SUS 991R - accidental restoration in Virginia

[X-pat]

It was only meant to be a door skin repair and a quick in-and-out with the engine and box to seal up all the annoying leaks of oil and ATF that had appeared. I'd never been happy with the replacement auto box - always leaked like a sieve - so I ended up doing the LT77 5-speed conversion, which took a lot of time sourcing parts and some trial-and-error (see viewtopic.php?t=4551 ). Predictably, I ended up doing a lot more to it than I had originally planned.

A bit of history first. SUS started life as an 1850HL auto in Nov '76. Apparently it had one lady owner before my dad bought it (with 9,000 miles on the clock) in Nov 1981 for the princely sum of £1450. It was our family car until he decided that parts were going to be too hard to come by (or he just wanted a newer car), so it came to me late in 1986. I've had it ever since. It was my daily driver until late '92, when I took it off the road to tidy a few bits of bodywork (after a lot of salt exposure living by the seaside for most of its life). I replaced the o/s front wing and the front panel, as well as the bootlid. I rebushed the suspension with the TT uprated bushes, uprated springs/shocks, and added a Falcon exhaust and Piranha ignition. I also started to source parts for a Sprint conversion that I planned, getting a rear axle from someone in B'ham and a brand new cylinder head that was advertised in the local paper. Block and pistons came from Sprintspares. Unfortunately, it turned out that we would head for the US in late '93, so I was faced with the choice of selling it (never really an option) or having it stored somewhere and/or getting it finished off while I was gone.

To cut a long story short, the car plus a load of parts went off to Banwell, where the engine conversion was done along with a few other bits of bodywork and a full respray, plus vinyl roof and new D-post vinyl to match. I got it back early '97 in great shape, save for a few teething troubles. Here it is in Glentrool in May of that year:



Much classier than all those hatches, I think.

I used it constantly for the next five years until we had to move abroad once more. Again, I couldn't part with it, so I drove it into a very big box and it went for a long sea voyage, finally arriving on this side of the pond late in 2003.

First thing I did was refurbish the alloys, which had been losing air and were looking a bit tatty.

I also took the engine and gearbox out, with a view to replacing seals and cleaning up the engine bay.

There was a spot of rust at the lower part of the n/s suspension turret, so I cut this out and fabricated a repair, fairly straightforward, although it had been a while since I'd used a welder.

To be continued......

[NickMorgan]

Looking forward to reading more...

[straylight]

good read and some great pics X-pat, fascinating to read the history of a car and how they get around. Thanks

stu

[Howard81]

Great story, it's always nice to know what your car has been up to in its life!

my dad bought it (with 9,000 miles on the clock) in Nov 1981 for the princely sum of £1450.

I was born in November 1981, so you've owned it for my entire lifetime

[X-pat]

Oh - now I feel really old....

[X-pat]

Well, the weather this weekend was really bad (similar to what it appears to have been like at Tannadice Park, where the match was abandoned at half time with us leading 1-0 ), so I amused myself fitting four new door seals and cleaning my screenwash bottle.




Oh, wait a minute - I think we missed a few episodes Let's rewind a bit............

Once I got the engine and gearbox back in last winter, I made a start on refinishing the whole car. There were some minor rust blemishes on the doors, but the main problem was the effect of the sun which had bleached the paintwork several different shades of carmine. Nothing for it but a total respray.

I found a very helpful local paint shop, one of few specialist auto paint stores in the area. They mixed me some PPG Omni 2K in shade 82 for the top coat. I also got PPG primer from them.

It was too cold to paint until around March of this year, but I made a start on the prep. I removed and disassembled the doors, removed the rear screen and left the cracked front screen in place. I then masked off the interior of the car, leaving the seats, carpets and fittings intact due to lack of space to store them. Masking took some time, as I was careful to seal everywhere and I also stopped to read a few of the articles in the paper which I don't normally get time to read. Apparently there is a new US president in the White House and the local horse trader will give you $4000 off a new car if you scrap your old heap...




I removed the stripes and flatted everything back. Any minor rust spots were treated then primed. Surprisingly, the sills (originals) were rust-free, no doubt due to prior liberal application of Waxoyl.

I had obtained a new nearside rear door, which I flatted back to bare metal then primed.


Note the two blocks of Ayrshire timber on which it sits. I've had these forever.

I also sanded the other three doors, treated some minor surface rust, then primed these also.


The door shells were solid, again thanks to Waxoyl.

[X-pat]

Spring came fairly early this year, with nice temperatures in the mid-to-high 70s by late March / early April. Just right for painting, and I wanted to get cracking before the heat and especially the humidity of the summer hit us. I started off with the bootlid, which had no major defects apart from the colour issue. I flatted it with P800, put on one coat of carmine, flatted with P1000, then added a second coat. This is the gloss without any other finishing, with the garage door reflected....



...and after removing minor dust nibs with P1200, I cut it with 3M compound and polished.


The guy at the paint shop was very helpful in getting me something suitable for the satin finish for the rear bootlid panel. Although I choke on the words, "Chrysler satin black" was what worked. He suggested to vary the amount of paint to thinner, depending on what degree of satin I wanted - 5:1:1 paint/reducer/hardener or even 6:1:1 for a more matt-like finish. The former did it for me.



Here it is a little later, with badges on:

[straylight]

Apparently there is a new US president in the White House and the local horse trader will give you $4000 off a new car if you scrap your old heap...

fatal aye....finding old newspapers and having a quick read through the classifieds, stalled many a project

that shine is magnificent. I'm a bit nervous of carmine red, I have another car in that colour and it seems to be a labour of love to keep it looking good. The finish you have got encourages me to persist with it instead of going for a brighter red.

Good tip on the chrysler satin black, thanks.

Car looks a treat.

stu

[Howard81]

I had obtained a new nearside rear door, which I flatted back to bare metal then primed.

You might want to check that door - the hole for the handle looks different to other Dolly doors I have seen. 1300FWD? Shouldn't be a problem to modify though!

Compare it to my car when the handles were off...



Good work on the repaint though, she will look great once done!!!

[xvivalve]

It's a triumph 1300 door but other than the handle hole it's identicle. Get your needle files out.

The inner panel of the frame is also different, but its of little concern

[X-pat]

Get your needle files out.

Already done - but with Dremel

RH door lock:


LH door lock:


Modified LH:


Handle refitted:


Actually, the end of the door where the lock fits is also different. I just made a template from the old door, then transferred and cut out accordingly. Such fun.

[X-pat]

that shine is magnificent. I'm a bit nervous of carmine red, I have another car in that colour and it seems to be a labour of love to keep it looking good. The finish you have got encourages me to persist with it instead of going for a brighter red. stu

Thanks Stu Personally, carmine is my favourite colour - or maybe I'm just resigned to it after looking at it for almost 30 years! Either way, more carmine piccies to follow of other parts of SUS's anatomy.

[Reg]

Get your needle files out.

Already done - but with Dremel

RH door lock:


LH door lock:


Modified LH:


Handle refitted:


Actually, the end of the door where the lock fits is also different. I just made a template from the old door, then transferred and cut out accordingly. Such fun.

Derek is having to do the very same thing!...your car looks fab as well..

[X-pat]

Some long-overdue updates...

After painting the shell, bonnet and bootlid and priming the doors last spring, I ran into some painting gremlins around the middle of June when it came to the colour coat on the doors. Whenever I sprayed, the paint dried with little "pock marks", as though there was some surface contamination. I had always been very careful to wipe down the surfaces prior to painting, so couldn't figure out what it was. It wasn't solved by changing from slow to fast thinner/hardener, nor by the use of an additional filter in the air line. I also tried a previously unopened tin of paint, thinking the one I had been using had become contaminated - no joy.



It gets very humid in these parts during the months of June - September, which seemed to coincide with my painting woes. I couldn't come up with any other reasonable explanation for this fairly sudden change in the behaviour of the paint, so I toyed with the idea of a dehumidifier or putting everything on hold for a few months. Ended up that I chose the latter by default: I was put off from all things wheeled after a rather nasty smash on the way back from a conference in Canada in July (note: BMWs are not good at somersaults... ). Just lost the enthusiasm for a while.

Anyhow, got back to it once the temperature and humidity had settled to more reasonable levels. Finished the doors in October before going to Greece for work. Problem was solved, for the most part, this just after painting before any flatting, etc:


Doors went back on without too many problems, gaps fairly reasonable too (this after some flatting/polishing and fitting up)...

[X-pat]

Some more pics of the car in various stages of paint:



Bonnet back on:


Polishing up the front end:


Rear wing: