Chamonix 3.0CS Restoration

that is great news Chris ... looking forward to reading more of the progress that you make on this coupe
 
Paul and I took turns driving down the street, it has brakes and clutch but needs a t/o bearing. I will install my spare 5 speed, it will have a very good ROI I think. I will change oil and flush brakes and clutch in the next two days. It actually idles well but also needs accelerator pumps, engine feels strong.
 
It runs shockingly smooth for a car that's been off the road so long. It just needs 3 or 4 long heat cycles to really understand the 'as - is'' state. Transmission and diff are very quiet, a real bonus when its and LSD. What a great find Chris, good on ya!
 
That’s great progress !
I am just curious, how many years was it parked up ?
Do you know if it was running when it was parked up , or had it stopped running and that is why it was parked up ?
There’s nothing better than hearing/ getting an old classic come back to life ,
Well done !!
 
Gone are the days of it just "needs a good Italian Tune Up" ;)
The feeling one gets when you get a long dormant car running and driving again is really quite exhilarating!
Nice work!
 
Apparently one of the owners started a lite restoration and it was painted 15 years ago and interior was redone (no headliner panel or sunvisors, vinyl seats done very nicely, door cards too without herringbone at the top, new carpets). It sat in the body shop as the owner lost interest and body shop bought it. Sat several more years until a long hood Porsche guy bought it ten years ago and it sat in his shop as well. Last license plate sticker shows 1989, title was signed over in 2002 and never reregistered. Still has California blue license plate for circa 1979 so I believe it has always been in California. A year ago a compression test showed 165 across all cylinders And he added some oil to the cylinders. When I first got it started there was quite a smoke cloud in the garage as it was delivered from the flatbed rear end first.
 
Pulled all four calipers as I couldn’t get any fluid through the bleeders. As I suspected the hoses were swollen shut with 2002 date codes. Might as well pull half-shafts too, a miserable job but done and needed anyway. Calipers will be rebuilt, it’s a miracle the car even rolled.
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Calipers and half-shafts out for rebuild. Next is to pull struts and replace control arms, tension strut bushing, stabilizer bushings, idler arm bushing, wheel bearings, strut mounts all with yellow zinc washers, nuts, etc. Hope I can find a center track rod! No sense cutting corners here.
 
I removed the struts, control arms, tension strut, track rod and tie rods today. I now have several flesh wounds! Calipers out for rebuild (super nice guy and shop in Signal Hill area of Long Beach), half shafts already rebuilt, took brake backing plates, tension struts and a few other item to powdercoat. I will replace bearing next and start scraping black undercoat from wheel wells, I had rattle cans mixed for Chamonix to paint the wells. I already have yellow zinc washers, bolts, spacers for install and am sending a batch to resupply my hoard.
 
HB Chris said:
Apparently one of the owners started a lite restoration and it was painted 15 years ago and interior was redone (no headliner panel or sunvisors, vinyl seats done very nicely, door cards too without herringbone at the top, new carpets). It sat in the body shop as the owner lost interest and body shop bought it. Sat several more years until a long hood Porsche guy bought it ten years ago and it sat in his shop as well. Last license plate sticker shows 1989, title was signed over in 2002 and never reregistered. Still has California blue license plate for circa 1979 so I believe it has always been in California. A year ago a compression test showed 165 across all cylinders And he added some oil to the cylinders. When I first got it started there was quite a smoke cloud in the garage as it was delivered from the flatbed rear end first.
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It seems this car has just a boring life. Noone loves it too much to drive it or opposite? ;)

Nice car. I would drive it for a while first to listen and look to make to-do list complete, but this is not the case for You, having long experience with E9. Keeping for you. It should be a piece of cake in comparison to many different coupe projects here.
 
Krzysztof said:
It seems this car has just a boring life. Noone loves it too much to drive it or opposite? ;)

Nice car. I would drive it for a while first to listen and look to make to-do list complete, but this is not the case for You, having long experience with E9. Keeping for you. It should be a piece of cake in comparison to many different coupe projects here.
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My goal was to drive it a bit to determine what it needed but the poor brakes and suspension caused me to tear into those sooner. Then it will get driven to make sure motor, cooling and other things are OK.
 
Nasty work today scraping out the pass side wheel well with a wooden handle wire brush so i can paint in there. And rebuilt/painted the strut for that side waiting for calipers to be ready for install. I cleaned and repacked grease into the strut bearing as the rubber looks great. Also replaced fuel hoses and filter in engine bay. Like the brake hoses they were dated 2001 and were in terrible shape.
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HB Chris said:
I’ve been scrubbing subframes and wheel wells. How many of you have wives who would willingly crawl into the wheel well to help? I have an awesome wife although she does expect her share of the proceeds!
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Great. It is good for some of us (including me :cool:) our ladies are supporting us in our hobbies in different own ways!

Look like a new idea for thread: "What my wife did in my E9 today"
 
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