A day at the workshop...

Soldato
Joined
11 Apr 2004
Posts
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As I mentioned in the 'Do you rent a lockup' thread, me and a few mates recently decided to rent a unit.

The keys were handed over on Thursday evening and my friends have been busy moving their stuff in over the past few days.

As I was working this week, I didn't have any spare time and so couldn't go down until today. Got there at about lunch time ready to crack open the toolbox.

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(These pictures were taken late afternoon after work had commenced)

My friend was telling me that he had a surprise for me, so we get in the car and set off... all the while wondering what the hell he's talking about.

We get to the destination and directly in front of us is a dirty, mouldy M reg Rover 220 GSi. He'd had his eye on it for a while and while having a look around it, I noticed the bonnet was open. Had a nosey and checked a few things out until deciding to knock on a few nearby houses to find the owner.

We found the owner who then proceeded to tell us that it'd sat unused since October 2007. He mentioned that the alternator would drain the battery to which he'd fitted a new alternator, only to find the same problem.

Knowing that it'd need a bit of work, we offered the guy a fair amount (less than it would cost for 6 months tax ;)) and set to work. The expansion tank was empty so filled that up, the tyres were flat and the battery was dead. Hooked the jump leads upto my car and what do you know... she roared into life on the first turn of the key!

Left it idling while we inflated the tyres (along with a few other checks) and got the car back to the unit.

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The car was in a sorry state so we immediately started stripping it.

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After having a short break, I decided to have a look at the electrical issue. It seemed that the alternator was charging fine yet the battery voltage wasn't increasing. Luckily, I'd brought a new battery along... which seems to have sorted out the starting problems... RESULT!

As the car was so dirty we decided to push it around the corner to the petrol station and give it a good jetwash. As most of the panels had been removed we were able to get into every nook and cranny... it's actually quite a tidy car bar a bit of rust on the rear arch. I've already got dibs on the bonnet.

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So, that's where we're upto so far. Going back tomorrow to clean the interior and re-fit the majority of body panels. The coolant needs flushing, we're going to give it an oil change and it could do with a new inlet cam cover gasket as it's weeping slightly.

Here's how it looked earlier today...

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I'm sure the neighbours love us!
 
oooh sweet.....what moneys are you paying and where abouts is it btw mate? Something like that could come in uber useful every now and then
 
Jesus, that looks like fun! :)

What plans have you got for the car once its all sorted? track day car? or selling to make a profit?

Nice work though, I'd love to do something like that.
 
hi mate how much do you pay a month for your lockup i really could do with one ive got plans to get my focus back on the road

fox, looks like that baby blue 45 is in the process of getting chavved up :D ;)
 
oooh sweet.....what moneys are you paying and where abouts is it btw mate? Something like that could come in uber useful every now and then

We're paying £250 a month, but that's split between 3 of us. That money includes electricity and water too!

[TW]Fox;11487470 said:
Whats going on with the rear bumper on that newish ZS?

It's actually a 45 but with the ZS kit fitted. Well... it had the ZS kit fitted until some **** crashed into it outside my mate's house. :( He removed the kit while it went in for the bumper repair.

Jesus, that looks like fun! :)

What plans have you got for the car once its all sorted? track day car? or selling to make a profit?

Originally, the plan was to buy the car to repair and sell on but my friend with the 45/ZS loves the 3 doors and wouldn't mind keeping it. It'd be nice to have a car spare anyway, just in case one of us decides to take ours off the road for whatever work.

And oh yeah, it's fun alright. Being able to work on a car not having to care about the weather or what time of day it is. Today just flew by!

Danny, see above re prices :)
 
Don't ask me... I went away for some lunch, came back and they'd already started :o

It had been sitting for 6 months though and was absolutely filthy. The seats and steering wheel are quite mouldy and will be coming out tomorrow for a clean.

It's all good fun though.
 
Don't ask me... I went away for some lunch, came back and they'd already started :o

It had been sitting for 6 months though and was absolutely filthy. The seats and steering wheel are quite mouldy and will be coming out tomorrow for a clean.

It's all good fun though.
]

Lol, okay - I've never removed the wings to polish a car though :D
 
Lol, okay - I've never removed the wings to polish a car though :D

haha. We didn't exactly polish it... we just took it around the corner to give it a good blast with the jetwash. It was parked down a dirty track road for months so was absolutely caked in mud and general rubbish.

One of the wings was a bit dented so my mate is going to take that to work on Monday to get the dent removed :)

R124, cheers :D
 
Ok, spent some more time at the unit today... here's a few pictures to show the progress made.

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Both cam covers removed to inspect the cams, clean the covers and fit new gaskets. All was going well until my mate dropped a bolt into the head :o

New plugs were also fitted and the dizzy cap/rotor arm cleaned.

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After prodding away at the rear arch, we were fairly happy that it was only surface rust. A few minutes with a grinder, and we were back to bare metal ready for treatment. Lovely stuff.

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Quite scary how quickly you can outgrow a workshop. We've been in a day and are already hankering after more space!

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Horrible pinstripes removed and body panels cleaned and given a coat of T-cut.

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Interior removed ready for a good clean. It's absolutely disgusting in there at the moment.

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The unit is already becoming worthwhile. Imagine working outside in this weather! :eek:

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After the rain cleared up, the sun came out. We moved the car outside to drop the coolant. The results of which you can see above. Eurgh.

The system was flushed, back-flushed and then flushed again. We then filled the car with clean water, got it up to temperature and drained again. We filled it again, this time with a nice mixture of anti-freeze.

I had to dash off early so left my mates to put the car back in the garage. I got a call about 20 minutes later telling me that it wouldn't start. After scratching my head for a few seconds, I suggested checking the king lead as when one of the guys was refitting the airbox, he might have disturbed it.

Low and behold, the king lead was loose... but they'd already killed the battery trying to start it :D
 
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