1972 P6 V8 - The Lush

In the run up to the Bristol Classic Car Show, which was a really good weekend, I completed fitting a slightly better sound system into the car. The original speakers, in the original locations, really did not sound good! I didn't want to install anything OTT, after all the car makes its own music, so settled for 4.5 inch speakers in the front and 6x9's in the back.

To make sure that I didn't have to butcher the door cards completely, I decided to go for pods for the 4.5 inch speakers, so just 5 little holes (4 for the screws and one for the cable). To begin with, I wasn't sure if the pods would fit in the space I had in mind, with the arc of the window winder, so I knocked up a cardboard template of the same size as the pods.


Once this was offered up to the door, it became clear that the speakers and pods would fit the intended location and were duly ordered, and fitted a couple of days later.

I didn't want to chop holes in the base unit to fit the 6x9's in the back, so I decided to build a small unit to accommodate the speakers, which could be mounted on the existing parcel shelf. The existing brown vinyl was stripped off the front of the hardboard shelf and a new covering of foam and red vinyl was put over it.

The speaker mounting unit itself is constructed from 9mm MDF and shaped to fit up to the rear trim, under the rear screen.



It's of pretty simple construction, consisting of a top, front, two ends and a central strengthening rib. The unit was then covered with 3mm foam, before being covered with red vinyl and the speakers fitted. To secure it into place, the unit was secured with a few panel pins to the original hardboard shelf.





The red looks good if you're looking in from the outside, but looks a little out of place from the inside at the moment, with the brown interior. This will change, though, as more of the interior adopts the red and black scheme currently being developed.
 

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Since the last update, I've managed to acquire a few more parts off my list of mods/upgrades, the first of which was a set of clear indicator lenses for the front:


I wanted the all clear front to go with the all red rear. The effect will be improved when I replace the orange bulbs with some LED ones like the ones I've got installed in the rear.

I've also managed to acquire a full set of Sundym glass, in green, which I think will work nicely with the Monza Red. Fitting that is going to be the number one job over the winter, in the meantime I just need to clean it up and paint the support channels, which are a little rusty in places.
 

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I like the Dodge pickup behind you as well. Shame I can't quite make out the phone number on the cardboard "For Sale" sign propped up on the dash.
 
Baron von Marlon said:
I managed to find a better picture of the number in one of the other photos I took on the day, it is:

I just might give that a call.

Just in the interests of his privacy, so he doesn't get spammed to within an inch of his life, perhaps you could remove his number from your post now.
 
I didn't realise you had bought Damian's car, I somehow hadn't seen photos until now..so it's finally clicked
Looking good, constantly improving :)
I agree on the Dodge, fingers crossed for that Harvey
Jim
 
Thanks Jim! (Sorry only just seen this :oops:)

The sun was shining, so it seemed like a good day for tackling various jobs on the car. The first of which was fitting the Torsion Performance 24mm anti-roll bar. Here's a comparison between the new and the old - there's quite a difference!
IMG_20160417_134046.jpg

It was a really easy job, just undid the 4 bolts, took the old one out, cleaned up the bottom brackets then bolted the new bar into place, with new bolts and spring washers.

After that I got stuck in to the rust proofing - the sill covers have come off and both the insides and outsides of the sills have been treated with rust proofing wax. Dynax S50 cavity wax has been injected inside the sills, and Dynax UC clear wax was used on the visible faces of the sills - there won't be any rust on my watch! After doing the sills, I found a couple of rubber bungs that seemed to lead into the bulkhead area, so sprayed a load in there as well. There's plenty in there - almost a full can used so far and only a little bit dropped out of the drain holes.

IMG_20160417_134120.jpg

The front wings and valence are currently off being sandblasted - I'll pick them up next week and do the minor rust repairs required, particularly on the wings, before getting them painted up and put back on. To prevent the wings going rusty again, I'm going to seal all the accessible seams, give the inside a good coat of epoxy mastic, then put a coat of the clear wax on for good measure.

Does anyone have any tips on getting the internal strengtheners on the lower part of the wings off, please? Some of the rust is in and behind these and I want to get them out to repair properly. I'm also thinking I might modify those parts before they go back in, to make it easier to clean behind and get all the dirt out. That should stop them rusting again.

The car looks a bit odd with all the front missing!
 
Thanks Alex - the previous owner did much of the work, I'm just tweaking here and there at the moment. I do have some pretty major upgrades planned, but life is getting in the way of those at present!
 
Hi Martin.
Have taken those strengtheners off to repair wings,drilled out spot welds on arch lip/bend/cut
off. You can leave them off with no probs after you repair wing as these are a rust trap.
Clive.
 
Thanks Clive. I did think about fabricating some new strengtheners but attaching them in a different way so that material didn't build up behind in the same way, and plenty of anti corrosion wax. It's good to know that I can leave them off with no problems - they are a real rust trap, both have gone in that area to different degrees.

Now I need to remember how to weld - it's been a very long time!
 
Martin,
I think there was a historic post where someone removed strengtheners and left them out with no ill effects.

Mark.
 
Thanks Jim! (Sorry only just seen this :oops:)

The sun was shining, so it seemed like a good day for tackling various jobs on the car. The first of which was fitting the Torsion Performance 24mm anti-roll bar. Here's a comparison between the new and the old - there's quite a difference!
View attachment 9203

It was a really easy job, just undid the 4 bolts, took the old one out, cleaned up the bottom brackets then bolted the new bar into place, with new bolts and spring washers.

After that I got stuck in to the rust proofing - the sill covers have come off and both the insides and outsides of the sills have been treated with rust proofing wax. Dynax S50 cavity wax has been injected inside the sills, and Dynax UC clear wax was used on the visible faces of the sills - there won't be any rust on my watch! After doing the sills, I found a couple of rubber bungs that seemed to lead into the bulkhead area, so sprayed a load in there as well. There's plenty in there - almost a full can used so far and only a little bit dropped out of the drain holes.

View attachment 9204

The front wings and valence are currently off being sandblasted - I'll pick them up next week and do the minor rust repairs required, particularly on the wings, before getting them painted up and put back on. To prevent the wings going rusty again, I'm going to seal all the accessible seams, give the inside a good coat of epoxy mastic, then put a coat of the clear wax on for good measure.

Does anyone have any tips on getting the internal strengtheners on the lower part of the wings off, please? Some of the rust is in and behind these and I want to get them out to repair properly. I'm also thinking I might modify those parts before they go back in, to make it easier to clean behind and get all the dirt out. That should stop them rusting again.

The car looks a bit odd with all the front missing!


Hi, im a bit new to finding the right parts.
But where did you buy the torsionbar?
I want to upgrade mine.
 
It's back together, I've been for a test drive and I can quite safely say that buying the 24mm anti roll bar is the best £140 I have ever spent! The handling is totally transformed - it's now every bit as good as my modern car through the corners, which is fantastic. So good, that the quick test drive ended up being about an hour and a half :D

Getting the wings sandblasted to remove the rust and paint turned out to be a mistake - the surface finish was rougher than I thought it was going to be and myself and the body shop guy spent a lot of time sanding and preparing the panels. I think I'm going to use paint stripper next time - the sill covers are the next bits to require attention. There is a slight difference in colour between the new and old paint, but considering it was matched by eye, it's pretty darn close. I think polishing the doors will help disguise the difference - something to try in a little while, after I've driven it a bit more :)
 
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