My current Sapph was bought originally as nothing but a stop gap to play in while I was building/resto'ing my other 2wd Sapph I had at the time. However as I didnt have a place of my own to keep the work in progress it ended up being broken for bits and I kept some stuff for myself, sold others and weighed the rest in.
That then left me with the Sapph I still own now which previously belonged to Alps Pacino off here and I was happy to use and abuse it in its stage 3 form for a while. It then progressed to greys and an MSD chip with ALS/LC and I had great fun scaring old people and generally driving like a utter tit in it. It lasted much abuse with its only issues in the whole time being it needing a phase sensor and a crank pulley replaced.
Croft 2009 came round and I was starting to get a little bored of the car, it felt slow and I wasnt using it much the past 2 or 3 months. I drove it to the show and had a wander about but it was evident my interest in both my car and RS's in general was sparse to say the least.
I drove home and it was parked and not moved again till its MOT was due a couple of weeks later. It didnt pass as it needed welding, brake pipes and fuel pipes. I bought my M5 and that really was the death of the Cossie. There the car sat for months without being looked at again, it just got ignored as I walked past it every day.
Around late November that year a friend of mine was asking about the car and if I'd sell it. He came for a look and we agreed a price but he wanted to come back once the battery was charged and hear it running before we shook hands on the deal. A week or so later I went out and bought a new battery for it as the old one would show 12v once charged but would barely bring on the ignition lights. New battery fitted and it fired up first turn of the key with no rattles, taps noises or smoke. it just sat and gurgled at me and I fell in love with it again
I called my mate and told him I'd changed my mind as it wasnt really for sale in the first place and he'd just twisted my arm there and then and he was fine with being told he couldnt have it. So I sent it to a mates garage for the required work for its MOT and a few days later it was once again ready to play out again. I taxed it the following day and was loving being back out in it but it lasted 64 miles and the T34 shat itself, it wouldnt boost at all and the amount of smoke that was coming out of the back would have impressed James Bond
. Slightly disheartened I parked it up again and looked for another T34 to chuck on it so I could go out and kick its tits in again. One turned up locally and I went and bought it, it was mint with no play and looked relatively new, and fitted it the next day. Unfortunately it would make no more than 24psi and after driving it no more than 10-20 mile I took the hose off and had a wiggle of the shaft and discovered there was a lot of play and the compressor blades were catching on the housing. I rang the lad I bought the turbo off and told him what it was like and said I'd call up with the turbo on the car and show him. After a bit craic with him we agreed that he'd give me my cash back as he assured me the turbo was "mint" when I bough it. Cant say fairer than that.
After that I was pissed off with the car again and Lawnsy and I were talking about the spares I had in the garage and bits I had collected for the Sapph I was previously building and he talked me into taking my engine out and giving it a freshen up for a new spec.......
So not ones to hang about, about an hour and a half later we had dragged the car round his garage and this was what we were lookin at.....
The car sat for a while as it was summer and I was too busy playing on my R1 to work on the car and was saving up as much as possible to pay for bits etc.
Well I got knocked off the damn thing in Juy and while I was off on the sick I decided to do some odds and sods with the YB instead of sitting feeling sorry for myself.
I bought these at National Day
Degreased and cleaned up some engine parts ready for painting
Etch primed
Low maintenance black
I had the block checked and bores glaze busted/honed and then cut off the lug for an RS500 alternator drop bracket
Then it was time to get rid of the awful flaky brushed on Hammerite
Took bloody ages!!
Etch primed then a further 2 coats of primer
Mercury grey (phone pics so excuse quality)
Cam cover blasted and etch primed
Painted and in process of rubbing back around the lettering
Dug my head collection out. Its the first time the head has been out of the box since getting it off James, bar the inspection when it was first delivered to me
Dummy assembly just for an idea to see how it will look when put together
Spec-R belt cover
Etch primed, I dont like shiny stuff cos Im not a bufty
Another random old pic of the car
Thats the story of it so far. Ive just got back to work and sold my M5 so there is a little cash free'd up for further progress now. Ill keep on updating the thread as and when things get done.....
Im looking forward to getting the old shed back out now
