Restoration Of Our 1959 Mk2 Zephyr Lowline.
- Steve & Sonia Pope
- Gowrie Junction
- Toowoomba
- Queensland
- Australia
Restoration
Start Date - 27th March 2006
March 2006 I started to get the bug to restore a car,
after searching the net for something I started leaning towards a Humber Super
Snipe. Sonia my wife always wanted a Mk2 Zephyr, this being the first car she
had ever driven which belonged to her brother. I myself had grown up around
Zephyrs being New Zealand born and having owned 2 Mk1’s back in the 70’s, both
of which were thrashed to death and ending up in a graveyard of old cars after
going through a boot load of rear axles and spending a lot of time un jamming
the gear linkages. These cars were fast for their era capable of 95mph.
In late March I decided it was going to be a Zephyr
that would become a member of our family, so I started searching and found a
Mk2 on EBay for sale. It was a 1959 Mk2 Lowline with a starting bid of $700. We
drove for an hour and a half and had a look at the car. The motor and auto were
out and the motor in bits. The body was straight, the sills were rusting, the
boot was rust free, chassis rails were clean and the floor seemed ok. All in
all it was in pretty good nick. The motor bits etc were spread throughout the
car. We drove back home, thought about it and decided we would bid on it. We
won the car for $730 on the 26th March. On the 27th we
went back to where the car was to transport it home. After loading it on to a
trailer I started checking around and found that there were parts missing. The
head wasn’t there nor was the drive shaft or the radiator, the air cleaner, the
carbie and manifold. The bloke said the head at some place in Brisbane and he
would get it for me and that the other parts could be in a shed of his mates.
Oh well we will sort it out later. Needless to say, none of the missing parts
have turned up. The car was home and in the garage that night.
As this was going to be a ground up restoration with
an estimated cost of around $20,000 the big strip down was started. Everything
was stripped out of the old girl till it was a bare shell except for the front
suspension and the diff as I needed to get it to the sand blaster. As parts
were stripped out the nuts, bolts etc were bagged and labelled. Everything was
removed, right down to the last nut and clip. We discovered the right rear
floor pan was dying from cancer, apart from that there wasn’t any other major
rust problem.
3 weeks after we got her she was off to the
sandblaster. This will show up any rust I can’t see. $550 later she was back
home in the shed and surprisingly there wasn’t any more rust that I didn’t know
about apart from a few pin holes here and there in the floor, which will be
welded up. She is all clean and painted with black epoxy etch primer, that has
certainly saved me weeks of scraping and sanding.
The front
suspension and the diff were then stripped out and the shell put on stands, so
now there isn’t a bolt or nut left on it.
I have
decided that I need to be able to rotate the car to work on it underneath as I
don’t want to be lying on the floor trying to grind and repair rust etc, so I
am going to build a rotisserie for it. I found a set of plans on the net to
build one and it looks strong and reliable. It is going to cost around $400 all
up, which I think isn’t bad.
I am going to
replace the inner, intermediate and outer sills on both sides of the car. That
way I will know that I have removed all the rust. The biggest problem I have at
the moment is the right rear floor pan. Where the hell am I going to get one?
I have
started cleaning up some parts and painting them and am now working on the
front suspension and steering. All the rubbers, bushes, tie rod ends and ball
joints are going to be replaced. The front struts are going to be a problem. I
am going to have to find a pair of second hand ones in good nick I think.
That is where our project is up too on the 5th
may 2006
Restoration
Update Part 2 – 20th May 2007
Things are slowly moving along on the old girl. I have
built the rotisserie (view plans here Rotisserie Construction) and have the car mounted and
rotating 360°. Geez doesn’t that make life a lot easier. No more bending or
lying on the floor. I can rotate the car to any position I want and work on it
with ease, either standing or sitting. I would highly recommend to anyone doing
a full restoration to spend the money and a bit of time to make one. It is
going to make life a lot easier when it comes time to refit all the bits and
pieces under the car as well. Just turn the car on its side and do all the work
standing up.
We laid out a
fair wack of money on a new compressor and a Mig welder, so money was a bit
short for a while, so buying the sill panels had been on the back burner till
now. The Mig is a gas/gasless one and can be turned down to 25 amps, which is
good for welding the thin sheet metal and not burning it away. I was using my
brother in-laws one for the rotisserie, but it only went down to 50 amps and
was just destroying the car panels, hence the reason for the new Mig.
I have been
working on the bodywork (Shell) of the car, sanding back the black etch primer
to bare metal, panel beating and applying a thin layer of that nasty bog to
smooth off and a new coat of grey etch primer applied. I was surprised at the
amount of lead filler these cars have in them, all of which needed a thin layer
of bog to smooth off the surface from sandblasting. The rear of the car has had
a good wack at some stage and has taken a lot of panel beating to get it
straight. There was a fair bit of bog in it hiding all the dents, but it all
looks good now.
The driver’s side has also had a good wack at some
stage of its life and I have spent a lot of time getting the centre door pillar
back into the right shape. It was not an easy job due to the shape of it. If I
had another pillar in good nick I would have replaced it. I have rehung the
doors and it all seems to line up OK.
The more I get into this car the more I reckon it has
been restored at some stage before, or it has had a pretty bad accident. Things
just don’t seem right. There is bog in places where no one would have access to
unless it was stripped down in a big way and some of the panels under the car
are different between the left hand side and the right hand side, but that could
be due to the fact that it was built in the change over period from Highline to
Lowline. There are a lot of little things that don’t seem right in my mind.
The Shell is done apart from the sills, which is the
next job on the list; I ended up having to make the rear floor pan myself as
there was absolutely nothing available anywhere. I designed what I wanted in
AutoCad and had it laser cut then just folded it and welded as necessary. It
all went together first time round and without a problem. Unless you knew it
had been replaced you probably wouldn’t pick it without close inspection.
I have
ordered the outer sills from Rare Parts, a company in Western Australia who
make these and other panels, they are made as per the originals. Not cheap, but
worth it to keep the car looking original. The inner and middle sill panels are
being made by a local company. I’m not looking forward to doing the sills, but
once they are done it will be full steam ahead, Anyone want to do them for me?
Spray putty will be applied where needed and a coat of DeBeer 2 pack high build
primer surfacer to get a nice smooth straight finish, The under body, wheel
arches, inner rear guards etc are going to get a coat of C-Guard which is stone
guard come sound deadener which has a ripple look. It’s the same stuff you see
on new cars, usually on the sills etc, once that is done it will be time for a
nice glossy coat of DeBeer 2 Pack Kenilworth Blue to the inside, underneath,
engine bay etc.
I have
decided that I am going to replace all the door skins with new ones. That way
there won’t be any bog or rust repairs in them and the line will be nice and
straight. I can get full door skins for $280 each or half ones for $85 each.
Once I have had a good look at the doors after stripping the paint off I will
decide which way to go.
I have found
myself a parts car at last. It is complete and Auto which is good as I needed a
new Auto steering box housing. Only problem with it is that it is a Highline,
but not to worry as it was the mechanicals that I was after. And it is a bit of
a mix of High and Lowline being one of the last of the 1959 Highlines.
Anyway, that is where I am up to with her. The next
write up will be done once the colour has been applied and new suspension,
steering etc has been installed. I will feel like I am getting somewhere once
the bits and pieces start being fitted.
Cheers
Steve &
Sonia
Restoration
Update Part 3 – 7th August 2007.
The rust repairs and
preparation of the shell has finnaly come to an end, and not soon enough. The
sills would have to be the worst part of the job so far and I wouldn’t wish it
on anyone. And to think there is a Ute sitting here waiting for the same
treatment this baby is getting, Hmmmm. It has been a hard slog with many cuts,
bruises and burns, even the odd scar to remind me of the work that has gone
into this restoration job. Today I finally applied the Top Coat to the shell
underbody, inside the car, the boot and engine bay. All the seams where metal
meets metal were filled with Sikaflex seam sealer. The underside then had a
coat of sound deadener (C-Guard) applied before the top coat. I will let the
pictures tell the story. Next job is to install all the new steering,
suspension, brake parts, brake and fuel lines and diff, then drop it on it’s
wheels and touch up where the rotisserie attached to the car.
Cheers
Steve & Sonia
Restoration
Update Part 4 – 12th January 2010
Been a while
and the car has been sitting for near 2 years, geez time flies. It’s good to be
finished with the rust repairs for a while and get on to something different.
First job was to rebuild the suspension, steering with all new parts. What I
thought would be an easy job turned out to be a bit of a battle. The biggest
nightmare was the struts, but with perseverance and help from my son we managed
to succeed and I am very happy with the outcome. Everything is so tight with no
slop or play anywhere, thanks to the urethane bushes. A wise investment I
think. The front hubs have been rebuilt with new bearings, cones and seals, the
same at the rear. New brake cylinders with stainless sleeves fitted as well as
all new brake pipes, it will be interesting to see if I have any leaks as I
made them all myself. It was a very easy job to do with a swaging tool kit
which I got of eBay for about $30 I think, just bought a roll of brake pipe and
the fittings and made them up as I went.
All the fuel
lines have been refitted as well as the Petrol tank Steering box and associated
parts have been restored and fitted as well as a new master cylinder.
I am going to fit a twin carbie set up so have had the
manifold bead blasted to look like new
and have rebuilt 2 Zenith carbies to go. The rebuild kits I got from EBay UK at
a fraction of the cost that I could get them elsewhere, these included all new
gaskets, jets, diaphragm etc.
The motor block went to be cleaned out shaved and
machined to take +.40 pistons and the crank went to be machined and balanced to
take -.20 bearings. The head was machined and shaved and I had hardened valve
seats fitted so I can run on unleaded petrol as well as all new valves fitted.
The Cam was sent to be warmed up to Stage 1. Motor is now assembled with new
pistons etc, head is not fitted yet though, Motor is all painted up and looking
new.
The Auto
Transmission has been cleaned up, the filters cleaned, new sump gasket, new
front and rear seals fitted and a couple of coats of paint, I will reinstall it
without doing a recon due to the cost and see how it goes.
Note:: that
all part books seem to list the wrong rear seal as I found out after purchasing
one and it being nowhere near the right size. Even part suppliers stock the
wrong one as being Mk2 Auto. It is actually the same rear seal as on the manual
box
The car with
all the doors bonnet boot etc went off to the panel beater/spray painter
yesterday (11/01/10) to have all the exterior panel beated and sprayed 2 tone,
2 Pack Emine White with Kenilworth Blue down the bottom half of the side. Once
back it will be into refitting.
It’s been a
long project but one can only do what one can as money allows.
Cheers
Steve and
Sonia
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