The next step was the removal of the passenger seat - which was surprisingly easy compared to drivers - probably because everything holding it has corroded away! 
 

All the rear boot trim and plywood is now gone - I was especially shocked to find the rollbar essentially only held in with 6 self tapping screws! 
 

Next job will be removing the copious amounts of dried paste/glue that has been applied to every panel!

Great dedication - you're probably doing more work than if you had started a build from scratch 🙂

 

It does feel like that 😂 although in all honesty I’m loving it - I wanted a project and this has been a great experience so far. 

I’m looking forward to putting bits back on though at some point 😂

I unpacked the new loom the other day and quickly repacked it - it’s terrifying!

Over the last week I have managed a few more jobs.

The over-knee bar (that the steering column mounts to) has been removed - getting a full width one fabricated to give a bit more protection/strength - will also give a better structure to mount dash/switches to.

I have also invested in a set of rotary wire brushes which have made mincemeat of the old glue on the internal surfaces...few more hours and it should be free of the old adhesive.

Finally, the car managed to see its first sunshine of my ownership as I had to move it to my parents for storage as I am moving next week!

After 2 months in storage it’s back home - now to push on and make some progress! 

It’s been quite a while since an update, moving house associated DIY has eaten away my summer!

Whilst progress has been slower than hoped things have been moving along.

New aluminium rear cockpit panel made, floor patched, pedal box refurbed and engine hopefully a couple of weeks away.

Finally a major breakthrough, before winter sets in I’ve received the engine back (a quick refresh 10 months ago has turned into a project that lurched from drama to drama - we’ve finally now made a good 1800 Zetec out of 3 donor engines!) 

With a load of nuts and bolts on order the big rebuild can commence! 

On 10/4/2020 at 7:12 PM, Chris Scott said:

So after a hiatus of 18 years I've returned to kit car ownership, I had a GTM Rossa as my first ever car - but not knowing one end of a spanner from another it didn't end well.

I purchased this 3a off of ebay on Saturday. It looks good but in reality the MOT isn't worth the paper it's printed on! I wanted a project and have definitely got one.

I wondered if anyone on here knows/knew this car...I have a copy of an ebay sale from 2012 when it was immaculate. It is also covered in RHOC stickers from 2010 (it even went to Le Mans) - one of the previous owners was clearly an avid owners club owner.

Sadly the last 8 years haven't been kind...the car has been used, abused and somewhat neglected. I'm looking forward to getting her back to former glories.

 

 

I understand totally what your saying, I got my 2B as a project, and what a bad one it turned out to be, loose wires not tapped up, steering rack lose bolted on hand tight only 2 bolts holding my passenger seat in, engine sounded like a bag of spanners, loose wires also in engine bay touching the floor, how it ever passed a MOT I’ll never know, took so many hours to get it mechanically sound, only got the last few weeks of the good weather to enjoy…. Looks like you’ve done a lot of work to it 👍

Edited October 20, 20214 yr by shaun_tomo88

10 hours ago, shaun_tomo88 said:

I understand totally what your saying, I got my 2B as a project, and what a bad one it turned out to be, loose wires not tapped up, steering rack lose bolted on hand tight only 2 bolts holding my passenger seat in, engine sounded like a bag of spanners, loose wires also in engine bay touching the floor, how it ever passed a MOT I’ll never know, took so many hours to get it mechanically sound, only got the last few weeks of the good weather to enjoy…. Looks like you’ve done a lot of work to it 👍

All very familiar 😂

Yes, I’m feeling like a lot of progress now - although I’ve had to make a decision as I don’t want it to turn into a money and time pit and drain away my enthusiasm.

So job 1 is a full mechanical sorting - get it built well and running.

Then concentrate on cosmetics after that! 
 

To do both together is too much 

Bolting bits on feels so good! 

A lot of the work I done wasn’t expensive really, just very time consuming to check and then double check everything again, the few bits I did need I managed to get cheap enough from eBay 

Cooling system now plummed in 

30 minutes ago, Chris Scott said:

Cooling system now plummed in 

Looking good you’ll soon have it ready for the road 😂👍

11 minutes ago, shaun_tomo88 said:

Looking good you’ll soon have it ready for the road 😂👍

😂😂😂 hoping to try to have it started by Xmas! 

26 minutes ago, Chris Scott said:

😂😂😂 hoping to try to have it started by Xmas! 

You’ll need a lot of garage hours, also plenty of tea and a Kit Kat for them fist biting moments 😂