Panels ready for painting.

All the panels except for the bonnet have now been repaired. A lot of work has been put into repairing the rust in the doors and minor damage to the guards as well. The marks you see in the third photo are from the equipment used to heat and shrink the metal back into or as close to the original. The name of the tool escapes me at the moment however it is an electric tool which replaces the old oxy torch and wet rag. As you can see the rear of the panel was painted with POR15 and there is no damage to the paint except for the swirl marks. All the eight panels should all be painted by mid to late January, then starts the long job of putting the doors back together. Somewhere during this time I will take the shell in to to the trimmer and have the hood lining and all the other trimming completed. Sorry about the quality of the photos as they were taken on my phone.

 Right rear guard.

 Front left guard.

 These marks are from heating and cooling the metal 

to bring it back into shape.

 I had repaired and painted this guard however I was unhappy 

with the finished job so I had it re done.

The rear panel was one of the worst panels to repair.

There were lots of holes to weld up and general damage.

This is not the original panel as the original was badly 

rusted on the bottom.

Wiring Loom.

The wiring loom arrived back from Victoria yesterday. All the wires to the engine bay have been replaced, lots of new plugs fitted and re wrapped in the original grey vinyl. I have fitted the loom up to the dash and instruments and run the small loom for the interior light etc. The next job which will be the most difficult will be replacing the loom back into the car. I remember all too well putting a new loom into my last Gordini and it was by no means easy. I will start at the left A pillar and pull the harness to the rear which I think will be the easy section then starting on the right A pillar feed the front harness into position. This will all have to wait a week or so as I am recovering from a bout of infected sinus at the moment and as from Monday night I'm back working nights for the week. Oh the joy.

 Re-fitting the harness to the dash and instruments.

Lucky I kept some good notes.

 The dash back together.

The section of loom to go to the rear of the car.

Pulling the harness into the front of the car.

 The dash is finally bolted into place for good.
A little tidying up of the harness is required.
The steering wheel will have a leather cover made for it.

Running the harness across the front.

Finally, the gearbox is in.

The gearbox is finally back in the car. I started last night with the help of my son Michael fitting up the half shafts. Let me tell you that was a job in its self. We couldn't line up the right axle to the diff so we swapped to the left side and that went in OK. Then the right again, and with the diff now centered by the left axle we managed to get it fitted without much trouble.
Today we fitted the cross member, springs etc and put it up into the car. I was only able to get Alpine A110 axle straps which are about 40mm shorter than original however I was told by the supplier they are good with a car on 13 inch wheels. These shorter straps also gave trouble as the spring needs to be compressed further to fit the straps. Another replacement part that gave trouble were the side the mounts. The rubber is different and you can't get the nuts on easily because for the larger rubber fitted. However with the problems of fitting some of the parts its all completed now.

 All 3 mounts replaced.

 Spring compressed off the car then the inner tied with fencing wire 

to hold it and inner compressor removed prior to fitting.

 Spring compressor needed a helping hand.

 All together and ready to be fitted to the car.

Fitted in the car with some degree of difficulty.

Preparing the gearbox

My parts have arrived from Belgium so I have started putting the gearbox back together. I have replaced the bearings, gaskets and seals. I hope to have it all back together tomorrow and fitted back into the car. The wiring harness is finished and is in the hands of Australia post at the moment! Am I worried about that? You bet I am!!!

 Ready for a new bearing and oil seal

 Old seal on the left. I think it was still OK as the rubber 

was still soft but replaced anyway.

 Universal end cap removed. It will be repacked with grease 

before being replaced.

 Uni Joint.

 Spacers to go back in before the bearing shell.

 Repacked and ready to go back together.

 New oil seal and dust cap on the selector arm.

The box leaked from the bottom of the bell housing gasket. 

New spigot seal and gasket fitted.

Doors and panels on the go.

The doors have now been repaired with the rust removed. New corners have been manufactured and welded in place. I'm very happy with the progress and quality of work on the panels so far. A little more work and they will be primed and painted next week.
The box of bits from Belgium is now on its way so I will be able to complete the gearbox and install it. There are also windscreen rubbers and rear door seals as well so all the doors can be completed and fitted once their painted.

 Inside of the door showing the repair section folded

and welded in place.

 Outside of one of the doors showing the repair 

sections ready for finishing and painting.

Repairs are completed on this door and its ready to be 

blocked back, primed and painted. 

Some of the rusty sections that have been removed from 

the doors and new sections made and welded in place.

Another great old photo.

This photo was sent to me by John Sever (original owner). It was taken in 1968 when the car was only a few months old. It was taken in the Civic car park in Canberra which is now lost to a high rise building. The Gordini still has the factory supplied Dunlop SP3 Sport tires fitted. The number plates are the original NSW plates before the car was registered in the ACT.

The restoration is still in wait mode, you know, the long weight!! According the the company who has my harness it has been put on the RUSH list (ha ha). The panels I sent away for repair have been repaired and waiting for a lick of paint before they come home, hopefully soon. I am also waiting for another parcel of parts from Belgium which include parts for the gearbox, window seals, front and rear screen rubbers, pedal rubbers and axle straps. I bet everything comes at the same time and I won't know where to start.

Time to start on the gearbox.

Its time to start on the gearbox and make the shell movable again. I have cleaned the gearbox and cross member and will start to pull it apart tomorrow for re painting and new rubbers, mounts etc. You will notice in the photos it is fitted with a K Mac rear stabiliser bar which will be removed, also the axle tubes have an amount of daffodil yellow paint on them. This makes me ask the question why? My car has a documented problem with the gearbox going back to its early days (see early posts of letter from Renault Australia). It also has no racing or rally history so why the stabiliser bar? Where did the yellow paint come from? I'll post the answer here when I know for sure.

 Note the K Mac stabiliser bar.

Daffodil Yellow on both axle tubes. Why?