Back to normal at the yard with the WebShop being updated over the Christmas break and the workshops being rearranged for the cars to be worked on. We have had lots of positive feedback for the minor changes to the items where we show the real time number items in stock. We have also had a number of people asking us for sheet metal to complete projects. We are being very careful about the allocation of our panel stock. Some orders have been fulfilled from our back orders with a few more to be completed hopefully this week.

Customer Cars

’65 Fast Back Time Trial

This little lady is being prepped ready for her next adventure, a trial across Russia! We are so pleased to see this car being used and enjoyed all around the world.

The front brakes have been swapped over and fitted with some heavy duty pads, which was a ‘no brainer’ to advise the owner.

The rear brakes have been completely rebuilt with all new parts.

The diff has been opened, cleaned and inspected while we removed the half shafts. Bearings and seals were replaced before refitting.

Metal Mayhem

Yogi has been in the panel workshop and removing the back of the car, literally. As we took the rear quarter off we could see that the rust worm has done its best to wreak havoc everywhere. The quarter was to bad on the outside when it was first done, but over time the damage from inside was showing under the paint. A rare sight to see the original panel part number too.

The inner arches will need replacing.

With the inner arches removed back to the frame, it’s clear that we would have to rebuild the back of the car with new metal.

When you are this deep into a strip down, you just have to keep going until you find some good metal to tag the new stuff onto. Patching will cost more in time and effort than it will be to replace the metal. What’s left of the bigger chunks of metal before they hit the scrap skip.

It’s nothing that phases us, regular readers will have seen photos like these before. Then a few posts later we show the car rebuilt and looking as good as new.

351 Block Dies

This engine has been a problem for a while. Budgets from the owner didn’t allow us to do a full strip down. So it was done best as we could at the time. The problem was overheating.

The waterways were clogged and not flowing the water around the block properly. In the picture above right you can see the ‘temporary’ core plugs that had been in the block for so long they had started to fall apart. When the plugs were removed the root of the problem spilled into the yard.

No amount of flushing would get this back to where it should be, we had done it a couple of times in the past. It was better, but has never right, it soon clogged up and damaged a couple of radiators in the process.

Sometimes enough is enough and you just have to stop throwing good money at a partial fix. The owner has taken our advice and gone for a engine swap. There will be more power, the engine will work as it should and no more overheating issues.

Sometimes we have to be cruel to be kind to customers in their own interests. We will do what we are told, sometimes we just have to be brutal.

Stay Safe & Take Care!