SiC

I prefer the rubber bumpers especially with the front splitter, but no one believes me!

Just skimming through my thread and I must have missed your post! Was it a N/S rear panel? If so I'm definitely interested! AH doesn't have any stock of them at the moment and isn't sure when the next batch of them will be made.

It was never the intention to buy one needing a lot of work and I rather not be! However I've dug my own hole by buying it sight unseen, so I now need to dig myself out of it. 🙄 I had my suspicions that it'd need a fair amount of work when it arrived. It's why I've kept my slate clean from buying anything else (I did nearly buy a A-series Metro on 19k miles the other day...). Hence why I held off going after the forum bike Rover, as I need to keep my project list under control. I am super excited to start driving this. But I must not get carried away going too far with this, otherwise it'll become another Dolomite. Quick tart up on the worst rusty bits, filler + rattle can paint on the flaky bits* and sort the mechanicals to make sure they're safe and sound. I think this is a fundamentally sound car, it just needs a bit of love and recommissioning to bring it back around. * If it wasn't rusty underneath those cracked sections on the offside, I'd be putting filler in the cracks and rattle can over...

That Speedo reminds me of the one on the A4 B8 I had. Optimistic for the vast majority of powertrain combinations and useless for them too. About a fifth of the dial used in almost all legal scenarios. And unless you have a rare massive engined version, only half of it is useful to VMax.

How do they compare to a wire wheel? I've found them to be pretty effective at removing paint+filler without clogging and thinning metal. Don't half make a dust storm though.

Definitely yes. My wife bought me two of those Castrol tins for my Xmas present. She didn't say how much she paid from a antique shop but we usually spend £30 on each other. So likely 15 quid a piece. Don't go too crazy cleaning them though!

This is a better picture of the offside paintwork. The primer on the top was the last owners work. The patches around the arch are me picking at it 🤣 I suspect the last owner did exactly the same thing as me by picking the scabs and then realising he needed to put something back over to protect it. The bits I picked was the rusty finish straight under there. It's actually solid and quite thick metal, just brown... When I get a chance I will run a wire wheel over it. My suspicion it was poor prep and then being under a cover caused it to go like that. Thankfully the level of filler on most of this is minimal! Like you said, it could well have tack welded panels on over the rust. Hopefully not as I've got that fight on the Dolomite to put right and I want this back on the road ready for summer! 😳

Started stripping the interior out yesterday. I mostly wanted the seats removed as the driver side is wobbly and both are collapsed from either foam or webbing degradation. The carpets probably didn't need to come out but as the car is so small, that only takes a further 10mins. Rooting around the back I found a full length tonneau cover. This explains why the soft top roof probably is original, knackered and not replaced. I'm really happy about finding this as this is what I wanted to do all along. These covers are quite expensive to buy and about the same as a replacement hood. I really like classic convertibles without the hood in the back. Gives much cleaner lines. Not least the Midget hood when up is quite ungainly (imo) in appearance. It fits like this and you undo whichever side is occupied. While something fiddly to do, the hood on the Midget isn't exactly straightforward affair either. I intend to be using the car as a local toy that either for a summer evening blast or to whizz to the shops/etc locally. Then stuff it straight back into the garage after. Also found the hard top mounting brackets. Pleased about this too as I was going to buy replacements. I think some of this was removed by the last owner in expectation of stripping the car down for renovation.

Drained the fuel out in preparation for welding. "Why does it need welding?" "It's not structural, it's just to make it look prettier!" That didn't go down too well 😂 Before draining the fuel, I disconnected the coil to prevent it overheating while I left the SU pump running. Naturally the connection broke in my hand. Fuel is definitely at a certain vintage. Surprised it was running at all really. For comparison, this is 6 month old Esso Super Unleaded (so 0% Ethanol). Carbs looked pretty clean inside though, even if the fuel lines are heavily perished. Will still strip them down to check over and clean. Old fuel seems good enough to run the engine, so it'll be burnt off in the lawnmower. Those engines run off pretty much any old shit.

Quick Google shows it's on his Twitter https://mobile.twitter.com/themodbarber/status/1522960536123674626

Minis definitely still can be had for semi reasonable prices. I watched this one till the end expecting it to shoot up. I resisted bidding as after the Midget debacle, buying a random car site unseen has made it much less appetising proposition. But from the photos this looked pretty decent. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224965853126 I also desperately want this. First appeared on my local FB marketplace search, then on Mini groups I'm on and now finally eBay. Wouldn't be surprised if it sells not too soon as I don't think it's too far off the mark for such an early one. https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/115371729449

That's a great question and one I'm looking forward to finding out. I was put off getting a Midget when I had the BGT as often said why get two alike cars. Part of the reason why I went down the road of getting the Moggie as that is different enough. However reading more into actual driving, there is a lot of difference between the two. Too early for me to properly judge. Not least my BGT is pretty much fully sorted and the Midget has a long way before then. However off the bat I reckon they serve different purposes and can easily justify both. The MGB always has been more of a Grand Touring type of vehicle. Fun to drive, big boot to store luggage but also comfortable to cover long distance. Think as a modern example like a Porsche Cayman. You'd go in it for somewhere on holiday quite a distance away. Whereas the Midget is small, light and very nimble. Much better to throw around, more involved but less practical and not as comfortable. Think as a modern example like a Lotus Elise. You'd go for a early morning/evening blast around country lanes to have a bit of fun. So much so, I'm tempted to not even bother fixing the roof of it. Take it out on a nice day and go to a car meet or just a spirited drive. Then park it back into the garage overnight. Maybe possibly even get a full length tonneau cover. I quite like the look of convertibles when they have no hood at all on the back. I think a harder choice would be a classic Mini Vs a Spridget.

Possibly not worth it for yours then if your dizzy is in good condition. Distributor Doctor wanted £280 to fix my knackered MGB dizzy. 123ignition was about 50quid more but I do eventually intend to get the head worked on and then a Dyno run to get the best power out of it. So made complete sense for me to go 123ign.

Complete new dizzy designed specifically for electronic ignition. Cap and rotor are Bosch or Beru items, so made by manufacturers who actually know how to make these things properly. Go for the Tune/Tune+ then the dizzy curve can be altered on the fly. A decent Dyno place that knows how to tune classic engines should be able to work one. The problem with many Lucas dizzys is the vac advance capsules usually are dead, springs worn out and shaft wobbling all over the place.

Personally if I can get one for a car, I much prefer 123 ignition than these modules. Most dizzys are knackered by now and the cost of repairing them you can get a 123ignition.

Yeah I re-read your OP and I wouldn't have thought EML and such would be from the UCH being at fault. Unless it was interrupting power to it. Does the F4RT nom the injectors as much as the F4R on the 1*2 does? Pulsing could be reluctor rings? Again a common thing on them. Possibly a whole bunch of issues that are coinciding together.

My mate had an R26 F1 that he bought when it was only a few years old. He looks like this everytime I mention it to this day. The final straw for him was when the headlights failed and the dealer quoted £1k for a new headlight unit as the ballast had failed from water ingress.

I have a vague recollection that it's upside down too, so water spraying up can easily get into the fuses and connectors. Great bit of French Engineering. Probably was absolutely fine when the R&D test drives was done between vineyards on the south coast of France. 😆 https://www.meganeownersclub.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8855 "Symptoms electrical failures and poor running seemingly unrelated to each other.... windows going down instead of up, auto lights not working...battery discharging itself...wipers not working etc etc Possible Cause missing cover in the nearside wheel arch (for changing the headlight bulbs)..and water entering the UCH electrical unite ensure the cover is not missing and is well sealed..can be expensive if the UCH is corroded by water damage basically water & electrics don't mix."

It's on the nearside iirc. But yes it's prone to water ingress and corrosion. Happens if the liner isn't put back into place properly especially. Often because whoever changed a light bulb on the awkward access to them, in a hurry don't bother to reassemble it correctly! It's called the UPC but sometimes UCH in Renault speak. Iirc the Mégane II is UPC.

This is the mechanism on the Moggie which is pretty much identical. This is your Toledo's carb when I last saw it: Not as good photo but still can see the same mechanism with the screw in the jet and the bit of metal that pulls the jet down. The carb looked spotlessly clean and the new jet+other bits makes me think it's been rebuilt at some point reasonably recently. Even the needle valve looked clean and almost new. I moved the choke clevis (?) across to give more pull on the choke with less pull inside. This should make it move but the slack in the mechanism may stop that happening too. Timing wise, it was set to what the workshop manual specified. However with fuel being very different to the 70s, it wouldn't surprise me if it needed tweaking to suit modern fuels. Are you running it on 95 or 98+ octane? It may appreciate 98+ octane as that's closer to old 4 star.

The carb has the same mechanism as my Moggie. I remember @PhilA mentioning that, the design of that generation of choke is crap as it looks. Pulling the choke brings the idle up but doesn't always bring the jet assembly down. So don't get the richer mixture it needs. It ran really well once warmed up a tad, just that cold start could be a right pain in the arse.

Fusebox and it's integrated computer in the wheel arch is a common source of Mégane II troubles. It can get wet and cause all sorts of weirdness as it's a main body control module too.

Might be another rattle can job then! Need to get a heavier power feed to the garage sorted so I can run my 150l belt drive compressor.

I had that with the underside of the MGB. Thought they were compatible too. There are some large cracks in the paint on the other side. Not like the fry-up above but large sections separated by cracks. My guess was filler contracting/expanding more than the paint did. Don't think I've got any photos on this phone to show. I think it's got a crap (DIY?) paint job that's been made worse by a car cover on it for years. Probably should have all the paint taken off and redone. Where it's got filler on, it appears to be mostly over solid metal. Almost been used to correct panel height differences. Might have to ask around and see how much it would be. I guess a couple of grand? Wouldn't be much paint though as it's a tiny car!

I wondered if it was a reaction from different types of paints with their solvents reacting with one and another.