Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby chrismc » Fri Jul 01, 2016 5:47 pm

Enigmatic?

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Sums up most teenagers I reckon. I was much worse :lol: .

When I started this restoration I made a list of jobs to do. Easy really :lol:

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I made many more lists over the restoration. A couple of months ago the list looked like this...

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We worked our way through the list and crossed stuff off as we went. The carpet arrived from East Kent Trim and was glued in place. Very hard work to get it to fit without too many wrinkles. The retrimmed seats were installed. They are the tilt forward types and the mechanisms were really worn. I has to remake the guide peg at the front with a thicker piece of steel...

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...and make the slots bigger to accommodate these.

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Joe and Mel (both enigmatic) tried them out.

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The mirror/ light unit were fitted with one if Davids lens' and a COB LED. Works really well 8)

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Time was running out for the Billing deadline so I took this week off and booked the car in for an MOT at the end of the week. This made me focus on MOT work and leave the cosmetic stuff until later.

A new list was produced with MOT work on it.

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Then another: :roll: :roll: :roll:

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At 8:30 last night I realised I had still not made the mount for the washer reservoir. I was going to attempt to make a copy of the original type like Mike (Droopsnoot) had but I was running out of time. I knocked this up out of some stainless steel I had. It will do for now ( and probably forever :lol: )

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The work on this list was completed last night at 9:30 ready for the MOT today at 10:30 am.

So a nerve racking wait this morning then a tentative drive down to the MOT station. Thankfully the car ran straight, braked evenly, didn't over heat and....
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....Passed. :cheer: Without advisories.

I took Joe for a spin after school and we are both very happy. :D

There are a few leaks, squeaks and cosmetic things to sort and the valve train is a little tappety but the pressure is off.

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^ This photo reminds me of Rubarb and Custard for some reason... :)

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Need to book Billing :shock:
Last edited by chrismc on Fri Jul 01, 2016 7:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby 1972nail » Fri Jul 01, 2016 6:23 pm

Fantastic news! As you say the pressure's off with a couple of weeks to have a bit of a shakedown. See you at Billing :respekt:
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"When you have a Firenza like mine, who needs any Minis?" copyright David Maxwell 1979.
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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby fistfullofV5's » Sat Jul 02, 2016 12:50 am

Hi Chris,so very pleased that all your and Joe's hard work has paid off.Well done and congratulations.
Regards,Dave. :respekt:
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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby Fred Dukes » Sat Jul 02, 2016 10:50 am

Always a good feeling when you have that MoT ticket in your hand!! Look forward to seeing it at Billing at least one Firenza restoration will make it :D - I am afraid mine is still in primer waiting for more welding :roll: - anyone know if Rachael' s Sport SL is anywhere near a Billing appearance :?:
Looks like it is Titan the pickup for me - assuming it passes it's MoT :wink:
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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby junkyarddog » Sat Jul 02, 2016 11:12 pm

Fantastic result,
hard to believe that it's the same car.

Well done :D

:party2:
Just one more turn should do it....
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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby Kraken » Sun Jul 03, 2016 4:13 pm

Congratulations!

Roobarb and Custard are fitting names :mrgreen:
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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby yoeddynz » Wed Jul 06, 2016 8:05 pm

Awesome !!! :respekt: Always so cool getting the first Mot on a fully restored car. Congrats.
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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby hbpeter » Sun Jul 10, 2016 5:44 pm

Brilliant, well done.

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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby chrismc » Mon Jul 25, 2016 8:37 pm

:thanx: The enthusiasm on this forum kept us going. :D

We set off for Billing at around 1pm and arrived after a 140 mile trip at around 3:45.

The speedo stopped working half way down but this was probably my fault. The speedo cable had a tortuous route due to me not fitting a right angled drive. The temperature gauge had become erratic and I knew we were losing water from the heater matrix because the windscreen misted up slightly when we entered Billing.

The car looked good on the stand but it was the first time we had seen it (and analysed it) in a open space. The paintwork still needs further work but we were still pleased with the results and had plenty of positive feedback from people who recognised the car from this forum.
I will leave this thread with a few pictures of Joes Firenza at the show...

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The car got us home at 60-70 mph all the way home with just one stop to check the water level. We even briefly hit 80mph for a few seconds just to see if we could. :twisted:

Joe took most of the above photos and made this video of the weekend.

https://youtu.be/ZpXpvt9rZoQ


Ta Ta :thanx:
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Re: Joe's 1972 Firenza Project

Postby Fred Dukes » Mon Jul 25, 2016 9:25 pm

Nice one Chris and Joe a successful finally to a long hard Restoration - I have the right angle adaptor for the Speedo but not the cable :wink:
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