Project Sting-Grey - a 1966 Restomod With SR20DE Power!

[funkaholik]

Great to see this car on the road. What a beauty.

Test driving Restomod Roadsters - not a bad gig for your son.

[Bwk2000]

Amazing work … Really.

Does this one have a new ‘Owner in Waiting’ yet?

[spriso]

As always, thanks for the kind comments-- this car is one of my favorites that we have built-- it is a real looker (and drives very nicely to boot!)

Finish work to get all the details right is painstaking, but so worthwhile-- little details like sending the shift surround out for rechroming, and then a fresh coat of wrinkle black sure makes it look amazing...



BWK2000 wrote:

Does this one have a new ‘Owner in Waiting’ yet?

I have several interested parties for the car-- we won't put it up "officially for sale" until we are satisfied with the fit, finish, drive ability, and making sure it is "done"-- plus, I would like to enjoy it a bit before it goes off to it's new owner....

[funkaholik]

It’s interesting how much this color changes in direct sun vs shade. Either way, it really pops with the red interior. Great choices.

[GeoffM]

Drive it straight up here to Maple Ridge! ....I'm sure I can figure out how to get you back to Oregon

[ppeters914]

It’s interesting how much this color changes in direct sun vs shade. Either way, it really pops with the red interior. Great choices.

Agreed. I had briefly considered going that direction although w/ Carrera GT Silver or similar. In the end, the long-term desire for a red roadster won. Yeah, yeah, yeah.....another red roadster.

[funkaholik]

I almost painted my roadster red just so I could blast Rush's "Red Barchetta" loudly with the top down and have it be appropriate.

Well-weathered leather
Hot metal and oil
The scent of country air

Sunlight on chrome
The blur of the landscape
Every nerve aware

But then I'd have to redo the interior in leather, and that just sounded too expensive.

[spriso]

Bumpers

Some of you may have bought the new Vietnamese stainless steel bumpers, and I did the same adding them to this project. The rear went on beautifully with no work at all to make it line up correctly.



The front, while lovely with its shaved holes, was a mess. The mounting brackets had been welded on incorrectly, and despite having nice new bumper brackets from Dean at Datsunparts.com (which were beautifully powder coated black and fit correctly), the bumper was still mounted at a 20-degree angle downhill on both sides, obviously a manufacturing error from the bumper supplier in Vietnam and was unacceptable.





So, tonight after fixing a few other little things, I decided to take this one on. First off with the bumper to see just how bad the bumper mounting brackets could be...

With the bumper mounted flat, you can easily see the bumper bracket angle problem:



So, cut the nice new bumper mounting brackets, or modify the bumper? I chose the bumper-- it is stainless steel, and I could see that there were just a few small tack welds holding on the mounting bracket...



A few minutes carefully wielding the die grinder, and the spot welds were cut free:



This allowed me to realign the bracket to its correct position, and put in three new little spot welds with the TIG welder:



A quick polish on the underside on the buffing wheel, add a little black paint back on the inside, and the bumper was remounted:



Much better-- a few little tweaks tomorrow night and a final alignment and we can tick that off the list...

Michael

[funkaholik]

Nice work!

I had a similar issue: my stainless rear bumper fit very well, but my front, while level, had the mounting brackets or at least the holes too far to one side. I’m also using Dean’s nice new bumper braces. Mine was an easier solve - I slotted the holes on the braces further than stock and was able to align the bumper.

Your issue required a lot more thought and work, but considering the quality of cars you produce, I’m not surprised you handled it as well as you did. Kudos.

[spriso]

Autumn Pics

The last days of summer are quickly slipping away here and last night we had a lot of smoke in the air, as the sun set, it put off a crazy orange glow as the sun tipped behind the coast range mountains-- I was out test driving the Sting Grey, and managed to get a few shots as the sun disappeared...

[funkaholik]

Beautiful. The trees and sunset aren’t bad, either.

[Alvin]

sensational!

[spriso]

Autumn Light

One more shot from last week's photo shoot:



Inching closer...

Michael

[GoldHawg]

I love the stance. Most people seem to like the rear lower but I like the slightest of rear to front rake, or at least even. This one rocks.

[spriso]

A View from Above



Went for a brisk afternoon drive with my drone, we have another week or two with the fall leaves before they are all gone-- gotta make the most of it as it sure creates some exceptional photography opportunities!





Enjoy,

Michael