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Tuesday 9am - 5pm Wednesday 9am - 5pm Thursday 9am - 5pm Friday 9am - 5pm Saturday 9am - 5pm

Rule Garage

Repair and restoration of vintage and specialty automobiles in Lakewood, WA.

08/29/2026

The under dash structure of this Sunbeam Tiger was completely rusted out, thanks to a family of mice that moved in during storage. We have removed the heater box and cowl support, and will be installing used OEM patch panels from a Sunbeam Alpine. Most restorers don’t get the opportunity to dig this deep into a Tiger, with the cowl structure out it’s easy to see where Jensen employees torch cut the firewall to install the Tiger specific parts.

08/27/2026

We are out testing and tuning in the 1958 Corvette this week. This project picked up momentum, and rapidly expanded in scope. Underneath the stock exterior, sits an Art Morrison chassis with a ton of aftermarket pro touring components. Unfortunately, none of these components had been installed well, or were working together, resulting in an unreliable and rough riding package. We have gone through the suspension and fixed a few basic geometry issues to improve ride quality, spent a ton of time on wiring repair for both the chassis and EFI harnesses, and repaired lots lots of smaller issues. Now that its driveable, we found the custom tune to be non streetable and an overheating issue appeared. We have been working on a new street tune, while diagnosing the cooling system deficiencies, and hope to have it wrapped up this week.

08/13/2026

This 1958 Corvette is in for some extensive rework. If you look closely, you can see the pile of extra wire and unnecessary components removed from the electrical system. This is only day one of wiring cleanup, the pile will grow!

07/29/2026

The 1960 MGA is back on the road. This one came in for new tires and wheels, and the scope expanded from there. In addition to lots of general service work, we were able to perform some ergonomic changes to the pedals to better fit modern shoes. Most concerningly, this car had been restored using period corrext hardware, meaning lockwashers and non locking nuts. Somehow, every fastener we checked on the front and rear suspension was finger tight. The owner is going for reliability and safety over originality, so we replaced a significant amount of the cars hardware with proper hardened washers and locking nuts. This wasnt a glamourous job, but the end product is very driveable and safe for years to come.

07/27/2026

A prior customer brought his 1974 Corvette in for a pre road trip inspection and service. In addition to normal service items (tires & alignment), and normal previous shop disasters (leaking fuel lines), we noted that his aftermarket composite rear leaf spring was delaminating. Replacing the rear steel mono leaf spring with a composite spring is a great upgrade, and completely safe, if installed correctly. The previous spring was installed incorrectly, causing delaminations, which someone attempted to hide with black spraypaint. Now he’s back on the road, and we hope he has a great time crossing the state this summer. These C3’s make a fun and reliable touring car in stock form!

07/23/2026

Today is Andy’s birthday, and we celebrated at Rule Garage with a four wheel alignment on this C3 Corvette! If you know Andy, you’ll understand why this could be fun, as he’s been passionate about correct suspension setup and design for his entire career. This C3 came in with some upgraded suspension components, but pulled hard to the left. Too much positive camber on the front, caster off side to side, zero front toe, and too much negative camber in the rear. Only the rear toe was near reasonable. We reset the car to comfortable street performance specs, and are moving forward to the rest of the project. And finally, Happy Birthday Andy!

07/11/2026

Only convertibles allowed as we move into Summer work. The Alfa Spider is back for a post restoration checkup, the owner already put 900 miles on it after it left the shop! The MGA is patiently waiting for service parts, so we are officially moving forward on the 1966 Mustang restoration.

07/02/2026

Waiting on parts to continue the Mk1 Sunbeam Tiger mechanical restoration, so we brought an MGA in for maintenance.

07/01/2026

Another one back on the road, and as usual from the outside it looks exactly the same as when it came in. This 1966 Thunderbird has been owned by the same family for many years, very well maintained in era, then stored carefully for a decade. A new family member took ownership of the car and asked us to bring it back to safe driving condition. We fixed an extremely leaky transmission, serviced the chassis and engine, recovered the front seats, replaced a rusted out exhaust system, replaced door and trunk seals, and its back on the road for summer. Thanks to decades of good care the project scope was very reasonable, a rarity with old cars these days!

06/02/2026

Its a transition week in the shop. The Alfa Romeo Spider is back with it’s owner. We wrapped up the complete mechanical restoration, and the owner is shaking it down before a multi state road trip. The Everett Morrison Cobra is back for a pedal assembly redesign, as its original pedals are clumsy and hard to modulate. The Mk1 Sunbeam Tiger GT is stripped, and its mechanical restoration is moving forward. It’s original 260 V8 is receiving our standard treatment, balanced bottom end, streetable head and cam work, and an uprated intake & carb combo. Finally, the Convertible Mustang is coming out of storage and we will start it’s complete restoration soon.

Address

3886 Steilacoom Boulevard SW
Lakewood, WA
98499

Opening Hours

Tuesday	9am - 5pm
Wednesday	9am - 5pm
Thursday	9am - 5pm
Friday	9am - 5pm
Saturday	9am - 5pm

Website

http://www.rulegarage.com/

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