Jeff H

This was left to dry for a couple of hours and we then put a further two coats of heavy matt on, 600 grams or 2 ounce . this is it once dry.

We taped around the edges of the bonnet to stop the gel from creeping under and creating a mechanical lock, next we put what Lee called a skim coat of matting on, we also went round the edges with some tissue, this kept the edges from lifting.

Then I took the panels over to Lee's place as he has all the products required to do the job, gel coat was the next step, to keep costs low I asked Lee to use a colour that was not popular, he had some Oxford Blue left over from another job that had essentially already been paid for.

The next job was to wax the panels ready for gel coat, the chap recommended a Meguiars release wax.

I have managed to get a bit more done on my car, The bonnet had been extended in to the scuttle by about four inches or so, the trouble was the previous owner had used steel to do it and with all the filler used it had made the thing really heavy. The boot lid was also a mess so I decided to take moulds from them and produce better quality ones, my knowledge of mould making is limited but I do have a mate who makes GT40 bodies for a living who is local to me so I spent a few days with him to get a better understanding of what's involved. This may be old hat to some of you so you can skip the next few photos if desired. The 1st thing I had to do was get the bonnet and boot all painted up and nice n shiney, I had some old BRG left over from a repaint, it is solid 2K but does flat n polish to a good finish.

Well I did manage to get a little bit more done this week, I have started shaping the body up, the rear quarters were not too bad just needed the original flash lines sorting out, the doors are quite bad they need a couple of skims to straighten them up I have a feeling it is where the skins were bonded on and maybe clamped in to position. The bonnet will be used as a plug to make a new one, as I mentioned it has been extended toward the scuttle/ screen and it is really very heavy for it. I have just roller primed the bonnet for now, this will be blocked and the sprayed with high build, I am hoping to take the mould from a primed and then polished surface but I will see how well it turns out. Pics.

Hey Peter, Lots of work there, I have decided to leave the doors as they are, ease of build and time etc. My vents are in place so again I am not going to move them about, thanks for the tips though.

The other thing i wish I had done was take the rear window more in to the rear buttress as per the original, I did have a paper template of the rear window but it was even deeper North to South than the size I have cut.

Hi Michelle, I think the door mod will really make the car along with your extended wheelbase it should look the nuts. Regarding the door A post pivot point I did find this pic on the net and I don't think it would be a major faff to incorporate in to the car just not really sure how strong it would be as the doors with the over skins are quite heavy.

Hi Peter, I probably didn't explain properly, what I meant was the A post where the hinges mount too, if I cut a bit off the leading edge of the door North to South and add a bit to the wing to make the difference up when you open the door it will foul the wing. The only way I could see out of it was to move the A post back the same amount as I cut off. There would be no problem reducing the height of the door by removing material at the bottom and of course adding to the sill. Regarding the roof mod, I dumped the old bit I cut off as it was quite heavy, I made a thin top hat section up and curved it to the roof profile, then I bonded it in place and made some L shaped brackets to attach it to the inner cant rail inside the car. I will get a pic tomorrow for you.

I have some more pics on my camera, but it is at work so will update later on in the week. I have decided not to mod the doors, it does make the car look great but the work involved moving the A pillar back is a lot, plus if I did that I would have to do the sliding window mod and at the moment I have doors that open and shut well, should have no wind noise or leak. I am also going to leave the fuel filler on the drivers side, again more for ease of the build plus I want to be able to use the boot space as much as possible.

I have managed to do a bit more on the car this week, I try to keep Fridays for working on my own stuff and Sat mornings, if lucky I can snatch a couple of hours here and there during the rest of the week. I got the rear window frame glued, riveted and glassed in place, most of the old primer off and started the hateful job of getting the body shaped up. Some pics for those interested (seems to be 2 at the moment lol) oh and a couple of pics were taken on myphone so quality not great.

Hi Chelle, No not the same kit, the Automirage is a fantastic bit of kit, it is on a tubular chassis and uses late ish BMW running gear, it does however need an IVA. It is a very close replica of the real deal in body terms. The ones that I done were made by a company called Tribute Automotive in Dorchester also based in Dorset, as mentioned before a well thought out kit but they suffer with air blisters and dry matting under the gel coat, I had an early body so they may have improved things now.

Hi Peter, Yes under the rebody rules we are not allowed to cut in to the chassis or monocoque of the vehicle, once we do that we are in for a world of pain and have to go down the IVA route. People do of course snip the odd bit off here and there like brackets and have to cut holes to re route pipes etc but it is no major drama. This is a kit I painted for a chap local to me who makes the Formosa 120 GR, it is a rebody for a Herald or Vittesse and uses the original bulkhead for the pedals, servo etc, he also makes them fit the Scimitar which is a good doner.

And this was one that I built for a customer, he went the whole hog and fitted Borrani wheels and had me fit a genuine SWB rear screen, we also modded the doors and sills on this one to, also moved the fuel filler to the other side.

This was my 250 SWB attempt.

Hi Peter, Thanks for the welcome, I fully read your build thread yesterday from the link you gave me, I am so tempted to mod the doors on mine to make them look more original, I wont be extending the wheelbase as Chell has done as that is a massive undertaking. The 250 SWB was a kit from Tribute over here in the uk, some of you may be familiar with them ? they do the GTO kit for the Mazda MX5 (Miato) that was actually taken from a Scorpian kit and then cut n shut to fit the Mazda, it is IMHO another one that doesn't work (No offence to anybody who has one) as the front is too short and the roof too long. The SWB was based on a BMW Z3 Convertible, the quality of the kit left a bit to be desired but it was in fact a very clever and well thought out kit, we are able to register them properly over here as a rebody so no expensive and time consuming IVA test required. I altered the kit quite a bit on mine, they were designed for a MGB Coupe rear screen to be fitted these were too recessed and too small so I changed that, I also raised the doors and sills as you have done, I also put a curve in the door to try and get it to look a bit more original. The front end on the SWB was far too short but their was nothing I could do to overcome that , also the screen angle was miles out but again it was never intended to be an exact replica more of a look a like, I did square the body off at the top corners of the screen and fitted a moulding to reduce the slabbiness of the screen. Any way I realize I am rambling on and don't want to spam up the thread with pics that are not GTO so will put a few up and leave it at that.

Hi Chelle, Yes I have applied to join the FB group it is pending at the moment. The chap I bought the car from extended the hood toward the screen which i do think suits it quite nicely.

Sadly the gauges are all labeled Smiths, A very common gauge over here, I am hoping to cheat a bit and get them re labeled, I also got the hard to find parts with car like the headlamp covers and stainless rims plus the bonnet fixings and perspex vents. It also has the correct Marchal spot lights and the correct wing repeaters, the rear lights are BMC Mini so they will be replaced, I do have a set of Hillman Imp ones which may suite better. The car drove on and off the trailer ok so I am hoping to not have to get too involved with that side of the build.

And these are when I got it home.

Hi Chelle, I was very impressed with your car, I actually had a few pics of it from the net before I saw it on here and Face Book. These pics are from the advert and I have only really stripped the car down and taken the primer off.

Hi All, I have just signed up as I am currently building a 1975 260Z based GTO, I am pretty sure it is an old Scorpian kit from here in the UK. I spent ages last night reading every page on this thread and stealing pics and ideas for my build and I doff my cap to some excellent work done. I have not done an awful lot to the car since buying it as customers work has taken priority, the kit has been fitted quite well by the previous owner, the problem is it has been sat in primer for a couple of years so this needs to come off due to the risk of microblistering at a later stage. The bonnet (hood) has been extended at the front but I plan to take a mould from both this and the bootlid (decklid) as the quality of these two panels are not really up to scratch. I also want to enlarge the rear window due to the one being supplied with the kit being too small and too recessed. I have been involved with kits and kit cars for a number of years here and funnily enough I know Smash quite well who posted around the start of this thread ( We both had Tribute 250 SWB kits. Happy to put up some pictures if any body is interested and I have applied to join the Face Book group (pending) Regards Jeff.