Here's a couple of photos of the Statesman almost 12 months ago to the day prior to giving it an overhaul & fully pimping it out
The paint had lost the clear coat & had gone all chalky,,, every time it rained it was like somebody tipping a bottle of milk all over the windows,,, minor dints in pretty much every panel, bumpers were cracked and broken mounts,,, she'd had a pretty rough 23 years of service from previous owners and my daughter learnt to drive in it for her first 6 months. Hmm was a POS!!!
There was a tonne of work involved, but here she is now. I'll need to take the front bar off at some stage and repaint it, coz when I was blocking it down I rubbed through the clear in a couple of spots, plus it got some chips when we had it off to do the minor fresh up of the 5 litre V8 engine & gearbox swap. Since this photo was taken a couple of weeks ago, I've re fitted the side skirts with Sikaflex as the 3M body tape didn't hold.
The T700 4 speed Automatic transmission died, so I tracked down a BorgWarner T5 manual, much nicer to drive & I also fitted a 13.5" sports steering wheel that's wrapped in suede. Now that the exterior is almost completed, I've started on the interior,,, nothing major happening here coz it's still in great condition & the rare 'Mulberry' colour scheme. But there's a few places like scuff plates, general wear & tear in the trim plastics that are showing their age from 23 years of service. The center console compartment lid got sent off to be re-upholstered because the leather wrap was cracking in places, they did a nice job, but even after supplying the original, they never bothered to do it in the right colour,,, so no they won't be getting any more work from me
A tidy up of the engine bay included removing the injector covers & throttle body covers, valve covers & stripping them back before coating in high temp red, plus the bunch of bananas' manifold got a coat of high temp satin black. All the wiring harness in the engine bay was completely rebuilt as there were lots of little electrical issues,,, turned out quite a bit of the original wiring had deteriorated & I'm surprised it didn't short out & catch fire. The brake booster got reconditioned & I fitted a new heater tap, and full set of silicone coolant hoses. It was actually cheaper to buy a kit that has every hose in silicone than it would have been to replace just the upper and lower radiator hoses with the genuine factory hoses?
Lots and lots of blocking got the panels looking sweet
The roof was a nightmare being jet black with a 1/4 blend of the gunmetal metallic, that was also tinted in crimson & blue pearls,,, but the hard work seems to have paid off.
And for those who want to hear it,,, this short clip is how she sounds
http://vid1344.photobucket.com/albums/p ... tyv7qs.mp4
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With a gas axe & slide hammer anything will fit