Steve's Sport Evo Project

[stevesingo]

I have been documenting this elsewhere on the web, but due to restriction in viewing on the said site I have decided to post up an edited version on here and update when appropriate.

Way back in April 2007 I could smell antifreeze . Looked under the hood and no leak, checked the carpet and Oh Dear, it is a little soggy.

Out comes the centre consul and I find the heater valve is Kaput and the matrix looks a bit ropey.

An hour and a half and not too mention a few choice words the dashboard is out. To my horror the scuttle is showing signs of rust. Upon removing the vent under the wiper I find that a blob of filler has been pushed in to a place where there once was a rusty hole.

Some pics of what I found...



I dug deeper...







Get the picture?

So, After a couple of weeks of scraping and generally F***ing about today I did it....

Decided on a full strip down to bare metal and do it properly.

I found rust in places that is impossible to treat properly, with confidence that it will not rear it's head again. I've already drilled out spot welds and split seams to get to rust and in some of the areas I've found would impractical to do the same.

So I set about stripping it all down.





And refurbing averything...



Sent the shell away to Surface Processing Ltd...



Picked it up...



Inspected it...





And delivered it to a classic car restorer for the panel work...



The shell then went back to SPL for e coating and was delivered back to me primed...



Whilst waiting for the painters to get their shit together with the shell, I got beavering away on the suspension...



After scotching all of the shell=lots...

Started with sealing the seams...



and undersealing...





All in all, about 15kgs of this stuff...



Uderside and engine bay painted and suspension bits being fitted...







Back on it's wheels for exterior painting...





Painted...





And that is where we are at the moment. This has taken 2yrs (ha ha) so far, mainly due to work commitments (i was away from home for 9 months) and the painters wasting 5 months of my time. I'm off away working again soon, so it will be on hold for another 2 months or so.

Again, this is an edited versionof a thread running elsewhere, there is so much more to tell and I will add some meat to the bone soon.

Steve

[gte175x]

Just Awesome!! Great job!

[dr.strangelove]

wow.

[CourtM3]

That's dedication! Where is the original thread?

[M3 Madness]

Good lord.

[Douglas]

Amazing work... Keep us posted!

[diegom6]

Very cool. The first pcis, specially the one standing with out the rear subframe-suspension stripped jsut looks identical to mine wich it's the same color or was..!?

[stevesingo]

That's dedication! Where is the original thread?

It is in my SIG

Steve

[the bear]

Hi Steve,

Im in the same place that you where in 2 years ago only I got my car restored (as I thought) by a panel beater (feckin asshole) last year but I went looking around the car over the winter and found that he did'nt cut the rust out, he stuck pieces of tin over the holes with windscreen bond and bluffed it in, so as a result I stipped my SE down to the bare shell and got a restorer to look at it, he is taking the car in 2 weeks and charging me £5000 for the work that he is going to do to the shell and the car will get a full respray (again). So my car will not be on the road this year for the show season which pisses me off big time.

Cheers,

GARY.

[fast325it]

What type/size of wheel is that? Tire size?

Nice work! Not sure if I'd have that kind of determination. I'd loose interest if I didn't have it in my line of sight every day.

_JB

[El KuRLy]

Wow!!
Good luck with the restoration

[Anders]

Sweet, I love seeing mechanical projects!

[Ironhead]

Good work dude! I absolutely love theads like this...

Question..... When the car was all bare metal and being repaired, did you consider having the seams stitch welded? I know you are not building a racecar, but I am curious if that is considered a good move with an older car just to ensure a tight, structurally sound unibody....?

Is there a downside to doing it, or is it just unnecessary expense/time on a road car?

[stevesingo]

JB_

The wheels are 16" Sport Evo. Nogaro centres but with a diamond cut rim. For sale actually!

Ironhead, I did, but given that the value of the car is in it's standard form I decided against doing anyhing that I couldn't reverse.

Steve

[stevesingo]

Hi Steve,

Im in the same place that you where in 2 years ago only I got my car restored (as I thought) by a panel beater (feckin asshole) last year but I went looking around the car over the winter and found that he did'nt cut the rust out, he stuck pieces of tin over the holes with windscreen bond and bluffed it in GARY.

I'm sure we could get the heavies around with a blow torch and a pair of pliers...

Good luck with it.

Post up a thread

Steve