Since progress on my completely stripped MK2 is slow, I couldn't resist buying another MK2 that came up for sale. I just got it today and hope to just keep it as a driver for the time being. It is nicely rust free, but has some issues that I want to deal with. I knew it had a V8 in it, the previous owner thought it was a Ford, but it is a small block Chevy. Looks from the code like a 75 350 with a quadrajet. It has been installed some years ago and has stock cast iron exhaust manifolds. I wonder if anyone else here has one like it as I don't like the way they ran the drivers side exhaust through the inner fender then back under the chassis rail. They also moved the steering column over about an inch to clear the exhaust (at the firewall). It all looks a bit of a bodge to me, although it probably worked like this for years. Is there a better solution, or is this the standard way of doing it?

 

Not a standard way to me. My car had something similar which I completely changed to do it right. There is no reason to cut any of the inner fender wells for exhaust or any hose routing. There are many shorty headers, etc. made for tight clearance retrofits. Those were likely not available back in the era the V8 was installed and the previous owner did not have the funds to do custom headers. It is fine to modify the steering linkage to clear exhaust, etc. which common among custom cars. There are now a huge amount of off the shelf products to assist in installing a modern GM V8 is non GM cars as the new LS V8's have so much horsepower, are so light, get decent fuel economy and will reliably run 250,000 to 350,000 miles trouble free.


I removed the old 350 & trans completely and then sealed up every single hole, etc. which was a lot of welding and work to bring it back to stock on the inner fender wells. I spared no expense to fully modernize my Jag with an aluminum block/head GM modern LS1 V8 with 460 HP, coil overs, upgraded brakes, new interior with electric leather Jag seats, rear view camera, AC, power steering, blue tooth, tire pressure monitoring system, LED lighting, modern stereo with hidden speakers/subs, and all the modern features of a luxury new car. This was a lot of work but well worth it as it is very fast (0-60 in 3.9 seconds), reliable, daily driven, low maintenance, handles great, turns so many heads, and so many have offered more than I have into the car but I would not sell it as it was too much time to get it done. It is so much fun to drive a classic yet blow the doors off a turbo 350Z and most other new performance cars today.

 

Here's a couple of pics. Hideous 2 tone green paint job. Looks like it was brown originally. I can forgive it a lot for the rust free body shell.

 

Getting through the layers of paint. Two tone brown under the green, but it looks like it was dark metallic blue originally. I can only find that on the door jambs, so it must have been quite well stripped at one point. I took the front doors off to get properly at the jambs etc. but what a hassle! Anyone got any good suggestions for doing a proper job on the rear doors without removing them?
I decided to modify the rear wheel arches. Better balance with the front of the car I think.

 

My gen I chevy (RHD) had to modify the steering shaft and built custom headers. sway bar dropped 2' and a shim at the steering box

 

Thanks for the photos. On mine it looks like they just moved the steering column outboard by about an inch and a quarter. It seems to work OK. I haven't delved into it to see if I can make any improvement yet. I wondered if an exhaust manifold with a rear exit might make for a bit more clearance?

 

Has the car been upgraded to power steering? If not I recommend you give Terry a call at Jag Outlet in CA Jaguar Parts - JagOutlet 1-800-706-5247 - Fast Shipping - Hablamos Espanol
and he can sell you the power steering rack upgrade with the proper rack mount as some of the kits out there do not use the right bracket creating bump steer. I recommend to upgrade to power steering first as then you will likely need to modify the steering shaft, linkage, etc. to clear your specific headers, etc.

 

305 chevy is the only one I can think of

 

Alphatrev,
trying to remember, I thought the rear doors came off easier than the fronts. I took the RR off as an experiment in the the beginning of the process

 

I have the car scheduled in to a local paint shop on Monday. So I bit the bullet and removed the rear doors to strip them. The drivers side needs a bottom corner repair that was done once before, but re rusted since. It is clear that the drain hole got clogged and caused the rust. I have a similar patch on one of the front doors to do also.

 

I have seen a few different way of doing this, but I decided to weld the wheel spats onto the car, then cut 80% back off again. I welded on a 5/8 diameter rolled tube to make the lip. I think the cars look better balanced like this. Not everyone will agree.

 

Alphatrev,
Just curious how did you strip the paint from the doors?
Lin

 

I would not worry about that as no matter what you will use will need to modify the steering linkage, etc. to fit any V8; you are not going to find one where you leave the steering linkage in the stock location, etc..


I am running a GM 5.3 liter LS1 and used Headman shorty headers after experimenting with two others to find one that will fit, meaning clear the frame. There is no header where you do not need to move the original location of the steering linkage. Every street rod, and most restomod cars always need to move the steering linkage, etc. to work around the headers.

 

Good idea Primaz in regards to deciding on what steering setup you want first before modifying the manifolds to clear a steering arm.

A modern upgrade to a powered steering rack would be ideal, or a manual rack with a custom electric powered column.

These days with modern CV joints available for steering columns, rather than uni joints, you can create a custom steering shaft with a few angles and pivot points to clear whatever is required.

 

To strip the paint from the doors, I took each door off the car so I could work with it on the floor. An old piece of carpet helps here. My car had several layers of paint, the horrible two tone green being the most recent. Most of this came off of the flatter surfaces with a razor blade (the whole car actually). I then used paint stripper to get the rest of it loose and scraped that off. Around the edges (jambs) I just kept laying on more paint stripper then scrubbing it with a hand held wire brush. This gets it pretty clean. It also worked really well behind drip edges and other detail spots. I used a small (4 inch) electric orbital sander with 40 grit to get it the way it is in the photo. The nice thing about this method is that it is not too messy or noisy. I have used an 8 inch grinder with 40 grit on a foam pad that I bought at an automotive paint store. It is also really good at getting rid of layers of paint and bondo, but it is noisier and messy. The dust from that goes everywhere.

 

Give Terry at Jag Outlet a call (800) 706-5247
725 Buckley Road, Suite A
San Luis Obispo CA 94301
United States of America
parts@jagoutlet.com


He sells the correct bracket for the power steering upgrade; some other places do not sell the ideal bracket which causes bump steer

 

Yes. Finally! After more than 2 years sitting waiting for me to get done with the house remodel, I can get back to trying to put my MK2 together. Just remembering where everything goes is a challenge.

 

Looks good, planning on something similar myself, actually not similar, that exact thing!! Any tips?

 

I used a cheap tubing roller from Harbor Freight. The smallest dies are for 1 inch tubing, but you can use them to roll the smaller 5/8" diameter. Roll both sides so you can get them the same, then use them as a template to cut the arch.

 

Great, Thanks Trev. Did you just weld the tube to the outside? How did you finish it then, just fill with bodyfiller? Or did you somehow roll the edge of the spat around it? Looks really nice....