Description
This car was off the road for a very long time and had a bare metal rebuild.
I have all the images of the work done, how it was done, panels replaced, rebuild, trials, tribulations, success and failure during rebuild which is also available for reading on the Imp Club Website forums.
Costs below do NOT INCLUDE the 1500+ man hours in labour, ONLY PARTS and that will give you an idea of how much of the car has been rebuilt using new, New Old Stock (NOS) or fully refurbished parts and that really goes down as far as new stainless nuts, washers, bolts, pins,.....
The underbelly has had two complete coats of POR15 paint after blasting and phosphating, all seams dug out and re-sealed, primed, colour, 2 coats of gravitex and then another 2 coats of body colour. You should not have to do any more fabrication on this car for an extremely long time.
Just for those that think the car is only worth £5k or so, well there is more money in parts in this than that value, feel free to buy a 5K car if you wish.
£2, 900 was spent on car purchase and external services such as blasting, cleaning, chemicals and paint
£3, 087 was spent on the body/ shell including new repair panels, step sills, valance, rear and front corners, arch sections, bonnet, engine cover, new rubber seals all round, replacement doors, glass runners, fitment gaskets, alloy wheels, new bonnet hinges, refurbished wood trim, new headliner and sun visors, front and rear door cards, carpets, underlay vinyl covering for dash crash pads engine cover lock handles, full list supplied with car.
New seals were all imported from Australia except 2 and fitted perfectly, cheers Frank !
£738 spent on steering and suspension, refurbished steering rack, new column bushes, re-enamelled steering wheel, twin adjustable track rods with new bushes througout and Fiesta track rod ends, new king pins, new front shocks, mounts, rubbers, bushes, wheel bearings and even nuts/ bolts !
£752 spent on Clutch and transmission including repaired/ refurbished transaxle, new seals, full new clutch, new slave cylinder, master cylinder, lines, flexi hose, couplings, dougnuts, refurbished gear select shaft with new bushes and new ball coupling at gear lever, new rubber gaiters
£587 on new brakes, full new brake lines, braided stainless flexi hoses, new cylinders all round, new master cylinder, reservoir upgrades, new transmission mounts, new gaitors for gear change and handbrake, new hold down sets and spings, new snail cams...
£370 on cooling and heating, refurbished high efficiency radiator, refurbished radiator cowels including new mesh, refurbished water pump, new 5/ 8 heater hose throughout, new hoses throughout including special bend ones, new heater control valve, clips, screws, nuts, pressure cap, thermostat.....
£266 on Fuel and Controls including new fuel line, reducers, filler neck, new choke cable, new throttle cable inner and outer (sport length) refurbished fuel tank dipped stripped and coated, NOS fuel sender unit, new gaskets and seals, choke lever knob, refurbished dash binnacle, NOS heater matrix, refurbished heater box with new decals.
£294 on electricals, new horns, set 6 relays installed and 12 way fuse box up front and three main fuses at rear (basically modern wiring) Electric washer bottle, all new wiring and connectors, electronic oil pressure gauge and sender, rev counter, refurbished heater blower motor, new 25mm2 cable for alternator and starter, new LR style alternator, new battery wiring and posts and the rear number plate lamps are now LED, NOS hand controls.
£409 on spare engine (standard 875 one) new bearings and rings on bottom end, screw on oil filter, refurbished L4 (533) head with new guides and valves lapped in, sport cam and re-shimmed.
£675 on sport engine including fully refurbed oil cooler, new gaskets throughout, head cleaned and mildly polished, valve clearances set, sump dropped and cleaned/ coated, new crank pulley seals and o rings, silencer opened up.
£980 on paint and consumables (coatings, gravitex, underbeally, seam sealer, adhesives, rubber mats,
Plus LOADS of other stuff I forgot about that makes about £11, 000 just on bare rebuild costs, NO LABOUR IN THERE !
So the car is priced at cost of parts and it is a car that you can still tinker with at weekends ad do not have to do all the welding, grinding and tin bashing needed to rebuild a car by yourself.
Take the labour out and its still cheaper than doing one yourelf and the 16 months it would take to do.
The car is on the road and just attended its 4th car show now and clocked up 1, 100 miles since MOT including some "spirited" club runs.
The car has been MOT'd since last November but was not fully in paint until beginning of the year, I am not a fan of the paint finish but I am a really fussy guy. Everybody that seen it at the club event was very happy with it.
A lot of folks use words like rebuilt, bare metal, restored quite off hand but very few have evidence of what was REALLY done, the pictures below are completely honest and show all the "warts" as well.
Why sell, well I have 7 of these here and this car was a mission rather than a love, so to the right person it will be a fantastic car to fiddle with at weekends without having to take a cutter or welder to it anytime soon.
