Cowps GTE - G37 HNT

[mark.cowperthwaite]

After buying the GTE 2 month ago I finally made a start today stripping it out.

The plan is to go bare shell rebuild. I have been sourcing panels for the last few months and got most of what I need, mostly gm ones.

It was advertised on eBay as mint, it isn't and wasn't happy when I travelled 250 miles to pick it up and was presented with this, needless to say I payed nowhere near the asking price!

As it stands at the moment:





Some pics of the rot/previous attempts of repairs!

A bit of filler build up on inner wing


Something going on with pas side inner wing


Drivers side strut top in wheel arch, passenger side is good


Some fibreglass in battery tray


Patches in boot




A little bit of filler in rear arches but there not too bad


So next steps are to take running gear out and get it to a bare she'll, then start the dreaded job of taking all the undersell off!

[dgbnova#1]

Looks nice mark there all standard ish trouble spots not a fan of fiberglass repairs just makes re doing them a dusty job
Not that bad though I will show you some of the basket cases I've welded !!!


if you need anything give me a shout can sort you out and Chris still doing runs up and down weekly so can get stuff to you easy enough

[mark.cowperthwaite]

Spot on, cheers David, back chassis legs are in a sad state, could do with finding a shell to cut some better ones out of. One of the biggest ball aches is its been fairly well stripped in the past for welding and the clown that's put it back together ain't used the original screws/bolts in a lot of places, most of the interior is held together with b&q self tappers!

[mark.cowperthwaite]

Also need a main loom as someone has cut a bodged some aftermarket fuse box in it.

[nova.mike]

Got a sun roof if you need one text me 07919024001

Looks good though pal, look forward to updates

[Rickyb]

Looks sweet keep the pics coming.
Rick

[WA1D3N]

Good to see another GTE getting sorted, I am getting closer and closer to starting a thread for mine

[mark.cowperthwaite]

Cheers lads, will be back on it at the weekend, hopefully get it stripped down to a bare shell.

[mark.cowperthwaite]

A bit more progress made this weekend, it's pretty much stripped down now, just brake pipes to drop off once it's on its side and then doors, boot, and bonnet to take off.





Tried taking sound deadening off the bulkhead but it's gone brittle and think it's going to end up coming off in bits so have give up on that for now and started digging to see what has been covered up with fibreglass, filler and under seal!!

Some findings so far,

Behind l/h strut top


Battery box


Some previous typical lay on top patching in rear wheel arch


Patching on spring platform on rest chassis legs


The bit that annoys me must is the a**e hole that made this mess at the r/h front chassis leg


Plan of attack at the moment is to start on the front, battery box, and both side strut tops, thinking if drilling off the inner wing flitch panels to get better access to rot, then new front panel.

Got most panels I need (well what I can get)

-Rear quarters (1 gm, 1 pattern??)
-Rear inner wheelarche repair panels (klokkerholm)
-Full boot floor (gm)
-Tailgate skin (gm)
-Back panel (gm)
-2 sills, however don't think I need them (klokkerholm)
-2 front wings (gm, thanks to Dave Buttler )
-Battery tray repair panel (klokkerholm)
-full front panel (gm)
-rear spring platform plates (klokkerholm)

Could really do with a couple of decent rear chassis legs out of a donor, will continue looking.

[dgbnova#1]

Just one mate tailgate skin ?this is not worth doing IMO plenty of tailgates to use
And your battery tray looks ok just add the minimum into it looking at that

looks ok though