Anybody do restoration projects?

Not sure how many people are like me and dig old stuff. My wife is getting a little perturbed that I'm not completing the many old projects that keep adding up at our house...heh.

My newest vehicle is a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. It's my wife's car, and it's "new" enough that it's still okay as-is.

My daily driver is a 20 year old 97 Jeep TJ Wrangler Sport. It's pushing 240,000 miles and it's the closest to totally restoring to (modded) new that I've done yet. New suspension, steering, wheels/tires, 4" lift, total frame restoration, soft top, bumpers, etc. I'm on the verge of getting a rebuilt engine and transmission just to finish it, but they're still working fairly well.

I have a '91 Dodge W150 4x4 truck that I'm kind of working on right now. It's two years before Dodge went away from the square look, and it's still a beast. Kind of like the Jeep's inline 6 4.0L, the Dodge's 318 is nearly indestructible. I bought it for $250 a few years ago as a farm truck and have probably put about $2500 into it. Got it in the shop right now to fix a fuel pump problem and having them go ahead and put new tires on it (add about $1100). I think the old tires might have still been original or maybe changed once in 27 years...yikes! It's always been a farm truck even before I bought it, and since I bought it about five years ago I might have put 300 miles on it. No idea how many miles are on it, the odometer broke before I bought it and it's stuck at 89,000. All I need to complete this as a restoration is clean up the interior, new wheels, just a touch of body work for a little rust on the aft quarter panels on the back wheel wells, and new paint.

My latest project is a 1952 Ford 8N tractor that I bought from my dad. He had it for about 20 years, and it sat in his barn non running for about five years. I bought it and brought a friend with me who got it started up again in about 20 minutes. I've done a decent tune up to it and it fires right when I hit the starter now. Yet another indestructible engine! It's actually a Ford Model A engine but about half of the horse power. I have it purring now so there are only a couple small things I need to do mechanically and the main thing I'm looking at is sandblasting the tins (rear fenders and hood) and repainting everything to the original colors. As THE top selling tractor of all time there are still brand new parts and paint for a 65+ year old machine (they started building them in '42, so 75 year old...lol). Since my 3 acre property isn't being used as farm land, my idea is to make a show/parade tractor. Haven't had to worry much about snow for the past two years, but I might get a blade so I can eventually push snow if I need to...lol.

I bought a boat last year. A 1976 17' Larsen Bowrider I/O speed boat. Close to restored the way it sits, but I had a hydraulic trim pump start leaking, so I need to get it fixed. Only a couple small things like refinishing some wood trim and it's as good as new.

About 3-4 years ago I bought a 1966 Seeburg DS-160 jukebox (and about 300 45RPM records) from a friend. I have NO clue or recollection about how to troubleshoot tubes. It should work, but it currently doesn't. I have a friend who knows a bit about them and is supposed to come over someday to take a look at it and then it will be good to go.

I think that's about all I have on my project list that my wife keeps telling me I should at least finish one before starting another...lol.

Did a couple of my 1972 Challengers back in the 80's.

p.s.
If I had kept them I would be a rich guy now...lol

My current project is restoring a hot tub. My middle son got it a couple of years ago in part payment for some work he did, but he could not get it to run properly, I never asked and he never volunteered any info about it but just before Christmas he said he was going to dump it as it didn't work and that his wife didn't want to use it. So I said I'll have a look at it for him but he said he was still going to dump it ... and so he put it on a trailer and dropped it off at my house.

The weather has finally improved enough that I can have a look at it, and today I managed to prove all was still running on it The previous owner had tried to rewire the heater and made a hash of it so I have corrected the wiring and found the fault - a corroded pressure sensor, I have replaced that and the heater now works.

Now to clean the tub and re-varnish the wood.

As it arrived:



Heater wiring


First cleaning of the tub

That's a lot of water jets!

I've got a Mk3 Triumph Spitfire from 1970 on the go. It will (should) look like this when finished:



It's about one quarter done - all panels replaced and made good on the tub. Replacement bonnet, front valance, doors and boot lid acquired. Next up taking the tub off the chassis to see what awaits beneath. Slow going!

47 water and 10 air

Cleaned the tub out and filled it to check the pumps, they all work Phew! They did blow a lot of dirt etc. out of the tubes so will continue to clean and sterilise the tub, no leaks found so that is good but the light don't work

As for car projects, my youngest is busy with his BMW 325iX and needs it on the road for June




our next project is to restore my MG ZT after an accident and that is it sitting at the back.

I restored a 1976 Kawasaki Z1B from rat bike to original, cost a shed load to do and lost another shed load when I sold it.
The way there value has risen I'd have made a tidy profit if I still had it and sold it now

That's one hell of a bike Mark.

I had a 1976 Z1R (back from 1983 to 1988) when I was an apprentice mechanic.
The guy I bought it from had taken off the turbo (it was a TC)

I overhauled the engine over the winter and over-bored it from 900 up to 1300.

Seriously fast machine.

Hey how could i overlook that!
Have restored two Spitfires myself (1975 1500 and a 1969 Mk3 1300), and some other cars meanwhile.
For me, the Triumph Spitfire Mk.III is one of the prettiest and best-designed cars, easily in one league with the Jaguar E type or even a Ferrari Lusso from 1961. Certainly less power and less expensive, but the form... absolute fun driving, and also to race if you throw some money at it. Needs a bit of tweaking since the body does not do the same as the rolling chassis, sounds like thundering inside. Only backdraw is the rear axle of the pre MkIV types, but you can also improve that � not that it is necessary in normal circumstances.
Why the hell did i sell the Mk3?!
I am currently looking for a Mk3 again, or a GT6 Mk2. if possible within Europe..

Wish you all the best with your restoration, it takes time but is worth it. You can even repair the Overdrive unit youself (does it have one?). If you need help regarding ignition or carburettor (as long as its SU HS types, not Stromberg) setup, let me know. Good luck and have fun!

Also loved this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daVDrGsaDME

It's not a restoration but rather a complete rebuild, but I'm tearing my 1990 Jeep Wrangler down to the frame and building it as my mud bog play toy.

As it was when I bought it - 4.2l I6, 5-speed manual, 4" lift, 33x10.5" tires, and 3.07:1 gears.



And as it sits right now, just a rolling chassis sitting on the new axles.



I have the engine (Mercedes 3.0l I5 diesel), transfer case (stock), and axles (Ford 1-ton front & GM 1-ton rear), and basically just need to get the suspension, steering, and transmission. I'm going with a GM 4-speed automatic, and most likely 2" lift springs. These, on top of the 6" lift gained by moving the springs from under the axles to on top, will give me plenty of room to run 38" tires. Come springtime I should be in my own house and I'll have the Jeep stripped to the frame, which will get a few small repairs and paint inside & out. Then it's basically installing the suspension & driveline, body, and engine. I'll most likely build my own wiring harness instead of adapting a commercially available one. Last thing is paint, and then it'll be time to go play LOL

I had a lot of cars back in the day and one was a Healey 3000. I got it for free from my girlfriends father and spent the summer getting it running and painted and such. This was a long time ago and things were a bit different back then because I remember finding two parts cars for it in some guys yard. I stopped and asked if he wanted to sell them and he told me to get them out of there. It was a neat roadster and a great summer ride.

Its not a Porsche or a Mustang etc, but i'm trying to rebuild it bit by bit. Sadly the paint job is crap and i'm slowly chipping away at the mechanical. ie...throttle stuck today. Very scary lol