My Rally Project

[Simon]

nice work.

It looks like winter in the pics though!

 

[SgtTupac]

Getting there, weather is crap around here lately... worked in that kind of rain on saturday.. wasnt fun

 

[Lopéz]

It was sunny enough today to finish painting the house, in fact it was so bright I needed sunglasses on.

Yesterday when I was trying to put the head back on the Supra it rained so hard I thought about building an Ark.

Sod the UK weather.

Garage needs emptying tonight or I will have nowhere to put my 205 when it arrives

 

[-westy-]

poor black 205

Whats the plans for the red 205 when you get it to the midlands?

 

[Kreeeee]

I'll Gi' ya a fiver for the reddun

 

[Lopéz]

It's here

Initial thoughts:

Err, my garage is tiny
Err, my garage is full of crap and a car
Where the hell am I going to put everything
Oh christ what have I done

 

[[TW]Fox]

So you've gone to all that trouble of bring an utter shed to the Midlands to whack into the garage?

Nice, Leon is back on track

 

[TaKeN]

So you've gone to all that trouble of bring an utter shed to the Midlands to whack into the garage?

Nice, Leon is back on track

But its a 205 GTi

 

[Firestar_3x]

My Initial thoughts are :

Why haven't you got any hammers

You need a bigger selection of hammers

 

[Lopéz]

My Initial thoughts are :

Why haven't you got any hammers

You need a bigger selection of hammers

Loads of hammers, they just aren't in shot I only started organising tools recently.

So far I've mostly used..... an angle grinder. Jesus christ every bolt holding the front of the car together is rusted spanner-breaking solid!

Need to get this minging old 1.6 out ASAP so I can clean up and paint the engine bay.

 

[Lopéz]

French cars might not rot too badly compared to British cars, but that doesn't seem to stop the fasteners corroding. Every trim bolt/nut so far has been welded together with rust.

So I cut the buggers off with a grinder/drill/hacksaw and ordered a big tub of stainless allen head nuts and bolts to replace them with.

Tomorrows job is snapping the bolts that hold on the front bumper. Joy!

 

[MoNkeE]

I read the whole of this thread last night, but was far too tired by the end of it to actually reply

I'm very impressed with your commitment - even when everything starts going ****-up for you! Your mechanical knowledge is also bloody impressive!

Is it worth someone with virtually nil mechanical knowledge picking up a cheap car ~100 - 200 sterling, and slowly cleaning it up (both engine-wise and body-wise) just to build up knowledge? Got this crazy idea of getting an old banger and doing it up to sell on just to gain some knowledge - I'd be happy with breaking even on it, yet alone making money!

-RaZ

 

[volospian]

Got this crazy idea of getting an old banger and doing it up to sell on just to gain some knowledge - I'd be happy with breaking even on it, yet alone making money!

-RaZ

I keep thinking of buying an RV8 non runner off the bay for cheap just to rebuild. I don't actually want to run anything on a 3.5 (cheapest) rover lump, but it would help to have rebuilt a V8 before I tackle the Stag.

Lopez,

Your garage looks even smaller than mine. I get maybe 18" each side of the car and while I managed to re-trim the enterior in there, the roof comes off the Stag which made life so much easier. It does make working on anything else quite difficult though.

 

[Dogbreath]

I keep thinking of buying an RV8 non runner off the bay for cheap just to rebuild. I don't actually want to run anything on a 3.5 (cheapest) rover lump, but it would help to have rebuilt a V8 before I tackle the Stag.

They aren't overly cheap to rebuild though, so it would be a bit of a financial burden if you aren't actualy going to use it.

 

[volospian]

They aren't overly cheap to rebuild though, so it would be a bit of a financial burden if you aren't actualy going to use it.

True, but I've never rebuilt an engine and as I don't intend sticking it in anything, it'll be a case of strip it down, stick it back together and try to fire it up, just to help me understand some of the areas I don't fully understand, like getting the cams dialed in properly and so on.

I've read the books and understand the basic theory, but there's nothing like playing with the actual mechanism to fully understand what the writer means when they go on about finding x degrees before TDC and so on.

As I won't really be using it I don't really mind if it's put back together with the original worn parts, it's more of an experience thing than anything. Getting the look and the feel without having to worry too much about doing something wrong.

That way, if I screw anything up and the valves go through the pistons or something I've not really lost anything. If I just went headfirst into a serious rebuild on my Stag engine and screwed it up, I'd be a bit more peeved

 

[MikeHunt79]

Good to see a 205 not being broken for bits.

Tomorrows job is snapping the bolts that hold on the front bumper. Joy!

Luckily there's not too many of them! I found the easiest way was to get the front wheels up on ramps, and get the bolts from undernieth. Mines a K reg, and I've had my fair share of rusted bolts, it's pretty common.

 

[Lopéz]

I read the whole of this thread last night, but was far too tired by the end of it to actually reply

I'm very impressed with your commitment - even when everything starts going ****-up for you! Your mechanical knowledge is also bloody impressive!

Is it worth someone with virtually nil mechanical knowledge picking up a cheap car ~100 - 200 sterling, and slowly cleaning it up (both engine-wise and body-wise) just to build up knowledge? Got this crazy idea of getting an old banger and doing it up to sell on just to gain some knowledge - I'd be happy with breaking even on it, yet alone making money!

-RaZ

Thanks, my commitment er... wavers sometimes
Yeah definitely, pick up something small and desirable and then begin amassing tools to work on it with. Skills you will learn as you go, but you can't really do without tools. There was a Fiat 126 for sale recently on www.retro-rides.com for £175 which is a steal IMO, tidied up you should get at least £500 for a nice running one, plus it's tiny enough to store almost anywhere.

Your garage looks even smaller than mine. I get maybe 18" each side of the car and while I managed to re-trim the enterior in there, the roof comes off the Stag which made life so much easier. It does make working on anything else quite difficult though.

Yeah it's made worse by the ladders, they really get in the way. I've would the windows down to make things easier. Access to the engine/boot is alright but to open the doors I really have to roll it outside. So for now I'm going to concentrate on the engine bay, when that's done I can turn the car around and back it in, making it easier to nose out and open the doors.

Good to see a 205 not being broken for bits.

Well, I did break the black one but that was more a "salvage" operation than breaking a good one for spares (which is what seems to be happening more and more ) I never give up on cars until they are thoroughly dead

 

[volospian]

What's the roof like in that garage? I have my long ladders hanging from some long hooks screwed into the beams. One is screwed into place near the back, the other has the hook hooked over some screws near the doors so I can hook one end up and then adjust the angle of the other end to fit. The weight of the ladder holds it all in place once it's up.

I know what you mean though. The Stag was arse in when I was working on it. Now it's the back end I need to concentrate on, so it's nose in now.

I wish I had my sister in laws garage, that's huge. My GT6 is in there at the moment, but she insists in parking her car in there too. How inconsiderate. She even has a steel girder with the top half of a block and tackle attached to help with engine swaps and so on, and she doesn't know the difference between a carburettor and a carbohydrate.

 

[Lopéz]

Yeah, long term plan is to hook them from the roof, but they were delivered at short notice so I had to stuff them down the side for now.

Yesterday evening:

Last night:

Nasty hole in the inner wing, old accident damage. That will need a decent plate from the other side.

Told you the bloody bumpers never come off.... kids, do not use grinders and cameras at the same time, it's dangerous

State of play this evening:

Don't worry about the fact that I hacked up the bumper, I had a spare good one anyway and this one is past it's best.

 

[Lopéz]

Oh, and now for a Public Service Announcement, brought to you by Lopez.

Red Cars Fade

Thankyou for listening

Can't do any more tonight because I have to go for a meal with the outlaws