Claytopia's XB GT Coupe restoration

[Claytopia]

Originally Posted by zoesgift

wow! good for you to take up the challenge. people who want coupes but want to pay next to nothing for them when the work has been done, need to seriously read threads like this

Yeah it has been a bit of an eye opener. Pretty luck mine has minimal rust just heaps of accident damage that was well hidden.

The guy who did the work was a master plaster and so so panel beater.

[Claytopia]

So things have slowed down a bit... Now I know what your thinking, Fecken hell if this guy goes slower then this its going to take him years to finish, Well sadly yes I do believe that to be the case as much as I wanted to have her ready for the 2017 GT nationals in WA, I don't think its going to happen.

Unfortunately nothing has happened on the panel front for nearly 6 months for various reasons, probably the biggest of them all was the panel money ran out, then my panel guy had other jobs due with deadlines looming (2015 coupe anniversary then the WA all Ford cruise) And the audacity of some people just because he has had their cars longer than mine and they can afford to keep paying him they think that gives them the right to give their cars priority over mine, well you cant blame them, I would feel the same. And lastly he has moved premises just around the corner but hey moving is moving.

I myself haven't done much for a few months myself. Got an injury training that put me off my feet for a few weeks, Then I had the opportunity to get an operation 8 months sooner than scheduled and the subsequent recovery time, then it was my lovely wife's 21st birthday so I took her overseas for a few weeks of R,R&R (I am sure you can work out the extra R was, nudge nudge) then wouldn't you know it it was Christmas will all the festivities that go along with it.

So I will now slap a few post of pics of various bits and pieces with brief explanaions

[Claytopia]

I had some time down in Perth last year and Matt let me come and do some of the unskilled grunt work so I de-skinned my bonnet. There must be something wrong with me because I actually enjoyed doing it. I don't know if its the concentration on a singular task or the fact that I'm not staring at a screen trying to figure out what some monkey has convinced some poor sap will look good on their house cringing every time the phone rings but I enjoyed it.

If you look closely you can see the truly awesome job that the guy back in the factory did with the caulking gun. Top effort pal I applaud your work ethic.

So anyways Matt left me to it ( I dont think he could bear to watch me work) and I de-skinned the bonnet then got most of the sealant off. I tell you that factory sealant is great stuff... for causing rust, but its out now and the bonnet is ready to be patched.

[Claytopia]

One of the things I am doing with my engine is going to be to keep it looking fairly stock, which is hard to do when you plan on running things like an ICE ignition system.

So I dug through my records and found the crew that re-graphed my Mallory dizzy back in the day and asked them if they could help,

They didn't seem too sure over the phone but told me to come in anyway. So in I went armed with a small cap ICE dizzy and the old factory Bosch unit after a bit of back and forth they said to leave it with them. I guess it helped that It was close to Christmas and I wasn't in a hurry,

So they cleaned everything up and gave it a lick of paint where it was needed and well they couldn't use any of the gear out of the ICE dizzy but with a shaft from this and a sensor from that a button from something else etc etc they managed to put something together for me.

I am pretty happy with it, I don't think the factory red cap is much chop (too much corrosion on the contacts) but it will do for looks once I clean it, I have a couple of spare black caps that are in good nick to use but if anyone has a good red cap or where to get them please let me know.

[Claytopia]

Listen I am no expert on suspension and to be honest the old XB is never going to handle like a modern car without putting in some major work and making it look nothing like a factory set up, but I want it to sit and handle as good as it can with what its got. So after numerous phone call to pretty much most of the the suspension places in WA l decided to go with the gear recommended to me by Corey at Malaga Springs and Suspension.

Corey was pretty easy to deal with, He answered all of my questions patiently and seemed to ask a few more questions than the rest to find out exactly what I was after. The poor guy must I must have spoken with him about half a dozen times, And then when I went down to get the gear I walked into the shop pretending to be an irate customer going "Where's this Corey bloke" knowing he was on the phone going by his voice. Well he looked up at me and I gave him a dirty look shaking my head. Well he finished up and I could see he was a bit unsure of what was going on. Then I broke into a huge grin and said "G'day Corey I'm Clayton glad to finally meet you", well he called me a dog and we got on with it.

Now because I have nothing better to do with my time I am doing pointless stuff like spending time re-painting the sway bars... yeah you read that right.

Part of the gear was a set of Selbys swaybars but wouldn't you know it they wouldn't make my one off order for one set in the colour I wanted, Go figure. So after looking into it I decided to strip the paint using paint stripper to prevent any work hardening/shot peening/micro fractures/de tempering etc. etc.that may or may not been caused by sand blasting.

Then I decided to go with KBS coatings to paint them as I didn't want to risk them being exposed to too high temperatures etc etc while being powder coated. And so here they are.

[Claytopia]

In for a penny in for a pound and well if your going to paint your sway bars you may as well paint the shockies too. Basically the same deal I taped them up to prevent the stripper getting anywhere it shouldn't, Stripped them and repainted them in what I hope is the concours colour.








I was going to put up the pics of them in etch and sealer but though I would save such totally awesome pictures like that for another day. Now I just need to give them a cut and polish... Oh god why did I say that now I probably will.

[zoesgift]

colour looks fine!

[KOOP74]

Good work mate, great to see you back. Make sure you use factory polish on those shocks, ha ha.

[Buckly23]

Originally Posted by Claytopia

So things have slowed down a bit... Now I know what your thinking, Fecken hell if this guy goes slower then this its going to take him years to finish, Well sadly yes I do believe that to be the case as much as I wanted to have her ready for the 2017 GT nationals in WA, I don't think its going to happen.

Unfortunately nothing has happened on the panel front for nearly 6 months for various reasons, probably the biggest of them all was the panel money ran out, then my panel guy had other jobs due with deadlines looming (2015 coupe anniversary then the WA all Ford cruise) And the audacity of some people just because he has had their cars longer than mine and they can afford to keep paying him they think that gives them the right to give their cars priority over mine, well you cant blame them, I would feel the same. And lastly he has moved premises just around the corner but hey moving is moving.



I myself haven't done much for a few months myself. Got an injury training that put me off my feet for a few weeks, Then I had the opportunity to get an operation 8 months sooner than scheduled and the subsequent recovery time, then it was my lovely wife's 21st birthday so I took her overseas for a few weeks of R,R&R (I am sure you can work out the extra R was, nudge nudge) then wouldn't you know it it was Christmas will all the festivities that go along with it.

So I will now slap a few post of pics of various bits and pieces with brief explanaions

Still getting more done then us mate haven't touched it really in 18 months

[El Tazo]

You're a funny bugger mate, love you're writing! Paint stripper on new Billies? You're keener than me!

[Bearman]

LOL at the factory caulking job on the bonnet. Looks like it was everywhere except where it was needed!!

Good to see progress, all good things take time.

[Ansimp]

Excellent build post. Incredible amount of work going into what looked like a great car when you ( Dad) purchased it all those years ago. Hats off to your level of quality and not wavering in your vision. Just like your budget your final build day will be when it is done right. Hopefully not too much longer before you can reap the benefits of all your hard efforts and cash.

[Claytopia]

Originally Posted by KOOP74

Good work mate, great to see you back. Make sure you use factory polish on those shocks, ha ha.

I have decided to block them back give them a flow coat then a few coats of clear. Was given a really good tip on painting acrylic buy and old school guru.

Originally Posted by El Tazo

You're a funny bugger mate, love you're writing! Paint stripper on new Billies? You're keener than me!

Keener maybe I say its the rocks in my head that made me do it.

Originally Posted by Bearman

LOL at the factory caulking job on the bonnet. Looks like it was everywhere except where it was needed!!

And that stuff was super hard to get off. Even harder to get off than the tar they pour inside and spray underneath.

Good to see progress, all good things take time.

Yeah I have been a bit time poor recently but as they say you don'f find time you make it so I have been making the time, not a lot mind you just some. I keep telling myself one step at a time and don't give up.

[Claytopia]

OK so I blocked back the shockies, gave them a flow coat and then painted them in clear because... because... because... well let me get back to you on that. Now I will let them dry and try to resist cutting and polishing them.

[Claytopia]

Now I did warn you all that this thread wasn't going to be tearing ahead at a rate of knots didn't i? I've had more stuff to do around the house (yep more reno's YAY) But I am keen to get this car finished because I've got myself another coupe. Oh yeah boy but as you've already seen the pace I work at this one is probably a retirement project or like my Dad said "I'll be dead before you finish that one, Hurry up and finish this one".

This other one (dubbed the pink wreck) is just a boring old falcon 500, 6 cylinder (250) column shift auto, but it was painted in the highly desirable colour wild plum (also know as pink) but I can tell you right now that colour isn't staying. But its yet another one with parchment trim but one thing I can tell you is knowing how hard it is trying to source trim bits for my current one it wont be parchment, But I am getting off track, back onto the GT.

The GT's front end has now been sorted out which was a bit of an effort. The Chassis rails have been sorted out, a new inner panel that is the right length, the shockie tower has been sorted and its measured once twice three times oh baby I know oh owww its true... the radiator panel well I will get to that.

I'm really lucky because Matt has a few other coupes in the shop to check against (I counted 7 all up last time I was there), The best in the shop's chassis is 1.5mm out of square and the worst was 5mm out, with the average being around the 3mm mark.

He managed to get mine to 2.5mm and I started to ask him is he could see if he could get it perfect but before I could even get to it he cut me off and let me know that it wasn't going to happen, explaining in detail what he had done to get it that close

Well that's enough for this post; here are some pics

[Claytopia]

He's also been busy tidying other bits and pieces around the front end. Re-attaching the brackets and so forth.

The lower and upper plenum panels have reattached.

The passenger side kick panel straightened out and reattached.

That funny little ball bit for the heater unit has been reballafied and reattached. (sorry for getting too technical on you all there)

Next Post the drama of the radiator panel.

[Claytopia]

Ok so with the left hand engine bay panel being left too short after a previous accident after they attached the radiator support panel it was out of whack. But it wasn't too much of a problem in the 80's you just go and drill extra holes where you need them and make good use of metal teks to attach the bits and pieces that you need to attach and cut back any pieces that wont fit anymore.

So unsurprisingly the radiator panel looked like a well loved piece of Swiss cheese (side thought here, do subway cut the slices of Swiss cheese thicker to make up for the holes or do you just get less cheese per slice) Any way I had managed to pick up a front radiator cut from a wrecker knowing that I would need one. I also managed to get a hold of a NOS radiator support panel off dun Dun DUNNN... E bay which as we know means I probably paid more for it than I should have but hey it was NOS and it looked like it was exactly what I needed.

And I say look like because I thought it was until you look closely,and so obviously it was wrong. But as I like to say even the sun shines on a dogs **** some days. As luck would have it and when comparing my cut panel to the same month/year car in his workshop Matt was able to determine that the cut was the correct one I needed. Woo Hoo!

So after drilling out all 71 spot welds, yeah he counted them for me (and I am sure cursed me as he drilled them) the panel was unpicked from the rest , had the rust repaired and was reattached to the front end, after some minor rust repairs.

Here is the NOS panel. Looks good doesn't it, pity its not right. And as we know once you compromise on the build it easier to keep compromising and I don't want to do that... Yet.



The differences are subtle but they are there









Looks its starting to look like a car for now oh yeah there is more major work going to be undertaken in the future (because what has been done so far is minor... ha ha ha).

[El Tazo]

Ha ha, love your writing mate!

[Claytopia]

That cursed left hand side...

I guess if I refuse to be a passenger (yeah like I'm going to be letting others drive it anyway) and I could always park along walls and the like so that I would never have to see the left hand side and live in the same bubble of ignorant bliss that Holden fans exist it (oh yeah shots fired). I could do all that and just ignore the mess that is the left hand side of my car...
But I am doing this whole project with two motto's in mind.

1. Do it once and do it well. ( I don't want to redo it again in a few years)
and
2. Every compromise comes easier than the previous, so no compromise.

Sure its hard, especially when it comes to finding those hard to get parts (parchment trim anyone!) but I haven't hit any roadblocks... yet.

So the sill on the... you guess it, left hand sill came off, and while the inner sill wasn't that bad it also wasn't great.
It had the ususal surface rust, rust holes and its fair share of damage from kerbs, pot holes that rabbit back in '98 and god only know what else.

So the decision was made to cut out the rusty sections and weld in new steel and straighten out the bottom edge as it wasn't necessary to to replace the the whole inner panel.

Also while the access was there the inside of the A pillar was blasted and painted with epoxy.

Then the sill was dummied up into place and alignment was checked before any welding took place... HA HA took place yeah right like ti would be that straight forward!

I don't know if I mentioned it (and I can't be bothered checking) that the left hand quarter panel has been replaced. Well as some of you will know the quarter panel goes under the roof skin... Well at least it does in the factory.

When your getting the meh it's only and XB GT who give a flying flock repair done in the 80's they stick the quarter over the top of the roof, and then mash the heck out of the rear mounts to make it all work.

So of course the quarter had over a 10mm gap at the sill which had been skillfully concealed with the use of fillers. Well not this time pal so as they say in for a penny in for a pound. You'll see that that's all about in the next post.

Anyway here are the inner sill repair pics, Enjoy.



Check out that damage



Check out that quality welding (you know bad's a quality too!)



It's a bit hard to see but you can make out how much the gap between the sill and the quarter are out of alignment.

[KOOP74]

Keep the pics coming Clayboy, love the work going into this.

[Claytopia]

Gulp...

[HELLOYOU]

Originally Posted by Claytopia

Gulp...

image

Turn away now kids.

[El Tazo]

Horry ****, mang!

[neptune blue]

Originally Posted by Claytopia

Gulp...

image

holy S***

[bionic2006xr6t]

Originally Posted by Claytopia

Gulp...

image

Looks familiar!

Cheers Ryan

[gcg2503]

Originally Posted by Claytopia

Gulp...

image

I applaud this and my panel guy insisted i do the same (which i did)

Do it once. Do it right.

If you dont pull quarter and plenum off on a coupe.....you really are playing Russian Roulette.

[Claytopia]

Originally Posted by gcg2503

I applaud this and my panel guy insisted i do the same (which i did)

Do it once. Do it right.

If you dont pull quarter and plenum off on a coupe.....you really are playing Russian Roulette.

I considered asking how much more work to pull the other quarter off while he was at it... Then I remembered the words of old "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

[SCJCoupe]

Originally Posted by Claytopia

I considered asking how much more work to pull the other quarter off while he was at it... Then I remembered the words of old "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

The other side doesn't look to be rust affected, there's now a pretty good view of it all. To be safe maybe spray some rust converter in there through all the gaps and crevices.

[Tex Scrotum]

I sometimes think I should have gone this far with mine......but.....probably too scared.....maybe the next one.........no NO never ever again lol.

[bionic2006xr6t]

Originally Posted by Claytopia

Gulp...

image

I remember many people telling me that I was mad to pull the quarters off mine. It's almost becoming standard practice these days. The guys doing the work on yours are doing a fabulous job.

Cheers Ryan