RRC 1988 rolling resto

Hi

This thread will follow the progress of the rolling restoration of my RRC. See how I ended up here on my intro post.

Learning from a nut and bolt resto I did on my Triumph Spitfire, I will not be going down that route again. I found that I had dismantled parts that could simply not be found again - modern reproductions are disgraceful in quality and fit. Some parts I bought used "in good condition" were worse than the ones i took off! Also despite a professional respray, I had rust bubbling up after only 12 months.

So here the aim is to do one part at a time, complete it and move on to the next small part. It is also my usual driver so cannot be off the road for too long at a time and there is no aim to reach concours condition as I do intend to do some greenlaning and light offroading. Although she has been looked after mechanically and drives well, she has not been otherwise well cared for so the jobs will include some mechanical overhauls, body/rust repairs and rehabilitate the interior as I manage to find the rare parts that are missing.

I also plan to finally bite the bullet, buy a MIG welder and learn to weld so I can do alot more myself.

Details: She's a bit of a mixed bag as she has what I think is a 1988 body on a 1990 chassis with engine change. This will make looking for parts more fun than usual.
Year: 1988
Model: 4-door SE + interior pack + Aircon
Engine: 300 tdi
Gearbox: Auto 4 speed
Mileage: 18,000 (LOL - odometer stopped working many moons ago...)
Colour: Savannah beige I think (??)
Trim: 2-tone beige+brown "Bracken" velour (I believe)

Here are some photos as I picked her up. Looks good, right? right?




Ah.



yes that's fibreglass...

So today I just wanted to clean out the interior, bit of a vacuum and wipe down. The headlining was moulting over everyhting so I took it out to be re-done. Then wiped down the inside and a good vacuum. 5 hours later I had got 3/4 done and stopped as the vacuum burnt out. Ooops.



Roof is sound at least!

Been hacking away at cleaning off the old headlining fabric - right pig of a job!

Riight that's the headlining complete! 15 hours (much longer than I thought I'd need ) & €100. I've got sunvisors & new dome lights en route from the UK but until they get here I put the old ones back.

From this manky rug


through hard slog




Seeing light


And done!

Nice little workshop there!

Headlining is done, just waiting on some replacement parts to make their way here through the COVID delays.. sunvisors & dome lights.

Next I tried to check the central locking. Got all doors to lock/unlock but drivers door refuses to open. Some fun this morning to get at that.

Next up is a mechanical overhaul of the steering and suspension parts. Start with clearing all the gunk and grime and mud off there...

stevema said:

Headlining is done, just waiting on some replacement parts to make their way here through the COVID delays.. sunvisors & dome lights.

Next I tried to check the central locking. Got all doors to lock/unlock but drivers door refuses to open. Some fun this morning to get at that.

Next up is a mechanical overhaul of the steering and suspension parts. Start with clearing all the gunk and grime and mud off there...

Click to expand...

I'm hearing COVID as an excuse for just about everything, often from firms that as far as I can see have no dependency of any sort that I can think of, unless staff are off sick.

Bonnet repair now. I will learn to weld to do footwells and other hidden areas but I'm leaving the bonnet to a pro.

The main reason to worry was the extra cooling vents:




So I stripped off the insulation lining, light bulb and what remained of the wiper washers, drove to the panel beater and took off the bonnet.


took the chance to clean up some of the engine bay, found the original stickers under the grime and grease and waxoyl.

Panel beater got to work sanding and slicing:



but found some hard metal covering a previous repair.


more work to tidy it up and some filler


and here just waiting for the final fine sanding