my wheels

[aide 0]

cheers and yeh good to get it sorted, but am getting bored with this repair now :/

 

Still, a bit more progress, including a repair to the arch dings i had, and have applied loads of base coat to loose uneveness and am now at undercoat stage.

[aide 0]

- built up some more coats on the filler repair, sanding back inbetween coats.

 

- cut away the rust on the rear seam and have that welded with new toy and part filled now :)

[KipVR 1]

Good skills Aide, much better to keep on top of it now than let it slowly rot away as so many are......

[aide 0]

cheers kip, my welding still isn't up to much though :) unfortunately the previous owner let it develop a bit too far, surprising what paint covers up, still its getting sorted now!

[aide 0]

- filled and prepped the rear seam, ready for top coat now.

 

- removed the cylinder head. gasket in bad shape but appeared to be holding, cleaned up the block surface ready for refitting. upper chain tensioner pad in better condition than i was expecting, but that's a job for next winter i think, and surprisingly the upper guide isn't busted!

 

THE BAD NEWS is i have bad pitting on the existing head surface so i think that's unasable, AND i think the spare head is cracked across one inlet runner?

 

- off topic; did the rear pads and discs on my daily, and then checked out the 'exhaust repair' on my daily... and i thought my welding was bad!

[aide 0]

never done this before so thought it worth a crack, stripped the hydraulic lifters and cleaned them, easy but fiddly.

[SIMONG 0]

good work there Aide, a lot more then most would attempt, including myself! i was only really looking at your exhaust in comprison to mine to seee if it was the same make, then got struck into the thread and like i say good effort with all the work you have done.

 

just one thing i wanted to bring up but dont want to come across like i beatin you down for your efforts! when you put the filler flap back on, should there not be a hole in the body work for the lug on the flap to sit into and lock on?

[aide 0]

cheers, am just chipping away at it very s l o w l y.

 

should there not be a hole in the body work for the lug on the flap to sit into and lock on?

 

yeh there should be, it could be cut in and i thought about doing it, but in the end i decided not to as i'd just be reintroducing the weak point for rust I had before. not figured how to lock the cap, but i can live with it being unlockable!

[Wild-Animal 0]

Hey looking nice(apart from the welding if you can call it a weld), I take it your head thats pitted is beyond skimming?

Edited April 9, 2011 by Wild-Animal

[aide 0]

I take it your head thats pitted is beyond skimming?

 

yeh unfortunately it was too deep, glad i had a spare. bit more progress;

 

- retaped the engine loom that i could get at

 

- got myself some 264deg cams

 

- had my injectors cleaned, dynamic flow tested, results show a 30% increase accross all of them!

 

- painted the upper and lower manifold, engine plastics and rocker cover.

 

- got my spare head refurbed and skimmed, with new guides, stem seals, reground valve seats and refaced valves.

 

Got a bus few days coming up :)

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

your a hard working boy arn't ya! good work on the body repairs, they look smooth as a babies bum. If you need to make up the base coat to sand down you can get primer with added filler you know. Fills holes and primes surfaces at the same time.

 

And as for the welding i wouldn't worry! It's a fine art and not easy to pick up and you seem to have done all right considering!

[aide 0]

cheers Alex, was half looking for that filler/ primer stuff but didn't get any in the end, i will for the next set of body repairs though!

 

found the injector results, well worth getting them refurbed at £60, great service too, sent them monday and had them back by thursday with new O rings and very clean :)

[aide 0]

well i got the head back on last weekend, turned the key and nothing, bit of investigation found no spark and no power to either the coil or the hall sender. it was getting late so i called it a day last weekend and returned to it mid week, gave the ignition switch a wobble, unplugged and shook the ECU relay :) tested the coil power - again nothing....

 

back to it the next night, thought i'd check the coil power and bingo i magically had power to the coil, started it up first time... and found an oil leak from the tensioner - bollocks.

 

so stripped it back down this morning, resealed everything and reassembled it. turned the key and started fine, ran it up to temp, fans kicked in and then the oil light came on - not great :(

 

now i've no oil leaks, and oil level is bob on, i did put that new dual pole sender in and I'm wondering if its giving a duff reading or i've been given one with a higher low pressure threshold.

 

still at least its running for first time in 6 months, some progress pics;

[Alex_G60_Fanatic 0]

that cover looks spot on mate! nice job, hope the oil light works out to be a simple fix!

[poll250 0]

That engine cover does look great!

 

Good luck chasing the Oil pressure problem. I had a close call the other week when my oil cooler died and dropped all its oil on the way to work- no buzzer or anything, just a lot of smoke when I stopped the car. Luckily nothing was damaged, but I was just about to drive 200 miles to Plymouth so very fortunate.

[aide 0]

thanks for comments Alex/ Andy, i monitored the oil pressure readings at the weekend and will post them later for the (my!) record. not great reading, at start up the pressure was 2.5bar when it should be 4bar, it then dropped progressively to 1 bar when the light started to flash, it should be 2bar at full temp but it at least settled at 1bar. i then monitored it at 500 rev increments until the cylinder head/ matrix hose split at 3000rpm :lol: new hose is on order!

 

i'm going to investigate the draw side of the oil pump fist, so car is now on the drive on ramps and i'll be removing the sump later to inspect.

 

i've read on here the split hose is a symptom of tired engine mounts, so good job the next task is the front subframe...

 

all good fun :) only downside is it will be at least another couple of months before i get back on the road.

[aide 0]

righto, so not sorted the low oil pressure problem yet, i took the sump and oil pump off for inspection, checked the pump for backwash but was within tolerance. put a new filter and oil in whilst i was at it, and also fitted a sump plug adaptor and temp sensor.... good to keep an eye on the sump oil temps, but the low pressure issue remains for now.

 

in addition i've been focussing on sorting rust issues on the underside and sills, i cut out those hexagonal shaped protusions near the jacking points on both sides which were starting to rot, and also around where the front wing bolts onto the sill. i fabbed new sections for all and welded them in. i also repaired jacking damage to sills on both sides, and whilst i was there i addressed some surface rust on the front wings, grinding these spots back to bare metal.

 

for the rust i've started using a rust converter/ antirust primer called 'vactan' which gets rated highly by the panel van boys, and also a '3M' underbody stoneguard which you can paint on in 2mm layers - well impressed with both products so far.

 

no photos of the rust treatment as all pretty :sleeping:

 

 

i also replaced the hose that runs from the head to the TB/ heater matrix with a new OEM one, pricey at £40ish though!

 

today i started stripping down the front sub frame, had the usual trama's involving grinders and irwin's, but i've now the engine supported and everything bar the steering rack disconnected, hopefully will get the subframe dropped one evening this week, then the rebuild of it begins. that disc in the photo is an old one by the way :lol:

 

i also bought some half leather front recaro's for £40 which i've dropped off for reupholstering, the leather sections are being repaired where needed (drivers bolster), and the rest will just be plain black recarro material, i'm hoping the guy comes good with a committment to embroid a new recaro badge into both - we shall see 8) i know, i know they're the rover 820 versions - so not one for the purists - but they have adustable lumbar support and my back gets sore when driving :thumbleft:

[aide 0]

not got out to the garage all week as just too busy with work, however got five minutes to try the Deox-C Powder i bought, more than a little impressed with results!

 

a couple of days soaking took this manky old battery clamp from rust covered to spotless :thumbleft:

[aide 0]

started on the subframe the last few weekends - removed it, then spent time cleaning, removing crud and repainting.

 

spent a small fortune on new R32 bushes, engine and gearbox mounts, arb bushes, front wishbone bushes, drop links, ball joints, tie rod ends, bearings, cv joints, cv boot and rack boots.... went OEM for all the critical stuff - bushes, mounts and bearings.

 

after a fight with the steering knuckle i got the subframe back on the car today, but have a nasty feeling i've threaded the power steering banjo in my rush to crack on :bonk: called it a day at that, will investigate it later this week.

[Swompy 0]

very impressive mate, top job

 

That Deox looks pretty good. I've got a rust eating set from them so when i get some time I will be putting that stuff to good use

[aide 0]

cheers Jake, the deox stuff is great, brings stuff up a treat.

 

so, update - it turns out i had threaded my steering rack, so dropped the subframe to remove and inspect, luckily when i cleaned up the threads it wasn't terminal, but really don't understand how i managed to get the banjo in the shape it was :scratch:

 

anyway, i decided to clean up the power steering pipes whilst i had them loose, and also drilled and retapped the disc retaining screw in my old hub. i also treated a couple of minor rust spots i spotted behind the wheel arch trim, hopefully that's the last of it underneath the car.

 

i've now got the subframe back on and everything reassembled, only need to tighten up the drive shaft flanges and the hub bolt - can't wait to get the front wheels back on the ground, and onto the next job's...

[aide 0]

small update, got the wheels back on the ground, only to find a leak from the steering rack and that the car wouldn't even idle, add to that the low oil pressure and i was on the verge of getting miffed :| luckily i had the last two days off work.

 

- yesterday i stripped the covers and manifold off to check I had it timed up correctly, whilst i was at it i fitted new tappets... still wouldn't idle right.

 

- last week i'd repaired a split in the damper pot, and had given the ISV a wash in carb cleaner whilst i was at it, today i gave the MAF a good squirt also... bingo - idle fixed (for now)

 

- so then i investigated the steering rack leak, and fitted a couple of new brass washers - leak cured! filled the rack up with new fluid, can't believe the racket the pump makes when empty.

 

- i also investigated the low oil pressure problem. i have an old Tim hydraulic guage which i rigged up as a comparison simultaneously - photos are self explanatory... 35 psi on the Tim guage = 2.4psi, my cabin guage is reading 1psi... so basically i don't have a low pressure problem, relief isn't the word, i've now replaced the oil pressure VDO and with the OEM low pressure switch.

 

ran it up to temp - no oil light, happy days.

 

:dance:

 

i've also been getting stuck into bodywork repairs, more updates on that in a few weeks tho

[fla 9]

started on the subframe the last few weekends - removed it, then spent time cleaning, removing crud and repainting.

 

spent a small fortune on new R32 bushes, engine and gearbox mounts, arb bushes, front wishbone bushes, drop links, ball joints, tie rod ends, bearings, cv joints, cv boot and rack boots.... went OEM for all the critical stuff - bushes, mounts and bearings.

 

after a fight with the steering knuckle i got the subframe back on the car today, but have a nasty feeling i've threaded the power steering banjo in my rush to crack on :bonk: called it a day at that, will investigate it later this week.

 

Great result there - how did you do the hubs and knuckles? I have a spare set of both which need doing. What paint did you use or what would you recommend? I love these kinds of 'mini projects' especially when well documented like yours. Credit to your efforts.

[aide 0]

Great result there - how did you do the hubs and knuckles? I have a spare set of both which need doing. What paint did you use or what would you recommend? I love these kinds of 'mini projects' especially when well documented like yours. Credit to your efforts.

 

Cheers Hasan.

 

I used Deox-c powder to get them clean, couldn't recommend it enough, light brushing and a few days soaking gets back to bare metal. Shamefully i used 3 coats of hammerite to paint them, but it will be for the last time, as i just discovered an enamal paint called 'rustoleum combi colour', will be using it from now on. The proper way would be galvanising or powder coating i guess, but there's other things I'd rather spend my money on! I don't have a hydraulic press, so i got my local indy to press the bearings into the hubs.

 

Can't wait to get out on the road, running gear is entirely new now!

[James. 9]

Great resto thread. I'll keep popping back for tips when I get round to mine if that's okay.

 

What was the 3M stone chip guard you write about ?