It finally happened! Exactly 9 months from the date I dropped off Rusty at Just Rust, it’s back home in my garage, with the rust gone and some lovely shiny new paint.
I’m really happy with the work they’ve done, and so excited to get the car back home. Paying the bill was a little bit painful, it ended up being twice the cost estimate because of unforeseen rust and previous repairs, but that’s the way it goes with a car like this, which has been through quite a few owners, and been involved in a couple of accidents in its past.
The KER rear wing is already splitting opinions. It’s a replica of the wing from the road rally cars and I think it looks awesome. It has the advantage that it’s lighter than the stock rubber one and being made of fiberglass it was easier to paint.
Now it’s my turn to do some work, making everything work as it should, and re-assembling the car. You might recall from a previous update that it wasn’t running. It turns out it was just out of petrol, and all is well. So the car runs and stops, but the power steering is making a nasty sound. It could just be the fluid or it could be a different fault. One for the fix list.
I booked a couple of days off work to get the car home and do a little bit of work on it. Taylor Towing brought the car home for me, doing a highly efficient job for a good price. Reversing into my garage was a bit interesting with no side mirrors, but I got in without incident, then set to work on a few things.
First job was to give the interior a bit of a clean, then install the box of Dynamat that I bought on special so many months ago.
The Dynamat should cut down on vibrations from road noise and make the door speakers sound better.
Next I rebuilt the rear panel and installed my number plate frame with built-in reversing camera. I’m trying to add a few mod cons without spoiling anything about the look of the car. Of course it didn’t fit out of the box and had to be modified. so much for “Fits all cars with a Euro plate”.
The screen for the reversing camera is in the rear view mirror.
I noticed that the The plastic COUPE trim had some small cracks, and the one from the donor car didn’t, so I decided to fit the Coupe one. Then I realised the Coupe didn’t have a fog light. Some cutting and modification ensued.
After a trip back to Just Rust to collect the door handles that I had forgotten to pick up, I got them re-fitted. It makes getting into the car quite a bit easier. Next job was to scrape off the glue from the old centre brake light and fit the new one. That took a while, and I had to be very careful of the heater element. Re-fitting the front fogs and indicators was a bit of a mission as the two piece front bumper had to come off to fit them from the back.
I fitted the headlights and grille too, mainly because it looks much nicer to walk into the garage and see the car like that than a big gaping hole in the front! They’ll need to come back out to sort out the headlight wiring.
I’ve discovered a couple of broken pieces already that I didn’t notice before – one of the the sidelight bulb holders disintegrated when I tried to re-connect it, and the driver side mirror has a huge crack in it. I have an intact-but-wobbly mirror from the GT so I hope I can make one good one from the two.
And finally – my wheels are back from Levin Powder Coaters and they look EPIC! I’m really looking forward to seeing these on the car. No point buying tyres yet though. Must wait…
So that’s it for now. I’ll be doing more jobs when I have time, balancing this with work, family etc. But I want to get the car on the road by this coming Summer. It won’t be finished but I want it driveable by then. Lots to do!
Follow the full Project Rusty build here.
My build thread is on our forums here.
