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1968 Right Hand Drive Conversion Progress

CraigB

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
31
Location
Sydney, Australia
A few people have been asking me about the progress of my RHD conversion of my GT/CS. Below are a few images. The firewall and dash have been removed. If you look closely you will see the right hand steering box, pitman arm and tie rods. The wipers have also been moved over. The removed firewall pieces need to be welded back in as does the dash. A long way to go yet but it is looking promising.

CAUTION: These photos could disturb some viewers.


CraigB
 

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admin

Staff member
Administrator
Joined
Aug 18, 2002
Messages
2,049
Wow, that is just a ton of work. I never considered how much needed to change to convert to right hand drive. I naively thought it was just the steering column, guages and pedals. I didn't think about things like the wipers, linkages, firewall, etc.

Do they have a special firewall for the conversion? Or do they just cut up and reweld your old one?

Thanks for posting. Keep the progress shots coming.
 

CougarCJ

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 17, 2006
Messages
2,186
I have a friend in Brisbane that has converted two Cougars to RHD.

Lots of things that I would not even consider.
Power window, master controls, foot operated emergency brake, steering needs to be borrowed from another Australian car, throttle linkage needs to be re-routed, etc.
 
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CraigB

CraigB

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
31
Location
Sydney, Australia
There are even more minor things that I never originally considered but make a big difference. An example is the black gear locking button on the automatic gear changer, try pushing that in with your little finger. It is set up for your thumb on a LHD car.

CraigB
 

vman

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 25, 2006
Messages
81
Location
melbourne, victoria, australia.
These are just some of the things you take forgranted when you buy one that has allready been converted. As far as I know the fire wall in mine remained the same way. My wipers also remained the same way.Not much of a problem here as it never rains anyway. A friend had his 67 coupe converted with the wipers changed and had lots of problems with them getting stuck. Not sure why.
The only problem with not converting the firewall with mine they had no room to put the heating unit back in. Also not a big problem with the temperatures we have been getting lately.
Good luck with the conversion and if you need photos etc. please email me . Just remember my conversion was probably a cheap one done many years ago.
 

gt bandit

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 26, 2005
Messages
460
Location
Perth , Western Australia
Why the need to convert ?? - if its a real daily driver i understand. Driving left hook never posed a problem for me , although passing on single lane roads can be dicey. But that's where the CJ factor comes in

shaun
 
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CraigB

CraigB

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
31
Location
Sydney, Australia
It is going to be a semi daily drive. I have a 67 GTA convertible that is LHD and it is no good for day to day, a few days a month is about it at the moment, the LHD is OK and the vision is OK with the roof down but a bit too limiting for every day if the roof was up so the I decided to convert the CS. I also plan to be holding into it for a while and do some custom stuff to it. I am not game to touch the GTA as it is a numbers matching original.

The guy that is doing most of the work for me is very good, I have driven some of his work and there are no issues, just like a factory RHD. The firewall will be reversed and rewelded so everything will be in the right place. I am deleting the heater also which makes things a little easier as I will be putting in a classic air air conditioner with heater.

CraigB
 
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CraigB

CraigB

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
31
Location
Sydney, Australia
Here are some more photos of the conversion. The firewall is finally back in. Notice the heater delete (the new modern A/C with heater will take care of that). You can also see where the cracked shock towers have been rewelded. The dash is almost all back in, still a bit of welding to go there though. Progress is slow but you have to get all this right or the steering geometry will be all out.

oz390gta
 

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CraigB

CraigB

Active member
Joined
Apr 28, 2004
Messages
31
Location
Sydney, Australia
My CS now has a dash and the steering column is fitted on the right hand side. Next is respraying the engine bay and then putting the engine and trans back. You will also notice that the brake pedal and the rest of the steering gear is also in.

Craig
 

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Scott

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 17, 2008
Messages
126
Location
Coogee Beach, Sydney, Australia
RHD Dash

Nice work Craig,

The heater delete is an excellent choice. A/C and Heater was the hardest and last thing to get right in my special (just got it right a week before I stacked it).

Can I ask how you intend doing the dash? As my repairs are running into a full resto now I'm shopping for ideas on refinishing the dash... maybe the aluminium or camera finish. Have heard good and bad about both on RHD ponies.

Regards,
Scott from Coogee.
 
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