Claytopia's XB GT Coupe restoration

Claytopia · 01-07-2014, 01:02 AM

Hi All

A little while ago I started to get a bit more active on Ford Forums, I mentioned that I was restoring an XB GT Hardtop and a few members asked me to start a thread, well here it is…

The history.

The year was 1968 and my father has just seen this cute blonde… sorry that’s too far back, Ok the year was 1997 and I was on the hunt for a nice tidy falcon hardtop to waste my time, money and youth on.

Most of the cars I had seen were, to put it nicely, utter pigs’ ploppies. I even drove 2 hrs to go and see one the owner had said was almost perfect body wise with a sweet 250 six in it. It had actually rusted through the floor pan both sides at the front and if you closed the drivers door too hard the whole back quarter flexed and showered rust everywhere. Oh and that sweet six took 5 minutes to start, blew smoke into the cab and wouldn’t rev past 3k. I left less than impressed.

Well at the time there was this bloke selling his XB GT for 11K, I didn’t have 11k but it was by far the best car I had seen out of the 30 over the last 9 months so I offered 9k but he never got back to me. I went away glum but my father being the champ he is rang the bloke and must have said some mighty pretty words because they settled on a price of $8500, which was great seeing as it was in the budget and he had also put his price up to 12k.

And so the deal was struck. At first the car was registered in my mums name due to me having lost my licence only a short time before and for me to get insurance was either the funniest thing that the insurance companies had heard or they wanted 4k a year to insure it for 5k a year. Under Mums name it was $300 for the full $8500 and so in 1997 my Mum bought her first car, a 1976 XB GT Hardtop.

Now the plan had always been to build up a Mad Max tribute style of car but after finding out I had just bought a one of a kind GT, yes that’s right it’s a one of a kind; you see only 3 Hardtops from factory were painted in Antique beige and this was the only one with a parchment interior (it was black when I bought the car). From factory it had air con and power steering and was automatic. When I bought it air con and power steering had been removed and it had a top loader.

So while it looked nothing like it had from factory when I bought it I knew back then that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t do right by the car.

And so after a house, a reliable car for me, an engagement ring, another house, a wedding, a honeymoon, several OS holidays, two kids and a new car for the family, I was told by the much-better-half, “pull your finger out and start on your car”. (Yeah she’s great and smoking hot too and no you can’t clone her). So I built a small 7.5 x 12m shed and started to strip the car ready for a full bare metal rotisserie restoration.
And after all that dribble, here are the before pics.

P3150001.jpg

P3150002.jpg

P3150003.jpg

And so come with me if you will on a restoration that will last longer and cost far far more than I ever intended, Oh and honey if your reading this everything has come in under budget and I just love it when you mother stays with us.

Cheers
Clayton

greenjgs · 01-07-2014, 07:30 AM

Hi Clayton

Good luck with the build, there's a lot of guys on here that have done resto's on these things and will have great advice for you that should help you keep the budget realistic. Biggest cost, (and the great unknown), will be panel and paint. Everything else is relatively easy to keep in check, unless you go silly with engine etc. (And who would do that?????? Ummmm!)

Cheers Graeme

**Polyal** · 01-07-2014, 07:33 AM

HAHA Thats a ripping opener.

Good luck mate, I love the colour combo and the story.

Brute 33 · 01-07-2014, 08:48 AM

Clayton was this car owned by Lyn and Anthony K ....?

Claytopia · 01-07-2014, 08:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brute 33

Clayton was this car owned by Lyn and Anthony K ....?

No Idea, I bought the car off a guy named Ray Teakle.

One day I was dropping a mate home and his neighbour came running out, apparently he knew a guy who knew the owner. So as much as you trust information told to me by a guy ,who knew a guy who knew one of the past owners

... here it goes

The car was once owned by the secritary of the NSW GT Club who then sold it to another guy who put a 3/4 race cam in it (ahh the days of 1/4 etc. race cams...) and drag raced it. Apparently it has done either a 12.3 or 11.7 quarter mile. I'll take that with a grain of salt.

What I can tell you is that it was sold by hastings-Deering, Lidcombe NSW apart from that the rest is currently a mystery.

FORRD · 01-07-2014, 09:43 PM

HAHAHAHA

What a great read mate

And what a ripper car to have got your hands on unreal good luck with it mate and as Don Bourke used to say Don't hold back with your resto,,,

I've only been a member for a few days and have also started restoring an XB coupe unfortunately not a GT but it is GS,,,

Mate I can't believe how lucky we are to have a collective of blokes that are willing to share their knowledge at the drop of a hat,,,,

My hat comes off to them

Cheers Shane

p.s. Glad I'm not the poor bugger who gave it away sorry I mean sold it

gossy · 02-07-2014, 03:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Claytopia

The car was once owned by the secritary of the NSW GT Club who then sold it to another guy who put a 3/4 race cam in it (ahh the days of 1/4 etc. race cams...) and drag raced it.

Ahh the good ole days, So many young blokes had 3/4 race cams, sadly I only had a 1/2 race cam and still blew them away (on private test tracks) of course.

Good luck with the build mate.

Claytopia · 21-07-2014, 03:53 PM

Hi All

I went to add the next installment last night, only to realize that I will have to get a Photo bucket etc. account otherwise you will only ever had the most recent pictures.

So i will get onto that and post some pictures and the tale of the day the motor can out... of the car.

Claytopia · 22-07-2014, 09:50 PM

So last time we left off I admitted that my wife kicked me in the butt and said “here honey I found these in my hand bag, they look like yours; now get onto your car”, so after firmly reattaching my mates I got into the shed.

From the first post you can see I took a few before pictures. I have been keeping a photo and video record of the strip down as I go, really thrill a minute stuff like : Photo 1, here is a picture of the driver side bonnet hinge, photo 2, here is a picture of a snap lock bag with driver side bonnet hinge bolts written on it, and just when you think it can’t get topped, hold onto your hats for photo 3, the driver side bonnet removed in a box with bonnet hinges written on the box and if you take your time and look closely you will see on the ground in front of the box a small bag of bolts with bonnet hinge bolts driver side written on it.

Now I don’t want you to get too excited; not all the pictures are that high quality. I mean this is a story about rebuilding a car, not my totally adequate photography skillz (the z is intentional, it gives it a street edge) Some of the sequences have quite a large number of shots in various stages and sub-stages for full disassembly, just thinking about revisiting the series where I pulled the dash out makes me swoon…

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so if you have a videos running at 24f/s does that then equal 24 000 words a second? Of if you’re watching at 36f/s is it then 36 000 words a second, and what about the refresh rate of your screen, if you’re watching on a 200htz screen at 36 f/s even at that f/s the screen is going to refresh each frame several times, does that then make it 200 000 words a second or do they multiply 200htz x 36f/s x 1000words is a massive (pauses. checks with calculator. grins smugly.) 7.2million words a second….

Sorry about that, I’m back - I’m saying don’t just take pictures, get right into it and take any videos you may want as well as you may need them later. There are some awesome ones of me rolling and or crawling into various positions in under and around the car shining torches at parts saying engrossing things like “Here we can see where the handbrake cable comes down through the floor pan”, I know what you’re thinking, GTFO this guy has videos of handbrake cables, Yes I do, I just checked I actually have 2 of them (one for each side… PM meJ)

So here are a couple of pictures of when a good mate and I pulled the engine out and put her on an engine stand. The last picture is me post burn, Sav my friend on the right is not a huge fan of the blue oval, in fact I think he has owned one of each major marque except Ford since I have known him. So when I was in the engine bay he commented “I bet I know what your cars thinking”. “What” I asked him and he replied “I was really hopping for more inches!!”. Now that’s a pretty funny comment in itself but what I should add is my lovely wife who was holding the camera and taking a few snaps muttered none too under her breath, “I know how she feels”… and snap, the photo was taken too.

And so without further pause here are a few pics of the day the motor came out.

Claytopia · 30-09-2014, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brute 33

Clayton was this car owned by Lyn and Anthony K ....?

What a small world... One of the guys who will be handing the coupe panel and paint was out getting some XB parts, He came across a guy named Tony (Anthony) who after a bit of back and forth turns out he was the one who brought the car to W.A. from NSW

So yes it is.

Claytopia · 23-10-2014, 12:52 AM

Sorry people this is going to be a bit of a soap boxer.

Ok so when I first started stripping the car back in 2010 I already had a fair idea about the local panel and paint shops, there was one shop in particular that had been recommended to me. It was a fairly new shop run by a young guy (20’s is still young right?) but he had a great reputation. He was already doing panel and paint on cars while in high school, so you know, one of those guys - not only with the passion but the skill too.

So one day I was passing his shop and low and behold what did they have in the yard but a genuine XC cobra. So curiosity being what it is I pulled in to have a look. Now I assume when you own a smash shop with an XC cobra in the lot and some fellow just parks up and starts looking it over, its not something you let slide, so obviously the Shop owner came out and approached me to find out who the heck I was and what I was doing looking over this car in his yard.

Now as you can probably tell from my writing style I am not afraid to talk. Hell I’ve been a salesman for over 25 years and find talking easy. So I introduced myself and explained to him that I had an XB GT coupe that I was just about to start stripping -back blah blah. The conversation starts flowing and pretty soon I’m looking at pictures of his work and other cars in his shop and the quality of the work looks good. So I establish a bit of a rapport with the guy. He finds out where I work and it turns out he buys from the competition!… Remember. me the Salesman? - pretty soon I have a new customer and I am getting to know him better!!

Now I will make it clear I am in no hurry to finish my car. Heck when I first got my coupe I rang the GT club of WA and said “hey guess what fellas I just bought a GT. Can I join the club?”. Lord toffee nose on the other end replied “Was it an XW or an XY that you purchased as I am not aware of any that have changed hands recently.” I answered “nah mate she’s an XB Coupe” to which Lord Toffee hemmed and erred questioning “An XB - are you sure you want to join?” I thought to myself, with an attitude like that, “No” I said “Bye” and I hung up.

Realize that just cause I am in no hurry to finish doesn’t mean I am willing to sit on my hands and not actually start either. I like having a project on the go. So I took my time stripping the car, I got poached so I no longer worked at the same place but every now and then I would pop in to say hello. Now life is a funny thing, so by the time I was ready he had shut up shop to focus on the family business but was still doing cars on the side and he’s still happy to do my car etc. The week I finished stripping the car I gave him a call. The planets were aligned - he just finished a Morano, give him two weeks to clean up his workshop then he will call me and the jobs on.

So I waited 4 weeks but no phone call. I better call him I thought.. I rang and left a message and repeated the same ritual once a week for 2 months (yeah I know) finally I give up and start looking elsewhere, but he calls me out of the blue. He says “Listen I am really sorry I can’t take your car on, I’ve got to get out of my unit then find a new one. Besides that the business is really busy and I just can’t put any time into your car until maybe next year, oh and it will take me at least a year to finish.”

Now mind you this is nearly 4 months ago, so I am looking at 8 months until he starts then at least another 12 months to finish, hmmm 20 months. I know I’m not in a hurry but even that seems a bit too far out, so I tell him straight, “I don’t mind waiting that long but can you commit to that time frame?” Short answer No, so I told him I wanted it on the go sooner than that. “That’s fine” he says he understands and to go see they guys who took over his shop as they still do good work.

So I went back to the panel shop spoke to the old 2IC who is now the boss. “I thought you were going the get the old boss to do it” he says, so I bought him up to speed. “Ok if that’s what he says fine but just let me talk to him first” he ended. I thought it strange at the time but moved on, gave him a week and went back (after all they are mates and he was catching up with him that weekend) But at the next visit he says “Listen sorry I forgot to mention it, but he’s coming around to see me tonight I will talk to him about it then and then call you.” This time I gave him two weeks and popped back into the shop. When I asked “So did you talk to him?” he says “Yeah, he still really wants to do your car.” I remind him “Yes, but he can’t commit to a time frame and I want to get started.” To which he replied “Well I don’t want to upset him so; No.”

So off I went back to the drawing board. Ok the phone, onto my car show mate for more recommendations. He gave me two shops so off I went to the first shop. The boss was away so I spoke to the leading hand. Now the leadign hand loves working on cars, and was just about to finish a 66 mustang but the boss was jacked at him that he took that job on, so wants to know can I come back next week and talk to the boss. Sure no problem.

So the next week I am back and talking to the boss. I explain what I have and what I want done to it. He’s asking a few questions, so I am feeling thing are going well, and then out of the blue he goes to me, “You know mate a job like that could run up to 30K” to which I reply (poker faced) “well I have put aside 25 for it, I reckon its better than you think and won’t go that high but if that’s what it takes to get another 40 years out of the car so be it.”
He looks me dead in the eye and said “I’ll be honest mate your one of the few people who seems prepared to get the job done properly - I just don’t want to take it on at the moment.” “Ok” I say feeling kicked in the guts. “See ya then” I say as I turn and start to walk away. “Where are you going” he asked me. “Pardon” I replied. “Where are you going” he repeated. A bit a taken aback and a little confused as I thought the conversation had been over I remind him “I just asked you if you would paint my car.” Then the conversation got even stranger…
Him: “Yes”
Me: “You gave me an estimate mate”
Him: “Yes”
Me: “I said that’s fine but you said you weren’t interested”
Him: “Yes”
Me: “Well?!”
Him: “Well what?”
Me: “You’ve just said you won’t do it”
Him: “Yes”
Me: “Well then that’s it – see ya” and I turn to leave again…
Him: “Where are you going?”
I look him dead in the eye: “Bob I asked you to paint my car, you said no”
Him: “Yeah”
Me: “well then were done; good bye” and off I went.

Am I the only one who finds that conversation strange? Perhaps a bit too much time spent in the painting booth without a mask on!?

So back I went to the first shop said to him straight, “Mate I want you to paint my car will you do it?” He started to give me a wishy-washy answer but by this stage I had had a gutfull. “Mate yes or no, tell me straight, will you do it?” He started back on with the less than straight answer. Now I ask questions to get answers. If I wanted to indulge in a pointless collection of words that really don’t go anywhere I’ll read a Ben Elton book (sorry hun I had to draw that comparison) so I rudely cut him off and said “Im going to take that as a no”. He didn’t correct me so I wished him a good day and was on my way.

I wasn’t sure whether or not to write this instalment, you know small towns and all that, but I have mentioned no one by name and tried to be vague enough to cover for this fastidious lot, but in the end I thought I will share because as we all know building cars rarely goes smooth but it sure doesn’t have to be as hard as some people try to make it either!!

I’m off my soap box now, Sorry I just really needed to get that off my chest. Don't worry though this part of the story has a happy ending, I'll get to that next time...

Bosko · 26-10-2014, 10:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Claytopia

Sorry people this is going to be a bit of a soap boxer.

Ok so when I first started stripping the car back in 2010 I already had a fair idea about the local panel and paint shops, there was one shop in particular that had been recommended to me. It was a fairly new shop run by a young guy (20’s is still young right?) but he had a great reputation. He was already doing panel and paint on cars while in high school, so you know, one of those guys - not only with the passion but the skill too.

So one day I was passing his shop and low and behold what did they have in the yard but a genuine XC cobra. So curiosity being what it is I pulled in to have a look. Now I assume when you own a smash shop with an XC cobra in the lot and some fellow just parks up and starts looking it over, its not something you let slide, so obviously the Shop owner came out and approached me to find out who the heck I was and what I was doing looking over this car in his yard.

Now as you can probably tell from my writing style I am not afraid to talk. Hell I’ve been a salesman for over 25 years and find talking easy. So I introduced myself and explained to him that I had an XB GT coupe that I was just about to start stripping -back blah blah. The conversation starts flowing and pretty soon I’m looking at pictures of his work and other cars in his shop and the quality of the work looks good. So I establish a bit of a rapport with the guy. He finds out where I work and it turns out he buys from the competition!… Remember. me the Salesman? - pretty soon I have a new customer and I am getting to know him better!!

Now I will make it clear I am in no hurry to finish my car. Heck when I first got my coupe I rang the GT club of WA and said “hey guess what fellas I just bought a GT. Can I join the club?”. Lord toffee nose on the other end replied “Was it an XW or an XY that you purchased as I am not aware of any that have changed hands recently.” I answered “nah mate she’s an XB Coupe” to which Lord Toffee hemmed and erred questioning “An XB - are you sure you want to join?” I thought to myself, with an attitude like that, “No” I said “Bye” and I hung up.

Realize that just cause I am in no hurry to finish doesn’t mean I am willing to sit on my hands and not actually start either. I like having a project on the go. So I took my time stripping the car, I got poached so I no longer worked at the same place but every now and then I would pop in to say hello. Now life is a funny thing, so by the time I was ready he had shut up shop to focus on the family business but was still doing cars on the side and he’s still happy to do my car etc. The week I finished stripping the car I gave him a call. The planets were aligned - he just finished a Morano, give him two weeks to clean up his workshop then he will call me and the jobs on.

So I waited 4 weeks but no phone call. I better call him I thought.. I rang and left a message and repeated the same ritual once a week for 2 months (yeah I know) finally I give up and start looking elsewhere, but he calls me out of the blue. He says “Listen I am really sorry I can’t take your car on, I’ve got to get out of my unit then find a new one. Besides that the business is really busy and I just can’t put any time into your car until maybe next year, oh and it will take me at least a year to finish.”

Now mind you this is nearly 4 months ago, so I am looking at 8 months until he starts then at least another 12 months to finish, hmmm 20 months. I know I’m not in a hurry but even that seems a bit too far out, so I tell him straight, “I don’t mind waiting that long but can you commit to that time frame?” Short answer No, so I told him I wanted it on the go sooner than that. “That’s fine” he says he understands and to go see they guys who took over his shop as they still do good work.

So I went back to the panel shop spoke to the old 2IC who is now the boss. “I thought you were going the get the old boss to do it” he says, so I bought him up to speed. “Ok if that’s what he says fine but just let me talk to him first” he ended. I thought it strange at the time but moved on, gave him a week and went back (after all they are mates and he was catching up with him that weekend) But at the next visit he says “Listen sorry I forgot to mention it, but he’s coming around to see me tonight I will talk to him about it then and then call you.” This time I gave him two weeks and popped back into the shop. When I asked “So did you talk to him?” he says “Yeah, he still really wants to do your car.” I remind him “Yes, but he can’t commit to a time frame and I want to get started.” To which he replied “Well I don’t want to upset him so; No.”

So off I went back to the drawing board. Ok the phone, onto my car show mate for more recommendations. He gave me two shops so off I went to the first shop. The boss was away so I spoke to the leading hand. Now the leadign hand loves working on cars, and was just about to finish a 66 mustang but the boss was jacked at him that he took that job on, so wants to know can I come back next week and talk to the boss. Sure no problem.

So the next week I am back and talking to the boss. I explain what I have and what I want done to it. He’s asking a few questions, so I am feeling thing are going well, and then out of the blue he goes to me, “You know mate a job like that could run up to 30K” to which I reply (poker faced) “well I have put aside 25 for it, I reckon its better than you think and won’t go that high but if that’s what it takes to get another 40 years out of the car so be it.”
He looks me dead in the eye and said “I’ll be honest mate your one of the few people who seems prepared to get the job done properly - I just don’t want to take it on at the moment.” “Ok” I say feeling kicked in the guts. “See ya then” I say as I turn and start to walk away. “Where are you going” he asked me. “Pardon” I replied. “Where are you going” he repeated. A bit a taken aback and a little confused as I thought the conversation had been over I remind him “I just asked you if you would paint my car.” Then the conversation got even stranger…
Him: “Yes”
Me: “You gave me an estimate mate”
Him: “Yes”
Me: “I said that’s fine but you said you weren’t interested”
Him: “Yes”
Me: “Well?!”
Him: “Well what?”
Me: “You’ve just said you won’t do it”
Him: “Yes”
Me: “Well then that’s it – see ya” and I turn to leave again…
Him: “Where are you going?”
I look him dead in the eye: “Bob I asked you to paint my car, you said no”
Him: “Yeah”
Me: “well then were done; good bye” and off I went.

Am I the only one who finds that conversation strange? Perhaps a bit too much time spent in the painting booth without a mask on!?

So back I went to the first shop said to him straight, “Mate I want you to paint my car will you do it?” He started to give me a wishy-washy answer but by this stage I had had a gutfull. “Mate yes or no, tell me straight, will you do it?” He started back on with the less than straight answer. Now I ask questions to get answers. If I wanted to indulge in a pointless collection of words that really don’t go anywhere I’ll read a Ben Elton book (sorry hun I had to draw that comparison) so I rudely cut him off and said “Im going to take that as a no”. He didn’t correct me so I wished him a good day and was on my way.

I wasn’t sure whether or not to write this instalment, you know small towns and all that, but I have mentioned no one by name and tried to be vague enough to cover for this fastidious lot, but in the end I thought I will share because as we all know building cars rarely goes smooth but it sure doesn’t have to be as hard as some people try to make it either!!

I’m off my soap box now, Sorry I just really needed to get that off my chest. Don't worry though this part of the story has a happy ending, I'll get to that next time...

Wow what a story, I had 2 cups of coffee while reading it😜. There are some really good guys from WA on Fairmont GT and XA GT sites, they might be able to point you in the right direction as far as a panel beater is concerned. As far as the cost just had my coupe painted and the cost will depend on the body condition and what type of paint? I would say approx $20,000 for paint and then bodywork $??????.
Best of luck!
Good to see another GT Coupe being rescued!😄😄😄

Claytopia · 06-11-2014, 04:00 PM

So by this stage my car has been sitting idle for a few months and its starting to bug me. So I started talking to a few more people, rang a few shops and chatted to a few guys, I even considered the option of just giving the car and all my parts to one of the GT restoration shops and saying “here give me it back when it’s done”. To be honest I had called them in the past and the sort of money they were talking about put me off, besides I pulled her apart and I want to put her back together!

And so I jumped on the phone and stated playing the game, you know the one, you call a panel shop and say “this is what I want to do” they go yes or no, if it’s a yes I ask how much, if they give a figure straight off I worry, When they ask a few questions and then give a price, I worry a bit less, when they say “listen who knows what well find but this is how we charge from what you have said it should go this but if it’s bad here, here and here as well you could be looking at A VERY LARGE AMOUNT”. Now if it was a phase 3, you can spend that sort of money on panel work as it’s still a lot less than its value, especially when it’s a unique combo, but the old XB doesn’t command those prices and in reality it’s just not worth it, well at least not to me.

And then it happened I had a PM response to my post 23 here, you know how it goes -I know a guy I’ll get him to have a look at your thread and get in touch with you – and that’s what happened!

The first time we spoke, I could tell he was the guy. Sure he wasn’t the cheapest but he sure wasn’t the dearest (seriously some of the hourly rates I was quoted blew my mind)but he seemed to know coupes like the back of his hand, in fact as were talking he tells me he likes to specialise in coupes! It seems he’s just like me in that the first time he saw one, he fell in love with the shape (just like us all. It turns out that not only was working on falcon coupes part of his job it was his passion.

So I sent him a few pics of the car and we talked in detail about the work that I wanted done, you see I know the car has had a few prangs in the past, in fact the front left hand side just behind the radiator support panel is a centimetre shorter than it should be, and while it doesn’t sound like much it really messes with those panel gaps. It was also obvious the left hand rear had had some work too.

If I wasn’t convinced yet that this guy was the guy for me, we had two more conversations that sealed it for me. He called me one day to see how I was going finding a donor car (having previously mentioned it being the cheapest long term alternative) and when I said “No I haven’t” he replied “don’t bother, I just found the perfect car for your needs, it’s a sedan but the engine bay and rear end parts you need are the same, even if you don’t want it I will use it for another car later on.” That’s pretty awesome I thought.

Then his next call (remember I hadn’t given him the go ahead yet). he tells me he has been out getting parts for another XB and came across a guy. Now you all know what we’re like, get a bunch of car nuts together and we’ll talk for hours, well in his conversation my car came up, and the other guy says “Oh yeah, I know it, I use to own that car”. He then went on to describe things about the car proved it, like the short left front. So he put us in touch with each other and after ringing the previous owner I found out he and his wife sold it to the guy that I eventually purchased it from. Talk about fate!!

Those two calls later and I said to my wife “I have found the guy (guy’s) that are going to do my panel work”. Now I believe the saying that “when one door closes another opens” I really feel that the local doors closing was just so I could find this new guy.

Now I know it has been a while with no pics but sorry, I just have to tell this and the next story and then more pics I promise.

El Tazo · 01-07-2014, 09:34 AM

Good on ya for starting the build thread mate - it should help keep you motivated. Looking forward to seeing what you do with the beasty!

Grippy · 01-07-2014, 10:32 AM

All the best with the build, it must be nice having a one of one combination GT.

Bearman · 01-07-2014, 10:58 AM

Hey Clayton, welcome and wow, you have got something special there!!!

As Graeme said paint and panel work will be the biggest challenge both for your budget and sanity but once it's all done that will be forgotten.

As for engine just think of how you want to use the car and get an engine built accordingly. Don't get hung up on dyno figures and chasing numbers.

I'll be watching with great interest.

stooy · 02-07-2014, 10:09 AM

Hey mate,

Looks awesome! Perhaps consider getting a thread going under the projects section, I reckon many more people will look at it if its there.

Cheers

Stewart

Claytopia · 02-07-2014, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stooy

Hey mate,

Looks awesome! Perhaps consider getting a thread going under the projects section, I reckon many more people will look at it if its there.

Cheers

Stewart

Hey Stewart

You know I didn't even consider posting over there. I just went oh oh oh, I have a coupe, I'll chuck it on the coupe restoration and build section.

I don't really want to run two threads for the same thing, I'll just drop a thread over there and tell them to check out this one cause we all know the coupes are where its at.

Cheers
Clayton

El Tazo · 24-07-2014, 07:49 AM

Great read mate - you're a ****a!

KOOP74 · 30-07-2014, 08:18 PM

I want to live in Claytopia.

Claytopia · 31-07-2014, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KOOP74

I want to live in Claytopia.

Amen Koop74

**Giant Cranium** · 01-08-2014, 09:19 AM

great read!

Claytopia · 03-08-2014, 11:38 PM

So the motor came out without a hitch and bolted up to the engine stand - and is still there to this day. Now I can tell you that it appears to be the matching numbers block. Being out of an XB it is one of the square cast examples (not the d) and my block for some unknown reason has the letter ‘r’ stamped into the middle of the square, I did a bit of research (ok fine I googled it - that’s research right?) and looked over the top two pages of entries and found nothing. If anyone has any ideas or theories on what that ‘r’ means I would love to hear them.

Next we dropped the top loader out onto a trolley and it was wheeled under the bench, it looks a little cute sitting there; the little top loader sitting next to its big bloated cousin the FMX. I know that the FMX is never going to see any km’s in any car that I own but I just can’t put it out to pasture.

My car was originally fitted with the FMX auto but when I bought the car it was fitted with a top loader. But as the XB’s were the last of the GT’s I believe they had started to fit the Borg Warner manual box’s at that stage but I tell you a Borg Warner has got about as much chance of getting put back in as the old FMX... None!

It’s funny; as a kid growing up, we all had to have manual cars because Dad always said “you can’t push start an auto” and its true you can’t, I can also tell you that none of us kids ever needed to push start anything but it’s funny how these things stick and so I still have a preference for manual cars.

After the motor, I started to pull apart the dash. Now I can tell you that wiring and I go together like oil and water or chalk and cheese, so the majority of the pictures I have taken were of pulling the wiring out of the car and while I would love to bore the shyte out of you with a quarter of a million pictures of wiring looms and connectors I just can’t bring myself to do it; and so here is a picture of my little girl having a drive of Dads big car with the dash half pulled out.

XRGREIGHT · 04-08-2014, 07:33 PM

Gift of the gab mate

Really enjoying this. Nice car.

Claytopia · 11-08-2014, 09:32 PM

Hi All

Just a quick update. As you may have guessed I have done more to my car than I have outlined here so far. So rather than type a novella to bring you all up to pace I have been doing fortnightly updates cause to be honest, I work on a computer all day and I don’t want to spend all night on one too.

I had a call from the guy who I had organised to do my paint and panel work. Quick back story - He was one of those guys who used to paint cars when he was back in high school, he has a heap of talent, does a freaking awesome job, has a passion for old school cars (yes even Chargers and Monaro’s) he even opened up his own panel and paint shop and turned out some awesome cars. Every time I went to see him he would have and old muscle car in the shop, In short, the perfect guy to paint your car.

Then the bad news - he gave up his panel shop to help out with the wife’s family business (got to give him respect for that) Lucky for me he still loves working on cars and would do mine as a side project. Not only that; but yes I could get in and TA do all the heavy lifting etc. to keep the cost down. A total win-win right?… Wrong

I got “that” call on the weekend. The business is going full steam ahead, its taking up a lot of his time and he’s got to get out of the unit he was using to work on cars, so -in short -Sorry I Can’t commit to doing your car… Major Bummer...

So while I don’t condone drinking to excess (yeah right) I find myself and Johnnie sitting on the back patio consoling each other and dreaming of what could have been.

Claytopia · 14-08-2014, 01:59 PM

I went to see another shop that had been recommended to me.

Firstly the owner tried to put me off with the price, But it was what I have actually put aside in the budget so I said yes that's about what I was expecting.

Then when that didn't put me off he just said sorry mate not interested...

So can anyone recommend a good panel and paint shop in Perth?

neptune blue · 04-09-2014, 05:54 PM

And sand stone beige is the only one that doesn't really resemble beige (IMO) probably because of the walnut glow infills

El Tazo · 07-09-2014, 11:54 PM

You poor bugger... Howzat for perseverance!!!

King Neptune · 23-10-2014, 08:12 AM

Amazing!
Keep your ear to the ground and pick the brains of mates, and mates mates. Sooner or later you will make a conection with someone who has credibility and can show you quality results. Best of luck.
What a story.
Cheers Rob.

El Tazo · 23-10-2014, 08:55 AM

Wow mate - you're a bit of a story teller aren't you! Love your writing style! That's a pain in the ****, but I'm sure everyone on here has had a bit of experience trying to find a decent shop to do some sort of work. Keep us in the loop!