Thanks to John Erskine (erskinej), I have already gotten a good bit of parts, help and direction.
Well anyway, as with any good restoration project, you have to have a "Story".
About a month ago (9/26 to be exact).. While watching Monday Night Football over some beers (Don't all good stories start that way). A friend of mine told me he just got a car off ebay for a Christmas present for his wife, and if I knew any transporters as I am a Car Guy and into Opels (OF which I have a small "collection" of them, and a number of friends cars have found their way into my garage for repair ) so maybe I knew someone.
Long story short, by the end of the conversation, I offer to help him keep it at my house, and I will look it over and make sure it runs, etc.. Since supposedly the car ran according to the eBay listing (And we know we can all trust what someone says on eBay ), I figured it would be a few maintenance items, change the oil, etc.. nothing major.
Well this is what arrived and Yes is was painted with a brush (poorly at that). I even think the owner of the car painted it with a brush SPECIFICALLY for the Ebay pictures as it seems the paint was still drying as I was working on the body.
So that's what I started with.. A really rough 1975 124 Spider. Lets just say it is Unnecessary to let me know this was a marginal parts car that probably should have been left well enough alone. But I am also into Opels so call me a glutton for punishment.
Motor didnt start, brakes went to floor, broken clutch cable, leaking coolant and fuel, rusty and wornout front suspension to name the "few" mechanical issues.
At this point I figured I promised I would try to get it running for him. So, I diagnosed it wasn't getting spark, and since the fuel pump had shot about a 1/2 gallon of ancient fuel (Got to love that smell) all over the driveway and the fact the spark plugs cables were rusted into the cap and the coil it wasn't a huge leap in logic. Well $60 later and a new ignition system (Cap/Points/Rotor/Wires/Plugs/Coil), and replacing a few fuel lines, Surprise ! Surprise ! Surprise ! the damn thing started up and idled fine, like it was just running yesterday. Here I was hoping I could tell my friend I "gave it the college try" and it wouldn't start.
Well since I got it started, I couldn't give up, now it was a challenge. Also since I knew it was a Christmas present to his wife, I didn't want to see him get divorced. I know he said his wife wouldn't mind and she would be happy to get it. I knew it simply was too ugly and unsafe to be a Christmas present, and if I gave that to my wife, well I would be divorced
. So, I decided I would at minimum sand the body down and see if I could make it look better. Well once I got started it looked better than expected.. Perfect no.. but better than rough bondo on top of 8 -11 coats of paint and then painted with a paint brush.. Yep I could at least improve on that. Well my body skills have improved over the years, but I never tackled a whole car, and not one in this shape. But figured I would give it the college try and sand the body down as smooth as possible, fill areas with All-Metal (Where it was structurally needed) and Bondo as judicially as possible. I then primered the car, sanded that down and it was turning out to look quite respectable.
Thats when I realized I hadn't checked the windows operation. Opps.. See originally I was going to leave the doors it came with on (Although the bottoms of the doors were very well ventilated ) since the outer skin was good, and with a door panel it would look OK. I also figured it was going to be a fair weather car and windows weren't a huge necessity. Well of course when I checked them the cables were messed up and the pulleys were rusted in the doors to the point they didn't turn and the cables would bind.
Fortunately thats when Jeff found John during his quest for finding the front bow of the convertible. Well, long story short (I know too late), talked Jeff into getting new doors, the bow and a new cowl (BTW Old cowl was built and held down with bondo on the sides, and the wiper motor and assembly was rusted shut..).
So I have since prepped them, and even welded in new floorboards for the passenger, rear behind the driver and along the driver floor, welded the front hinge of the hood back to the hood (It was broken and hood was held down by one hinge and the latch) and repaired the seat mounts.
That all said, believe it or not here it is almost a month to the day and I am about ready for paint ( Will take "during pictures" this evening ). Paint will be a 2 stage "Ferrari Red". The red is a mixture of 4 different reds a buddy of mine had left in his garage (where he paints cars on the side). Color is good, and the price better (Free).
As for mechanical.
Replaced the ignition as mentioned before
Drained the 10 year old gas, put in a new fuel filter and lines.
Changed the oil and filter, drained the tranny and rear axle,
Brakes were so bad the flex lines were dry rotted like none I have ever seen. I have since replaced them all and put new pads on and compressed the original calipers (will find out if they and/or the master cylinder are any good soon).
Shocks were gone (And have since been replaced with KYB GR2)
Tires were replaced. The others were so dry rotted the tread were split in half, and when they were deflated immediately went into a D shape.
Still have to:
Replace the front suspension (All the ball joints, tie rods, bushings, and such were rusted, worn out or both)
Replace the Water Pump (Leaking at the front), along with belts and hoses.
Replace the Carb base gasket and tighten the carb down (Small vacuum leak there)
Assemble the front cowl and wiper assembly
Replace the timing belt and tensioner pulley
Assemble the new seats (Thanks again John) as the old ones required a crow bar to remove and lets just say they were "Slightly rusty"
Install the new top
Install new carpet
"convert" all the interior pieces to Black with some black vinyl paint and reinstall them.
Last but not least cross my fingers that a replacement turn signal relay will cure the turn signals not working.. The only major flaw in electrical I could find, as the engine ran, lights, fan and brakes all worked.
So hopefully by the end of November, it should be a street legal, 5-10 foot car that will be fun to drive. Then after Christmas, after Jeff recovers from all the spending. Possibly new seat covers, and fix the dash and center console, maybe even get the heater to work, etc..
I think going from $700 ebay parts car special, to resurrected (Hate to use the word "restored" in this instance) and ready for Christmas in 2 months isn't terribly bad. When done, might even be able to have a car worth at least what we have into it, and not have broken the budget too terribly bad for what he got. Especially since I'm paid in Beer and Jeff owns a Bar..
Anyway that's it, and I am sure I will have questions, and will be posting more pictures.
