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rxsumo

SUMO's '72 E3 3.0S

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After a couple of years in the panel shop, its finally reassembled, and nearly looking complete.

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now to find some straight wheel arch trims, replace the clutch, get rid of the oil leaks.................

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Mint job mate. What work was done on the interior?

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Cheers for the comments.

As for the interior work......

The seats have been rebuilt to as close as original as we could get. Its been fitted with a Momo wheel, and the original Panasonic AM only radio cassette has been replaced with a early Electronic Alpine unit.

The carpets are the original "speckled" carpets and are in good nick, and only one of the door wood trims will need to be replaced/repaired as the timber is starting to delaminate.

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Cheers for the comments.

As for the interior work......

The seats have been rebuilt to as close as original as we could get. Its been fitted with a Momo wheel, and the original Panasonic AM only radio cassette has been replaced with a early Electronic Alpine unit.

The carpets are the original "speckled" carpets and are in good nick, and only one of the door wood trims will need to be replaced/repaired as the timber is starting to delaminate.

Wow, car must have been in good knick too. But really is a very tidy example. Grats bro.

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spent few mins trying to find imperfections for a laugh and failed.. it is MINT! ... p.s clean your pedal covers :)

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^^^ what andy said, to freakin mint man, props on the whole car...

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What can one say - a brilliant example - absolutely stunning!! I prefer the original steering wheel best. Well done though - best I have seen and sure to be worth a bit now that all the work is done. Have you any pics of the engine bay?

Edited by ducatiss

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Cheers guys.

I hear what you are saying ducatiss, the verdict is still out on the steering wheel. I wanted to get the original out as it starting to suffer from the NZ UV. The original wheel is a "soft feel" one and the outer material is seperating from the core steel. Id rather keep the original for originality sakes, but I dont want it to get any worse by being on the car.

I'm thinking of a Motolita wheel for it because it really wants to have a larger diameter rim, its just gonna be a while before I can justify the $1000 for the Motolita. As I already had a Momo bosskit for the E3, the wooden wheel was a cheap purchase off TradeMe (especially for a brand new one).

The engine bay is work in progress.

The car hasnt had a full restoration (unlike my RX3), the only work has been to the body exterior, and the seats. The underside, and engine bay havent been touched as this car was built as a driver, rather than a showcar.

The car was a "rough" diamond when we brought it. Unlike most E3's that are starting to have serious structural rust issues (unlong with the E9s), this one had manky paint, rust mainly where the chrome clips were, and seat material that had disintergrated from sun damage. Only one of the doors required any serious repairs (and I suspect it had been replaced before due to accident damage), and we replaced that one. This was a faily good indication on the actual state of the body as the E3's have a poor drainage design which means that the corners at the bottoms of the doors are usually very rusty or full of bog.

In fact, the only better E3, I've seen as a starting point, is the white 2500, that I acquired recently. The 2500 was lucky because it didnt have any body mouldings and hence didnt suffer like the S did.

Theres still heaps of work to do on the car, tidy up the engine bay, replace the clutch, work out if I want to put the 5 speed in, find the $1500 I need for the rest of the wheel arch trims (or have the existing repaired), get the 14 inch alloys painted (and which ones to use, have the carbbies reconditioned.....

Some of the decisions are ....

5 speed or original 4 speed (the 5 speed might make it cheaper to run)

Alpine Stereo (with FM), original British Panasonic AM Cassette Player or Blaupunkt AM Cassette Player

E3/E9 Factory14 x 6inch 5 spoke alloys, BBS Maule 14 x 7 X-Spoke alloys or leave it on the 15 x 7 E34 X-Spokes

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Update

Scored a genuine Motorsport steering wheel in a E12 I brought, so the wooden Momo is gone

Same as the M1 steering wheel ;)

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Edited by rxsumo

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Waaaaaay better! The wheel was th eonly thing putting me off before - gorgeous!

Edited by bravo

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Hey Darryl,

Car looks great, it was early pic's of your that convinced me to pick up an e3, white 3.0si with aftermarket full length webasto sunroof, it's currently getting a light refurbishment, unfortunately not a superb 100 point + rebuilt as yours has been the lucky recipient of. I am trying to source front and rear head rests, could you shed any light ? the other thought was to go for early e23 seats, do you know if the fronts have the same size runners and would they be a straight "Bolt In" ?

Would measure and check myself but car is currently at Vintrim in Akl and I am in Hawkes Bay. Thanks for inspiring me, I picked mine up in hamilton and had a great drive up to Akl, and have enjoyed parking my butt in it every time, and thats been whilst it has been in poor health, so really looking forward to bring it back down to the Bay now the oily bits are in order and the shiny bits are nearly done.

I will use your car as a source of motivation to glam the old girl up to her former beauty over the coming months.

Cheers

Grant

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