1964 Austin Cooper S - Portugal

[ricardo]

The subframe was powder coated and the other bits were painted.




With everything ready, the fun part begun

[ricardo]

Same process for the rear subframe:










Received yesterday the missing engine number plate from Tim (Minimail):

[nunecos]

Really nice Ricardo! So you already can say that the engine is DONE!

[ricardo]

Finally got some news about the shell. The preparation took forever, but was nicely done and the engine bay and floor was just painted this weekend. Next month will hopefully be ready to return home!

[ricardo]

Well, after 1 year and a half at the paint shop, I just picked up the shell 2 weeks ago. The paint job is not as good as I was expecting (and paid for!), but it's not bad either. I guess it is ok, but just not the standard I asked and was expecting. Most affected areas are the rear seat and floor, which will not be seen once covered. The area between the washer jets has some sort of orange peeling effect too on the clear coat (I think), maybe it could be minimized with a buff (?). None of this can be seen in the pictures though...








I already started fitting the front part of the wire loom and had some problems with the wiring for the headlamps. This loom was bought from Autosparks and had the 2 extensions half the size of the originals, they are impossible to fit! Did anyone also had this problem? The wire for the passenger (LHD car) interior light door switch was also missing. Otherwise it is ok so far...








One question: where can I buy the big dash grommet 3H1457?

[JC T ONE]

Hi Ricardo,


nice to see your car is back

regarding grommets, try this link http://www.coh-baines.co.uk/


keep up the good work.

Jens Christian

[georgek]

Nice to see the paint go on, looking good.

[Lilihip]

This restoration is absolutely amazing! keep up the great work!

[ricardo]

Had some issues with the interior light door switches, turned out I had bought a wrong set of switches. Luckily, I still had the originals which are shorter and don't hit the shell inside the A panel, as the longer version does.




I also sent an email to austosparks regarding the short headlamp wires and was told the wires they sent me were for the dip switch (which I thought were missing). I got confused because they are of the same color, also 3 wires and they sent me 2 sets of them! Anyway, as they informed me, the headlamp wires do not come with new wire looms, you have to buy them separately...

I managed to find the dash grommet in Lisbon, but couldn't find yet the right pattern for the dash vinyl.

Made some progress this weekend, not much as I was expecting, but still some progress (wiper motor, petrol and brake pipes & steering rack fitted).

The gray strip for the rear seat was a kind offer from a member of this forum - thank you very much!

[InimiaD]

Looks superb already Ricardo. Excellent work.

[nunecos]

Superb!!! Looking forward to see the progression

[ricardo]

Thanks guys. Feel free to make any suggestions, corrections, improvements, etc. If something is out of place, now is the time to correct it

[ricardo]

A few more things done in these last few weekends.

First I tested all the electrics, just to make sure that everything is working.








Then it was time for the rear subframe. I painted the dampers with graphite grey, but I guess they should be darker (?). I used the RAL color posted on the MCR forum, but got the feeling they should be almost black or much darker. I know it's always tricky judging colors on a computer, but this is more or less how they look. What do you think?







And then the engine...









Now it's time to stop as I still don't have my exhaust manifold ready - I'm waiting for it to be welded it's been now 2 years!

[ronie]

Wow. Very impressive. Great work.

[Toby]

I have a couple of original dampers, here is a pic of one. If you want I could do you some better ones this evening.

[georgek]

Ricardo, I don't know you but I can see your a perfectionist! Great workmanship!!!

Have a good Christmas.

[jaapio1984]

newbie question.. why is MOWOG upside down on the front subbie.. ?

Jaapio

[guru_1071]

newbie question.. why is MOWOG upside down on the front subbie.. ?

Jaapio

grumpy brummie - circa 1964......

[ricardo]

Thanks for your comments.

@Toby
Yes, if it's not much trouble for you, I would like to see a good picture of the original color of the damper. I will not redo mine, but still would like to know how close are they to the right color.

@Jaapio
The stamp is upside down because that's how it was from the factory, take a look at the previous pictures. Other cars may have it 'the right way' (not upside down), in a slightly different position and in white (earlier cars) instead of yellow. Mine was just done as it came from the factory.

[ricardo]

2 questions:

1) Should the rear brake valve be painted black?

2) What was the original finish of the exhaust manifold? Painted black or greyish (some sort of plating)?