Damo

Hi Guys, Paint, back together and here she is! I still have a lot of fine tuning to do as it was rushed back together in just 3 days. I also have a little damage to take care of. I decided to go to the harbour next to the golf course to take these pics. Hapilly taking photos I was when... WHACK! You guessed it, golf ball stright into the car! Hit the steel strip under the doors which is totally stoved in now but at least it wasn't a window or paint even. See pic below. Cheers, Damo.

Hi All, I have been out of action for a while having moved from Christchurch up to the Bay of Plenty and getting life organised up here. Anyway, in that time my car has been painted and I thought I'd upload some pics to share. I am going back to Christchurch next week to assemble the car and drive it home to Ohope. I have most things ready to go apart from the badges which are still bothering me. I have been trying to strip the plate of some badges I was kindly given to test on but I haven't found a good solution yet. At the moment I am working on getting them 3D scanned and printed then plated, painted etc... If anyone has any contacts in this field please PM me! Here's the car:

It's coming along slowly! I have just moved to Ohope, in the Bay of Plenty. This is the first time I have been on the forum since. I have left the car in Christchurch and it'll be painted in a few weeks I hope. When that's done, I'll fly back for a week and put the car together and drive it up here. I'll have to pull it to bits again once it's here though to finish the resto. Cheers, Damo.

I've just been quoted $400 for stripping and re-chroming a pair for a Mitsi GTO, sound a lot? Maybe that's what you have to pay these days? Cheers, Damo

Here are a couple more pics. Yesterday I sprayed out 2 different silvers (both of which were made from the original paint code but with just a little more and larger metallic flake) and 5 different pearls. I taped them all onto the car today to try and decide on the colour. It's a tough job but I think we have it sorted now. It's the lighter of our two silvers with 'diamond blue' pearl, Spies Hecker paint. Here is the engine block all reconditioned and just freshly painted. I'm not sure what to clean the rocker cover with, any ideas? Also, I need to make another sticker for the front of it. Any one know someone in Christchurch who'll do a small job like this well and not charge a fortune for it? Right, better go! If it doesn't snow here again today I might get my brake drums off for a coat or Hammerite matt black. Cheers, Damo.

The ultrasonic is awesome! Some things that you wouldn't want to take a stiff brush too or anything with a dry crusty buildup are perfect for the ultrasonic. I usually put a little dishwashing detergent in it and have the water hot and most of the time it gives me good results. Really greasy things are just as quickly cleaned with a good degreaser I think though. Cheers, Damo.

Just looking at the parts book, the GSR is the only one with a different part number. Is it not the same though apart from the over fenders which are an add on anyway? I had a search through the completed listings on Trademe too but couldn't find the guard I was thinking of. There is a guy though selling parts in Auckland and has them listed just as 'Mitsubishi GTO 1973 parts'. He may have a guard. Cheers, Damo.

Hey Hotrod Timmy and Anglia4, the tyres are original with the white lettering although not made anymore and very hard to find. They certainly looks the biz though! I bought them on Trademe but unfortunately one of the four that I bought was a lemon, completely wrecked and the sellers didn't mention it even when asked if the tread wear was even. So I had to place some wanted ads to look for more. Worth it though to get this look. I'm just off to make some more parts! I need tail light gaskets so it's out with the scalpel! I'll take some snaps and upload them tomorrow. Damo

Hi Isaac, I'm new here too and restoring a GTO myself. I have had two GTO's previously. The body panels will be all the same I'm sure. All the different models from 1970-1977 had the same panels as far as I am aware. There was a guy selling guard(s) on Trademe a while ago. You may turn up something looking through completed auctions. Which part of NZ are you in? Cheers, Damo.

I've just started doing up the badges. Three on the car originally had green resin in them which over the years chips and falls out etc... The two on the guards are actually ok with the resin intact but the bootlid badge isn't. The one pictured here is a spare which I am going to experiment on. Last night I softened and loosen the resin up in my ultrasonic at 70 degrees and picked it out with a Swiss Army knife's can opener. It all came out cleanly and now I will clean up the edges and flat surfaces before sending it away to be re-chromed. Then I will attempt to re-fill the resin section. I'll post more pics of that when I do it. NOTE: I am looking for two more good guard badges to restore so I don't have to mess with the two on the car (in case they don't work out to well). Please let me know if you have any. Cheers, Damo.

Hi All, Seeing as this post has kicked off, thanks to 'Snoozin', I'll add pics of the progress along the way and feel free to give me any ideas too! Cheers, Damo.

Discussion - //oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/30529-damos-74-gto/ Hi Guys, I just bought these wheels and tyres and put them on the car today and thought I'd share it with everyone. Looks like flared fenders will be on the menu next! I'm just wondering about what to do about the brake drums, maybe some matt black paint will hide them a bit? The car is about to go off for paint and hopefully will be on the road in a few months. Cheers, Damo.

Awesome! Thanks for the info, I'll talk to them soon and see if I can get my tail lights done! Oh, in Christchurch by the way but moving north in a few months to the Bay of Plenty.

The front grill. Mine is the same silver all over but most have black behind the lights and on the inside part of the slats. I was wondering if there were the two tone grills for darker cards and the plain silver for lighter cars? Looking at various pics there doesn't seem to be much uniformity. My car is going off for paint soon and I just want to get everything right. Speaking of the side air vents and other plastic chrome, anyone in NZ re-coating this stuff? I just bought the Yokohama 352's which were on last week too so they should look pretty good on the car. Ive been working on it for some time now and it's getting close to finishing so I'm getting pretty excited! Cheers, Damo.

Hi All, Quick question: Were all of the GTO slat grills painted black inside the slats? I have a silver car and the grill is all silver but I want to know if it should have the black painted inside or not. Car is about to go off for paint soon. Cheers, Damo.