Scruffy Bodger

Do you actually bother arming the steering lock when you park up? If you don't the barrel is VERY easy to remove with a slide hammer on most old vehicles. If you do arm the lock it's a very different game indeed, you'll be there a while trying to drill, prise/butcher it off. Unless it's a Nova, I've seen a mate snap one of those just by mauling on the steering wheel.

Does it rev out properly with no load? If it does that might indicate a simple restriction of fuel somewhere? Maybe try and run it from a can in the engine bay?

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/guard-given-electric-shock-by-wired-car-driver-s-antitheft-measure-went-too-far-1424714.html It was a Cozzy but it wasn't a scrote trying to nick it that got zapped. I remember reading about it years back. He used an electric fence unit, some of those can give you a proper belt but they do make a rather loud ticking noise, or at least the old ones did.

For a car that has lasted this long do it properly. Anything you try to do now to hold it back will simply fester underneath and come back worse. Cut it out, cure it and enjoy it.

Mine are both Phase 2's I'm afraid. The Inastate is scruffy with keep fit windows tho so may be the best one for the FOTU? Still surprised none were there at all, I know the models I have are thin on the ground with less than 50 left combined but others not so much and it was a national event.

I've been scanning the photos and was going to ask if there was a 405 there at all? Maybe I'll take one of mine next year to help with that situation?

That same part was responsible for the problems on my V50 but it didn't throw any codes. In my case the car had power when cold but then lost probably 50% of it when warmed up, took me ages to find it and minutes to fix it!

Just read the last few bits of this thread, are you still or will you be using those shitty, tiny bottles? If you are then bin them off and go to Bryland Fire Protection on Peartree lane and buy a bottle of Co2 and a cheap regulator.

Hopefully its just certain bits and it'll be all good. I've had Fords too years back but they dissolved around me and I couldn't weld then.

Did you get to page 5 with the 16v? lmfao Fingers crossed by the sounds of it you've managed to find one that's survived better than a lot of them did. My TD Volcane sadly ended up like that and I still kept driving it for months afterwards, loved that bloody car. At one point in time 6 of my mates were driving them too, they served us well!

I wouldn't introduce any more water tbh, Vactan and Bilt Hamber S50 is the way I'm going from now on after welding is done. I've also found the Sealey zinc stuff to work very well as a weld thru primer for bits that get covered over. https://www.thedarkwob.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=265&start=470 A sheet of Zintec isn't a bad investment either. Zx's have rubber grommets in the ends of the sills to allow wax injection. The chassis rails could probably do with a drop of S50 too, especially if someone has damaged the factory under seal with a trolley jack or a bit of off roading at some point in its life.

Like I said, I've got previous with saving these... Depending on what the sill is like some 25mmx5mm bar can be useful to substitute the jacking point and give you something decent to weld to. ZX's are very much overlooked but great little cars. Not much work there as soon as the rear brakes are given a going over by the looks of it

Sounds like you've got a goodun then Maybe, but 700 miles isn't a lot for a trip. The jacking points are a real weak point rust wise when they get damaged, best avoided using them. Very lucky on the turret tops too if only a small amount. The first one I did was probably 12 years ago now and it was bad! I've done a couple more since too, including a 16v.

No rot in the front turrets or sills then?

It's only a small thing but it is nice to have that working, it was the first fix I did on my Quasar when I had it. It's got povvo spec windows but at least the plippy key works. The other key had a virtually dead LED which appeared to be caused by a stuck switch. A blast of decent cleaner sorted that and a key fob from a long dead ZX provided another LED. A good dose of WD40 spray copper grease sorted the locks out but it took a few weeks for them all to work properly, someone must have been locking and unlocking the car with the key for years so they'd all been sat dormant. Line of sight works OK if you know where the sensor is, just shoot from the hip.