JR's RS3100

Glad to hear of so much progress JR. That's great news re the SPA SPECIAL plate too.

The seat vinyl (inserts) is available from www.aldridge.co.uk as a full seat cover or just the vinyl.

It sounds like it would be a real accomplishment to pull the shell out straight again - esp the floor pan - amazing what they can do! It would be interesting to see the proceedure [:u]

Finally 2 calls I have been waiting on the first from the front end engineers saying the suspension unit will be back this Wednesday night. Then a call from the panel shop saying get the rolling shell in on Thursday night.

Panel guy has had to re-assess due to the floor and rail problem, he is pulling the car straight the putting it in a rotiss to do the floor. He is also upping the price by 2k but I'd rather have it done well than looking like a sheetmetal patchwork quilt. Stay tuned for further

Well, finally, my front end appears, looks a million bucks. They took the liberty of replacing all the bushes and machining the disks, this was a good thing as it saved me doing it later. On the bill was a charge of $90 to straighten a control arm (only $100 to buy a brand new pair...) this annoyed me sligtly but the shocker was the absense of the steering rack.

The delivery guy looks in the ute and says "here you go, by the way it's buggered". I looked at this decrepid piece of junk and say "THAT is NOT my rack, and, where are the brackets and bushes?" "Oh you better see Jimmy on Monday He's the steering guy, heres the invoice mate cash or cheque?"
I say "Well I had to wait 4 months and make 3 or 4 trips you'll be doing the same". Apparantely this is not the case according to them, so I say "take it back and bring it back to me FINISHED"

He agrees to leave the front end with me and sort out the rack and payment on Monday (that's if Jimmy comes in....)

I was surprised how much was damaged in the rollover, repair invoice shows
Cross member straightened,
Engine mount removed straightened and rewelded,
RH strut body and insert straightened,
Swaybar straightened,
Rack body bent - non repairable,
LHF Caliper outer case cracked-non repairable,
RHF Caliper steel brake line nut broken-non repairable
Replace swaybar and all control arm bushes
Steam clean and paint
$850

Price I thought was OK I know the guys actual work is very good, their service however is bad, just a small reality check nudge I suppose (Come on now JR you are dealing with a Capri here now-you are not restoring a HQ...)

Well that wraps up this thrilling installment, whooli is dropping by with a 1600 X-memeber to stick in so I can get the RS rolling as I don't want my shiney new front end getting bent in the rack now

Well the RS has finally off to the panel shop, it will be some months before I see it again. I can collect my radiator next week all straightened up and re-cored.

I took my bumperettes and the rear bar into Vinnies Dandenong today for a clean straighten and buff up. They are going to copper coat them to fill up any pit marks and scratches. They will all then be painted satin black and stored for that day in the future when they are refitted.

I noticed that my rear wheels had 1/4" thick spacers between the rim and the drum, are these standard Len? Also I removed the front bar irons they survived pretty much OK. One has a tow hook attached and a strengthening plate weled to it, both have special driving light brackets bolted to them.

The left headlight backing plate got a bit crumpled and the springs all fell apart when I pulled assembly out, this will take a bit of work to sort out, I can maybe use Escort or TC cortina parts to help sort it out.

That's this weeks update, I should have some more to add soon. I have arranged for the swinging panels to be prepped for painting while the rest of the body is being worked on. I can use the original, left door, bootlid and spoliers, I have supplied a right door and bonnet these will all be stripped repaired as necessary and undercoated the stored with the slowly growing collection of bits ready for re-assembly. Cheers

Picked up the bumpers today, all straight and smooth and plated in copper, looks very interesting....the copper fills the pits and helps the black paint stick, now to get them painted for storage for the big day.

Also got my radiator back this didn't come up as well as I'd hoped, the top tank was fairly roughly beaten out the lower inlet pipe weld is ugly and the rear seam is crooked, but the core is new and it won't leak, I should have stuck to my usual guy. I changed shops as the guy I used was $100 cheaper $235 instead of $350

I have acquired a type 9 5 speed with the V4 bellhousing this will bolt straight up to the 3 litre and at the moment is looking like a good option as I wont have to modify anything to swap over from the 4 speed

Good news from the panel guy today, the doors and bonnet are prepped and ready for painting, the bumpers are all satin black now, I'll be picking them up this afternoon. Boot and spoiler are next they need a quick tidy up and a rub down, then that will be the end of all swinging panels and "jewellery", now I'm just waiting for the straightened shell....