Joey spud

[VicReeves]
NOOOO! Not that kind of deposit. A MONETARY deposit!
[/VicReeves]

Sad times, Mally.
 
Grieving is a dreadful business, though natural and necessary... take whatever time's needed, all of you together, and give Mrs Mally the best send-off you can.
 
It's a hard process, but I know the shiter community will be with you whenever you need us.
 
Best thoughts to you and yours at this difficult time.

EFA
 

Yeah, it actually looked approximately 500 times nicer when I bought it. Turns out that leaving a 70s BL car parked up outdoors within sight of the Irish Sea is a really, really bad idea. WHO KNEW?!?!

Stone chipped to within an inch of its life.
 

 

 

 
I picked a dry,not too windy day and waited for the neighbours cars to leave the proximity and gave the underside a serious coating of the black stuff.
 
Happy with my results i went inside for a celebratory Baked Potato and Fursty Ferret only to return later and find the stone chip had reacted with the shiny chassis paint and gone sort of crinkly in places.
It was then that i remembered why i had stopped using it on my Scimitar chassis and bunged the stuff out of sight up the shed.
 
After letting everything harden for a few days i went over it again but this time with a bit more restraint just dusting the stone chip on in thin layers.
This sorted it out and it now looks rather Dandy.
 
Then it was out with an inch brush and an appliction of a bean can (or three) of Waxoyl to give it even more chance of surviving till next winter.
 
I also found some 5mm wheel spacers up the shed and will give them a go too.
 
I basically just need a pair of tyres now and it's ready for a MOT.

I have done similar to an old gearbox in sump Metro using a 14mm spark plug helicoil kit.
 
Also a seat belt fixing bolt makes a good replacement for a lost sump plug on a Nissan Figaro in Clacket Lane services on a Sunday.

The wife bought a pre owned dfs corner sofa last night and it has two built in USB ports.
That's me blown away..
 

 
"Y tho" indeed.

The wife bought a pre owned dfs corner sofa last night and it has two built in USB ports.
That's me blown away..
 

 
"Y tho" indeed.

Today I drove Cedric for the first time since March! Somewhat fittingly this time last year to the day he arrived in the UK I had almost forgotten how awesome this thing is to drive, got some approving glances from a few other drivers too which is always nice.

These are the tyres I chose, Vredestein Sprint Classic's in 185/80 R14. They weren't cheap at £120 each but they look the part and seem fine from initial impressions.

You know when you have classic car tyres if the label says not to fit to anything made after 1990, not sure what would happen if you did mind.

I had plenty of fabric leftover from the headrests so the sun visors got the furry treatment.

All tucked up safe and sound I didn't want to drill holes in my brand new plates so both front and rear are attached via the power of magnets and because the plates are aluminium self adhesive metal discs of the type used to hang paintings in gallery's. The number plate illumination is provided by LED bolts that just happen to be M6 and so fit perfectly in the threaded holes that the factory provided.
Still lots of little things to fix, improve and upgrade but it will be a gradual process, one thing that's good about intending on keeping a car for ever is that I don't feel in any rush to make it "perfect".

Stone chipped to within an inch of its life.
 

 

 

 
I picked a dry,not too windy day and waited for the neighbours cars to leave the proximity and gave the underside a serious coating of the black stuff.
 
Happy with my results i went inside for a celebratory Baked Potato and Fursty Ferret only to return later and find the stone chip had reacted with the shiny chassis paint and gone sort of crinkly in places.
It was then that i remembered why i had stopped using it on my Scimitar chassis and bunged the stuff out of sight up the shed.
 
After letting everything harden for a few days i went over it again but this time with a bit more restraint just dusting the stone chip on in thin layers.
This sorted it out and it now looks rather Dandy.
 
Then it was out with an inch brush and an appliction of a bean can (or three) of Waxoyl to give it even more chance of surviving till next winter.
 
I also found some 5mm wheel spacers up the shed and will give them a go too.
 
I basically just need a pair of tyres now and it's ready for a MOT.

I said here the other day that i had never owned a Daihatsu.
 
Then i remembered my F50 truck that i used as a workshop mule back in the mid 90's.
 

 
With its 2500cc diesel power it could pull most things if it could get traction but its body was rather rotten with patches welded onto patches.
 
The front panel was sculptured almost entirely of filler and it was my first effort (and last) at respraying a whole vehicle using synthetic truck paint.
 
Good old truck,wish i had it still today.

Thanks for all your comments. I had been considering buying one for some time which hadn't happened due to lack of  availability, asking price, location.
 
This one was advertised on a face book Metro group recently, it was local, bargain asking price and delivery service available at a reasonable cost.
 
Plan A Was driving it up my ramps this week for a look underneath, however on visiting my unit to fetch the ramps this Tuesday I discovered that  there  had been a  burglary  last weekend. Among the stolen items were my ramps, both trolley jacks and axle stands.
 
Although I have a trolley jack at home I decided that jacking it on a corner was not a good idea. So Plan B commenced, a crawl around on the floor doing a finger test.
 
This resulted in the rear inner valence, most of the drivers side inner sill and part of the floor crumbling onto the floor. The rest of it felt solid.
 
Next step is to remove the seats and carpets for a  look from inside the car. 
 
I'll up date as progress is made.

The mojo was high again today so i have finished welding up the n/s sill and arch.
 
I have been running low on gas so had turned the flow rate down as much as i dare not wanting to run out on a Saturday but it was a bit gusty working outside and i ended up positioning the Hiace across the driveway to act as a wind break to help keep the shielding gas protecting the weld pool and not getting blown away in to the street.
 
Then my old bottle of Kurust finally ran out so i went to the local hardware shop in the village and got some fresh supplies.
 

 
Marlon behind the counter recommended this stuff and said the guys working on the Marina (the River Medway not BL's finest) swear by it.
 
It certainly seems to be good stuff i brushed it on neat and then washed it off a hour later and most of the brown rust on the lower edge of the sill had gone.
 
Most impressive for £8.99.
I have reapplied it and will rinse it off again tomorrow to see how clean it can get it when it's left to really bite into the metal.
 

The welding is now all finished just need to do the non patented triple paint treatment to the n/s sill.
 


 
Trouble is it's either wet and misty or too bleedin cold outside.
 
So instead i took my corroded turbo coolant pipes to my local Pirtek place and the lad said he can make something with a 12mm banjo and 10mm tails for the morning so that's a result.
 
I needed new rear shoes too and being a skin flint i scoured the internet and ordered the cheapest i could find (made by Apec) for a modest £15.05 and blow me they turned up the next day and they look right too.
Back in my garage owning days we would only fit Apec as a last resort because we usually had to file the pads down to get them to fit the calipers and the shoe sets required their linings truing up with 80 grit paper to get the drums to spin without catching.
 
But i guess their QC has improved over the last 20 years as these look bob on.
 
I was not keen on its current UK size 520mm long front number plate that doesn't fit the japanese market sized recess so i ordered a jdm sized plate.
 

 
It's better but still a bit big,may have a play around once it's been mot'd.
Yes,i really am that sad.

Well the cheap shoes got fitted and they have adjusted up fine.

I wanted to get some protection inside the ends of the sills and arches.
 




I recently got one of these sucky things to empty the sump oil out of the mower and so loaded it up and splurged a good load of waxy goodness where the sun don't shine then popped the blanking gromit back on.
At the front of the sills i was able to remove a rawlplug type fixing and pump some wax in there too,i'm well pleased i have got inside the sill coated as to be honest i don't normally bother.

I picked up my turbo pipes from Pirtek,when i left the old ones there to be copied i didn't ask how much.
That was a school boy error on my part,oh well they fit well enough.

The lime green stop faster pads are now fitted and look a bit racey.
While i was playing with the brakes i thought it wouldn't hurt to flush out the old fluid with some nice new clean dot4 stuff.

A while back i bought a cheap brake bleeder thing off the bay that you connected up to an air line and the bleed nipple then pulled the trigger a vacuum was created and it sucked out the old fluid and as long as you kept the reservoir topped up all was well.
So before i started the suck i emptied the reservoir (the best i could) of its old fluid and added some fresh.

It works well but you need a good constant bit of puff from your compressor and a good tight seal on the bleed nipple.
All in i pulled through about two litres of clean fluid from the four corners of the car so i am hoping the brakes once bedded in will be ok now.


Said tool in action on my sons old Supra that a ''Jap car specialist'' couldn't get a decent brake pedal on so had basically given up.
The rear calipers were handed with a big L and R cast on them but were fitted arse about face so the bleed screws were now below the brake hose and not above so you could never get the air out of them.
Calipers swapped over and all was good.
 
 
 

 
Also fitted the twin exit tail pipe that came with the car.
it looks a bit silly but hey ho..

Although the rust holes are now history looking under the little Daihatsu revealed a lot of surface corrosion that if left would surely bite me on the arse later so it was out with the grinder powered wire brush and various chiesels to clean away anything dodgey before giving it a good soak with the rust treatment.






Some grotty bits after scraping the worst bits back to good metal.






And here's some bits after the rust treatment.
 
I do like this rust treatment but it does slow progress down somewhat and the weather has been utter shite too,but i think that is all the corroded bits now revealed.
 
Between the rain and putting up Fairy lights etc i got underneath again used the zinc rich red oxide stuff followed by the shiney black chassis paint to cover it all up.
 
I had been buying my Stone chip paint in 500cc rattle cans which was starting to get a tad expensive so i wheeled the compressor down from the shed,dusted off my shultz gun and bought a couple of one litre stone chip canisters instead so i could really go in big.

Stone chipped to within an inch of its life.
 

 

 

 
I picked a dry,not too windy day and waited for the neighbours cars to leave the proximity and gave the underside a serious coating of the black stuff.
 
Happy with my results i went inside for a celebratory Baked Potato and Fursty Ferret only to return later and find the stone chip had reacted with the shiny chassis paint and gone sort of crinkly in places.
It was then that i remembered why i had stopped using it on my Scimitar chassis and bunged the stuff out of sight up the shed.
 
After letting everything harden for a few days i went over it again but this time with a bit more restraint just dusting the stone chip on in thin layers.
This sorted it out and it now looks rather Dandy.
 
Then it was out with an inch brush and an appliction of a bean can (or three) of Waxoyl to give it even more chance of surviving till next winter.
 
I also found some 5mm wheel spacers up the shed and will give them a go too.
 
I basically just need a pair of tyres now and it's ready for a MOT.

The wife bought a pre owned dfs corner sofa last night and it has two built in USB ports.
That's me blown away..
 

 
"Y tho" indeed.

Stone chipped to within an inch of its life.
 

 

 

 
I picked a dry,not too windy day and waited for the neighbours cars to leave the proximity and gave the underside a serious coating of the black stuff.
 
Happy with my results i went inside for a celebratory Baked Potato and Fursty Ferret only to return later and find the stone chip had reacted with the shiny chassis paint and gone sort of crinkly in places.
It was then that i remembered why i had stopped using it on my Scimitar chassis and bunged the stuff out of sight up the shed.
 
After letting everything harden for a few days i went over it again but this time with a bit more restraint just dusting the stone chip on in thin layers.
This sorted it out and it now looks rather Dandy.
 
Then it was out with an inch brush and an appliction of a bean can (or three) of Waxoyl to give it even more chance of surviving till next winter.
 
I also found some 5mm wheel spacers up the shed and will give them a go too.
 
I basically just need a pair of tyres now and it's ready for a MOT.

Stone chipped to within an inch of its life.
 

 

 

 
I picked a dry,not too windy day and waited for the neighbours cars to leave the proximity and gave the underside a serious coating of the black stuff.
 
Happy with my results i went inside for a celebratory Baked Potato and Fursty Ferret only to return later and find the stone chip had reacted with the shiny chassis paint and gone sort of crinkly in places.
It was then that i remembered why i had stopped using it on my Scimitar chassis and bunged the stuff out of sight up the shed.
 
After letting everything harden for a few days i went over it again but this time with a bit more restraint just dusting the stone chip on in thin layers.
This sorted it out and it now looks rather Dandy.
 
Then it was out with an inch brush and an appliction of a bean can (or three) of Waxoyl to give it even more chance of surviving till next winter.
 
I also found some 5mm wheel spacers up the shed and will give them a go too.
 
I basically just need a pair of tyres now and it's ready for a MOT.

The wife bought a pre owned dfs corner sofa last night and it has two built in USB ports.
That's me blown away..
 

 
"Y tho" indeed.

I have to go out later, in the Skoda, so have reluctantly decided not to start pulling the interior apart. I have ordered some new big font number plates though, because obviously that's important.

Bought  this last week for an advantageous price, going to need a lot of welding. 
 
 

The wife bought a pre owned dfs corner sofa last night and it has two built in USB ports.
That's me blown away..
 

 
"Y tho" indeed.

Here's another boring video, I took a short clip of some of the other cars I should actually be getting on with instead of spending all my time on this.
I need to do various mot fails on the E30, fit an engine to the Estelle, the 360 is a lot less rusty than the Visa and requires welding and my 305 estate needs some rear arches welded in (if I can find replacements)
The W123 saloon died recently and I need to get to the bottom of that, The 123 coupe needs work and imported and the Audi needs put back together.
I'm hoping to get the Visa finished and away as soon as possible because I don't really have any space left. I had hoped it would be a case of welding the sills and returning it to the previous owner but there seems to be a couple of other issues that will need addressing that aren't necessarily mot fails but do affect the car.
The clutch is slipping quite badly, I don't know if it's possible to adjust anything but the whole pedal box feels quite flimsy so perhaps that's a factor of it misbehaving.
There's been a brand new water pump fitted but it's weeping coolant where it is bolted onto the engine so it will need further investigation (wishful thinking has got me wondering if the coolant leak was actually the major oil leak on the mot failures list)