Project THJ (Magenta Sprint)

[Stan Part]

Alun, how long was it before you realised that the car was actually Magenta?

Was there a sudden realisation or was it more basic than that?

[xvivalve]

Dolomite Midwifery Service at your disposal!

s##t journey back, couldn't even see the lane delineations on the M5!

It was immediately apparent that the car was an 'old master' Alan. I actually like the visual conflict between the green and magenta...could be adopted as a team racing livery!

Half regretting letting this one go, but I get those pangs everytime for a while. It had to go, marvellous opportunity, but as ever I need the space, the time and the money for other things - an opportunity which can't be addressed can be an obstacle and its about three years since I bought it and done nothing with it. Bodywise, i'll be surprised if there is anything to do other than prep it, any easy one this time to keep Mart and Mary's enthusiasm up for the next one!

[Judge Mental]

If I was still in the UK, I'd be saving my pennies now. I've always wanted a Magenta car and was very close to having my track shell sparayed that colour but in the end went for Mimosa as it was less costly and didn't contrast so much with the Inca shell.

How would you fancy being commissioned to do a Stag project? Respray in let me see....Magenta! Will need a good engine sourcing as the current one is tired but has had a recent restoration underneath the car? (I am being serious here!)

[MikeyB]

Better get my clogs on: Marts already knocked out 2 while I've been farting about

[Mad Mart]

As you can imagine, we spent most of today in the garage. Mary got cracking on the stripping & I was removing what little there was left to remove.






Fitted with solid rack mount on one side...




Anyone know what this prop. is from? Certainly not a standard Sprint prop..

[JPB]

Fitted with solid rack mount on one side...

Never mind though, you can easily enough swap them over during the rebuild.

[MalcGE]

Its been a long long time since I was messing, but that prop 'could be' Morris Morona

[TahitiSPRINT]

Hi Mart, once again I will follow this resto closely as I really enjoyed your previous ones and to me your skills and determination (and Mary’s) are a blueprint example of how things should be done

So what’s the story with THJ?
Is it an early one (pre-VA2000)? With or without overdrive? Does it have history?

And do you already know what improvements and/or modifications will be included in this resto? I’m sure the experience you've build up from the previous ones will sport some nice additions

Good luck with THJ

[Mad Mart]

We gotten on fairly well the last few days, slowly but surely.








Mary has just started getting the underseal off in the boot area.




This is the sequence we use for removing the paint...




...Apply plenty of paint stripper...




...cover with bin liner (a tip we got from our sprayer. Apparently it keeps the fumes of the paint stripper confined & helps to make it work better)...




...Leave for 15-20 minutes, remove bin liner...




...Start scraping...




...Sometimes you need to repeat the procedure...




...Then go over it with an orbital sander (DA).




How many colours?




So far we have come across...

Front right wing has been replaced with a s/h one.
Front left wing has been replaced with new (not sure if original or pattern).
Both sills have been replaced with new (both look like original).
Both rear arches have been replaced.

All the above has been done to a very good standard. The main thing is that absolutely no significant rust has been found thus far and, as Alun has said, I don't think we will find any.

[DavePoth]

Done by Christmas then?

[David6214]

Sold by Christmas!

[MalcGE]

Will have done Lands End to John O'Groats by Christmas, change of plan, being painted Red with a White Vinyl Roof and Santa is using it to pull his Sleigh.................

Mart, how do you deal with the paint stripper on the existing filler (skim where used as opposed to great chunks of car fabricated from pudding), or do you take it all out and re-skim, e.g repalecment rear arch joints

[Mad Mart]

Yes, what you said. We take all the filler out so that we can see what is lying beneath & then the sprayer will redo the filling. If the panel(s) can be pushed out a little then he will do that first so he only uses the minimum amount of filler necessary for a smooth finish.

So what’s the story with THJ?
Is it an early one (pre-VA2000)? With or without overdrive? Does it have history?

And do you already know what improvements and/or modifications will be included in this resto? I’m sure the experience you've build up from the previous ones will sport some nice additions

No it's not an early one, but I expect you guessed that because it isn't Mimosa. Unfortunately there isn't much history with this car except that it was originally a non-overdrive Sprint. But originality doesn't bother me that much, except for the colour, I like to keep that original.

As for improvements/mods, we'd already decided that this one would be lowered & have Spax shocks. Fortunately it came with fairly new Spax on the front. We may also fit the Lumenition leccy ignition module, as per PFJ.

[Mad Mart]

It's been over a week since anything was done on THJ. So today I went down the off-side with a wire brush attachment on my drill & got every last bit of paint off (well 99.9% of it). Then I did the same in the engine bay. Finally giving it a mist coat of etch primer. Still quite a bit to do but the majority of the paint, Brooklands and Magenta, has now been removed.






Mary spent the morning stripping the boot lid & getting some more of the underseal off in the boot area.



The sprayer came to look over THJ in the week & said that he will come and pick it up whenever we are ready. But obviously, the more time we can spend on getting the Sprint back to bare metal the less he will have to do and the further the cash goes.

[Ken R]

Cracking progress mate. That is a really good, solid shell. Makes a huge difference when you don't have to let in huge amounts of metal.

Eagerly watching how it all develops.

All the best.

Ken