(C) Hans Edenholm In 1978, after driving my Interceptor II '70 for 2 years and about 25 - 30 000 km, topping it off at 225 km/h, 0 - 100 km/h in 6.7 sec, I decided to take care of some technical issues. I had noticed the suspension and shocks not to be very good, some spots on the body had suspected rust and the electrical harness was messy in some areas i.e. the engine compartment loom.
I had a twin garage in the building and a wealth of hand tools, MIG and gas welding and some electric hand machines. A bit primitive for the task at hand maybe, but with a lot of experience since I took the first bicycle apart at age 12, a couple motorbikes, up to 4 Volvo and one MGB rebuilds, I felt confident to take this on. After all it's not rocket science.....
(C) Hans Edenholm
After removing all the trim bits from the exterior it was easy to see that the original colour was silver grey. And rust was obvious in the sills and rear wheel arches. The sills are built up of three pieces of straight sheet metal forming a box section, of which I had to replace only the outer piece on both sides. That was a piece of cake. The wheel arches were a bigger challenge. I made a couple of molds of cardboard that I took to a shop to find economy repair panels. Of course they didn't have for the Interceptor but i found that Alfa Romeo GTV had a look-alike wheel arch that by cutting out a small slice in the top of the arc and straighten it out a little, could be fit into place. I then tinned the welds for best result.
I took the engine out, took it apart for inspection and when I opened the transmission cover, I could lift the timing chain off of the sprocket by hand!!! And just before I started the renovation I did some serious street racing and revved to the red line several times. Just the thought makes me sweat. However, I took the pieces and gave it to a machine shop in Stockholm (Birka Racing) for measuring, machining, weighing, ballancing and fitting of new cam bearings. I did the rebuild of the engine myself. And while I was at it, I also took the automatic apart and replaced the clutches and seals from an overhaul kit. My aim for the colour of the engine and some other parts in the engine bay was to match the colour of the interior.
I ripped out the interior to find that it wasn't in a bad shape at all. New carpets were needed and that was it. The rest was just cleaning and some adjustments to the electrical and the steering column.
The brakes however....were in a tragic state. Fortunately my friend Eric Jensen had a business (Nobtec) that renovated all kinds of brakes and clutches. He made mine up for no money at all. And of course he had all of the plumbing, so that was also taken care of. On my way back from a business trip to Egypt I passed by Cropredy Bridge Garage to buy all the rubber bushes and seals I could think of for the suspension and body. This, I think, is essential for the feel and comfort of the car when you drive it. It gives that "new" feeling when everything is tight and there is no rattle or shivers. I was also fortunate to have a connection at the swedish agent of KONI so I could buy a new set of shocks at the dealers price. Very convenient.
I removed the paint the chemical way on recommendation from the guy with the spraygun. Since all the paint should be taken away and the metal duely cleaned there would be no risc for residue to remain under the new paint. However, it was not an easy task with the synthetic on top of the celluose. The next Interceptor I stripped clean I used an hot air gun for this. That was a mk I that I will tell more about in another page on this site.
Here is the result. Clean metal and some plastic adjustments of some minor dings, waiting for a time slot in the spray box. I decided not to take the rear hatch glass out because it was the only rubber seal I didn't have new.
Oh my..... what a feeling this was!! Home again outside my garage. So fresh there was a smell of new paint all around it. Now the pleasant job started, building it up again with fresh bits and pieces. The yellow paint is one of european Ford from the late 70'ties and the top coat had a touch of bronze pearl. I really love this colour. I'm thinking of painting my next project, the FF, the same.
I gathered some friends to help put the engine back in. The rest was added over winter '79-'80, and the last pic here is from the summer of '80 when it was finished.
The first trip I made was to the annual British Sports Car Meeting in the swedish town of Hjo, some 350 km from Stockholm. It was as allways the third weekend in August and we started out in the late afternoon. After about 50 km on a countryside motorway after sunset, travelling at 120 km/h suddenly all lights went out and it was absolutely pitch black. I hit the breaks and came to a stop, but I had no idea if we were still on the "runway". Motor was still running. I had to send somone out of the car to take a look and guide me out of the lane. I think someone had a cig lighter so I could finally find the problem. It was a 50A fuse that carried ALL the lights. Luckily I had a spare. More about BSCM on another page.