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Stephen's Diary - 1972 BGT Restoration
As with Stephen's other car, Holly, this one is now known as duck!
November 2006
Time flies. Its now two months since I first wheeled duck into the garage and progress isn't blistering...not bad but the re-build isn't going to set any records. The aim is to have duck restored by April next year, however further straight forward welding is necessary along the rear arches. In this respect and to make the job easier I am totally stripping the car bare to enable the monocoque to be rolled to allow access across the whole underside of the car (by Christmas). That's the plan anyway...
Progress. Since the last and somewhat excitable report of what my new venture has entailed reality has come knocking and provided a fair assessment of what's needed. *#!% loads (in a nutshell). However, its not all bad. Remember, the reason I bought into the idea of duck was that I don't possess the necessary skills for a full on weld-a-thon with the sills. Whilst I would like to get stuck in with the welding mask and MIG unit, there is little point botching something for the sake of it...and those who've read the entries thus far will appreciate I can bodge/botch any manner of jobs to do with the beloved B (poor Holly) (Martin - Stephen is a Master at the art Bodging!).
Speaking of which...one of the first and easily accessible areas of the car was the engine bay. Peeling back the bonnet and removing it opened up a huge amount of working space. With the wings in storage, the only real issue for access has been the chrome bumper on which I kept banging my shin! As the garage is narrow I decided to hit the car head on...so the engine bay it was.
What's been done:
Radiator removed and stored. Fairly straightforward and completed in an hour.
Oil feed pipes disconnected from oil cooler. All went horribly wrong and I sheared the aluminium on the cooler. Cooler now for the bin!
Head removed, cleaned and stored.
Exhaust manifold and HS4's also removed and stored. (HS4's for sale!) Head now used as wine rack end!
Exhaust removed from car. Again fairly straight forward except a seized joint had some persuasion given to it.
Oil drained (and recycled at local recycling depot!). Oil filter removed.
Chrome bumper and front valence removed and stored. Not easy, nuts seized and rusted tight onto existing bolts. Very hard work removing. Many thanks Robert/Richard, for the assistance.
What is still to be done:
Drop prop shaft, fuel tank and remove dash. (1 night)
Remove all ancillary bits and pieces from engine bay.
Remove pedal box master cylinder etc. (new loom and brake unit to be used).
Disconnect gear box (perhaps, still undecided)
Remove engine. (duration, who knows hopefully <1day)
Remove front cross member to other garage to work on when I fancy its too cold to lie on the floor stripping and rebuild. Dismantle rear suspension.
Strip out windows and windscreen
Bring in the heavy mob and roll car onto tyres and fix to wall + prop...
Right.......still as all this gathers pace I have continued to make enquires into two further aspects of the car which will run in parallel.
1) going faster more reliably
2) stopping more reliably.
In my eyes this areas goes hand in hand, why dish out on one without the other...to me it seems stupid to not!
1) Engine.
Having spoken to a number of reputable engine builders (and Martin at length) I have decided to upgrade the engine to fast road spec say stage 2/3. More details to follow.
2) Brakes.
Although very good with EBC Green stuff pads and braided hoses I would like to ensure that if there is something better under the bonnet I will drive more easily knowing I can stop it. I have made enquires into Wilwood conversions or even Rover SD1's. Time will tell.