1985 VW Gothwagen - FOR SALE

[rml2345]

I like it too actually. Black and red seems to suit it, and the work done looks excellent.

Wheel spats will look ace on that. Makes you wonder why VW didn't do it actually...

[rml2345]

I like it too actually. Black and red seems to suit it, and the work done looks excellent.

Wheel spats will look ace on that. Makes you wonder why VW didn't do it actually...

[morris_ital_lover]

+one on the wheel spats they will look marvellous.

 

I like it, despite it not being what I'm normally into. It's now got a unique charm though being modified unlike so many other modded cars out there.

[morris_ital_lover]

+one on the wheel spats they will look marvellous.

 

I like it, despite it not being what I'm normally into. It's now got a unique charm though being modified unlike so many other modded cars out there.

[cms206]

Can't say that VWs of any shape or form are my cup of tea and I'm not a huge fan of modifications, but fair play Angyl; you've rescued a car with a personal story from the jaws of destruction and you've kept it, worked on it when you could, did odds and sods but most importantly did most of it yourself.

 

Top marks!

[cms206]

Can't say that VWs of any shape or form are my cup of tea and I'm not a huge fan of modifications, but fair play Angyl; you've rescued a car with a personal story from the jaws of destruction and you've kept it, worked on it when you could, did odds and sods but most importantly did most of it yourself.

 

Top marks!

[vulgalour]

You guys are all far too nice, must be looking at this through Princess-shaped lenses

 

____

 

After pushing the Polo out of the garage yesterday and getting him into view so I'm encouraged/shamed into working on him I actually did today. I'm really very pleased with myself because today I managed to do some spannering from experience rather than having to consult a book every five minutes, something of a milestone for me.

 

I knew I had to reinstate the water pump and the timing belt in order to get the Polo running, but a look around the engine bay also highlighted that the coil needed to be reconnected and of course water needed putting back in the system. I had my doubts in my abilities because I'm nothing if not under-confident when it comes to mechanical things, but I worked through methodically and got everything connected, checked the labels we'd put on the wiring and was sure I'd got everything as it ought to be.

 

When I removed the water pump I had made sure (or thought I had) that the static timing was where it should be so I didn't think to check that. This is something I will have to go back and do, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

 

I've never done a timing belt before, but I knew what should happen and that tension was very important. First of all I bolted the water pump and back plate in place and then found I couldn't get the belt to go on the cam sprocket at all.

 

 

I quick search of the old memory bank made me remember that the water pump assembly appears to have an eccentric rotation, or rather that the rotation point is not central on the whole pump assembly, which made me realise that must be for adjusting it, especially when combined with the long curving slots the bolts go through. That was how to sort out the tension on the belt.

 

So I slackened off the stupidly awkward bolts and rotated the back half of the water pump in situ with the bolts loosely in the holes.

 

This gave me enough slack in the belt to get it located correctly both on the pump...

 

... and on the sprocket.

 

Eventually everything lines up neatly, and the belt can go from this...

 

...to this.

 

My camera has eaten the pictures, but on the water pump housing there's a notch that you can use to push it around to tension the belt, once you've pushed it as far as you can, tighten up the bolts and the job is done.

 

Next thing was to put Mister Bunny in his run because he was in the firing line of the exhaust and I didn't want him getting poorly. Then I filled up the water and burped the system, I think I did this a total of 5 times until the water level didn't drop and I got no air bubbling up and then did everything up. A few last checks to ensure everything was where it ought to be and nothing could fall into belts and fans and whatnot and I connected the battery. I had no idea if there would be any life in the battery as I hadn't thought to put it on charge the night before, but happily there was.

 

This clicky video is the engine running. I managed to mechanic something!

 

The good news is that there the water now circulates, the temperature on the hoses is as it ought to be and the cap on the expansion bottle pressurises properly, all things that weren't happening before. Diagnosis: really bad airlock, now resolved.

 

The bad news is that I think I've cocked up the static timing, the engine now hunts badly and won't run without some choke applied. My current thinking is that I need to reset the static timing properly and fiddle with the mixture setting on the carb as it's probably running too lean so that's something to look into.

 

However, I am happy that the car no longer overheats, even under load, and the system is working as it ought. I've ruled out head gasket failure completely now, there's simply none of the signs I'd look for apparent for that.

 

After some tinkering that confirmed rotating the distributor did nothing to alleviate the hunting, the house reeked of exhaust fumes as it had got sucked in through the kitchen window (just as well Mister Bunny was out of harms way). Since the car was running, I thought it would be sensible to turn him around under his own power, which went swimmingly until I got stuck.

 

As I came off the bottom of the drive, the corner of it that had begun to break up collapsed under the weight of the Polo, leaving one wheel stuck in a hole and the other on slippery mud. I tried very, very hard to free the car, chocking the wheels, putting stuff with better traction under the wheels (which mostly just gripped the tyre and slid on the mud, scooting out across the lane), using smooth and even revs without too much power... but all the theory failed me in practice and I had to admit defeat and call my Dad.

 

He and my brother have rescued stuck cars before, so they knew what to do. A bit of weight over the passenger side wheel got the much needed traction on the rough concrete slab I'd been using to try and get better traction than the mud, and the car was driven up onto the drive by my brother. When he came to a stop, he put the handbrake on and the cable decided that was the perfect time to snap, adding itself to the list of things I need to buy or fix.

 

If it's not one thing it's another! I'll add it to the list. Still, the car did make it up the drive under his own power, allbeit hunting and running a bit rich because of the choke, and we chocked the wheels before putting him to bed for the night.

 

 

I had better update the plans for the car now on what needs doing I suppose.

 

> MoT

> Road Tax

> New backbox

> New handbrake cable (unless existing one can be repaired)

> Finish trimming and fitting new headlight brackets

> 3 Sealed beam headlights (got one already)

> Fit new sidelights

> 2 good tyres (at least)

> Finish grille

> Retrim new back seat

> Finish off the paint

> Lots of cleaning in the engine bay.

 

Not a huge list, but a lot of work to get it all done. I'm just happy my little car is sorted, and it *does* feel little after tooling around for a while in the Princess. Most of what needs to be done won't cost any money, thankfully, as I don't have any money at the moment.

[vulgalour]

You guys are all far too nice, must be looking at this through Princess-shaped lenses

 

____

 

After pushing the Polo out of the garage yesterday and getting him into view so I'm encouraged/shamed into working on him I actually did today. I'm really very pleased with myself because today I managed to do some spannering from experience rather than having to consult a book every five minutes, something of a milestone for me.

 

I knew I had to reinstate the water pump and the timing belt in order to get the Polo running, but a look around the engine bay also highlighted that the coil needed to be reconnected and of course water needed putting back in the system. I had my doubts in my abilities because I'm nothing if not under-confident when it comes to mechanical things, but I worked through methodically and got everything connected, checked the labels we'd put on the wiring and was sure I'd got everything as it ought to be.

 

When I removed the water pump I had made sure (or thought I had) that the static timing was where it should be so I didn't think to check that. This is something I will have to go back and do, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

 

I've never done a timing belt before, but I knew what should happen and that tension was very important. First of all I bolted the water pump and back plate in place and then found I couldn't get the belt to go on the cam sprocket at all.

 

 

I quick search of the old memory bank made me remember that the water pump assembly appears to have an eccentric rotation, or rather that the rotation point is not central on the whole pump assembly, which made me realise that must be for adjusting it, especially when combined with the long curving slots the bolts go through. That was how to sort out the tension on the belt.

 

So I slackened off the stupidly awkward bolts and rotated the back half of the water pump in situ with the bolts loosely in the holes.

 

This gave me enough slack in the belt to get it located correctly both on the pump...

 

... and on the sprocket.

 

Eventually everything lines up neatly, and the belt can go from this...

 

...to this.

 

My camera has eaten the pictures, but on the water pump housing there's a notch that you can use to push it around to tension the belt, once you've pushed it as far as you can, tighten up the bolts and the job is done.

 

Next thing was to put Mister Bunny in his run because he was in the firing line of the exhaust and I didn't want him getting poorly. Then I filled up the water and burped the system, I think I did this a total of 5 times until the water level didn't drop and I got no air bubbling up and then did everything up. A few last checks to ensure everything was where it ought to be and nothing could fall into belts and fans and whatnot and I connected the battery. I had no idea if there would be any life in the battery as I hadn't thought to put it on charge the night before, but happily there was.

 

This clicky video is the engine running. I managed to mechanic something!

 

The good news is that there the water now circulates, the temperature on the hoses is as it ought to be and the cap on the expansion bottle pressurises properly, all things that weren't happening before. Diagnosis: really bad airlock, now resolved.

 

The bad news is that I think I've cocked up the static timing, the engine now hunts badly and won't run without some choke applied. My current thinking is that I need to reset the static timing properly and fiddle with the mixture setting on the carb as it's probably running too lean so that's something to look into.

 

However, I am happy that the car no longer overheats, even under load, and the system is working as it ought. I've ruled out head gasket failure completely now, there's simply none of the signs I'd look for apparent for that.

 

After some tinkering that confirmed rotating the distributor did nothing to alleviate the hunting, the house reeked of exhaust fumes as it had got sucked in through the kitchen window (just as well Mister Bunny was out of harms way). Since the car was running, I thought it would be sensible to turn him around under his own power, which went swimmingly until I got stuck.

 

As I came off the bottom of the drive, the corner of it that had begun to break up collapsed under the weight of the Polo, leaving one wheel stuck in a hole and the other on slippery mud. I tried very, very hard to free the car, chocking the wheels, putting stuff with better traction under the wheels (which mostly just gripped the tyre and slid on the mud, scooting out across the lane), using smooth and even revs without too much power... but all the theory failed me in practice and I had to admit defeat and call my Dad.

 

He and my brother have rescued stuck cars before, so they knew what to do. A bit of weight over the passenger side wheel got the much needed traction on the rough concrete slab I'd been using to try and get better traction than the mud, and the car was driven up onto the drive by my brother. When he came to a stop, he put the handbrake on and the cable decided that was the perfect time to snap, adding itself to the list of things I need to buy or fix.

 

If it's not one thing it's another! I'll add it to the list. Still, the car did make it up the drive under his own power, allbeit hunting and running a bit rich because of the choke, and we chocked the wheels before putting him to bed for the night.

 

 

I had better update the plans for the car now on what needs doing I suppose.

 

> MoT

> Road Tax

> New backbox

> New handbrake cable (unless existing one can be repaired)

> Finish trimming and fitting new headlight brackets

> 3 Sealed beam headlights (got one already)

> Fit new sidelights

> 2 good tyres (at least)

> Finish grille

> Retrim new back seat

> Finish off the paint

> Lots of cleaning in the engine bay.

 

Not a huge list, but a lot of work to get it all done. I'm just happy my little car is sorted, and it *does* feel little after tooling around for a while in the Princess. Most of what needs to be done won't cost any money, thankfully, as I don't have any money at the moment.

[stuboy]

good work...

[stuboy]

good work...

[Black_GT]

Nice, congrats for getting it running again - I do like that Polo!

[Black_GT]

Nice, congrats for getting it running again - I do like that Polo!

[vulgalour]

Here we go, update time. After some fears that I was going to throw in the towel for no reason that's readily apparent, I've been convinced to stick at it and set some goals and actually make some proper lists of what needs doing. I think I've been suffering from a lack of direction with the Polo, probably due to my life as a whole having a lack of direction of late. Buying the Princess kept me on the road, but probably exacerbated my issues with the Polo and he's therefore been neglected.

 

Today, after determining initially to make up a Want and a Need list, I actually did something productive again, the first time I have since sorting out the air lock in the system.

 

Once I'd bolted one front wing on and made the car look more like a car I realised that maybe it was foolish to give up, it started to remind me of why I was building what I'm building. Sounds a bit daft really, but it really is less disheartening to see the Polo looking more car shaped and less abandoned.

 

After I'd done this I started to get to grips with resetting the timing that was out and causing the lumpy running. As if by magic, Dad appeared to have a natter and ended up helping me understand how to set the timing best since the Haynes Book of Lies was of little significant help in the matter.

 

To set the timing, we first needed to find out where the timing marks are, as follows. I had a wheel brace in the toolbox that was the same size as the pulley nut, how handy.

 

 

 

This demonstrates how far off the timing was, fat lot of good the HBOL was helping me to set that up.

 

 

Then, it was a case of getting the bottom timing mark to line up properly, slacking off the water pump bolts and removing the timing belt so we could rotate the cam pulley to get the timing mark there to line up too. Once that was done we found it was indeed one tooth out as had been suggested previously, so all was rebuilt and tightened up, the water topped up to replace what was lost and the key turned.

 

With a bit of choke the engine fired up and ran almost evenly, certainly a lot better than it had before. A few adjustments were made including tightening up the throttle and choke cables a bit, which helped further, but we couldn't get the engine to idle without a smidge of revs or choke.

 

More headscratching was done and the carb fiddled with a bit. Eventually, the mixture was made a lot richer and that replaced what the choke was effectively doing. The car will now run at idle, but it's set up badly and the timing is still out.

 

We investigated the timing again and now the timing belt appears to be half a tooth out, but I'm not sure how that can be or how to rectify it, or if that's the cause of the problem. Before this running problem everything worked fine and hadn't been fiddled with, it's like the running problem has just appeared.

 

The prime suspect at the moment is the carburettor, a known problem on these engines. The rubber gasket under the carb is brand new so I don't think it's sucking air in from that even though it's behaving a little like it did when it was. The head gasket is not, as previously suspected, blown and the system is pressurising and temperature regulating as it should.

 

I'm out of my depth again with this one, I really can't figure out what's causing the problem. Here's a clicky video of the engine running, that loud squeaking is most likely the water pump that, apart from the noise, is doing the job it should do.

 

Once we'd got the engine to the above state, where if I had to I could drive it, I gave him a wash. Looks a bit more like a car, I don't feel as meh about him as a project now I have a short term goal and am not worrying about the long term and just maybe I can get to the bottom of this problem and get things moving again.

 

 

The goal is to have him ready for an MoT by my birthday at the start of November, but not to necessarily have to put him through said MoT.

 

Here's my lists, I'll go around the car again tomorrow to see what I've missed and maybe tick some things off.

 

NEED (to get the car on the road)

> Refit passenger side wing.

> Refit driver's side wing.

> Refit bonnet

> Replace fuse borrowed for Princess

> Sort windscreen leak

> Fit headlights

> Fit new grille

> Paint bulkhead repair so that I can:

> Refit dashboard

> Fit horn

> Refit air box & filter

> Refit back seat

> New backbox

> Fix/replace handbrake cable

> Fit sidelights & bulbs inc. new wiring.

> Fit mirrors.

> repair back valance (gaffer tape if need be)

 

WANT (to get the car where I want)

> Finish paint

> Fit pop-out rear windows

> Fit Bruce wheels

> Fit chrome trim bits

> Acquire and fit exterior sunvisor

> Whitewalls

> Smooth boot properly

> Acquire and fit spats

> Rear light mod

> Retrim new back seat

> Construct and trim new door cards

> Clean, trim and fit Lexus carpet

> Construct and fit new headlining

> Retrim boot area

> Acquire/fabricate and fit interior sun visors.

 

It feels a bit more directional now, as though I know where I'm going rather than just flailing at picking at the seeming mountain of jobs. Dividing stuff up into Want and Need has really helped me gain some perspective because most of the stuff I though I 'needed' to do is actually on the want list which gave an inflated sense of what's left to achieve.

[Rocket88]

Not familiar with this engine, but you could try slackening off the distributor pinch bolt [if it has one] and giving it a gentle rotational nudge one way, then the other.

[vulgalour]

@colc: Tried that, to no avail. I'm back where I started on that setting as that's the best place for it to be having tried to find a better spot :/

 

____

 

Fettling again. I don't think I know what I'm doing, if I'm honest, so we'll see what you make of what I've done today.

 

Points: Gap of .38mm, opening and closing as normal. Didn't check for spark, only just realised that, but I suspect they're okay.

 

Plugs: Didn't check these either (again, only just realised while writing this) so if I should do let me know. When the engine was put back together they were healthy.

 

Carb: Fiddled with the screws for idle and mixture and got it running leaner, but not as lean as I'd like.

 

Air box: Refitted. This did actually make rather a large improvement and reminded me that when he went for his first MoT in my care one of the running issues was an air pipe on the underside had come off.

 

Ignition Timing: Fiddled with it and ended up with it back where it was as it's making no significant difference to the way the engine runs.

 

Choke: I can get the car to idle without the choke light on now, this is a good thing.

 

Conclusion: I don't know what to do now!

 

Here's a clicky video.

 

As you can hear, it's hunting a lot and I can't seem to improve on that at all. The temperature gauge gets up to 3/4 before the fan kicks in which is normal, the expansion tank pressurises properly and nothing is leaking out. I can't hear any air leaks, in fact the only thing that makes any noise similar to an air leak is the air box itself, but that always has.

 

Theories:

Carb - set up wrong now it's bedded in after being cleaned, especially now that we've fiddled with it. I don't have the relevant CO meters and the like to test it properly to know whether or not it's set up correctly.

 

Timing belt - could it be stretched from being on and off a few times? The belt is only about 3,000 miles old, but I wonder if maybe it's become misshapen after running the car when the head bolts needed tightening (which I didn't know at the time) and the recent on-off of it while trying to resolve the engine issues.

 

Your advice, as always, is very welcome. I'm at a point now that I don't think I personally can do anything else on this engine without a guiding hand because I simply don't understand why it's doing what it's doing.

[Volksy]

I think these are suseptable to the carb base gasket (the one between the bottom of the carb and the inlet manifold) failing and causing air to be sucked in to the mixture once they have been on and off a few times. Try squirting some WD40 round the base of the carb when it's running to see if it improves matters. Keep it away from the hot exhaust mind!

[vulgalour]

They are susceptible to that gasket failing, but I'm hoping that's not the problem on mine because it had a new one fitted about 3k ago and it wasn't the easiest part to source at the time :/ I'll check it when we're not having such delightfully refreshing* summer weather, probably tomorrow in fact.

[scooters]

When I were a hulking yoof in the late 80's, Polo bread vans were everywhere - many mates had them and they are cracking cars - tough, practical, economical and a reasonable hoot to drive - well done for bringing one back - my only critique is you should have painted him beige and fitted a vinyl roof!

[vulgalour]

If it helps ease your criticism, I've got a tan carpet from a Lexus to clean and retrim to replace the red one currently in there. I've also got a pile of gold brocade fabric for the new headlining, the interior is going to end up quite loud I think.

[PhilA]

 

^

[vulgalour]

I do not have a Colourtune kit, but I may need one when it comes to resetting the carb, which I've messed about with. Could do with a better manual than the HBOL too.

 

___

 

Here's another attempt. I'm still frustrated by the engine, but feeling like maybe I'm getting somewhere as we eliminate more suspect areas together.

 

First thing I did was start the car in one of those 'just in case' moments and to my surprise it ran without the lurchiness, if still quite rich (I'll sort this out eventually) and has a far too fast idle. Here's a clicky video of that action.

 

I was quite puzzled by this, but as the engine got warmer, the running got much rougher until after a few minutes the engine did cut out on its own. Here's another clicky video.

 

Of the things suggested to investigate I found the following:

 

Vaccum unit on distributor: Seems fine. Blew down and sucked on both pipes and met with resistance as expected. It looks tatty, but it's likely that a quick refurb of the exterior is all that's needed here.

 

Under carb seal - Still looks brand new. I didn't remove the carburettor to investigate further because it's only 3k miles old and I think I found the culprit for the air leak.

 

Carb to air box pipe - This pipe is hidden rather well, but is integral to the smooth running as I found with some experimentation. It looked okay from above and indeed, it didn't look in particularly poor condition.

 

Then I removed it and folded it between finger and thumb and it revealed its nasty little secret. This tiny little pipe is probably causing the air leak and it's one of the few pipes that hasn't been replaced.

 

So, current plan is to leave the carb adjustment for now, I've clearly cocked that up, and instead get a replacement pipe for the above and some black rubber fuel pipe to replace the clear stuff. The clear fuel pipe is fine at the moment, but after the incident with the same stuff going porous and trying to set fire to the Princess, I don't fancy chancing it on the Polo.

 

Here's hoping I'm not about to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory by expecting that little hose to fix this issue. Those videos, short though they are, took a small eternity to upload but I'm hoping they make diagnosis easier.

[stuboy]

keep up the good work

[vulgalour]

Something awesome happened today.

 

Yesterday, nothing awesome happened because we were enjoying a typical British Summer's day.

 

But today, the weather was bright if windy and my brother had a spare bit of time so we had another go at sorting out this engine. First thing was to replace the perished pipe with this new one, which while nice and tight on the air box end, is a teensy bit loose on the carb end so I had to add a jubilee clip.

 

That new pipe did in fact improve things a bit so while it didn't fix the problem it at least helped. Next thing to do was to have a look through some photographs of what the carb should look like and for any signs of obvious wear or damage as all the other air leak locations had been eliminated, which is when my brother spotted that there was a bit missing on the black screw in this picture.

 

That black screw controls the position of the throttle at idle and the problem I've been having is getting the car to idle. We made up a new adjuster and the car would idle properly and run, and not stall! Success!

 

Only one thing for it, had to take it for a test drive down the lane to see how well he'd run. WE nearly didn't because there's so little petrol in the tank it doesn't even register on the gauge but the lane isn't that long... so off my brother went.

 

 

 

After a while of waiting like a worried parent, I heard my little monster coming back up the lane and it served to convince me more than ever that I'm going the right route with the front end and the car as a whole. I spend that much time inside the car looking out I never see him as other people do, so it was pretty awesome to see him in motion.

 

Just enough fumes to get parked up safe on the drive again and now I feel much more confident about getting him through an MoT once I've dealt with the other minor issues that are outstanding. Some fine tuning is needed, but he's not far off where he was before he came off the road and, in my brother's words, 'it goes like stink', which of course I know.

[phil_lihp]

Well done, was nice to see you finally cracked it. It's a refreshing take on the usual VW customisation too. Reading about your experience sorting out this beast and the Princess have given me a bit of inspiration for my little project!

[whitevanman]

For what it's worth, belonging to a particular style/group of car ownership is over blown, mixing styles was good enough for the likes of Boyd Coddington and many other...personaly it has too much red on it for my taste...but it not my car it's yours I have built and owned things as diverse as a 69 barracuda a mk1 Consul lead sled, jacked up customs, Euro look before it existed, VW scene look when it wasn't even called that, restored standard cars and many, many more and I never belonged to any one style either....just enjoy being different

[vulgalour]

@Phil: Glad to inspire, that's the best thing I can hear

 

@WVM: I like the way you think, I'm interested in some of those cars you mentioned too, particularly the Consul, pictures at all?

 

___

 

 

Well, I can't drive either of my cars at the moment on doctor's orders so what am I to do? I could just mope about it, or I could get stuck in and not worry about what the outcome is going to be in the hope that next month I can get behind the wheel again.

 

The boyfriend was here for a few days and he took the rocker cover and belt covers away to be sandblasted and tidied up for me, now that I know that the engine is probably good. He had his little sandblasting kit set up from a few jobs he was doing himself so it was handy that he could take the smaller items away with him. When they come back, I'll get some snaps of them.

 

Today, amazingly, the sun came out for a bit so I went to have a look at the cars to see what I could do. I could have got on with paintwork, but I was neither in the mood nor trusted the weather to behave for long enough, so instead I turned my attention to the Polo's engine bay.

 

 

Much of the Polo's engine has never been cleaned and I've never really got stuck into engine detailing. Lately though, I've been of a mind to change that. So today I took off the air box and dismantled it, cleaning it first with warm water, then with some multi-purpose Cillit Bang and finally giving it a wipe over with some Autoglym Vinyl and Rubber cleaner.

 

While I was at it, I cleaned up the scuttle behind the air box and cleaned and fitted the fragile cover and seal that I liberated from a Polo earlier this year.

 

The engine bay looks a lot better than I expected for that and eventually I'll get around all the nooks and crannies to smarten it up. I gave the brake fluid reservoir a good scrub too and once this is all clean I'll look at repainting what I can get to with some fresh black.

 

Looking for other quick jobs I double checked I had the spare windscreen seal that's better than my fitted one, then I got a Stanley knife to slice off the old seal so that I wouldn't break my windscreen and thus save money.

 

This is the best way to remove these sorts of seals if you can, there's absolutely no risk to the glass providing you're not a numpty with the knife of course. Pull the seal tight in one hand and you shouldn't need much effort with the knife to cut it free.

 

Then it was just a case of gently pushing the windscreen out, breaking the weak seal it still has with the remaining rubber before setting it aside. The reasons for me popping the screen out is to find a water leak and to be able to make up my new headlining. I'll have to pop out the side windows as well for the new headlining, but that can wait for the moment.

 

At this point there would have been pictures of the rust bubbles I found on the scuttle, but my camera decided that the lens wouldn't work anymore. This problem surfaced at the recent Waddington show but went away again, I expect my camera is ready to be replaced now so I'll be keeping an eye out for something suitable.

 

Under the old seal there were 3 main areas of rust, which I attacked with a wire brush before Kurusting them all. I will strip the paint back to bare metal and clean them up again to make extra sure I've got it all before repainting. Happily, there were no holes evident.

 

The water was getting in on the passenger side where there's a drain hole, which was partially blocked, backing up and then leaking into the car through the windscreen seal. Once I've got all this treated and freshly painted it shouldn't leak anymore.

[vulgalour]

This weather is driving me up the wall lately. There was a sunny enough spell during the day for me to do some more cleaning in the engine bay in preparation for paint, but not as much as I would've liked.

 

Most of the left hand side in this picture is good now, not much left to remove.

 

Even the engine mount and alternator are coming up well, though I'm not sure how exactly I'm going to detail this finally. When I started cleaning up the engine bay, this was jet black with crusty oil and dirt.

 

Since the camera was actually being useful for once, I got some pictures of the surface rust on the windscreen surround. I need to clean it up again in a more aggressive manner to make sure there's no holes that need welding, but it seems fairly solid here.

 

This corner was letting water in, I've since cleaned out the drain hole properly using a knitting needle and knocked the rust back.

 

The other spots were making the rubber seal lift and allowing water to sit in the channel, which can't have helped things much.

 

 

 

I've caught the above early enough for it not to be a problem and at the moment the car has his cover on to keep the weather out. Since I've got the windscreen out of the car doing things like refitting the dashboard and making the new headlining is going to be a lot easier.

[vulgalour]

I don't know about you guys, but this weather is really beginning to get on my wick now. I only got about a quarter of the work done I wanted to because every hour or so I had to bring all my stuff in to save it from the rain.

 

First up, I got the drill out to blast all those pitted rusty areas on the windscreen surround.

 

 

 

 

Took them all back further than with the hand brush and wasn't afraid to be quite aggressive with the drill. I want to make sure as much as possible that the rust doesn't come back when I've refitted a new windscreen. I did find one small hole which ideally should be welded but I haven't got a welder so I'm undecided about the fix here at the moment.

 

Then it rained so I went indoors until it was sunny again, at which point I flatted back the paint on the scuttle and on the A pillars.

 

 

Stuck some Kurust on the bare metal and rusty bits before retreating indoors because it rained again, thankfully after the Kurust had enough time to be dry so I could throw the cover on the car. Eventually I got out for about half an hour to make some more headway on flatting the roof back.

 

The roof looks like it needs the edges repainting but the majority of the surface has enough paint to a regular enough finish not to need it, we'll just have to see how it continues to cut back. What a crappy day, I feel like I've not made enough progress at all.

 

I was looking at the engine bay and I really think I ought to remove the engine and 'box so I can get it all properly cleaned and painted in there.

[vulgalour]

My wrist has been playing up lately and I should be resting it, but today the sun came out and it didn't rain. Okay, so it was windy as all crap, but the SUN CAME OUT. I didn't want to risk getting too stuck into any jobs, so I started with the currently important ones which were to get that bit of the bulkhead painted now the Kurust has done it's stuff.

 

Then get some paint on the screen surround, somewhat quickly, as I didn't want it left exposed for any longer than it had to be. As it turns out, I could have spent my time doing a good job because it was sunny and dry all day long, if a little windy. Of course this bit of paint will need more work, but it's waterproof and won't go rusty in a hurry, which was more important to me than the smoothness of the paint when I started.

 

I then made use of the good weather to sort through some car boxes and trial fit some things. First up was to see just how much I'd have to chop up the dash to fit that old instrument dial I have. I'd still like to fit this, but it's going to be a fair old chunk of work to do it right.

 

Next was to try out the B pillar trims I salvaged from an A reg Polo. They fit easily with double-sided carpet tape on the back, which is similar to the VW method. I like how these look, I'll paint the relevant bit of the door frame satin black to match it when I get to that point.

 

Pushed a wheel trim on too. I love these trims but I still haven't got around to refurbing the set I have. You'll notice there's another shiny addition there too.

 

A while ago I bought some Austin sidelights because my Dad pointed out that the twin lights I plan to fit have no sidelights built in and they're one of those pesky legal requirements. I need to get a few rubber and metal spacers to finish things off properly, but the Desmo plinths match up nicely with the Austin sidelight units and the whole lot bolts through the old bumper alignment hole in the wing.

 

 

It's a smart, simple solution and matches the ethos of the build really well.

 

 

There's only one problem. When you look at the car from the front, the sidelight isn't visible. The light it emits will be and should bounce off the chrome of the bumper, but I'm not sure if this will be allowed. If not, I'll just pop the bumper off until I find a better solution.

 

So I'm quite pleased about this and this is where I was going to leave things, but the sun didn't go away and it didn't show any signs of raining.

 

I grabbed a sheet of wet & dry paper, my water spray bottle and a cup of coffee. Set to work on the paint on the passenger rear quarter, I really wanted to get it back to the smoothest finish I could. I know the paint doesn't need much more work to look good, but probably needs a bit of effort to look great, so this is me starting to really do the job right.

 

There were still some streaky bits that I wanted out, the smoother the finish the better the new coat of paint will go on, especially now I've got the hang of the roller-and-brush technique which gives a smoother, easier to work with finish. So I went over it again and again until it was properly smooth.

 

There's now a reflection in the satin finish, I'd say that's probably good enough for fresh paint. It also highlighted a few high spots and a few thin areas of paint. Two more coats of paint are probably required, one if I'm really lucky.

 

Compared to what I started with, this was quite an improvement, even if it's not shiny at the moment. I do know this paint comes up to a shine really well when you do it right and stays shiny, but only if you have a super smooth surface, obviously.

 

By this point my wrist was telling me to stop, but the sun was out! So I ignored my complaining wrist, munched some more Ibuprofen and got stuck in to the driver's side. This side had been given a good attempt at polishing and had come up well, but I knew I'd likely have to go back and redo it to get a super smooth, deep gloss finish.

 

Much sanding with the 400 grit happened and it highlighted how much I'd missed the last time now I know better what I'm doing.

 

 

As with the other side, there's a few high spots and areas of thin paint so this will need one or two coats of paint to be really perfect. This side took considerably less time to get smooth because of the work already done to bring it up to a shine.

 

On the whole, the paint looks like it's close to being finished but needs a fair amount of remedial work to put right some of the lazy or clumsy bits I've done before. As I've gone along I've learned better techniques and quicker, more efficient ways of getting the job done. I'm not in a rush now, which helps a lot, as there are bits like the doors which I know need quite a lot more work than a casual glance might suggest to get nice and smooth.

 

Today allowed me to tick off a few items on my list too, so that looks like this:

 

NEED (to get the car on the road)

> Refit passenger side wing.

> Refit driver's side wing.

> Refit bonnet

> Replace fuse borrowed for Princess

> Sort windscreen leak

> Fit headlights

> Fit new grille

> Paint bulkhead repair so that I can:

> Refit dashboard

> Fit horn

> Refit air box & filter

> Refit back seat

> New backbox

> Fix/replace handbrake cable

> Fit sidelights & bulbs inc. new wiring.

> Fit mirrors.

> repair back valance (gaffer tape if need be)

> Buy and fit new windscreen

 

WANT (to get the car where I want)

> Finish paint

> Fit pop-out rear windows

> Fit Bruce wheels

> Fit chrome trim bits

> Acquire and fit exterior sunvisor

> Whitewalls

> Smooth boot properly

> Acquire and fit spats

> Rear light mod

> Retrim new back seat

> Construct and trim new door cards

> Clean, trim and fit Lexus carpet

> Construct and fit new headlining

> Retrim boot area

> Acquire/fabricate and fit interior sun visors.

[vulgalour]

Got a pleasant surprise recently when I changed my job title and saved money. From the £1600ish I was paying when I had the car in Sheffield on the street, my insurance has tumbled. I moved to my present address and the insurance fell to £1200, with the only change to the policy being the car being kept off the road and the postcode. At renewal, with 1 year NCB under my belt, it came down to about £900 and recently, because of my change of job title (self employed manager to employed administration assistant) it's come down to just shy of £670.

 

I'm amazed at how much and how quickly my insurance has fallen in price, especially since the policy remains the same - 4k per year, car kept off the road, not used for commuting, mods declared - and can only hope it continues to fall as time goes on. About time I had some good news!