Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

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Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby terencegurry » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:24 pm

Hi there Terence J.R here, the proud owner of a 1974 Vauxhall Magnum Coupe with an interesting history.

The car has been off the road in the garage since 1996 and now I am going to pick up where my father left off and start restoring it to hopefully be the best example out there of a restored Magnum.

The engine is out and the car is mostly stripped, with no hardly any wiring and there is virtually nothing at all in the engine bay. The interior has also been dismantled partially, the rear end of the car is mostly done (to the best of my knowledge). The car was originally gold but was resprayed in the 1990s when it was instantly put into restoration.

I am a student so have the whole of the summer to do this and hopefully, a lot more. And if i can find the parts, (of which all the gm labels have degraded off) I will start to put the mechanics back in.

The Engine was has been rebuilt ect by Paul Felton and to finish it (I think) needs just a few more parts such as the starter ect which will go on when it goes in, I think we have most if not all the parts new.

Things to do (to start with):

Put car up on stands and general cleanup

Exhaust Out

Strip all bad areas of underseal (This will take long!)

Strip engine bay, wheel arches - Already started

Fix small amount of rust in footwells and near wiring loom

repaint and re-underseal underbody

prime and paint engine bay

Rebuild and re-paint front end


Then we go from there.

Pictures of car in various stages:

Old pics of respray and when new
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Top quality battery tray, no rust at all and original
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http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8338/dcp0092s.jpg
Last edited by terencegurry on Fri Nov 27, 2015 4:23 am, edited 3 times in total.
15 years of dust to remove, ohh joy!

1974 Magnum 2300 Coupe
1983 Cavalier CD
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby pbottomley » Wed Jun 15, 2011 8:36 pm

Superb little project there fella.... will be loverly when finished... :D
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby hbpeter » Thu Jun 16, 2011 7:59 pm

That dosent look to bad. Be careful with the engine, been stored a long time, so might be stuck. Whats its history?

Peter :goodluck:
Reading between the lines, dangerous if your waiting for a train.
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby terencegurry » Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:30 pm

The car was bought in early January 1974 during the 3 day week when no cars were being sold (wait what thats not possible!) but yes this one was! My father did some advertising work when he bought a new Mk1 Capri saying how brilliant it was for Ford (which it wasn't) and it ended up breaking down numerous times. He had enough of it so went to buy a new Vauxhall, however they would not sell one because (as I said before) they were not selling them. He showed them the press photographs and gave them copies so that Vauxhall could get good press on how "The ford man thinks the New Vauxhall is better". As a result of this the car was driven down from Luton to London within three days of buying it, the only colour available being Gold. Due to this we are pretty sure it was the first car sold to a member of the public.

The car was used up until the 1990s when it was decided to do a full restoration of the car. It was put into the bodyshop and had a full colour respray to Magmarot (Vauxhall Flame Red). However the underspray was sprayed all over the engine bay and some areas were not cleaned properly before being resprayed and undersealed leading to the paint flaking. The engine was taken out along with most fittings and was rebuilt completely by Paul Felton, with many new parts, as was the internals of a gearbox. The engine bay was stripped and most surface rust treated.

In addition to the restoration many new parts were made from scratch or fabricated such as stainless steel sill covers (if thats what they are called?) a stainless steel bonnet lifter, and stainless mudguards. The Interior also had a new roof lining made in Black, along with the door cards being restitched, and the rear seats having leather put on the tops of the seats. Sound proofing (which will now have to be changed) was also added. We also have headrests to go in. The interior is in immaculate condition.

I think i've been pretty thorough but I still know I have forgotten some things!
Last edited by terencegurry on Tue Jun 20, 2017 4:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
15 years of dust to remove, ohh joy!

1974 Magnum 2300 Coupe
1983 Cavalier CD
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby terencegurry » Thu Jun 16, 2011 8:34 pm

Ohh and yes the engine has been sitting a long time! although STP was added when it was covered and its was in dry room however I have a friend that owns a Firenza who comes over sometimes and every time he says "Terry have you turned over that engine yet" "erm...." "....."
15 years of dust to remove, ohh joy!

1974 Magnum 2300 Coupe
1983 Cavalier CD
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby chris » Thu Jun 16, 2011 9:30 pm

car looks ace mate... good luck hope it all comes together quickly :P
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby jpsmit » Fri Jun 17, 2011 2:46 am

cool project! not too different from mine as it is mostly reassembly - I'll be interested to follow your progress.
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby terencegurry » Fri Jun 17, 2011 8:05 pm

Got some more done today, got the exhaust off and made a start on stripping the bottom of the car.

New exhaust to go on is a stainless steel system. Still need a new downpipe, which I hope to sort in the coming months.

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15 years of dust to remove, ohh joy!

1974 Magnum 2300 Coupe
1983 Cavalier CD
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby terencegurry » Sun Jun 19, 2011 11:20 pm

Got quite a bit done over the last few days.

Stripped underneath about 3 times, each time washing off by hand. Also De-greased all parts. Stripped a lot of underseal off. The drums are stuck on, 3 days of soaking them in oil still has not freed them, I guess that teaches you not to keep the handbrake on for 15 years. Took off the rear shocks. Also started on stripping the engine bay.

Will be priming underneath tomorrow. Will also be trying to get off the old brake lines (even though they are still usable) and putting on new ones after the paint job. I would get pictures of under the car but its too dark and they don't come out so well on my phone :(

Old shocks off - I have brand new ones ready to go on
Image


New brake lines
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15 years of dust to remove, ohh joy!

1974 Magnum 2300 Coupe
1983 Cavalier CD
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Re: Magnum Coupe 2300 Restoration

Postby terencegurry » Mon Jun 20, 2011 7:07 pm

Primed up everything now just waiting for chassis paint to arrive, also took off part of the brake line in the engine bay and unhooked some fuel line. I'm replacing the fuel line, its currently a piece of steel 5/16 with a flexible piece on each end which connects to the fuel sender and fuel pump. I need some advice, I can get some 5/16 in stainless steel which is all flexible and seeing as it doesn't need flaring would this be ok to use as the new fuel line?

Old brake line. - Not so bad condition!

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15 years of dust to remove, ohh joy!

1974 Magnum 2300 Coupe
1983 Cavalier CD
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