Sydney all French day.

We headed down to the All French Car Day in Sydney today to check out some Gordini's. It was good to be reunited with my old car and to see all the others on display, 5 in all. I also met up with a one time owner of my car being Andrew Kubienski who sold it to Ara Vartoukian in January 1982.
Enjoy the photos.

 Jason Emmelkamp's very original R1135.

Steve Kozak's 1135. 

 

 James Coleborne's 1135 in 1969 Monte Carlo livery.

 R1134.

Dashboard

I finally got the dash back and it looks good. The finish I think is very close to the original. I'm about to start 2 months holidays so I hope to get a fair bit done on the car, hopefully it will look good for those coming along to the Gordini parts sales day later in the year.
I also got a price to have a set of 3 piece racing wheels with  GOTTI centers made at 13 x 5.5 inch. $2,600 for a set of 4. I would prefer a set of Cosmic Ribsters though.

 Refinished dash.

 Click on the photo to get a better look at the finish.

Waiting for the wiring harness to come back so I can plug it all back in.

I have to get the instruments rebuilt as well.

More parts on the way.

I have ordered more parts from Belgium to keep the project rolling along. Caliper kits, heater hoses etc. I have also sent the wiring harness to Victoria to have it checked, re-built and re wrapped.
I took the dash to the local Powder Coater's last week. They have a textured finish that replicates the original finish almost exactly (much better than the spray can wrinkle finish). When I went to pick it up yesterday I was not happy with the finish near the Speedo hole so I asked them to do it again. They were less than happy with my request stating they were trying to save me money!! I quickly told them I would not accept a half arsed result and things should be done properly the first time (good business sense). They had the hide to complain that it would now cost them money. It should be ready by Thursday.

Rebuilding the brakes.

I have disassembled the brake calipers to rebuild them. They come up quite nice when sand blasted. Unfortunately the right front caliper has a crack in one of the pad locating fingers so I have replaced that one with another from the parts bin. The only difference being the prefix of the number stamped on the back of the caliper.

Before being cleaned and sand blasted.

 Sand blasted, honed and cleaned ready for new seals and re-assembly and fitting.

Suspension goes in.

I spent the past day or so putting the front suspension back together. I now remember how much of a pain it is replacing the front bearings and dust seals. I was struggling to get the new rack boots on the rack while it was in the car and I remembered my elastrator. An elastrator is used to place the castrating bands on lambs and calves and it worked a treat. The photos below show it being used on an old rack boot.
I also got the booster back on Thursday which ended up costing $600.00 to rebuild instead of the quoted $800.00. That has now found its way back in place along with the rebuilt master cylinder. The rebuild kit came from South Australia as not many people stock the 22mm dia kit- (PBR- K7339X).

Brake Booster back after rebuild.

Elastrator- closed.

Elastrator open.

Using the elastrator to stretch open an old rack boot (you get the idea).

The shell is now in the shed.

I have finally moved the shell from the open front shed to the garage. I received all my ball joints etc so I'm almost ready to start on the front suspension. As you can see in the photos the "G" is going back together well.

 New ball joints fitted.

 Getting there but a long way to go.

In good company with my 1975 Jaguar XJC-V12.

Suspension components ready.

I sandblasted all the suspension components and painted them in RFU chassis black ready to be refitted. Small problem being, getting new bushes and ball joints! I also stripped the paint off the front tank and repainted it in gloss RFU.
The Gordini heater matrix is a bit second hand so I took that to my local radiator man who is going to have a new core made and fitted, he thinks that it will cost around $200.00. If all else fails I have a good R10 unit I can use.
The brake booster has been sent to Sydney for a rebuild and the latest on that is it might cost around $800.00!! I'm getting another quote for that.

 Suspension parts just after being removed from the car.

After sandblasting and painting.

Front tank looking as good as new.