Zodiac Rebuild

[Father Ted]

Talked to the companies that do the chemical stripping of car bodies, and found out that you have to remove all doors, bonnet, bootlid and any panels that can be unbolted.

In the case of the Zodiac that includes the front wings and front valance panel so I got stuck in yesterday, aided by my minion.



Just one more door and the bootlid to take off now.

[Father Ted]

Having completely stripped and dismantled the body it was collected today by Enviro-Strip, to be taken to Tamworth to be dipped in a bath of phosphoric acid.

All the removable panels had to be taken off.



Body shell waiting for the nice man to come and take it away.



Being loaded on to the transporter by the very friendly and helpful Alan, from Enviro-Strip.



If there is anything left after the paint/filler/rust stripping process they will sweep it up, put it in an envelope and post it back to me in a few weeks time.

[Father Ted]

The remains of the body shell are due to be delivered back to me on June 25th. (2015)

Meanwhile I have had the diff reconditioned. Crown wheel and pinion were OK but they have fitted new bearings and seal, cleaned, re-set and tested everything.



It was done by Hardy Engineering of Leatherhead, Surrey. Really helpful and knowledgeable people who do a lot of work on classic gearboxes and diffs.

[Father Ted]

After 4 months the stripped body arrived back today.



Doesn't look too bad in that photo but there are a lot of rust holes.

Will assess it properly at the weekend...

[Father Ted]

Dropped the rear leaf springs off at Owen Springs in Rotherham a week ago, and they were delivered back today - fully reconditioned.




Very impressive service - Owen Springs. www.owensprings.co.uk/springs/vintage/

[Father Ted]

Haven't done much to the Tedmobile lately as things have been a bit weird here, culminating in me being made redundant last week.

Getting used to having time on my hands and wondering how to find another job, having not had to look for work for 30 years!

I have been tinkering with the cylinder head that I bought for 99p from eBay. Stripped off 3 layers of paint (blue, yellow and the original green) and spent a lot of time on decoking everything I can get a wire brush to. Just finished cleaning up all the threads and it is looking pretty good. Will probably need skimming and definitely new valve seats - would have done that anyway to get hardened ones for unleaded petrol. Still, not bad for 99p .



The redundancy payment will enable me to pay someone to do all the welding on the Zodiac body, and there is quite a lot.

Worst holes are in the floor...



Ironically this part of the floor is double-skinned, having a strengthening piece underneath because it is where the seat and seat belts attach, but it just traps mud & water so has rusted through on both sides.

There are many more holes. This is the bottom of the N/S C post.



Other side is much worse but I can't get to it at the moment.

Also, more evidence of old accident damage repairs.



And lots of old welded repairs, some of which will need to be re-done properly.

[Father Ted]

Bought this today. The Holy Grail of Mk3 Zephyr/Zodiac restorers, a new 50 year old inner wing, rarer than the poo of a rocking horse that has swallowed hen's teeth.



Cost me the same as I paid for the whole car 30 years ago.

Now I just need to find one for the other side...

[Father Ted]

Trying to find someone to do the welding that it needs. I thought I had found a company who were keen to do it and not too expensive, but they no longer seem interested so I am going to have to start looking again.

[Father Ted]

Another eBay purchase collected today.

A genuine new Ford old-stock 45 year old sill .



Also met up with Mr Mytocon, late of this parish, to pick up the steering box which he collected and has been storing for me since September.

[Father Ted]

The new sill and inner wing have been stripped and sprayed with etch primer.

And I reached a landmark moment in the resto, as I actually started putting parts back on the car, rather than taking them off.

Fitted new sound-deadening pads in the boot. These need to be stuck on before the car is painted because they should be in body colour. The ones in the doors, floor and roof are all covered by trim so can be fitted after the car is painted.

When dismantling the car I took photos of everything and this has already paid off, I could see exactly where the pads were supposed to go.





And the really BIG news is that the body has now been taken away to Bedfordshire for welding and painting.



When it comes back it should be all shiny and gold, and only have holes where it is supposed to have holes.

[Father Ted]

I have had some photos back from the restorers.

New offside inner wing fitted:







We could not get a nearside inner wing so the metal fabricators have made up repair sections:

[Father Ted]

Went to visit the Zodiac yesterday to check on progress.

Because we could not get replacement panels they have made a whole sill, most of the nearside inner wing and suspension turret and various other panels from scratch out of sheet steel.

The skill and quality of the workmanship is just amazing!

[Father Ted]

No updates on the Tedmobile because it has become the subject of a legal dispute!

The restorers sub-contracted the metal fabricating work to a specialist, at a price agreed between them. However, when the metal fabrication and welding was finished the fabricator said it had taken longer than expected as there was more work than originally agreed, and so he wanted more money. The restorer is not happy about this as they had agreed a price before work started, and has not paid any more, so the fabricator will not let him have the bodyshell back.

Solicitors are now involved which probably means they will both end up losing money.

[Father Ted]

Today (19/02/17) I had a phone call from the restorers to say that they will be collecting the Tedmobile body from the metal fabricators next Wednesday...

[maxbranning]

Looking forward to seeing the continued progress on this

Phil