Peter Davis

I've bought The Blue Coupe last December. I picked it up from the Gold Coast and stayed overnight in a very salubrious motel. It was so bad I had to take a photo of the bed.
It's about time I started a post. I had originally thought of changing the motor like many have done but decided against it as I been supplied most parts including the drive train. I've been working on the little beasty but must say It's a very slow process. I must thank JR and MT for all their help to date.
My car is a bit of a hybrid as the body belonged to a different car to the frame. The frame and drive train came out of the car in red. It was pranged but the frame and drive train were OK
I'll up date with some photos of where I've got to date shortly

BlueS6Coupe

The bed looks aweful, the car however is in great hands

Peter Davis

I've pulled the body off and stripped the chassis while taking as many photos as possible to give some insights when reassembling. Photo of stripped chassis. I've now since had it sand blasted and coated with an epoxy primer. I'm gong to topcoat it with KBS Coatings chassis paint which is identical to the por15 that others have used. KBS is an Australian company. I may topcoat it this weekend if I get time.

Peter Davis

I had intended to rebuild the rolling chassis, then respray the car in white and reattach the body prior to rebuilding the motor and gearbox. The reason for that is that the car is currently in my sisters garage. I had promised I'd have it out by mid year. I however was swayed by my Swami, MT, who persuaded me to get stuck into the motor rebuild. Some photos of the motor prior and during disassembly.

Peter Davis

After the removal of the sleeves I took them to Castle Hill Motorcycles to see what they thought. See JR's post to see what the sleeves look like out. There was alot of tea staining(corrosion) in the bores and I was advised that while it was apart it was best to rebore and put in new pistons, rings and pins. The motor had been rebuilt in 1992 and was pranged not long after. The bores still had the honing marks evident when I dismantled the motor. It hadn't been run for many years. The set in it were 0.5mm oversize pistons. There are a couple of sources for pistons which are JP pistons in South Australia or Ortmanns in Germany. Believe it or not it was cheaper to buy from Ortmanns and ship to Australia. The advice also was that the quality was better from Ortmanns. So as part of a much larger order I ordered a piston set 1mm oversize.
The reason I was undertaking the rebuild was that no.3 had very low compression. When I dismantled the rings on no.3 were siezed in the piston and the bore was slightly out of round. This was another reason I decided on a bebore. Note that the piston to sleeve tolerance is to be 1 to 2 thousands of an inch which is a motorbike tolerance. Hence why I looked to motorcycle rebuilders for advice. Castle Hill Motorcycles put me onto a bloke called craig who did the rebore for me.
I cleaned up the all the parts using a parts cleaner I bought which was large enough to dip all the components in. While waiting for the parts to arrive from Germany I started polishing up engine components. You'll see the results a little further on.
The crank is what is called a " pressed crank" which means the conrods cannot be replaced without completely dismantling the crankshaft and repressing. After speaking to many people about this it appears the only trusted people to do this are either in Germany or Japan and comes at a cost of around 8000AUD. Hence no one does it and altenatively look for used cranks within tolerance.
I chose to close my eyes and hope for the best as I had no alternative crank. It does however feel good and at least was in an enclosed environment as opposed to many I've seen.
Photos below depict the reinstall of the crank after I'd installed the sleeves back into the upper case. I've use cut up tins as ring compressors and zip ties to hold together. I installed the center two first then turned the crank so to install the outer two. It was lowered in using two scissor jacks and tapped home with a rubber mallet to finish the job. The tins are captured in the flares at the bottom of the sleeves. That way the rings transition easily into the sleeves.

Peter Davis

While between jobs (procrastinating) on the motor I decided to rebuild the water pump using the kit supplied by Ortmanns. The kit for Ortmanns is made for S800's so the impellor is thicker than the s600. Rather than Lathe down the impellor I managed to source a S800 cover which then requires no modification to the impellor I used a Dremel to clean up the seal indent in the housing prior to install. I pressed the seal in with a socket as shown. The impellor was also pressed in using a socket as a spacer in a large vice. You'll also see the outcome of some of my polishing

BlueS6Coupe

Nice work

Peter Davis

Some more bits polished. Compare these to the photos above. It takes hours but the results are quite good. The black bits are polish which I'll clean off later. You'll note the crack in the thermostat housing so I've bought a better one. Ah well, no great loss. I waste far more time scratching my head trying to work out how to put this motor together.

Peter Davis

I've assembld the bottom end of the motor. I found there was a O ring seal missing from the oil pump so its good it wasn't run for long as the pressure would have been lower than even normal. I've treated the sump and repainted in a high temp engine enamel which is aluminium finish. It looks far more stock tran the navy blue it was. I buggered one of the 6mm studs in the upper casing whien torqueing down the lower casing so I've used a "recoil" to rectify. I've used aviation gasket cement to seal as there is no paper seal between the two. MT supplied me some new oil filters as part of the sale luckily. While I've given the oil filter cover a polish I didn't go to the same extent as I can't see myself or anyone laying on the ground to admire. I have installed the rear cover and flywheel. I've bought alot of new bolts as the previous "rebuild" has mixed up alot of bolts and were the wrong size. I had the wife hold the block while I torqued the flywheel bolts. That was funny

Peter Davis

In another moment of procrastination on the motor I turned my attention to the front suspension. The car had the split top wishbone which was not original for the chassis (as advised by MT). MT has since provided me with the single piece types. I believe they are a far stronger type now that I've seen both. Ortmanns supplies a kit for the single piece type. However when I cleaned them up and started sandblasting I found a couple of issues. The ball joint housing is riveted in. On one the housing has come loose and is also damaged. The other has taken a big hit from something and is out of alignment. The ball joint housing is Ok so I'll cut it out and use it on the "good wishbone". I've sourced another wishbone so will wait for it's arrival to continue. I'll be coating the suspension parts in the KBS paint. Below are some photos of the original suspension prior to its removal from the chassis. Also couple of photos of the single piece wishbones. The second last photo shows the bent wishbone and the last photo shows the alignment issue

Peter Davis

I've finally worked out how the starter system works. I test fitted the starter sprocket and starter clutch. I have a couple of issues. The starter sprocket runs on a needle roller bearing that contains 28 needle rollers. Unfortunately there are 27 one size and one much smaller. I'm guessing the previous rebuilder lost one and tried a substitute. Terrific...now I have to find one of them. The other issue I've found is with the starter clutch. MT supplied me with replacement starter caps. When I've pulled out the old ones I've found them to be much larger than the NOS ones MT supplied me. Has this motor got the S800 starter clutch on it.mmmmm

Peter Davis

After much trouble I managed to get the starter clutch apart. I had to use my butane torch to heat the body enough to break the bond of dried oil/corrossion. That was after soaking overnight in degreaser and several goes with WD40. Who knows the last time this was apart. The photos below show the pieces. I've taken some shots of the roller, spring and starter cap out then one installed. What happens is the starter sprocket, which its spigot is inside the starter clutch, spins catching the rollers sol they grip so then they spin together. When the motor starts and you stop using the starter, the rollers move back and disengage the sprocket from the clutch. Note the clutch is directly on the splines of the crankshaft. When I'm reinstalling i'll try and take some photos to explain.

Peter Davis

Below are some photos showing te body and chassis. I put the first coat of the KBS paint on today. As I said further up the KBS paint is essentially the same as POR-15 from the US. I'd had the chassis sandblasted and epoxy primed a couple of weeks ago. I've used this paint on the floor of another project I'm working on and it is extremely hard when it sets. The body is in very good nick and has only one small area of rust at the bottom of the passenger side front guard.
The third photo is of the setup I used to remove the body from the chassis. I had to strengthen up the roof to ensure it didn't fall on my head even though the body probably only weighs around 250kgs. I'm using a lintel as a spreader bar with straps though the door openings.

Well, it's time to watch the grand final

BlueS6Coupe

Does your sister appreciate the hole in her garage ceiling

Peter Davis

I promised her I'd patch it and paint the ceiling. It's going to be interesting what I'm going to do with the car when I'm finished it considering you informed me it won't get up my driveway. One option is to excavate out the front and build a big garage like a bloke did a few doors down (for his boat). So spend a 100k to build a garage to house a 20k car. Not sure if I can talk the wife into that.

Kuroneko

Great stuff. Love the details, and the large photographs. Your alumi polishing is pretty snappy too. I dremelled my rear drums for a similar, matte, finish. Neko.

Peter Davis

Cheers Neko. I hope your S car is going well. Hopefully I can get this little machine on the road in a couple of years

BlueS6Coupe

I seriously would lose the bed photo at the beginning of this thread & I think 100k to build the garage from hell ( with a bar fridge ) is the least your Mrs could allow. Big screen TV, lots of historic memorabilia, and hot spa. Lots of equipment you do not understand and will never use, BUT looks dammed impressive. I say its a GO.

Peter Davis

I put the second coat on the one side on the chassis today. No point taking a photo as it looks no different. I still have to do the underside plus put the topcoat on that KBS supplied as part of the kit.
Since I'm held up waiting for a couple of parts for the motor I thought I'd turn back to the suspension. I started sandblasting some of the components plus I did a few bolts as a test to see what they'd look like. The grit is very fine so is slow but gives a nice flat finish. There was quite a bit of corrosion in the "cups" so I'm glad I did it. I'll treat whats left of the corrosion with rust converter prior to epoxy primer then topcoats.
The first photo shows one sandblasted versus the original. Second photo is of the parts all sandblasted and the third is of a bolt head which came out really well. Fifty years of crap

BMS250FORD

You could poke one of those "cups" in the front of your shorts and you would be good to go for a game of cricket.

I think you have an early starter clutch not a later version. Ask around, someone will have one that suits the new springs and caps. The spline looks a bit dodgy too.

Peter Davis

There are those that would say It'd be a bit loose on me.

Regarding the starter MT picked up on that and is looking for a replacement for me plus a needle roller. I've also found a guy selling parts in the US who is selling a complete sprocket arrangement with needle rollers on EBAY. I've bid but who knows. My sprocket spigot is a little worn on one side from the rollers. Who knows why it would wear on one side. Its not bad but you can feel it

StreetsideStig

Such a great, detailed restoration. Cheers!

Peter Davis

Went and had a look at a modified S600 convertible today.It is advertised on EBAY. I was unfortunately dissappointed yet again. It was supposed to be restored and painted by a professional. It was running a toyota 4K engine and 5 speed with the original diff (flipped over since runs in opposite direction). If it was as it was touted to be I would have looked to convert it back to original. Unfortunately there is rust starting to show its ugly head everywhere after just a couple of years. Bumpers are straight, hubcaps good. It looks much better in the photo than in real life

Peter Davis

I started pulling the head down last evening. There is alot of corrossion in the water galleries which appears to be standard judging from what I've heard and seen. See BMS250FORD'S blog. I'm not sure whether anybody bothered using coolant although this motor was rebuilt in the 90's. I've taken the cams out. One good thing is that each of the cam holding blocks is marked. For instance the rear block on the exhaust side is marked ER. The front inlet is marked IF. I then tried pushing down each of the cam followers with my thumbs to see if the valves were free. I found no.2 and no.3 inlet valves were immovable. I've removed the studs from the inlet side and dunked it in the tub of degreaser. I'll leave it for a few days and clean it up

Peter Davis

Below is some of the suspension parts etch primed after sand blasting and rust treatment. Next KBS paint. Hopefully I'll get the replacement wishbone shortly so I can get on with it as I'll have finished with the chassis painting shortly and will be ready to build up the front suspension again