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Custom Ke 55 Ground Up Restoration.


MIKE KE55

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I need a combination cluster, front and rear seats, lest I can fit a roll cage and eliminate the tear seats. Need a surge tank, blank out the fuel pump and install a external pump and lines. Remote oil filter, oil cooler, new clutch setup, floor carpet and odd rubbers.

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So I'm starting on the front end while I'm cash strapped. I'm using the existing light surrounds to mock up a mounting plate for the dual lights.

 

I'm panel beating out damage from a previous accident and right now I'm acid dipping the battery tray.

 

I'm slowly stripping out the engine bay so I can deerstalking it and prep it for paint. If I get it my way it will be the only paint I have that I really want to look great.

 

Any colour suggestions?

 

I also have mentioned I've two engines(4K, the 13B comes later) . One which I've got running in the youtube link seems Ok but the truth is both are untested. Either way I will clean them up and paint where applicable.

 

When it all goes back in I will tuck the loom, not that there's much of anything to tuck but hey.

post-14325-0-94297400-1364792083_thumb.jpg

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This is a pic from the front of the damage. It hit something on an angle and tore the bottom of it 60mm and pinched an 20mm strip flat up against the outside of the chassis. Most of it I've already done in this pic. The first or left of those three grooves was flat and heavily creased.

post-14325-0-99013100-1364792486_thumb.jpg

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So after work today I continued with the front end and emptied the engine bay of a/c, loom, coil and it and every other pipe but for the break booster and fuel lines.

 

I don't know the exact legalities for it but I'd like to blank out the mechanical fuel pump and set up new fuel lines and an external pump with a surge tank to compensate for the radical g force one can expect from a n/a 4k.

 

Next on the to do list is pull out the front end, strip and paint it and add it to the ever increasing pile of bits I've taken off the car.

 

Looks like I will need to get a rotisserie to throughly deal to the underneath of her.

 

I've got the workshop manual, and being that I'm keeping her in original trim, I'm confident I will be able to put her back together again.

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Yeah, there are a couple of serious rebuilds going on that involve rotisseries at the moment, they seem to be the way to go.

 

Some serious panel shaping to take place, this will be quite a unique machine at the end.

 

The surge tank is no big deal unless you want it to look cool. You can see what we did in the rally car build, just something where fuel drops into it very easily and it can run the car for a minute at the most.

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Cheers mate, I try and find you car and have a squiz. A mate of mine rotisseried one and looking at picks made me realise it would take the pain out of a lot of work that I'd like to do.

 

I appreciate so much about the KE55 but some parts of other cars looks better so ratrod it is or japanese mopar, we'll see.......

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Spent a lot of time paint removing today. Dipped all the brackets off the engine and removed the sway bar and mount and stabiliser and dipped them too.

 

Going to block not tomorrow and dip the running gear and crossmember etc.

 

Continued beating the passenger front quarter to the shape I like. Committed to a custom front grill to support it all and tie it in.

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Spot cleaned the rocker cover, it was full of gunk. You could imagine the valves and springs are also generously coated in crud. It's a dilemma because if I remove the head then it's all on and the expenses increase unnecessarily. This stage is all about body mods and roadworthiness.

 

Stripped one from the quarter panel today. Just two doors to go (luv you hardtop) one more quarter and the boot left to uncover.

 

Still dipping the front sway and assembly.

 

As a heavy rigid truck driver picking up hard waste, 38 pickups today, I collect scrap metal. I'm using my scrap cash to fund this project so unfortunately I need to be thrifty, but by maintaining my build philosophy it is a very achievable goal.

 

I will spend this weekend finishing the panel and door stripping then next week look at using paint stripper in the engine bay.

 

 

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