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The joys of an older car coming back to life

Olaup said:
Some great replies, fascinating reading, more please if possible.

The fact that the recovery garage essentially wrote it off by not being serious about locating an engine made me somewhat retaliatory about the " just bin it " attitudes in the trade, others I inquired with over bits said the same. The little car is in excellent condition, it deserves an extended life & I admire anyone here who has the same thoughts & go get their hands dirty, or at least pay to keep the cars going.

I actually found it relaxing, oily fingernails, bring it on.

I will post some photos later.
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Almost eight years ago, people laughed when I said I would replace a Rover 75 (2.0V6) with an Audi A2.

They're not so amused that Alison is still going with 256,500 miles on the odometer...

Old cars are brilliant.

And build quality has improved. The last eighteen YO car I owned was terminally rusty and the cabin broken.

With 120,000 miles... :cool:
 
I routinely took the engine out and did all kinds of mods on my heavily tuned Mini back in the day. Had to start Sat morning and have it finished Sunday afternoon to drive to work. Much easier working on that generation vehicle. Just spent probably 8 hours putting a new sway (anti-roll) bar in my MX-5. The bay is so tight, numerous things to remove, including the steering rack, to gain access. Good to be wrenching again though !
 
Had it driving on axle stands this morning, so I can have the front wheels turning & go through the gearbox, it has a grinding noise that reduces on braking but is also there on non braking. Looking at them I can see why, this photo was when I first started and it hasn't moved for 4 months or so at ours, discs rusted to hell & pads are binding methinks. That is one of the future jobs, new discs & pads which I already have, might try it later if the weather warms up a touch.

Webuyanycar have also gave me a valuation, I thought about it for 0.0000001 secs, just experimental as the car is not being sold, they wanted to give me £150 based on my info.



 
The engine was covered in oil, I degreased everything, took the time to take off all the hidden nasties & previous owner patch ups, rather see things as they are.







 
Watch out for that poly-V belt when you replace it, the tightness is critical. Too loose and you get premature wear without any telltale screeching. A few thousand miles later it breaks without warning. You then have about 5 miles before lack of water pump gives you a boiling coolant system and no alternator gives you a flat battery and no sparks or fuel.
 
New belts all round along with new water pump and new timing belt tensioner. The tension on the timing belt is easy to set on these, there is a web on the engine, tensioner locates on that, you pull a pin, then tension so the pointer indicates a midway point on a cut out on the tensioner frame.

The grinding noise is from the rear drums it seems, a brake overhaul is going to be sorted.
 
I find timing belts generally well set up with auto tensioners etc, I've never got one wrong. That alternator and water pump belt caught me out though.
 
stevec67 said:
Yes indeed, a mate who ran various Spitfires never screwed the cover down, just dropped it in. He also only replaced half the bellhousing bolts, the two by the starter and a couple on the other side, job done. Lazy sod, but with only about 75bhp he was hardly likely to have it flapping about.
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That's understandable, my Vitesse has more bellhousing bolts than I've ever seen on any other car! I still prefer dropping out the box from underneath to spending hours bent double inside the car! I could change the box on my Datsun rally car in 40 minutes or so on a good day.
 
Hopefully next weekend I will be in a position to MOT it, need to get front brake discs/pads installed, cure a cooling fan problem, car doesn't overheat but the 2 speed cooling fan is not working it seems, direct 12v has it spinning. Common problem from reading up on matters, relays behind the bumper but attached to the fan frame, perfect place for corrosion problems, French cars eh :rolleyes:
 
Olaup said:
Common problem from reading up on matters, relays behind the bumper but attached to the fan frame, perfect place for corrosion problems, French cars eh :rolleyes:
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Not to mention the French somewhat tactile parking technique. Anything behind the bumper is going to be a tad vulnerable.
 
Further update :

New front brake discs fitted yesterday due to corrosion of the originals, first one took about 45 mins, the second one took about 3 hours !!

The brake caliper bolts on the second one were extremely tight, however the pads carrier was an absolute nightmare to get off. I have never seen such bad corrosion, it must have been metal to metal reaction that bound the bolts in. Torx bolts as well so you have to tread careful in undoing them, too much force and the spline section goes awol. Many bouts of heat & WD40 eventually got them out, needless to say copper slip was liberally used on reassembly.

Fly in the ointment time was when the old pads came out, they were in terrible condition, not worn but general condition, how it passed an MOT with these on is beyond me. I duly opened the new pads box, wrong ones sent out :mad:

MOT next week.
 
Just trying new image sharing software, hope it links :

Said 2nd brake disc pre stripdown.







1st stripdown was easy :








New pads arrived today so will fit asap, raining heavy here at the moment.
 
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Nice work. Top tip - WD40 is a poor thread release agent. Buy some proper thread release agent (Plus Gas etc) and give it a try. I used to think that they were interchangeable, they really aren't. WD is very poor compared to proper penetrating oil, and the non branded ones are available at motor factors for under £5 and last for years. WD 40 has its place, Door hinges, bike chains, locks, they all like WD40.
 
Thanks for the reminder about Plus Gas, we use that in work, just never had any but will get some later on. Have to buy some M6x16 counter sunk bolts as well, disc retainers, seized on the second one, had to drill it out then grind back the surplus.
 
Monitor Gold 10 said:
Almost eight years ago, people laughed when I said I would replace a Rover 75 (2.0V6) with an Audi A2.

They're not so amused that Alison is still going with 256,500 miles on the odometer...
Click to expand...
One of our neighbours has an A2, she's had it for many years. There's something about their design I really love, & I'm intending to ask her that if she ever decides to sell it, she gives me first refusal. I've absolutely no practical need for an A2, but it'd be something nice to tinker with.
 
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