cover and I shot matte clear ceramic on them which air dries.
My friend Ron at Coast Motor Works here in HB dialed in the carbs today. The adjustment screw under the carb that is part of the secondary barrel was hitting the manifold so we could never close throttle plate all the way with the stop screw all the way out, never seen this before. It took an hour to finally figure that one out and both carbs had to come out again to fix this. I declined his offer to let me remove them in his shop and said I would gladly pay for his services, I’ve had enough carb experiences to last me a lifetime!