Thread: Two Door Restore 1978

Had a cursory look over the masai red 1978 and searched for all the things where classics tend to go,missed a few, but saw enough to ascertain the bones in general were all good and would make a good project car,so off we go.

The Good:chassis just light surface rust,firewall excellent.

The Bad: A and B pillars lower section,sills look like someone shotgunned them but can sort both.

The Ugly:Bulkhead.Inner wings shot ,Footwells .Note the 40 year old wing bolt,hangin in there.

Pulled the engine to fix the rear main seal and sump leaking volumes onto the garage floor,so out she came.

The rear sliding windows were shot,nothing holding the glass up .
Sundry broken body parts and rusted areas.
Massive poorly done bog repairs on bonnet,side panels and doors.

Time for hammers ,new metal and a new colour,Audi ibis white,a clean solid white.

Drove 300 miles to pick up a 3.9 disco 1 engine for a potential csk facelift.

Sat on this idea for a bit,then decided i liked the original look better,but would rebuild the engine from scratch and make the call whether to use the 3.9 vs the original 3.5 when the bodywork was complete.

As visible in the pics,this engine had very few if any oil changes,and leaking headgaskets.

Time for a strip and a bath,a nice chemical bath.
Had done top end on engines previously but never a full rebuild,really enjoyed it,and learnt heaps,nice sense of achievement with every small step.

Nice and clean near new 3.9.
One bore had a slight lip from water sitting for a few years,didn't rebore them but got them honed,crank was in tolerance,with new cam,lifters,heads shaved .10.
All shiny ,Wanted to bring it in as a coffee table but was informed by wife that there would be no favours given in the foreseeable future

Looks fab... yours was the same colour as mine was and is! Mines an 82. Have done upholstery now just waiting for carpets. Then she's finished part for a few little details.

Wow,Disco,That looks sweet

Made the call to go with the 3.9.I know efi,so wanted a slightly more refined serp belt efi engine in there,as had it ready and the 3.5 needed a strip down.

Body work all done,time to put it all back together.

My panelbeater couldn't get hold of me on a friday arvo,and thought he's use a bit of artistic licence and bling the wheels and bumpers gloss black.
He thought the aluminium colour looked naff,haha.
I burst his bubble a bit when i told him they had to be original