TMF104F Stiletto 2nd place at IMP50 Perth!

[bdann0875]

I have owned this Stiletto since 2001. In 2002 I had the car restored and the plan was to use the car occasionally throughout the year as I was using my trusty but rusty Californian as my daily hack...In 2005 the Californian's tin worm got too bad so had to reluctantly scrap her.
This meant the Stiletto had to be used as the daily hack, all year round in snow , rain, whatever mother nature threw at her! The consequence of this was the return of the tin worm, so late last year I decided to restore her for a second time, but as I now have my wife's old 1998 Punto to use, I can hopefully keep her in good order for longer!
Here are some photos just before stripdown in October 2012.


Not looking too bad.




Some rot in the arch and bottom of windscreen.


More rot getting into the engine cover.

More photos soon.
Brian

[bdann0875]

The stripdown begins!



This is my luxury garage/workshop!!

[bdann0875]

Some pitting under the vynil roof.


Some grot in the A pillar.

[617sqn]

Eeeeeeek !

Good grief : Now I see why you wanted to give it a make over. Not a great advert for a vinyl roof IMHO

Andy G.

[bdann0875]

Yeah, some of the rot was by not having that wonderful thing called "hindsight"... Basically, when I had the car sprayed last time, the guy said it wouldn't need lacquer on the roof, only the base coat, as it would be covered with vynil. I didnt think about the lacquer would also protect the roof from moisture/sweating under the vynil!
Oh well, we learn by our mistakes.

[bdann0875]

The tape was only to stop the water getting in!


One area welded up.


Rot in the same place on the oposite side!

[bdann0875]

Cant believe the rot had got that bad after only 10 years!

[bdann0875]

Progress update:













Slowly but surely the car is taking shape.
Can't wait to start putting the trim etc back on in a week or so!

[Gaffer]

moving along so quickly. Well done. It will be back on the road in no time at the rate you are going.
Nice job.
Peter

[bdann0875]

Shell in primer, top coat to follow.













The car wouldn't be progressing this quick if I was doing the welding!

[bdann0875]

Thanks for the comments.
Time for an update!









Welding and spraying finally finished!


Now it's back to my outdoor garage!!


Looking to start the refit.

[ImpManiac]

It must be really gratifying to reach this stage with a restoration. It looks like a lovely paint job!

IM

[bdann0875]

I don't know if I was expecting too much from the workshop that did the welding and respray, but IMHO they should have atleast covered the suspension with paper or cloth to stop the shultz underseal going over the shocks and springs!



I was going to be removing the suspension components anyway, but I still think a bit more thought could have gone into covering certain components prior to spraying.

I have put new brake cylinders all round and new brake hoses. I wasn't intending changing the brake pipes, but sod's law, once I tried to undo the pipe unions, they twisted the pipe each end. Not a major problem as I have a brake flaring kit to make new pipes up,but it was something else I wasn't expecting to do!
The spring around the front brake hose aparently is to stop chaffing.It's took 50 years of the Imp's life for brake hose manufacturers to think this is an issue.




If only there were some let up in this bl***y rain, I would have had the car finished by now!

[ImpManiac]

If only there were some let up in this bl***y rain, I would have had the car finished by now!

What? You mean between out wet season and our even wetter season?

Sadly, not many folk put the kind of care and attention into things like paint jobs as we would do if we did the job ourselves. It seems as though you have fallen victim to this. The only thing you could have done would have been to mask those parts up yourself. Still, as long as you are pleased with the job in most respects, all they've done is given you some more work to do - and a few more parts to find.

IM

[bdann0875]

Now we have had a few dry days, I have been able to get some more hours in on the refit.


New fuel line and heater pipes in.


How NOT to fit a laminated screen!


I know laminated screens are to be treated with care, but I tried one push too many.
Luckily I had a spare toughened screen complete with rubber and stainless trim in my loft as a temporary measure because nowhere has any coupe laminated screens at the mo. Aparently Triplex and Pilkington get all their glass made in China now so I have an 8-12 week wait for a new one.


I had new stair carpet fitted a few months ago and the fitters left some underlay behind so thought I would put it to good use in the Stiletto!


Waste not want not eh?

[bdann0875]

Here are the final photos of my Stiletto rebuild.
There have been problems along the way,and at times I've felt like giving up, as I'm sure many of you have too?






I covered over the original blown vinyl. Results were quite good and certainly look better than the cracked/missing sections underneath.





It's soo good to be able to drive the car again,and to fill up with petrol and have interesting conversations with people that would otherwise not say anything when in a eurobox modern.

Looking forward to taking the car to Perth in a few weeks for IMP50 yay!!

Brian

[The Nun]

Glad to see you put the chrome strips back on the sill top edge, a lot of folk dont bother, or dont know they were supposed to be any on the 301 series Stiletto

[pubcrawler]

Excellent resto work, a credit to you. Well done .