A much needed restoration

Thanks for the kind replies guys, I have to say it wasn't my intention to do a major restoration but as I started to clean bits up it became more and more obvious to me that I needed to dig deeper...in a way I'm glad I did. these are lovely looking cars and deserve some TLC. I too will not cut any corners I think that's why I've taken so long.

I think I've made good progress and I was under no illusions of getting it done in a year, my aim is also to take a trip to Italy when its complete hopefully before my 55 birthday!!!

More progress pictures to come.


This was the finished product returned from Pro-strip

Some more bits of work nearly completed.

Put the heat shield in place just need to cap all the edges with some aluminium tape.


Before putting the fuse box back in place I needed to remove all the wires that had no place being there, and replacing with the correct colour coded wires.

Starting to take shape but I needed to check every wire coming from the fuse box to its final destination, there were quite a few cowboy moments.Looks a bit of a mess at the moment
.
Replaced the brake and clutch master cylinders added new pipes and fittings very pleased with the out come.

David,

This is looking excellent and a real labour of love!

Where did you get the heat shield material from and also what did you use for the seam sealing?

Cheers

Andy

Hi Andy,

The heat shield came from a company called Textile Technologies Ltd. I found it on Amazon. I purchased a sheet of Acoustic Heat Shield 1000mm x 800mm with a self adhesive backing...I found it very easy to work with it's a great product.

The seam sealer (1/2 litre tins) were purchased from Ilkeston autofactor known in my area for supplying paint to the local auto body shops. This is a top quality product and worth every penny...if you want to do the job right you need to buy the right stuff.

Thanks for the information. it's always useful to know where you can get the heat shield material from.

I found this a while ago -
Australian club site video. They sell the firewall kits for $100...

Its a bit depressing seeing the condition of the average X1/9s over there!

Yes I've seen this on another forum, that's how I got the idea to do my heat shield I did petty much the same thing...but I traced my template on the actual fire wall then placed it on a thick sheet of cardboard cut the final template out and transferred it to the heat shield. I did this in two parts as this was more manageable.

You can see where the seam is in the centre, if I did it in one piece I think I may have made a big mess

Just been looking through some more pictures of earlier work carried out.
The main dash was given a thorough clean in side and out this took about 3 hours, the wiring had a good checking over and and bad wires and connectors were replaced.


I think the dash came up rather well.


Here in these two pictures you can see the steering column and heater matrix in place, this was completely dismantled cleaned wires replaced and a new valve, the steering column was replaced with a second hand one from X19 spares the old one ignition key was broken You can see the clutch and brake pipes just hanging down ready for the next stage. I also replaced the steering wrack after a good clean a repaint new oil and gators.



Once the steering column was in place I could then attach the clutch and brake pedals all with new master cylinders.


The heater matrix completely stripped.


The heater completed.

Great pics

Its been a while since I last posted anything with regard to progress...I've finished painting the shell, but I still have both doors and the front and rear boots to prep and paint. I'll probably do them next year. As I want to try and get the shell back on its wheels before the end of this year.


Not sure why this picture is on its side, for some reason I cant change it.






The under side is completely protected. I am now starting to put parts back on it's a great feeling.


I'm just waiting for some parts to be finished with the powder coating, two refurbished rear hubs and refurbished wheels. to get started.

Looks fantastic David! Nice colour! What are your plans regarding the bumpers?

Hi Jeremy,

Well my plan is to keep it all original so I'm going to take the front and rear bumpers in for powder coating (satin black), I've just received some parts back from powder coating I have to say I'm very impressed.
I know the car was originally red but I'm not keen on that colour so I changed it to blue

I've sent my wheels away to be powder coated gun metal grey, i get them back in a couple of weeks

Excellent! Nice to see someone sticking with the original bumpers.

I actually like the large bumpers!!

Your car will last forever.
As for the bumpers I think you are right. So many people have told me that back in the day their X 1/9 became light at the front at speed. I think the weight plus the front spoiler sort this out.

Well I've managed to do a little more, I've started to build up the suspension ready for my new wheels I should be collecting them soon.





I still need to add the brake disc's and brakes, and tighten up all the nuts and bolts.

I also had a problem with the Radius Rod arms as the threads were completely corroded on both, so I took them to a local engineering firm and asked if they could do something with them.

This is what they did...
The thread was taken down by 1mm to M11 and they also make two new nuts one being half the size of the other to act as a lock nut. I have to say I was very impressed with the finished product.


If anyone is having a problem with their Rods And want/need their's done this way please let me know.