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 Posted: 09-20-2010 11:52 pm
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Dakota123
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Hi,

As I've described elsewhere, I'm the second owner of 10628.  The original owner (OO) bought her new, sight unseen in 1973 based on preview reviews in magazines.  She lived her life in San Francisco, Great Britain for a time, and then San Diego.  I acquired her about 1 1/2 years ago as the OO realized that was time for her to go to a new home. 

Initially I set about making her street-worthy again after basically a decade of sitting in a garage, unused.  To this point the brakes have had a complete rebuild including rear pistons and shoes, new Type 16p calipers, braided flex lines, TR6 M/C and 10"booster.  Rear bushings were replaced as were the front control arm bushings, one lower ball joint and the steering shaft (total front end rebuild will wait for when I pull the engine).  Front anti-roll bar was added and new alluminum fuel tank to replace the leaking original.  Carbs were selectively rebuilt and plug wires were replaced.

She runs, handles and stops really well and is a daily driver, even if a bit tatty with more than her fair share of dings and dents.  No rust whatsoever, however.

After a major project for work that took far, far too long and caused far, far too much brain damage it's time to turn attention to the cosmetics.  Once that is done, then back to mechanicals (2.2L and Supra 5-spd -- I have the crank, a 2nd gen block, Supra 5-spd and CC kit).

Somehow every panel on the left side has been dented -- looks like maybe a sideswipe incident.  The goal is not to make her show-quality, but a very nice daily driver.  Economics will definitely play a part of course, as will how stock to keep it vs. how much to customize.  In general, I plan to minimize changes to the point where she can be easily put back to box-stock if that ever makes the most sense.

One area where I will probably stray is paint color.  No one in my family likes the original yellow.  My preference is a different yellow, such as maybe Porsche Speed Yellow.  That would be closer to original, at least, and would be true to the fun character of the car.  My family doesn't like Speed Yellow any better though, so I may go with a dark blue as in this AC Ace or maybe a burgundy as on this Aston Martin. (The Ace and Aston pictures are from cars that participated in the 2010 Colorado Grand, BTW, that wrapped up this past weekend in Vail, CO.)    Not as much fun to me, but this is after all a family project and everyone needs to be (generally!) happy.  Plenty of work before getting to that point!  Anyway, here is the current status:




Eventually it will be a bare-metal respray but in the interest of keeping it driveable to the extent possible I'm going about it basically one panel at a time.

More updates in the future...

Mike

Last edited on 09-20-2010 11:55 pm by Dakota123

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 Posted: 05-02-2011 06:05 am
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Dakota123
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So I've finally been able to restart the work on 10628; the work project that was supposed to end a year ago drags on. Ironically, I'm living basically full time where 10628 spent the last several years (north San Diego County) -- so I shipped it back out from home so I have something to do in the evenings/weekends.

Surprise, the PO had a respray done on the right side at some point. Glad I decided to strip it completely. It would have been somewhat ridiculous with three layers of paint on there. Weak-kneed California stripper took a couple of applications given the thick layers of paint, followed by hitting it w/ the DA sander.

It's always darkest before the dawn, as they say.



By the end of the day she was looking better...



I've had the rear bumper off for so long that I'm starting to like the look better without bumpers. I'm torn, leave it off or put it back? (MK1 stainless, decent condition.) Would be no hard task to 'glass the openings. Hmmm.



I've pretty well decided on the Porsche Speed Yellow color.

Mike

Last edited on 05-02-2011 06:06 am by Dakota123

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 Posted: 05-02-2011 07:04 pm
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subwoofer
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Dakota123 wrote:
I've had the rear bumper off for so long that I'm starting to like the look better without bumpers. I'm torn, leave it off or put it back? (MK1 stainless, decent condition.) Would be no hard task to 'glass the openings. Hmmm.

If you decide to take rear bumper off, do yourself the favour to do it properly, i.e. fill in the holes with sheet metal and make a full butt weld. Much better in the long run.

Here in Norway, we call it an "American style repair" when we find collision or corrosion damage repaired by adding a very badly fitting piece of metal or fibreglass underneath 1/2" of Bondo... :-)

Car is shaping up, btw! It's going to be a fine piece when you get it painted and reassembled!

--
Joachim

Last edited on 05-02-2011 07:05 pm by subwoofer

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 Posted: 05-02-2011 07:19 pm
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Dakota123
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I'm thinking fiberglass precisely because it would be easier to undo. She's a complete, 100% original car and someday it may make sense to restore it as such -- if not me, maybe the next owner.

For that reason I don't plan on selling the wheels, 4-spd or original engine. I want someone to be able to put it back completely stock should they so chose.

But yeah, I understand your point of view.

Mike

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 Posted: 05-15-2011 09:35 pm
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Dakota123
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If anybody out there has an extra, I'm looking for a right side headlight cowl. The original was lost in shipping; I had forgotten to screw the thing down. This is the square corner, Mk1 variety.

I purchased an aftermarket item from Delta, but the contour where it meets the hood (bonnet) is not even close to being correct (the edge sits far lower than the hood) and consequently there is a huge, ugly gap.

Thanks in advance,

Mike

Last edited on 05-16-2011 03:45 am by Dakota123

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 Posted: 05-23-2011 11:26 am
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Frank Schwartz
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Obviously yours is yellow, but the factory yellow is a bit greenish.  We repainted my daughter's JH with a Chrysler yellow called "Buttercup"..a very good yellow indeed...she had the car in NY and sold it and now it is in, of all places, Norway...new owner sent a picture and it looks great posed in a field of flowers.

Chrysler  "Buttercup"....you will like it !!

Frank Schwartz

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 Posted: 06-28-2011 08:19 am
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Dakota123
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Painted 10628 last night; major step complete. Color is Porsche Speed Yellow - -well, actually, Speed Yellow with a pint of white and a pint of brown toner added in to mellow it a bit. Had an "ack!" moment when I picked up the paint; Somehow more orange than most of the examples I had seen (although there does seem to be some variability, even when the paint code is the same).

Anyway, PPG DCC Concept is magic stuff. Just a hint of orange peel that I am sure will color sand right out. And even when I lost concentration at one point and laid it on thick in one area, the paint just sorted itself out, no run. Great stuff.

Edit: Replaced last night's photo with a day-light photo. Still not a perfect representation of reality, but better.

(And lest anybody think I was rude to Frank by not replying, we had a PM conversation...)

Last edited on 06-30-2020 02:07 pm by Dakota123

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 Posted: 06-28-2011 05:30 pm
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dwalls1
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Yep, that's yellow allright. Looks Great.  Keep the keen pics coming.

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 Posted: 06-28-2011 06:01 pm
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Dakota123
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Replaced last night's photo taken under flourescent lights with a daylight photo -- much closer to reality. A little more vibrant than what I intended, but not too far off. Definitely a tough process getting the color one has in mind.

Tell you what, I have a newfound respect for the folks that do this for a living. Definitely a labor-intensive, not to mention nerve-wracking, experience all around. I'd much rather rebuild an engine!

Here's what she looked like in 1973; that's the original owner.





Mike

Last edited on 06-28-2011 06:03 pm by Dakota123

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 Posted: 07-19-2011 07:53 pm
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Dakota123
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A quick update now that the 15" VTO wheels (from the club store) and 205/50 Yokohama S-Drive tires are on. Still a few bits to install but hard to believe it's the same car.

Mike

Last edited on 06-29-2020 02:58 am by Dakota123

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 Posted: 09-07-2011 05:15 am
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Dakota123
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Not sure what posessed me since she's nowhere near show-quality, but 10628 will be at San Diego British Car Day (October 2, 2011) -- anbody else planning to attend?

Mike

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 Posted: 09-08-2011 04:27 am
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Mason Jones
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Are you kidding? Even if not show quality it looks fantastic! If I lived near San Diego I would drag mine up just to get a few laughs.

Mason

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 Posted: 09-08-2011 04:08 pm
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Dakota123
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Thanks for the kind words, Mason -- I checked with the show's organizer and he assured me that it isn't one of "those" kinds of shows (and then related a story of a show he once judged where a car's "owner" didn't even know how to start his car since he had never actually driven it. Crazy.)

Anyway, here are some pictures of the car with the Robbins top almost complete (new velcro to go). Would have come in handy driving around San Diego last Monday, rained off an on all afternoon --of course, go fast enough and no need for the top (drat those traffic lights!)

I'm still a little conflicted on the lack of rear bumper. Overall I like it better but obviously the stainless finisher strips "die" too early (they should carry down a little further), and from the side it looks a little plain. The whole thing is a little "unresolved" as they say in the design world.

Last edited on 08-04-2019 12:11 am by Dakota123

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 Posted: 09-09-2011 03:18 pm
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Jensen Healey
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Very nice work indeed! The bonnet to bumper shut line is awesome!

Kurt

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 Posted: 09-09-2011 03:41 pm
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Dakota123
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Thanks, you should have seen it when I started! To be sure, a bunch of pushing and pulling and bending and tweaking to get it reasoably close. Clearly she had been in a fender-bender and nothing lined up.

Mike

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 Posted: 09-10-2011 12:09 am
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Greg Fletcher
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Wow, the car looks fantastic! I like the back end, very clean.

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 Posted: 09-10-2011 11:11 am
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Mason Jones
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What about putting the "Jensen-Healey" stripe decal that normally goes on the sides on the rear-end where the bumper was? Won't help the profile but might look nice from the rear.

Had also seen somewhere recently someone had replaced the rear bumper with a very minimal chrome 2 piece from a Shelby Cobra. Can't find it now but it gave it a more 60's LBC look.

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 Posted: 09-10-2011 03:44 pm
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Jensen Healey
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The two piece bumpers were TR3 items on cut down mounts if we're thinking of the same car.

Kurt

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 Posted: 09-10-2011 04:25 pm
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Mason Jones
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Yes, that sounds right, he had replaced the taillights with small round ones from ??? which added to the 60's look. I seem to recall a lot of fabbing was involved. Wish I could find the danged thing...

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 Posted: 09-10-2011 06:46 pm
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Bogie07
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This one?

http://ten680.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/new-rear-bumpers/

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