Classic Car Restoration Projects Blog

Repair the oil sump...

2/8/2015

All bits nice and shiny on the engine now,but i have one more job to do.The engine oil sump has been modified before,but it has a big damage on it,and its slightly leaking,i have to repair that.

I used 2mm sheet metal for repair it...it has to be strong enough... :)
The front wings on the car were let say not the best (cracked and peeled paint), but the owner bought a new pair of them.It was my job to fit them on...

LED daytime running lights fitted:

I've done everything,balanced the carbs,engine running smooth,gearbox works fine,i gave the car back to the owner.

Make the engine bay cool...

26/7/2015

The mounting sorted, i resprayed the engine block and i sent the bits,nuts and bolts of the engine for get them re-galvanized.

New timing belt kit fitted.

Lift it back in the car....

Continue soon...

Gearbox problem?....

24/7/2015

This year's season began for a Kit car....the owner started to use it on the road again,but unfortunately not so long...suddenly he heard a crunching noise and it was hard to put it in gear.He brought it to me again and i started to investigate what is the problem,i thought something went wrong in the gearbox.
I removed the engine & gearbox from the car.

I found something...the engine mounts were broken and the rubber mounts were snapped on the engine and a gearbox as well.They were not the best design for hold the engine in a position,cause the rubber mounts were forced sideway by the weight and the movement of the engine....

I had to make a pair of new mounts....here they are:

Lets paint them black.

Bolted on the engine block...

And bolted on the chassis.

Now the weight of the engine is lying on the rubber mounts and not force them on sideways.

I found another problem as well....the crunching noise it was ,cause the gearbox mount were also snapped and the modified gear selector mechanism touched the prop shaft.It was always a bit hard to find the 1st gear in it and the owner didn't like that.
I checked the movements on the modified gear selector mechanism,and it was a bit bent,and also it has had unnecessary movements.I made it stronger and rigid....after all this done the gearbox working very smooth and smart,so nothing wrong inside in it.(relief for the owner :) )

Will be back soon with more...

Day 9

6/7/2014

Back again...i had a text from the owner a few days ago...he asked me:"could you fit a sound system in the car for me?" i said:yes of course!...so he brought it back to me for a bit...he bought a really good head unit and a pair of really good speakers....lets do it!

first: i made a bracket for the head unit,which will be under the dash....there is no room anywhere else for it....

the speakers will be in the boot...lets cut a hole for them...

i fitted the wiring for the system and put it back together...

works well,give it back to the owner,and he can enjoy it...job done

Day 8

28/6/2014

I'm back after a few busy days....so as i said i did repaint the front calipers, and fit them back...

I made a new shield for the fiberglass body...

The owner asked me to fit mud flaps on the front wings,cause he had a stone in his face from the tyre when he drove the car....

And i made a gear gaiter for him as well,cause it was just a big hole on the center console...

The last job....i made brackets to fix the aluminium sheet in the boot,cause it was noise when he drove it....

I've done everything what he wanted me to do,so the time is here to give it back to the owner and he can enjoy it....

Day 6

18/6/2014

Carried on the work on the heat shield...i haven't got special tools (yet) for roll or fold the sheet metal or the perforated sheet,so what u can see is all handmade by me,i used only some different metal pieces,the vice,the hammer,the mig welder and the angle grinder to make it as u can see....

After hours and hours and hours of metal work the painting time has arrived....first i sandblasted the unit,and then sprayed it with primer,and finally sprayed it red..

Left it to dry for a few hours,and fixed it on the exhaust....

Next job is to make a heat shield for the fiberglass body where the exhaust pipes comes trough....

Continue soon.....

Day 5

16/6/2014

When i finished the work on the wiring loom,i made a few new brackets to hold the nose on the chassis straight and proper........

before:

after:

After all i removed the old paint from the rocker cover,and repainted it....left it to dry and started to make some fittings to fix the gauges in the dash(all of them were loose)...and the dipstick needed some work as well...made a bracket for that,welded it on then paint it,and fit it....

At the end of the day i started to think how can i make a heat shield around the exhaust....i had a couple of ideas..lets start work on it...

Continue soon..... :)

Day 4

13/6/2014

I'm back...I carried on to sort out the wiring loom, cut it to a right size, reseal it, fit new terminals on, solder them, fit plastic connectors (some of them waterproof), fix the loom to the chassis with clips....

Sealed connectors for wing indicators...

On the nose of the car it has indicators,to connect the wiring for them was a bit tricky,so i started to work on it ,to make easier to connect and disconnect them in the case to take the nose off....

I did work a bit on the shape of the nose as well....

Continue soon.....

Day 3

9/6/2014

I haven't done too many things today,cause i was busy with other things..i did work a bit on the wiring loom,cause as i mentioned it before is a bit messy and not looking good...the previously used isolation tape started to come off...usually i'm using a different kind of tape to do it...this is sticking on it better,and to me is looking better as well...i cut off the terminals from the end of the wires and i'll put a new on them (solder them on)....
Some "before" pics:

Continue soon...

Day 2

5/6/2014

Few things from the list: oil leaks,antifreeze leaks,radiator + fan not properly fitted,alternator faulty,wiring loom a bit messy,gauges moving in dash,pipes of coolant system also messy,dipstick fall out,.....
Firstly i started with the radiator and the fan....the fan was fixed on the rad with big cable tie :( and the rad sat on 2 big brackets on the chassis and another bracket tried hold it on the top....
Removed all of them and i made 3 brackets for the fan.and another 3 for the rad....some work with a soldering kit and they are fixed....pics shows how they look like....

this pic shows how the fan was fitted before....

After all, i cut the brackets from the chassis,and made some new ones...2 for the bottom,1 for the top....

I also made some brackets to organize the water pipes,ignition leads ets around the rocker cover....

Before

After

Continue soon

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What Our Clients Are Saying

"Laszlo has performed the most amazing bare metal nuts and bolts restoration on my Jaguar XJS Lister. His talented ability to refabricate from scratch, metal panels that are no longer available has kept the project moving and at a very reasonable cost. It is rare to find a restorer who can weld, fabricate and also strip refurbish the engine and all of the mechanicals on the car. An XJS expert of 50 years said he had to date not witnessed such an extensive restoration of an XJS and to such a high standard of quality. Thank you Laszlo" Simon Spurrell.

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