legendlives

It's come a long way since 2019. Since I last posted the chassis and body were separated, the chassis, suspension and axle components painted, the inside of the car painted, the headliner made and fitted (had to be fitted before the body and frame were reunited) and the body/chassis put back together. Interior panel work is largely complete. All in brushed aluminium with the rear 1/4 panels and the overhead console trimmed in metallic blue vinyl. Seats have also been trimmed in diamond-stitched blue vinyl. The wiring looms are mostly in place, only the engine loom needs finalising when the engine goes back in. Not long now, but unfortunately missed another Christmas deadline! Happy 2022 everyone!

Added a couple of little tags to locate in the original slots ' A small infill panel to cover where the clock and 'warning light' came out of. Then thoroughly scrubbed, degreased and painted the console with proper plastic paint!

It's a 302 V8 backed with a C4 automatic gearbox. I toyed with fitting a manual but concerns about cert made me stay with the auto. However, it will be converted to full manual operation (new valve body) so the original gear selector won't work. I bought a ratchet shifter and made a new console trim to fit round it. This replaces the original trim, the ash tray and the cigarette lighter as the shifter is over twice as long as the original.

Here is the car as it is now. All rust-prevented and with gobs of primer-filler. The bumpers are ABS plastic so will need different filler and primer when we get to that time!

Front wings had no damage, but there were holes for side-markers, aerial and mudflaps that needed to be gone.

The doors were hideous! Lots of previous repairs that hadn't really been done well. Lots of welding ensued. The filler you can see is like a politician - covers a large area but has no depth!

Bonnet looked like it had been stored on it's side and had rotted out in the front right corner. Cut it out, added new metal, filled, rustproofed and primed.

Just before lockdown I acquired another project in the shape of a 1979 Mustang GT 'Fox'. This is my fifth or sixth Fox bodied Mustang and, like them or loathe them it's one of my favourite Mustangs. It's been off the road for 18 years, but the plates are (thankfully) still live. One of the previous owners has done a stunning job cleaning and painting the underside and engine bay of the car (in purple!) and there is no rust in the bottom half at all. The owner either ran out of money and/or time as he managed to bare-metal the shell but only put a light coat of primer over to protect it. The result was a fair amount of surface rust. Then came lockdown with 4 weeks of spare time. Interspersed with home improvements and work on my Hot Rod I re-bare metalled the shell, repaired any panels that needed it, dug out all of the filler and re-panelled the damage, and filled the holes for aerial and door mirrors. I'm now at the stage of starting serious modifications: The original puny rear axle has been scrapped and a much stronger one is currently winging it's way from the lower North, the seats have gone and a pair of RX8 leather seats will live in their place. The fuel tank has gone to make way for a larger aluminium racing tank and I've started a few other mods which I'll update at they progress.

Scary isn't it?

The pipes from the turbos to the pressure hat are now finished and in place. We're getting there.....

Now with the snorkels welded into closing panels, and vertical panels at the side of the rad to try and force as much air through the rad as possible.

Having crewed on a drag car running on the strips of NZ for a while now it was obvious that I couldn’t get away with leaving the turbos open and sexy under the arches like all of the Drag Week/Street Outlaw guys. Particularly at Meremere where we dig out a sack full of small rocks after every run which would bugger the turbos straight away. So these big-old snorkels will draw clean (and cold-ish) air from behind the grille and duct it to the angry snails. More updates and pics on the facebook page.

A few factoids about Cheatin’ The Reaper: I named it ‘Cheatin’ The Reaper’ as after all of the stupid shit I’ve done in my life, even I’m surprised I’m still here…. The car was manufactured in 1938, making it 80 years old this year! It’s like taking your Granny and giving her heart, lungs, hips and knee transplants! I’ve been building it for 2 ½ years and spent approximately 1,000 hours on it so far. In total to date I’ve spent just over $6,000 NZ. A lot of the purchases have been luck, and in the case of the engine I sold off all of the ancillaries for almost what the engine cost me. Friends and family have donated parts and materials. There’s a lot of washing machine, cooker and (now) cooker hood metal in the build. The reaction from Facebook/RNS/Old School and Drivetribe has been excellent. It’s definitely helped me get out into the garage, and pushed me to make it better than even I imagined. It will be finished by Christmas. I’m not saying which Christmas.

Now on drivetribe: https://drivetribe.com/t/cheatin-the-reaper-f2hZgBfwTlmsWZTzJU5Shw The whole build-up from the beginning, edited down a bit(!).

New twins! When I added up the cost of rebuilding my original turbos it worked out not that much more expensive to buy new ones. With what I sold mine for I think I'm only about two hundy down!