Update report - May 5, 2022

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Update report - April 26, 2022

Lots of progress with Jenvey fuel injection upgrade.

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Another total Team CJ restoration wrapped up and ready to head home!

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I am delighted to report that we are now well into the road testing phase of this project. So far the car is performing beautifully!

The starting point for this special restoration was a car that had already been very heavily modified and was something of a road legal racer. A previous restorer had installed V12 E Type flared rear arches but we decided to remove those and increase the width of the rear arches in a more subtle way.

The goal was to be able to put a wider wheel and tire beneath the rear, but to make it look like it could have been part of Malcolm Sayer's original design. You really have to look very closely before you notice that the rear wings are about an inch wider than stock, increasing the overall width of the car at the rear by a total of 2 inches. The extra space in the rear wheel wells allowed us to design a custom 7 inch wide CJ Borrani, to which we installed a 225/60 Avon radial. At the front of the car we are retaining the 6 inch CJ Borranis shod with a 205/70 Avon radials.

At the conclusion of this project we are planning a full professional photo shoot of this beautiful E Type.

Custom 7" CJ Borrani wheel, designed and built especially for this project	Avon radials are a nice mix of period look and modern performance
Road testing underway - this car is fast!	Note how the subtly modified rear wings allow room for the wider wheel and 225/60 Avon
	Dark Blue paintwork looks stunning outside
	This photo shows the staggered wheels, 7" in the rear and 6 inches up front
Chris Scarborough adjusting the camber between test drives	Team CJ Stage 2 engine with milder cam option, breathing through full Stage Two headers/exhaust

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The engine and transmission have now been installed, maiden voyage just around the corner.

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Gluing and clamping the cantrail chrome in place	Passenger door now installed
3 sets of hands needed to install the center section of the headliner!
Rear bumpers and lights are now installed	Car is coming together very nicely!

Installing the under dash AC unit and assembling the bonnet.

Installing the under dash AC unit
Assembling the bonnet

Reassembly well underway in the main CJ Workshop.

Wiring the fuse boxes	Note electric power steering beneath column
	Installing the minor gauge panel

The main body and doors have now been painted.

Gerardo has now painted the cabin area.

Painting the underside of the car.

Prior to sealing and painting, the Rocker Guard is applied
Underside of the floors now Dark Blue
	Next to be painted will be the cabin area

I am delighted to report that earlier today Gerardo applied the first of the Dark Blue paint. First to be painted was the underside of the alloy bonnet, although the rest of the car will be painted over the next several days. Exciting times!

Top side of the bonnet masked off	Applying rocker guard in the wheel wells
I think the Dark Blue looks absolutely beautiful!	Note the slightly textured finish to the wheel arches
	Lots more photos next week!

Oscar now has your chrome trial fit underway. Typically this process takes about a week to complete.

Fabricating new rear bumper studs	Oscar trial fitting your rear bumpers

I am pleased to report that we have now finished the bulk of the bodywork and the car has been primed with Raderal sprayable Polyester primer. We have also completed the IRS rebuild.

Bodywork has now been completed	Car has been primed with Raderal Polyester primer
	IRS has been completely rebuilt
	RBR vented brakes and remote bleeder system

Bonnet installation progressing well.

With the door and tailgate fit now perfected, it is now time to start fitting the new alloy bonnet.

Panel fit is beautiful throughout
Tailgate fits perfectly	Main body now sealed in epoxy primer
	Time to start fitting the new alloy bonnet

Oscar has been busy skinning and fitting the doors.

Both doors are receiving new skings	After hammering over the new skins, Oscar then used this machine to crimp them
	The new skins were then spot welded in place
	Bottom corner not quite square and will be built up with a bead of weld
	After grinding back the weld the corner is now perfectly square
Time to fit the door
Restored door fits beautifully

Hector has now finished restoring and trimming your seats. He added some extra contour and side bolster support to the seat backs by carving and shaping additional foam padding during the trimming process.

Note extra foam padding to the bolsters	Carving the left bolster to provide additional contour and support
Note how left bolster has now been sanded smooth
The finished result is subtle but provides meaningful additional support

The guys in the trim room are busy restoring and trimming your seats.

With the bulk of the sheet metal repairs and panel replacement completed at the rear of the car, Oscar has begun the lead loading process.

Lead loading welded seams beneath the boot floor and rear quarters
	Factory lead removed and roof line weld exposed
Fresh lead applied to roof line welded seam	Lead loading around rear lamp areas
	Oscar hand filing and shaping the lead
	Preliminary trial fit of rear lamp housings

Oscar has been busy fabricating replacement panels for either side of the rear license plate panel and the (rear) inner wheel arch structures. Next up will be the discretely flared rear wheel arches.

The following photos show Oscar rust proofing and installing the outer sills.

	Reconstruction of the trans and bell housing side panels now complete
Firewall repairs completed, floors and trans tunnel welded in place
	Trial fitting new outer sills
	Inner sill box section will be rust proofed with Wurth Body Wax prior to installing outer panels
Applying Body Wax to inner surface of outer sills	Wax also applied to inner sills
Spot welding outer sills in place
	With outer sills installed, next up is the new boot floor assembly

The following sequence of photographs show Oscar welding the bell housing side panels, transmission side panels and lower side frame anchor brackets in position.

	Spot welding the RH bell housing side panel in position
	Trial fitting the transmission side panels
Trimming floor opening to match shape of transmission side panels
	Plotting position of new engine side frame lower anchor brackets
	Welding new side frame brackets in place

Oscar has now spot welded the main floors into place, having first rust proofed all the inner box sections that would eventually be enclosed when the floor panels were installed.

Spot welding the additional inner sill gusset in place
	Rust proofing the main cross-member and up inside the rear bulkhead
We have used Wurth Body Wax for more than 20 years	Applying body wax inside rear bulkhead
	View inside rear bulkhead
Spot welding left and right floors together along the center line
	Spot welding the floors to the drive shaft tunnel
Welding floors to the main cabin cross-member	And to the inner sills...
Several hundred spot welds now hold the floors and inner sills together

Oscar has been hard at it since my last update, making excellent progress!

	Separating bracing plate from rear of old pedal box panel
	Preparing to spot weld bracing plate to new panel
	Welding new panel to body
Trial fitting additional (third) inner sill gusset	Marking relief required to fit flush with inner sill
	Center transmission bulkhead cut away
Preparing to weld new center transmission bulkhead in place
Starting to fit bell housing side panels
	Cutting away 'V12' flared wheel arches
	Bump stop brackets will be removed
Rust commonly found behind bump stop brackets	Inner rear wheel arches are a bit of a mess
Lots of crude patching	Panel behind bump stop bracket had rust pin holes so it will be cut away and replaced
	Fabricating bump stop backing panel
	Cutting away left hand inner wheel well
	To be continued...

The following sequence of photographs follow Oscar's repairs and patching of the various damaged (and missing) panels in the firewall and beneath the dash. Not a particularly glamorous update, but essential repairs, nonetheless!

Several firewall panels required replacement	Newly fabricated repair panel on the left
The gaping hole this repair panel will fill	Trial fitting the new panel
Tack welding it in place
	After metal finishing, the welds are invisible
Another repair panel being trial fitted
	Another huge hole under the driver's side dash
Trial fitting a patch panel
Another large patch required beneath the dash
Trial fitting the patch panel
	Repaired area metal finished and acid washed, ready for priming

Oscar has been making fantastic progress in the Coachworks since my last update.

	RH pedal box panel had been crudely repaired in the past and will be replaced
Removing panel after drilling out spot welds	New panel waiting in the wings
Trial fitting new inner sills
	Trial fitting new floors
	Wurth Body Wax sprayed beneath new radius arm cups prior to installation
Acid washing bare metal inner box sections
All inner surfaces will be sealed with epoxy and coated with Body Wax prior to installing floors
Sealer applied up inside A post towers	Trial fitting inner sill gussets
Old boot floor assembly cut away
	New bell housing side panels being trial fitted
The first of thousands of spot welds!
	We will use 3 inner sill support gussets per side
	Underside of dash has been butchered!
Central firewall also needs extensive repairs	Starting to fabricate repair panel for firewall

Oscar has begun the process of cutting away all the corroded sheet metal.

After stripping shipping primer from new panel, future weld zones are carefully masked	New panels sealed with etching primer
Rebuilt body will feature additional inner sill stiffening
Drilling out spot welds to remove floors
	Floors and inner sills removed in one piece

Oscar placed your car on one of the roller-hoop jigs earlier today and has the body restoration underway.

The body will spend the next few weeks spinning on one of the roller-hoop jigs
	Oscar has the sheet metal replacement underway

The following sequence of photos show your powder coated IRS components, Nickel plated front suspension, and the finishing assembly of your Stage Two 4.7L engine. Unfortunately the oil pan that came in with your car was not serviceable so we will be restoring an alternative item from our used parts inventory.

We have now received your car back from the blaster. There are certainly some rough edges, but all in all not too bad...

There are several small rust holes in the footwells and inner sills
Floors have several patches	Boot floor is rusted through
Several areas of the body have known violence and pain in the past!	Both bonnet wings have been damaged and patched
	Difficult to imagine how damage like this happened in the first place?
The firewall has a few areas that will need attantion
Patches to upper inner sill by data plate plinth	Some rust to deal with beneath passenger A pillar
More patches in inner sills	Wheel arch flares will be eliminated
Not the prettiest of welds...	Main bodyshell bathed in Ospho acid prior to being sealed with epoxy primer

Your car has now been sent off to be media blasted back to bare metal and we expect to have it back in the next few days.

Bonnet was disassembled prior to blasting	Door skins were removed, revealing fairly rusty inner frames
	With outer sills cut away for access to the inner sills, several patches were revealed
	Boot floor looks pretty solid, although much of it is covered with sound deadening material
	Inner sills will obviously be replaced

After waiting patiently in the wings for 18 months, it is now time to get this very exciting project underway. The first task is to prepare the bodyshell for media blasting, which should place within the next few days. We also have the Stage Two engine well underway in the CJ engine machine shop.

Time to strip the car down for media blasting
	All of the interior trim will be removed prior to media blasting the shell
	Old engine frames will be replaced
Outer sills will be cut away prior to blasting process	Shell now on one of the blasting rotisserie jigs
Engine rebuild will feature CJ Lightweight Stroker Kit	Special Trojan CJ valve guides bring F1 technology to this special build
Align honing cam saddles
Installing custom CJ valve seats	Trojan CJ guides installed after port work has been completed
Honing guides for optimum stem to guide clearance	Machining 5 angles valve job
Front of head prior to cosmetic polishing	A little more presentable after sanding, polishing and painting
Head ready for assembly	Note special bronze tappet guides, relieved for high list cams
	Head rebuild now complete, stroked block is next!

We are delighted to have this exciting project in the CJ Workshop and look forward to getting the restoration underway in the next few months.