Bealo's 320/6

[bealo]

First up I sound deadened the inside with “fatmat”. Seemed to have good thermal and sound properties with a lower price tag compared to some of the other well known brands.

A little bit of heat and a roller made it easy to work with and to shape. I then used the standard e21 insulation/padding over this.
I had picked up a beige carpet which obviously wasn’t going to match my seats. I opted to dye it black and am pleased with the results. I applied the dye using a paint gun which gave a hive even coat. About 5 coats gave a good dark shade of black

[bealo]

Over the rest of February and into March I got the sunroof re fitted, rear pop outs and seatbelts along with the interior and front and rear screens.

On fitting the sunroof I spent hours trying to get it perfect but I’m pretty sure one of the cables is stretched/worn as is one of the guides so for now I can only open it in the tilt position. Not the end of the world but I will come back to this when I’ve sourced the parts needed (just like my fuel tanks which I now have a decent pair waiting to be fitted)

The seat etc were all straight forward and the front seats (recaros) were fitted using the method from the technical section. Thanks for that guys all the measurements and info was spot on.

[bealo]

April

Got the bonnet fitted along with mirrors and bbs front splitter… looking good now
Loads of other bits and bobs like new number plate light holders and number plates fitted.

Picked up a set of wheels, they are 15 x 8j so needed spacers front and rear, it’s looking good and nearly done

[bealo]

So I had a target of April 7th for first drive as there is a local car meet that attracts about 150 cars.
All that was left was tracking and bleed the brakes again as they were spongy.
My mate who is a mechanic came over and tracked it for me but we couldn’t bleed the brakes.
Every time we got a good pedal it would sink to the floor again after a couple of mins. Everything was pointing to a faulty master cylinder which was brand new. We removed the master and disassembled it but was fine but after so many attempts at bleeding and pressure bleeding it started leaking.

So I didn’t make it to the meet and decided to have a break from it. Start of may I went back to it and was disappointed at what I saw. The brake fluid had continued to leak and ruined the paint on the booster and brackets and left streaks on the inner wing. I’ve since repainted everything and have a new master ready to fit

[Jeroen]

Such a bad luck with the brake master, but we all know, these projects never run 100% perfect. But you're almost there and the interior just looks fabulous, love the matching Recaro cloth on the rear seat!

[Wilmo]

Very very nice! A bummer for the brakes... Brakes can be a bit of a nightmare, but I found that a bit of tooling can make it much less of a hassle. Pressurizing the reservoir helps bleeding without risk of pushing the plunger in too far into the cylinder.

What was your starting point for the rear seat? An original seat with straw and all?

[bealo]

I did try a pressure bleeder but no luck!

The rear seats are just the original seats. My interior guy got some genuine recaro cloth that matched the front and went to town on it!!

[bealo]

So small update on this….

At the end of May I got a new old stock master cylinder and fitted it. Still had the same issue. I went through the whole break system and it appears I had the rear calipers on the wrong sides!
I swapped them round, bled the system and whoop whoop I had breaks!!!


So first drive time. Took it out it drove lovely, the m20b25 was smooth, very responsive and sounded great.
The breaks were a little spongy and the gear selector could do with a re build but other than that a good first drive

[bealo]

So even though it’s not exempt I booked one anyway just for another set of eyes to look over as this is the first resto I’ve done.

Done 16 miles in the car and just as I pulled into the mot station my break pedal went to the floor. I couldn’t believe it!!! No breaks at all!

I got them to look into it and they said it’s the master cylinder!! Everything else was ok. What??? I just bought it!!
So out it came and sent off to a company called “past parts”

They bore it out and fit a stainless steel liner with a new seal kit. Also they powder coat it black included in the price.
This does cost as much as a new master cylinder but as they are hard to find for a RHD and also possibly a 40 year old part if you do manage to find one so this is a good option. I now have this fitted and bled and the pedal feels good. Just waiting on some dry weather to test drive it!

[bealo]

Also waiting to test the gear selector as I bought a re build kit and fitted it. It feels much better but beware of where you buy them. The first kit I got fell apart! The joint that attaches to the gearbox shaft was incredibly poor quality and the weld broke as I fitted it

[Jeroen]

Important warnings. I've seen various NOS brake and clutch parts pop up on eBay and the likes, parts that were as old as our cars are. After 40+ years on the shelf, don't expect them to perform like new ones.

Anyway, hope you get the last bits 'n bobs sorted soon!