The GT is stunning, Peter.

There's a semi retired guy down here that has done at least 3 diff overhauls for BCCV members. He has obtained the correct bearings but since the bill wasn't itemised, no idea on cost but he did say they are virtually unobtainable now in Australia. Where did you get them in USA?

glenn

It certainly is the most thorough restoration I've seen, and so well documented. Thank you for all the info and photos, great to see you are progressing.
Respect!
Matt.

Thanks for your kind words guys. This is the longest time it has taken me to do a restoration but with this car you cannot cut corners there are so few of them that parts are not readily available. I have refused to put a secondhand part back in so everything has been rebuilt/re-manufactured or replace with a similar new item. That may sound a little anal but I just found the car pushing me in that direction.

Glen with regard to the bearings and seals for the diff all of them except the large side carrier ones are readily available here in Australia and they cost approximately $100 in total. I have been working through a company here in Adelaide called Statewide bearings and dealing with a young fellow called Blake. He located the 14mm wide carrier bearings in Victoria and they took the view that I wanted them nobody else has them so this is the price $600 for the pair. Blake felt that it was too expensive would I like to try overseas to see what we can find and as luck would have it he located the original NSK Taper bearings R50Z-17 for $450.

I pulled a spare diff apart to get the bearing numbers and tried shopping on line but it was a bit hit and miss so I decided to give it to the experts locally and they have come though for me.

What I have found with this little jigger is research, research and more research, never take no for an answer.

cheers
Peter

You deserve all the credit, such a commitment few ever carry through with such detail.

Ok on the bearings, I had two diffs done at same time. One as a spare. The one I used had all new bearings obtained locally, the other was a strip and check/adjust only. I don't recall exact cost now but in the the region of $800 for the two. It was several years ago. Majority cost would be the fully built one that probably reflects similar pricing of the bearings to what you got.

Another BCCV member here just had one done late last year by same guy but I don't know the cost.

I just did a search on that number and came up with this. No idea if actually in stock. US$ of course.

That's them alright. Obviously my supplier is adding a markup which is to be expected. I did not want to buy on line in case I got the wrong ones but at that price I may have a dabble at a pair of those just so I have a set. I would reckon that you should be able to land a pair here for around $300. Thanks for the lead Glenn

Lucky find actually.
Maybe the 1st number before / might be worth chasing also locally.

Tried the number L305649 through Statewide as well and had no joy. I have tried that (Locate ball bearings) site and it appears they do not ship to Australia, I have sent them an email asking the question so will have to wait and see what they say. From memory that was the problem when I tried to source on line, shipping to Australia was non existant so that could have also been why I went to a bearing supplier.

Just remembered something, L305649 is the cup and R50Z-17 is the bearing, strangely Statewide found it under the one part number so be careful that you do not just chase the cup.

Good info.

There are some services that will on-ship from USA to Australia. ie you buy the goods and they are shipped to the forwarding service, who then ship it to Oz.

Peter

are the wheels 14 x 6". (Back spacing?)

Yes Glen, wheels are 14 x 6 Superlites with a 26P offset. Got them from Chris Neale in Queensland, he had sets available and machined them to my requirements. Craig gave me the off set.

They are now fitted with Nankang 185x60R14 tyres but they took a while to come it. Have attached picture of the tyre on the wheeland you can see it fits the rim nicely.

Time to add a little update on the PR90. Engine did not go in for machining as planned however he did manage to fit in the head and that has finally been completed. Chambers have been rated at 45cc and comp ratio has been done to a theoretical 9.5 to 1, we had 35 thou taken off to achieve this figure. Head was pretty sad and needed welding in places and some work. It also got a little bit of pocket porting done. Block goes off for machining and full balance in October. Finally got the differential back and that is now in the vehicle, only took six months to have it overhauled. Gearbox is still out and do not expect to see it until some time in October. Pressure plate has been fully rebuilt and flywheel has been resurfaced as well, car came with a new clutch plate so that pack is also now complete. Trimming has been put back until Oct-Nov due to his workload. Received the new grill badge from the foundary and I am very happy with how that has turned out.Found a new chrome plater and his work is excellent, he has completed some more work for me and at a third of the cost and a quarter of the wait time. All the major electrical items have finally been finished and are sitting waiting to go on the car. The horns have been refurbished with new chrome covers as well as being overhauled in the electrics. Finally finished all the crinkle paint finish on the dash trim, door tops and instrument cluster. The instrument cluster took eight attempts before I was happy with it and in the end have run with what I have even though I think it could be a bit better but had to draw a line.You may have noticed that the car had lost its fog lamps and came with two 100 watt lamps in place of them. Trying to replace the fog lamps has been difficult as they are an unusual size, all of the replacements are 4 inch and I need 4 and 1/2 inch which surprisingly I found one day whilst trolling the internet. I found them in a wall mart store and traced their supplier to Speedway Motors in Lincoln Nebraska so got the pair for $60Au landed. They have replaceable globes so that is a bonus. Things are progressing albeit slowly but should come together with a rush by the end of the year. I have attached some before and after shots of some items and some pictures of other stuff.
Cheers
Peter

I forgot to add the picture of the balance date for the pistons. Ross are very thorough and as I said before their quality is excellent.

Spectacular!
I don't think I've ever seen a restoration like this.
Thanks for catching us up, it's beautiful.
Now I'm going back to look at the pics again!
Cheers, Matt.

Thanks for the pics Peter. Good to follow a resto.
Your paint work has given me inspiration in what I should do for my resto.
Will make a final decision on the side stripes when the time comes.
Most of my time has been knocking 2 big dents out of the roof.
Has been too cold to paint at the moment.

Dave.

I have not been on here for a while but thought I should post an update on the PR90 but before I do that, I would like to know how you are going with yours Dave. Have you finished the roof and moved on to paint? very interested where you are at.

The PR90 is almost done, longest restoration I have ever done, it is in its fourth year now, but a lot of the time spent on it was through delays out of my control. Gearbox man took seven months before I got it back, he had some personal problems that caused the delay, and my trimmer suffered the same fate, he had the car for eight months. Today this is where we are at. Gearbox reconditioned, engine totally rebuilt and going on the engine dyno next week or the week after to be run in and tuned. Trimming done, went for leather over vinyl as it was only $500 more, no brainer really. Once the engine is back then we need to fit it along with the gearbox and then it is off to the exhaust shop after that vehicle inspection and registration. I did get front and rear NOS windscreen seals from Japan but when we went to fit them up they were so old they did not want to rope in so have settled on some off the shelf windscreen seal that does not have the stainless bead in it. I am very happy with the result and how well it went into the corners without puckering. Here are some pictures of the car now.
Regards
Peter

That is a fantastic resto , peterd, and an absolute credit to you persistence to get the job done to the highest standard. Can’t see it on the pictures you have posted but I have the sticker for the jack I had printed some yours ago courtesy of Redback doing some computer fancy work. If you are interested let me know. Can’t wait to see this car in the flesh.

Thanks for your kind words AJ. No, I do not have a sticker for the Jack but would be interested in obtaining one. Are you selling them?
Regards
Peter

I would be more than happy to donate one to this project.

That is extremely kind of you AJ, what is the next step, do you need an address?

cheers

peter