My 300e Thames project

leepop633 · Post by **leepop633** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:53 pm

Bough this knowing it was a shed. 6" from the bottom was totally rotten. Rear arches and valence were full of cement, no not bodge, cement. Sills and chasis were full of bitchum and inner wings were old tatty sacks covered in tar. Anyway, its had new sills, i made the inner ones, bought the outer, new rear arches, i made new lower quaters and i made a new rear valence. The front A post triangles wernt the best so i made new ones of them. I was going to use a RV8 with a ZF4 spd box but now going to use either a SBF 302 or a SBC 350. 8" rear axle, Autopower and Customs front clip. Heres some pics anyway. I will add more text later. I also have a 1995 discovery 3.9 ES and a 1954 Series one landrover hybrid running a 3.5 RV8. Where do i post my non project pics?

leepop633 · Post by **leepop633** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:56 pm

leepop633 · Post by **leepop633** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:02 pm

Heres a pic of my daily and my serious one.

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:18 pm

Love the 300E, Escort? or does the escort have sliding windows? but fec me that was a bit rusty, I have to admire your courage, good luck with it

leepop633 · Post by **leepop633** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 2:29 pm

Cheers Ian. Its actually a van. Ford offered people a proper conversion with side and big rear windows and they moved the petrol filler to the back and its got a headlining. Escorts have sliding rear windows i think same as squire and the filler is on the passenger side aswell as a split tailgate. havnt touched it for a few months as trying to get S1 mot'd and sold to fund the engine and front clip.

ChrisJC · Post by **ChrisJC** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:36 pm

Impressive repair job - I wish I could weld thin stuff without it going all holey and warping!

Chris.

ian.stewart · Post by **ian.stewart** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 4:40 pm

Should have noticed the rear doors

leepop633 · Post by **leepop633** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:26 pm

LOL @ Ian. Chris is is warped a little on the arches but the lower quaters are sweet but hey, never done it before or made panels so not bad for my first attempt. I had the welder up too far also. Should of been more patient, lol. I might start again once finished as then i know what im doing, hahaha.

mgbv8 · Post by **mgbv8** » Fri Feb 01, 2008 7:40 pm

Lee
That is going to be a sweet ride when its on the road mate. Well done.

Post by **demo2** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 1:09 pm

Good 2 c some1 doin a decent repair, so many people bog em up. Just have 2 be patient and you'll get good results.

chodjinn · Post by **chodjinn** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 2:11 pm

Wow that is a fair amount of work!

I'm loving that series 1 though - you said you're selling it? How much?

cheers

leepop633 · Post by **leepop633** » Mon Feb 04, 2008 9:36 pm

Pointless just welding over rotten metal as it just creeps back up again and you find a 6 months to a year that your nice paintwork is blistering, lol. I only want to do it once so had to cut it out. I think ive cut more rot out than metal thats left, lol. Cheers for comments guys.

As for the serious one,

£1500 as is or was going to mot and put it up for £1950. Yes i hear you say i can buy a discovery for that, yes you can, but if you wanted a discovery then you didnt want this, lol.

oilyfingers · Post by **oilyfingers** » Thu Jan 15, 2009 9:59 pm

Good project, Quality sheet metal work there, not bad as first time at it. Nice wheels

leepop633 · Post by **leepop633** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:50 pm

Ive took this from the 100e forum im a mod on so if certain things dont make sense thats why, lol.

Picked up my Autopower and Custom front clip from Billing on Sunday. The guy who makes the outer steering rack arms made them too long so hes having to get them sorted then post them out.

Decided i couldnt wait any longer as ive been chomping at the bit to start the van again, laugh . Took all the crap i had accumulated off the front of the van chassis, support with axle stands making sure it was well suported so it wouldnt twist.

The chassis slots were 6mm to small so didnt want to be messing around with sparks near the nice clean hubs and the top and lower arms are zinc coated so wanted to keep away from and sparks and chance of slipping with a grinder, laugh I first cut the front end off chassis that was tacked on. Didnt come off easy so im chuffed that the chassis is well put together, took long enough to get the bloody thing thumbup I took the top and lower arms off to save messing them up.

Was extreemly nervous about chopping up something ive just got and it wasnt cheap. All went well and after a little more tickling with the grinder it went in.

My chassis was 20" inside to inside and the standard clip was 19 1/2" so have to cut some plates to fill the gaps as is a little to big to fill with weld and would look a mess. Its got to come back off to grind a little more out to get a 3 degree rake backwards Ian suggested. Yes it was alot of money but im so glad i decided to get it. So easy to install. Now i need to somehow build up the front end. wings and front panel to see where wheels got to go then i can square up clip and tack in. It aint getting fully welded for quite while yet till engines in and the car rolling then meausre million times more, laugh thumbup

leepop633 · Post by **leepop633** » Sun Jan 18, 2009 5:51 pm

Reet. This is how the front end looks sat how it should with the chassis as is and lower arms down around 5 degrees.

I forgot to take a comparrison photo of how the van sat with the front end where it should and where i want the rear to sit, but basically the van sat low at the rear and i dont want gasser bleed nose stance, sont undertsand it myself but maybe cause ive only been into rods for maybe 8 years, laugh

This is the front end if its dropped 3" (height of box section so Z'ing the chassis would make the clip sit right again)

This is how the wheel would sit in the front wing at 3" lower

To get the van level the arse is in the air too much for my liking and look allergic to the floor. Ive seen many cars like this and TBH i prefer them quite low so thats i what i want. If i were to drop the front by Z'ing the chassis the front would sit nice but arse in the air. If i drop the rear a few inches it still means i can get my coilover mounts on the 2nd hole to the top of the kickup (bearing in mind im talking coilover eye to eye with space for the top of the mount). The chassis is on a 5 degree slope forwards so when set away should hopefully be level, the body is straight sitting still. I will have to notch the 4 bar brackets a few inches to get a slight upward travel sitting but means the lower bar will be nearer the chassis to the top so is that a problem?

This is how the van would sit if i Z'ed the chassis at the front. Its sitting 3" lower with the van sitting level, chassis down at the front slighlty with enough room for coilovers. Let me nah if i have missed anything or this wouldnt work for any reason people please.

In this photo the rear axle is sitting over to the drivers side too much but gives you an idea.