THX 759M Sprint

[jeffclane]

I thought it was about time i made a start on this car. I've had it for 3yrs now and its been laid up since early last year.

Last week i moved it from the lock-up to my garage. Its gonna take some work and i dont really have a time frame in mind, will depend on the £££'s!

Today started to strip the front, the bumper did not want to come off, thought it was gonna be a grinder job, but it gave in eventually! Lights revealed the mess behind, though seem to remember those being club item?

Rear valance is shot, suspect inner panel gone too.
Boot floor.
Rear quarters where post meets wing.
Boot lid.
Bonnet.
Front valence inner and outer.
Lamp retaining panel.
Front wing lower.
Suspect sills,
Chassis leg.

That'll do for now, suspect i may add to that list.........
More pics will follow..
Here's a few pics

[DoloWIGHTY]

I've seen worst.

I remember there used to be a lot of Dolomites running around in the 80s with black front valances - I always thought it looked as though they needed a shave!

Be interesting to watch the progress on this one so keep the reports coming eh?

[jeffclane]

Been looking at the front panels on the sprint,i reckon the outer one can be salvaged, but not sure about the inner due to the surface rust. Wondering what is best way forward. Looking at the inner panel, its had a patch welded over some corrosion at the point where the bumper brackets bolt through. This patch is now shot and i'm wondering the best way to repair?

not so bad from here...

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not so good here

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[straylight]

if you are finding that much rot in the front, it might be worth checking the whole car out before doing much else. While stan part is an optimist, maybe worth thinking about a new shell. I wonder if my own resto wouldn't have been a lot cheaper and easier if I'd just sorted a better shell. The A pillars, where they meet the body, are particularly hard to fettle up, and the roof line around the crease, the rear wheel arches, the front wheel arches...the....okay, I'll stop now.

going to be a challenge this one, it'll be great to see it progress, whichever route you take. Thanks for putting up the pics.

stu

[Purplebargeken]

If this were mine, I would:

Remove the front panels and utilise a pattern or perhaps, even better, utilise of of Alun's glassfibre repro front end panels. Have a look at Project SE for what I removed and refitted. Worth doing IMHO.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9146&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Ken

[jeffclane]

Ken, thats what i was thinking, will have a word with Alun to see if he has suitable panels..

[sprint95m]

Been looking at the front panels on the sprint,i reckon the outer one can be salvaged, but not sure about the inner due to the surface rust. Wondering what is best way forward. Looking at the inner panel, its had a patch welded over some corrosion at the point where the bumper brackets bolt through. This patch is now shot and i'm wondering the best way to repair?

29102009150.jpg

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29102009146.jpg

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You are correct to be cautious Jeff.
The second picture suggests to me that you are looking at a full restoration, which is obviously what you expect, when in your first post you listed things needing doing or looking at including the sills.
Sorry to bring bad news.

However it is all repairable, just look at what Derek (Autonet7) is doing currently on Reg's Sprint in this THREAD.




If it was up to me Jeff, I would start with the sills.

[Reg]

Best of luck with it Jeff, whichever way you go with it. As the chaps have said, it's all restorable but it's just how much you can afford or want to pay. Do you plan on keeping it a long time? If so, a better quality resto would be the better option. Keep the pics coming, we all like lots of resto pics..

[Purplebargeken]

Sill outers via Alun too. Sill inners and things like jacking points can be fabricated if you have a bit of patience and some good snips

Rip of that front end and sills and see what's what. A good grinder and some thin cutting disks (plus maybe an elecky B & D file would make life so much easier). Whereabouts are you?

Ken

[Purplebargeken]

Oh yeah, Birmingham

If you were a bit closer I'd have offered to give you a hand.

[jeffclane]

i'm in bham. Plan snds gd with sills etc. Im gonna start stripping the car 2mrw. Thanks 4 replies, pics of progress 2 follow...

[Purplebargeken]

Club Panels:

Boot floor section (pair) £73.50
Sills Outer (pair) £64.00
Sills Inner (pair) £65.00
Front Panel - can't remember
Chassis Leg £65.00
Lower wing repair section: ?


R*mmers

Headlight Panel: £47.32 x 2
Rear Valance Outer: £74.75
Rear valance Inner: £66.56

However, I have seen bits and pieces on ebay for much less, and of course, the Spares Show will be happening (hopefully). Get it all stripped off, grot cut out, rustkilled and primed with weld through primer and then collect your panels over a period of time.

Factor in a couple more quid for some sheet steel £20 to make various sections and away you go.

So, panel-wise that comes in at a shade under £550 (bar the cost of the front panel, maybe a £110?? and a lower wing repair panel). However, don't forget that Alunpanels include p&p. Stourbridge ain't that far away, so you'll save a few quid there. Ebay will make it cheaper still. Plus, you might not need pairs of panels either. That is all worst case.

Ken

[DoloWIGHTY]

R*mmers

Headlight Panel: £47.32 x 2

£27.00 from T D Fitchetts. I bought one from them a few years back for £17.00. It was the perfect pressing but some of the mounting holes for the headlamp bowl had been drilled in the wrong places - easy fix though just re drill them in the right place!

Might be worth enquiring if they still stock these (it was only one side though, the other side was still at the £27.00 price)

[xvivalve]

Cill prices out of date there Ken, those are the old 'with courier' prices. Outers are now £25 each net, inners are £15 each net, and reinforcers are £35 net. A Jeff is a hop and a skip from me and I'm overdue to visit him, I doubt we'll need a courier!

My advice is unless well experienced at restoration, strip a little at a time and repair that bit before moving on to the next, else the end result is a shell with lots of metal missing and subsequent disheartening

[jeffclane]

Have been stripping out the interior, dash, etc and am having nightmare with the wiring. So far have come across old alarm system, mobile phone car kit(old style), central locking unit, electric aerial. All this means a lot of extra cables which i'ved been trying to remove without damaging any of the original looms. This proving bit tricky. I'll post a few new pics soon to show state of shell from inside, some good, some not so good.

Best to keep old looms or replace??