1969 E Type roadster (Ernie)
Driver restoration


 

 
Specification (briefly) for this project is as follows:

Driver restoration back to original BRG and Biscuit with a number of Team CJ upgrades.
 

 
 

 

Update report - September 28, 2006

We now have the cylinder head completely rebuilt to full Stage One specs.....
   
   
   
   


We have now installed the new bonnet and completed all of the panel fit and bodywork - with the excption of the new boot lid installation. The Slick Sand has been been applied and the car has been set aside for paint prep and painting in a few weeks time.
Installing the new bonnet
Panel fit coming together
very nicely
Applying the Slick Sand
     
   
Bodywork now virtually complete
     
 
Slick Sand baking in 105 degree
Texas sunshine!
   


With the bodyshell panel replacement now completed, we removed all the cheap 'shipping primer' before sealing the restored monocoque with BASF etching primer.
 
 
 
 
 
 


     
     
 
     


Starting to go back together!
Before......
After.....
 
     
     
     
 
Rear bulkhead will be replaced
New boot floor spot welded
into place
 


The following photos show the bodyshell and panels after media blasting. The bonnet is much worse than expected, although the body really isn't too bad. In the circumstances, I think a new bonnet would be a very good idea.
One door is OK, the other
needs a skin
 
Bellypan is rough
     
   
Boot floor will be replaced
     
Bonnet center section is
very rough
 
Trimming away the last of
the corroded metal...


Another total CJ body restoration gets underway! In the photos below you can see Lawrence removing all the obviously rusty panels prior to the car being sent for plastic media blasting. No point paying the blasting company to strip corroded panels that we know are going to be replaced!
 
Cutting awat the rusty floors
Outer sills are also removed
     
Doesn't look to good up front
   
     
   
Ready for the blaster!


I am pleased to report that your car is next in line for the full treatment in the CJ Coachworks. We have scheduled the bodyshell (and associated panels) to be media blasted early next week - and the sheet metal restoration will begin shortly thereafter. The photographic updates will start coming thick and fast as the body restoration gets underway!

 
     



 
IRS rebuild completed
 
Front suspension has been
Nickel plated
 
 
 
New Poly bushings installed
 
 
 
 
 
AC unit being structurally repaired
Splints were fabricated and installed
for the back side of the vent panel
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dash panels have been trimmed
   


Assembling your IRS.
Team CJ shocks
Rebuilding your rear calipers
 
     
Drilled an slotted rotors
Starting to go together
 
 
 
 
 
 Installing the shocks and springs
 
 

 


We now have the powder coated IRS components back and have started rebuilding your IRS.

 
Differential case was cleaned and 
painted prior to rebuilding
 
IRS components have now
been powder coated
     
Team CJ Bronze IRS bushings
will be installed
Before.....
After....

 


As this car patiently waits in line for attention in the Team CJ Coachworks, we have begun the mechanical rebuilding process, starting with the front and rear suspensions.

 
Front suspension will be sent off
for Nickel plating
Disassembling the IRS
Not a pretty sight!
     
Shocks look quite new?
Rear suspension components will
be powder coated.....
....as will be the cage


Ernie has recently bought back this 1969 roadster, a car that he first owned in back in the seventies. The first photograph below shows Ernie's two sons, Lee and Andrew, sitting in the once proud car. Lee is now 33 and Andrew is 24!

We are going to be doing something of a driver restoration on this car, re-using a number of components that ordinarily we would replace or rebuild. Having said that, the idea is to return the car to something like the condition it was  in when Ernie first saw it thirty years ago.....or perhaps a little better than that...


 
Lee and Andrew posing in this
very car twenty odd years ago!
The car arrived at CJ in
component form
The engine, as received
     
 
Frames are rusted and bent
Bonnet is in excellent shape

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