View new posts | View your posts Aussie 1960 Miller Meteor Ecto-1

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The rack is 99% done, I just need to get some black foam for the back rests.

This is probably turning into more of a "restoration" thread than an Ecto thread, but here's some more work that's been done on my car recently:

These are the front floor sections. Nearly done, but as you can see there are still sections towards the firewall that need replacing. The front inner rockers have been replaced as well (outer rocker skins will be welded on when everything else is finished).

The rust repairs are nearing completion. My panel beater finished up the firewall today and will be installing the outer rockers tomorrow, then onto the floor sheetmetal next week. I should have the car back in a couple of weeks.



More photos at: http://s195.photobucket.com/albums/z114/rickth81/Ecto/

And the Proton Pack gurney is now 100% done with the addition of padding on the back rests. It's a crap photo, but here it is in my messy, crowded garage:

Viry nice job on the side bottom of the the firewall the body men know how to work and thank you Rick for sharing the photobucket I have the same repair to make on my M+M and now those pictures will help me a lot .

Martin

Thanks drcaron. I figured these photos might be helpful for you and Kris and a few others that are doing major surgery your cars. I wish I could take the credit for the work but I chickened out and left it to a professional. Glad I did because it's a lot of work.

The rockers are almost done

The front floors are nearly done. Greg had to rebuild the body mounts underneath before he could start on the sheetmetal. So far the steel is cut and tacked in, ready to be welded tomorrow.






So much rust, so little money

The sills and floors are now done, and that's my budget gone for the year! There's still some more rust repairs to be done around the rear bumper, plus the lower skins on all 5 doors need to be replaced, but that's a job for 'ron. The car is coming home on Saturday.

Rick, even though you stole that car out from under me, you are treating her well so I can forgive you for taking it half way around the world.

It's looking great man, I can't wait to see this thing in red and white.

I did you a favour, this one turned out to be as rough as guts. The one you ended up with looks a lot better. Even that black one in LA with the smashed windscreen probably would've had less rust. But if I had my time again I probably would've made an offer on the "1A" from Queensland that Chris Miller eventually bought. In any case, despite sinking a lot of cash into it, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

By the way, I'm off to the USA next week so if you want to catch up for beers in NYC or DC give me a yell. I'll be travelling across the country through June/July.

So much big job done in a short a time your body men deserved a couple a beer ,now is the time to reload the bank account for you but til you have enough money you can working on some litle equipment parts .

P.S. Thank you again Rick for sharing thoses pictures .

Martin

Body MAN, just one guy did all this work in 8 weeks. He's a metal magician. Not cheap, but he did a lot more in 8 weeks than I could manage in a year and a half.

GLORIOUS. Just Glorious.

The car came home on Saturday. It's been rather crappy weather since then but I managed to clean and POR15 the front cabin.




Greg also recommended the best way to preserve the outer sills in the mean time (until a proper paint job) is to acid wash them then throw on a couple coats of regular spray enamel.




That's about it for now. I'm off on holidays for 4 weeks, but when I get back I'll be sanding, cleaning and POR15'ing under the floors and chassis and trying to save some money for the next round of body work - rear bar, lower door skins and fenders.

WOW Rick. Floors and Rockers look great! Thank you for posting those pictures, they will come in handy for when I begin replacing the floors and rockers in my Caddy. Greg did beautiful work. I hope that I can get mine to look even a fraction that good.

Very excited to see this project progress.

I love that it's RED - but I also like where this is going. Looking forward to the updates to come!

It'll be white with red fins eventually.

On another note, I now have a donk for my Caddy I picked it up from the freight depot today. It's a 1960 390, just needs a minor rebuild, some ancillary parts, and a transmission!



The engine in the background is the 351 Cleveland out of my XBGT, it also needs a minor reco because it hasn't been run in 6 years. So many cars, so little spare cash.

Simply beautiful!

Totally grand, mate! Looking forward in your finishing progress!

So many cars, so little spare cash,I do understand you I am in same situation as you and I probaly sale my 59 M+M to have more space and cash for finish my 1959 Superior ,the dame rechrome cost to much .
Like you I use to restored vintage 67/68/ mustang so small and easy to restored to compare of to the old hearse ambulance .


Martin

Rick did your metal guy bead roll all those floor pans or did you buy them ?
Just an outstanding job.

The bucket sections that go behind the drivers seat were made by Daniel in Canada, but my metal guy fabricated the front sections. I did supply the drivers side front which I bought from C2C but he said it was rubbish and made his own.

The inner/outer/upper rocker sections were made by Daniel also.

Ack, when that happens, it puts you back abit or more on the financies, eh? Parts you don't need you bought or took time to make yourself that ends up not being useful, what do you do with them? Especially parts that only you can use? Put it up on Ebay, or post on the GB website? For example, if you had a Ecto EQ roof rack frame to sale, I'm sure someone on the GB forums would bite... thought the handling and shipping might be a chunk outta the pocket to be shipping something that size...

Eh... what am I saying? No one knows "shipping something that size" better than you! If I remembered right, shipping your Ecto to your home residence from Mexico must have been monsterous, not to mention going through customs. but I applaud you, mate. You are one of the grand Ecto Heroes we all are giving utmost moral support! Keep up the good works and stride on, Rick!

DO RITE!

Thanks Odie. It has been a goddamn expensive exercise so far. Had I known it was this rusty I wouldn't have bought it. I can't register it with even a gram of rust, has to be all steel, no bondo jobs.

At the moment the Ecto is on the backburner because my XB GT is so much closer to being finished and I'd rather see that done first. l also need to do another dash-for-cash to Afghanistan before I can spend any major dollars, the standard weekly paycheck isn't cutting it at the moment.

I feel for you , brother. If only we could get unlimited funding from somewhere that can help us achieve our goals in building the whole lot of our GB impliments! Namely, the Ecto mobile! But I guess would take away the purpose and noble cause of it all if it was that easy, eh?

Dang darn! You're right. The requirement for your vehicle to be legit, it must be totally metal. Whatever people from other countries believe from watching those "Mad Max" films, is not true when it comes to "multiple parts road cars" being alright... heh (Wow, we got alot of bondo cars that I know here running on the roads... yeah, they hid the repairs quite well... ). Mehp, here in Hawai'i in order a car to be legal, to pass the state law safety inspection, it must have near brand new parts for it to pass... like brand new tires, exhaust, or a brand new front steering suspension. Once one station they said to me: "You gonna need new bushings, ball and joint, and steering linkage." My other car, a '92 Honda Accord S/W LX, wasn't really in bad shape, there was very little play in the steering, but they said "It was for safety requirements." Bull whack! I went to another safety inspection station and it just about made it in passing... the only significant blurp was one brake light lamp that needed replacing,.. no razz about the front suspension from them. Whatever happen to the "As long it is in proper working order" requirement?.

Well, enough of my belly aching, you on the other hand have more things to tackle, and I do hope you sir, will be most successful!