by Hans Efde » Sat Jul 03, 2010 8:18 pm
Rebuilding such a car is a painstaking process that may last quite a while, and perhaps can be a neverending story. It is just how determined you are. I think it would be best to follow the build manual step by step. The Convertible build manual is the most comprehensive, but obviously not all does apply like the softtop and boot (the coupe manual was small because many things were done by the factory) . Making a large todo list (with necessary parts and budget!) and hanging it on the wall of your garage can be motivating. Esspecially when you can sign off jobs. I have a white board in my garage with a todo list that is constantly changing.
Important is not to fiddle around but to make a plan and stick to it. One job at the time in the right order.
Concerning the interior the Midas carpet set is a special item. To do it cheaply buy some stuff (carpet, vinyl, glue) from woolies and use paper templates to cut to size. The seats of the Rover 100 could fit, but probably you need to mount them on aftermaket subframes for head room.
But the interior would be the last bit of your project. First is to get the mechanical stuff in and working, car on its wheels, all moving parts like bonnet, doors and rear glass fitted. Then when everything is working (and possibly a paint job), the interior needs finishing.
Making a budget is crucial if you don't want to run out of money or making it a money pit. If money is tight you could always focus on the jobs that get the car running again with the parts available and forget a paint job,pluche interior etc. When the car is MOT'd and running you could step by step beautify it.
My brother is in a similar situation. He bought a coupe 4 years ago and wanted to do a big project. LHD, big engine, paint job, wheels, interior etc. But after the strip down it just sat 3 years in his garage. The only thing he had done was a respray of the wheels! Now we are busy to to build it up again and get it running and MOT'd. On the move we'll see what to do next. At the moment it hardly has an interior and the seats are shot, but who cares.
I hope this helps a bit.