Project Partridge: the work begins.

[Partridge]

Today's been the first full day that I've the use of the Sterling, so I've made use of the daylight hours and got cracking.

First of all I've made a note of the nasty bits which needed sorting soonest.

 

The inner nearside rear arch. Not the end of the world, but I need to cracking soon.

The outer edge of the sill will need a very small ammount of new metal put in, even though it looks OKish in the pictures. Bugger. Didn't spot this.

 

This is just starting to go too. Any welders here looking for some pretty straight forward work?

 

I've started to de-grot the car where I can. This is the often wet spare wheel well after some rags and WD40. Find what's causing it, and rust eater that motha.

 

I've cleaned out the rear arches and this came out - yuck.

 

Anyone want it for their garden? It was good enough for this to grow in it! Bloody cheek.

 

Remember the buzzing sound from the front lights? That's been fixed*. Turns out the pin connection the adjustor motor to the lights themselves is borked, and the whole thing is squiffy and a bit bent. Pin has been done away with and replaced with a screw cable tied to the adjuster. I have some adjustment if I do it by hand. I've opted to just buy a new light unit, and an indicator (which is fucked). £35 all in from ebay and they will arrive this week! The car looks like it's had a small tap which has buggered up the passenger sides lights, so repair by replacement is probably the best bet.

 

Here's the offending article. Swiss quality my arse.

 

Working against the short daylight hours I didn't get a pic of the temp fix, but here it is having eye surgery.

 

Oh, and the headlights on a late 800 are a total wanker to put back in. Whoever designed them wants to be taken into a dark room and beaten by me, Mo and Very Tall Brad. Putting them back involved two people, a screw driver, lots of swearing and a length of string.

 

It also does not like the damp tonight when it's sitting doing nothing, at one stage I thought it was going to conk out on me. My money is on HT leads needing reniewing. Drives fine though.

 

...I now have an hour's drive ahead of me...so far I'm enjoying Shite Motoring though, thanks for putting up with me taking so long to get some shite!

 

For £680, I don't think I'd find a better car. Watch this space.

 

 

 

 

[Luckythirteen]

Maybe a stoopid question, but how's the light harder to put back in than take out?

[nacho man]

I don't know but I am a specialist remover, not such a specialist put back togetherer.

[Lord Sterling]

Glad you're getting on with it. Certainly looks a lot tidier than my KV6. I'm debating whether to put the 820E or KV6 on road for Shitefest. With the KV6, you can drive an identical car to yours, just with more power.

[oman5]

Maybe a stoopid question, but how's the light harder to put back in than take out?

As HBOL put it, "reassembly is reverse of removal". I really, really grew to HATE that phrase.

[HillmanImp]

If thats the worst of it, you have got a cracker. All I can see is a little sanding a thin line of filler and a coat of paint in places. 

 

Result IMO

[mrcitroen]

If that is the worst of the grot, you have got yourself a really nice motor. Not bad for an X plater. As long as the only bits are as good.

 

Enjoy!

[Partridge]

It's pretty damn tidy for what it is, but I know it can be so much better and it's bugging me...And I don't want it to get worse.

Maybe a stoopid question, but how's the light harder to put back in than take out?

To secure the lights, there is a rubber cylinder on the underside which needs to go in a plastic clip. Taking it out of the clip, easy. Putting it back in...If you can do it in under 10 minutes I'll give you a tenner. Lining it back up is a fricking pain in the bottom and impossible without manipulating the plastic to the point where it's close to breaking...

[Lord Sterling]

Not bad for an X plater. As long as the only bits are as good.

The 'X' looks like an 'R'. And what are 'only bits'

[Partridge]

Well it has an X in the number plate!

[mrcitroen]

The 'X' looks like an 'R'. And what are 'only bits'

I have lost the ability to read and type correctly

[trigger]

Most that rust will just polish out!

[Partridge]

Lets hope! The boot leaks though so pretty soon that surface rust might turn into proper rust, which I really don't want because I intend to keep this car for a long time.

[mrcitroen]

Lets hope! The boot leaks though so pretty soon that surface rust might turn into proper rust, which I really don't want because I intend to keep this car for a long time.

This time last year I was suffering badly from water in the boot on the Alfa. I removed a couple of litres from it, but after a week it started to fill again. I was puzzled by this and investigated such things as rear light seals & wiring grommets. It turned out to be the boot seal. It looked ok but it had become slightly displaced along the top. I think something caught it which is quite easy due to the letterbox shape.

[Partridge]

At first I thought it was the boot seal, but further inspection showed that it was fine...Was your Alfa OK after that or did you find another way the water was getting in?

[jonny69]

I don't see any worrying grot. I think I saw the words 'fine' and 'enjoying' used. Thread has failed to deliver.

 

I vote Partridge gets a ban if this car doesn't start letting him down and making him miserable.

[dugong]

The worst of your problems there is the boot seal. Stop the water getting in and clean up \ seal what's already in there after getting it bone dry.

 

The rust on the sills doesn't need to be cut out - it looks like surface to me. Clean it up, vactan it (to seal it), then hoy some dinitrol on there. Summary: BABTRIDGE.

[Lord Sterling]

I can only echo whats been said. Surface = rub down, slap some rust killer. The water-in-boot problem may actually be down to the rear lights. The spongy stick-on shite they are often wrapped in fails and starts letting water. The boot seal I reckon is absolutely fine, if it's still dry around the seals after rain/pouring water on it, the seal is fine, check your rear lights.

 

Might also be an idea to; clean up behind the arches and slap on some grease/rust protection, also, take the door/boot seals of and pack the with grease as where they clip onto is a bit of a water trap. The sills could also be filled with oil/grease mix or some anti-protection stuff. Also, check under car and make sure it has some underseal, I did this with my KV6.

[mrcitroen]

Seal being re fitted correctly cured it. You could always do the bodger special and drill a drain hole in the boot floor.

[Partridge]

^^Cheers guys! Really helpful

 

I've got as far as ditching the offside headlight and indicator and replacing them with used bits from ebay. £35 all in.

 

Next thing is a major service. It's too bloody cold to do it myself, and right now I don't have the time or the space so I will be taking it to a garage (shock, horror).

 

After that the exhust system will also be replaced. The current one is shot away and sounds bloody awful. I'm also fed up with having to pick bits of flexi section off the drive every morning after letting her warm up...

 

A couple of days ago I got it washed and waxed and it looks like a different car! Very pleased indeed...I will snap some pics in the morning.

[MarvinsMom]

as for water getting into the boot, have you had a look at the back drains from the sunroof?

 

the 820 coupe we had was leaking from them, they drain out trough the c pillars and out under the sides of the back bumper, and in the best traditions of BL they are small pipes that push into a larger pipe before exiting the car.

 

it could of course be something completely different, a top purchase you have there and a t-16 FTW!

 

still miss the 820, it had the most comfortable seats i think i've ever sat in, even more so than say a mk3 granny or the xjr-6

[Partridge]

^Thank you for that tip!

[Partridge]

** UPDATE **

 

I tired to work out how water was getting in the spare wheel well. There is a very small (drilled) hole in the boot floor. I'm not sure why, I'm thinking that perhaps the car had a light duty tow bar at some stage? Anyway, to see if water was getting I taped it up with a 11 million bits of masking tape. The next morning I opened the boot just after it had been raining to throw my work stuff in the boot and saw water coming in from behind the offside light. So this means I've tracked it?

 

Well I've inspected the boot again after it's been standing in the rain and snow for two days, and the boot is bone dry

 

Anyway, this is how sounds on a cold start after standing for two days in the damp and freezing cold. I'm hoping it will improve a little bit after it's service next week. It sounds 100x better once warm.

 

That whole exhaust is borked, not helped by me twatting the back box on a speed hump. (Said the Bishop to the Actress). It sounds ruddy awful and I want rid. It's also hoofing out unburnt fuel.

 

 

Yes, yes, I've spotted the spelling mistakes in the description, and I'm aware it makes me look like a gopping, semi illiterate fool.

 

C U L8R FUEL

[trigger]

Isn't that just condensation?. It sounds like a normal 820 to me?.

[Partridge]

No, it does it when it's warm as well. Would be nice if it was just condensation and not my BP Ultimate though. And it sounds much better once warm, Trigger! Although this was the first one I viewed and drove, and I've got nothing to judge it by. So thanks for the feedback

[dugong]

The vibration's just a loose baffle or clamp around the back box. Does it have hydraulic lifters? Sometimes they'll clatter a bit until oil's circulated enough (should be gone after about two minutes, mind). 

Fluttering idle's either the ICV \ stepper motor or an iffy coil pack. Doesn't sound particularly rough to me and a check of the exhaust system will probably sort the slight blow. You might be lucky and just need a couple of new fixings like my MX-3 did. It'll be firing up rich at 1200RPM to heat the catalyst quickly. 

[Pillock]

Is that actually fuel?

Best way to check is with a match - probably after you've moved the car. I didn't think fuel passed through the cat though? My local exhaust fitting place has a poster about how cats can get damaged, and one of the points is running rich = unburnt fuel into the cat = ignition when hot = split cat

 

Hole drilled in the boot floor might have been the zero-cost fix to get rid of the standing water. I would doubt much is getting in that way, gravity is not on the waters side for that and the airflow would suck out rather than blow in. Chances are it's coming in through the light, exiting through the boot floor, and the recent cold weather has reduced the water ingress because ice.

 

Do an oil change with the correct stuff before worrying about the cold start noise. If you've not serviced it yet, it might have the wrong grade or really old crap which will make hydraulic lifters sound awful. If sounds good when warm, even with you give it a bit of welly, there's likely to be nothing major wrong.

[mrbenn]

Re the exhaust water, my folks used to have a Rover 25 that fairly poured water out of the exhaust well after the engine had warmed up - it needed a few fast miles before it dried out. And this one had an intact head gasket (at the time). Can't imagine it would put that much fuel out of the exhaust, shirley? If it is fuel I'd stop driving it til you've worked out why.

 

Actually, its knackered m8, I'll give you 80 notes for it. COLECT 2NITE.

[Partridge]

Dugong, Pillocks and Mr Ben, thanks.

 

I've risked instant death and dying as a junkie by sniffing the puddle (with the engine off). It's not petrol, so probably just water. Still dripping out when the engine is hot though - cause for concern? It is running rich though, I can smell it.

 

I also had a better look at the exhaust this afternoon, and it's not as bad as I first thought. 

The back box looks totally fine so as Dugong says any rattling is probably caused by a loose fastening.

 

The middle section looks OK ish...

 

Until...

It's blowing where this gunk is. I can hear it, and when it's cold, see it. Will that get though an MoT? It's not until Feb 2016 so need to panic.

 

 

The flexi section is knackered and the downpipe looks fit for the bin. Yes I know I have an oil leak!

 

So oil change and service, then I'll work out what to do with the exhaust.

 

Oh, and there's also a whistle coming from a rear wheel bearing which is starting to drive me nuts. Plenty to keep my busy.

 

I suppose what I need to remember is that it's a 17 year old Rover bought for little over a monkey, not a concors P5. It's doing well to have survived the scrappage scheme and end up "in the fold". It's really very solid and I should just enjoy it.

[mrbenn]

Don't forget that just because the engine is warm doesn't necessarily mean the exhaust is too, particularly in this weather. How long are the journeys you're doing in the car? All low speed or with a national speed limit thrown in?

 

I'd get some more exhaust gunk around that pipe and see what happens.