August 240Kproject update - warning lots of pics

[khughes]

Hi Guys,

i figured it was about time to do a little bit of an update on my project (especially since everyone else is getting somewhere!),

2010 has so far been a busy year, unfortunately mostly on things other than the project (getting married tends to do that to you ), though the last couple of months have been interesting!

(BTW, this whole story will be up on my blog, it may make reading the progress of the project a little easier downt the track as it gets fragmented here)

It all started with an email from a guy in melbourne to my website, he owned a 240K coupe from the late 70's. The coupe had travelled with him for a significant part of his life, and unfurtunately it was time for him to sell up in Australia, and return to his home country. He was looking for somebody to not only buy his car, but to continue giving it the love and attention that he had for so many years.

I agreed to help him find a buyer, and asked him to send through some pictures of the car. The only ones he had were relatively old (and some ancient), but he assured me that the car was still in good condition today.

I couldn't believe what i was seeing, if this car was truely in the condition that the photo's show, it was going to be an amazing car.. a real original grandma/grandpa car!

Edited August 19, 2010 by khughes

[khughes]

It didn't take long to start thinking about buying the car myself, thankfully my old 240K GT had just been shipped off to Brian, in the US, so there was a nice spot on the driveway just begging for another 240k

I figured in any event, if the car was in good condition, i wouldn't have a problem finding a buyer for it in Sydney (that was, if i didn't decide to store it away somewhere!), so after speaking with the owner, i purchased the car and organised to ship it up to Sydney

Unfortunately there was a delay with the car carrier, and it took longer than expected to arrive, during which i had managed to convince myself that the car couldn't possibly be as good as the photos showed (take for example, any photo of a car for sale on ebay ) and that there would be the usual 240k rust and problem spots on the car.

Well finally the car arrived, and it was everybit as good, if not better, than the photo's! i was truely amazed at how good the bodywork was (straight as a die), even the underside of the car was spotless!. the chrome Trim was a little dinged in places but also relatively good, and surprisingly, very little in the way of surface rust bubbles.

It was clear after a little investigating that the car had been resprayed at some stage, but it seems to have been done quite well.

It was clearly a car that was too good to give up, and the knowing the previous owner had cared for the car for so long reinforced this fact. The idea of moving all the good bits from my current car came up, and this idea gained more and more ground.

[240kconvertible]

Nice score Kent, lucky bugger

Should make your project a little easier.

Did you ever find those window bits I was chasing? I still haven't sorted that out yet.

[khughes]

It was a difficult decision, as there was nothing fundamentally wrong with my current car (plus the countless hours spent stripping and priming it!), but everyone i had asked had concluded that the new car was too good to let go (probably only for the fact that this car was "complete" and not just a shell that had been sitting around for way too long!)

I decided to base the final descision on the bodywork, if i had a good poke around and didn't find anything substantially wrong then i could somehow justify the changeover

I pulled of all the trim, took out the interior, checked the firewall, floorpan, boot, engine bay, window frames, doglegs.. nothing substantial, other than a few small areas around the front and rear windows (obviously where the glass had been refitted at some stage), and a small bit of rust from the trim strips under the doors. There were of course the odd bits here and there, but nothing bigger than a fingernail.

The descision was made.. I was going with the new car! which meant pulling everything off my 240K and swapping them over. The side benefit was that i could fully document it all and finally get some pictures of the finer details for things like the suspension.

the decision would mean however, selling my "old" car at some stage in the near future, so expect to see that on the market as soon as i get it all together!

As i had decided before, if you are going to go to the trouble and expense of getting a car painted, there is no point doing it and the having it rust/bubble a couple of years down the track, this meant that i would be, for the 3rd time this project, stripping a car back to bare metal!

Luckily, Adam (Adzmax) was selling a Rotisserie, so i took the plunge and bought it from him (i figure if i am going to do it, may as well do it properly!)..

In the meantime, i stripped the rear suspension and crossmember from the old car, and replaced it with that from the new one.

[khughes]

Once complete, it was time to pull out the L24 from the new car and to put it aside (it too, will eventually go with the old car, unfortunately breaking the matching numbers )

Next, out came the front strut and crossmember

[More pic's to come]

Finally, i have finished removing the whole interior, and the front and rear windscreen.

Luckily a lot of the rust around the front and rear windscreen is very small, certainly nothing major.

[pic's to come]

[khughes]

I hope to keep updating this thread as i go (seems much better than scattering across multiple) as well as keeping my blog updated (www.project240k.com).

The next thing on the list, is to get the body mounted to the rotisserie, and get it indoors to start the paint stripping.

I am hoping that by the time i have it all stripped, i will have sold my old car , and therefore have the funds for the little bodywork required, and hopefully a substantial amount of the painting money

Edited August 19, 2010 by khughes

[blk180]

How much you want for the old car? was that cage welded in? Pm if you want.

Thanks Brad

[khughes]

Hi Brad,

yep, the cage is welded in at the moment, i was planning on cutting it out and moving it over as i still want a cage.

I am open to the idea of leaving it in the car as long as the buyer pays the extra (which will be what i paid for it). It is a half cage, and was fabricated and installed by Stewert Wilkins motorsports

I will pm you the details

Kent

[240K&Beyond]

Hi Kent, That looks like a sweet pick up. It looks identical to my Yello one, righ down the the mags. What's the serial number?

So how many coupes have gone through your hands now? It must be getting close to a record.

[khughes]

Hi Bruce,

it is a 74 model numbered 5497, it is actually not far off my the one it will replace, which is 5627 and a 74 as well!

It actually took me a little while to count them all up, so you know that is got to be a bad thing , but so far i have had 5 of them;

The project car (my first)

the black and white "rally" car which went to the states

the black one which didn't have ID plates, so ended up being salvaged and junked

The GT, which again, went to the states this year

and finally this one.. (and my last!!)

(i didn't count the "GT-R" brian had me organise to pickup, and send across to the states, but i also had the pleasure of having that around for a while!).

BTW, i still have that oil cooler for the L engine sitting there for you

Edited August 19, 2010 by khughes

[Noddle]

What are the coil overs from (front suspension)

Nigel

[khughes]

i believe they started life out as a set of C210 struts that had been converted to coilovers with a weld on style kit, i think they were bought 2nd hand by the previous owner.

I had them rebuilt by Stewert Wilkins with koni adjustables shocks (which he apparently had a few issues getting them to work with the top hats, and also required the make up of spacers underneath etc.).. i actually just posted a few more detailed pics over on my website (i will get a photo of the height adjustment sleeves when i can next). http://www.project240k.com/2010/08/front-suspension-setup