Wayne has owned this car for two years now. The car has been subject to previous restoration work at some point during its life.
The car was beginning to show some paint defects such as micro-blistering and corrosion to the turrets.
Wayne decided that the job was too big to take on himself and entrusted her to Restore-A-Ford. He stripped the car to a rolling shell before
delivering to our workshop.
The front wings had been replaced with genuine Ford items during a previous restoration, so these were in perfect condition bar a few minor dents and imperfections.
A pair of new doors were sourced by Wayne, after fitting to the vehicle the front wings had to be released from the A-Posts in order to get the alignment correct.
The front panel had also been replaced, so again just some minor repairs required.
Wayne had reported some water ingress to the boot area, apon removal of the rear scuttle it became evident the inner panel had corroded sufficiently to allow water into the boot area. The corroded areas were cut out and new sections fabricated and fitted to the vehicle. The third picture shows the off-side turret, after strenghtening plate and section of inner wing were removed. Unfortunately this was one of the areas of the vehicle that had been subjected to poor previous repairs. The suspension cup itself had corroded so some repair work was undertaken to this area also.
In the first picture below, can be seen the repaired turret cup ready for a new section of inner wing to be fitted. The second picture shows the new fabricated piece of the inner wing welded into place and finished ready for the top plate strengthener to be refitted. As this is an RS3100, the ID number is stamped into this strengthener plate so this was repaired and refitted to the vehicle as opposed to using a new part to keep the cars original ID number.
After all the repairs had been completed to the turrets, these areas were treated to a coat of acid etch primer. Once this had been done, the rest of the engine bay was prepared, some minor repairs were required to other areas of the engine bay before the whole area could be primed. The car was attached to the rollover jig and turned on its side to allow repairs to the floor areas.
Once the car was on its side, it became apparent that it had suffered some sub-standard repairs to the floors and front sections of inner sills. The whole area needed to be cut out completely and repaired using fabricated repair sections. Also some damage to the chassis rail due to jacking had to be carried out.
Again, the off side floor and inner sill areas had suffered sub-standard repairs and needed similar attention as the other side.
As can be seen in the pictures below, the off side forward spring hanger/floor area had been subjected to a very bad previous repair. The whole area had to be removed as can be seen in the second picture. Once this area had been removed, it also revealed the inner sill was actually missing, again, poor repairs. The section of inner sill was repaired along with the chassis end/ spring hanger. A reclaimed piece of floor pan was used to replace the section of floor, inner sill fabricated as necessary.
Once all the repair work was completed to the underside, the whole floor of the car, including the front and rear wheelhouses were treated to a coat of anti-chip coating. It was then coloured Ford Daytona Yellow to match the body of the car. The car was then rolled back to its correct position.
Once the car had been removed from the jig, the engine compartment was preped and sealed in preparation for paint. The engine bay was refinished in Ford Daytona Yellow. The supsension and steering was refitted to enable the car to be moved to the oven.
The body was preped and rolled in to the oven before being masked. Notice great care is taken to ensure no overspray can encroach to the underside of the vehicle. Once degreased and tacked, the complete shell include the boot area was refinished in 2-pack Ford Daytona Yellow.
Once the vehicle was painted, the panels could be refitted so as to get the correct line to refinish the satin black to the lower section of the door, wing and quarter panel including the sill. The process of refitting the engine and associated components is being undertaken by the owner at our workshops prior to the vehicle going home.
Once the decals had been applied along with the glass and a few other bits and pieces, the car was ready to go home for Wayne to finish the refitting of the interior and mechanical components.
Wayne's comments: Very pleased with the car and would definately recommend Restore-A-Ford to other enthusiasts.