Project Rusty Triumphs in Scotland - To gas or not to gas(less MIG) - 09/11/24

[Zelandeth]

Xsara Picasso or Berlingo would probably be my suggestions for a beater for day to day use.  Picassos in particular seem to be easy to pick up pretty cheap these days and are fantastically practical cars.

[Shite Ron]

7 hours ago, Zelandeth said:

Xsara Picasso or Berlingo would probably be my suggestions for a beater for day to day use.  Picassos in particular seem to be easy to pick up pretty cheap these days and are fantastically practical cars.

I think after all his effort in saving these cars something less miserable is deserved. I think Angrydicky  suggested a Rover 620 which is a car I always thought looked quite good for a modern car.  A Rover 75 is another that has some style and character.

[rml2345]

The Picasso isn't actually that miserable a conveyance, it's just a bit soulless. They also rot.

75s not only rot but provide endless niggles to fix if used daily.

600 seems like a good bet though, so I'd buy a Volvo. 

[captain_70s]

Aye 75s are out, I like 'em but even a decade ago I knew a guy who was breaking rotters and complaining that they were always going wrong and finding decent parts was getting to be a chore.  Especially as I'm a picky cunt and it'd have to be a pre-Project Drive mk1 tourer...

I'm also not really wanting to delve into the bangernomics/disposable car territory. More along the lines of the Volvo, where outgoings are expected but ridiculous efforts like have gone into the Acclaim/Dolly are out of the question. I'd budgeted another £300-400 for getting the Volvo through an MOT, which would have been doable if it wasn't rotten, bringing the total spend for the car with a year's ticket to £600-700, still not a bad for a 740 estate. As it was it was going to be £300 in repairs/tyres and then several weeks of welding. Naw.

 

Current theoretical contenders are:

Another 700/900 series estate. Although probably not a 2.0, possibly not an auto. Basically not the one I fucking bought. There are many engine/turbo/gearbag options, mine was the second least desirable (by the merit it had fuel injection and not a carb...)

Peugeot 405 estate. My grandad had one for fucking years, he quite possibly still does... Despite a life of abuse on a council estate in Leeds it never seemed to need anything important repaired...

Rover 400 tourer. Yes I'll never find one, yes I can't afford one. They are quite funky though...

All old enough to be "whoa, haven't seen one of those for ages", none old enough to be at the point where even shitboxes cost real money. I'm not even going to bother looking for another car until summertime next year because of the state of everything in the world as a whole right now. Budget of £800-1300 (holy shit, real money) and no pressing need to buy should result in a decent late 80s/early 90s estate car that'll get on a "classic" insurance policy.

The last two cars I've purchased have been bought blind for well under the market value for a good example, so I'm hoping I can do considerably better by actually looking at the cars I buy and paying closer to what they're worth...

[SiC]

You realise you're going to be @ every time one of these comes up now!

Also all three of them are creeping up in value now too as they get rarer. 

 

[Steve79]

On 11/24/2020 at 8:19 PM, SiC said:

I think I worked out that the BOC cylinder is equivalent to 5 of those hobbyweld cylinder fills. The BOC bottle is a heavy fucker though and broke the back on welding trolley...

How it was supposed to be:

I'll probably move back to hobbyweld once I've done the Dolomite as I really don't intend to buy another car that requires a weldathon again. 😬

Famous last words 😂

[Steve79]

At least the e28 is solid

[rusty998]

3 hours ago, captain_70s said:

Rover 400 tourer. Yes I'll never find one, yes I can't afford one. They are quite funky though..

 

 Just so happens that I came across one of these on Facebook Today  £400 with a K series near Gatwick airport,  if I didn't have the Allegro on the drive I think I would have got it bought,

Needs a Head Gasket as it's doing a Kettle impression, it's the other end of the country from yourself but possible if you can afford the transport of it, 

Great saving Skilzz on the Acclaim and Dolly by the way, most inspiring 

[Ghosty]

940s are pushing £2000 now.

[captain_70s]

36 minutes ago, rusty998 said:

 

 

Just so happens that I came across one of these on Facebook Today  £400 with a K series near Gatwick airport,  if I didn't have the Allegro on the drive I think I would have got it bought,

Needs a Head Gasket as it's doing a Kettle impression, it's the other end of the country from yourself but possible if you can afford the transport of it, 

Great saving Skilzz on the Acclaim and Dolly by the way, most inspiring 

That's nuts, I've only ever seen one and that was in Holland! Sadly wrong place, time and condition for me - Still a cool motor though.

29 minutes ago, Ghosty said:

940s are pushing £2000 now.

Aye, now a decent 200 series will set you back £5k+ the later cars are following suit. Plenty of cheaper ones still crop up in the classifieds etc. I think prices are being artificially inflated slightly by the several minty low milers that are sat on eBay at £4-6k but never actually sell...

[rml2345]

The folk asking £4-6k on Ebay for a grands worth of 940 have to be terminally optimistic, particularly as reasonably tidy examples can still be had for £500 if you're patient enough. Obviously they should be bought on condition and not mileage as the odometer is usually either broken or senile anyway. 

[KitKat]

940 prices are representative of the classic car market in general at the moment. Whenever you look, 7/10 off the 940's on eBay are dealers asking £4.5-5k for stuff that sits there for months and isn't actually selling. Then a private seller with a clean, late 2.3 LPT manual comes up for auction without reserve and sells at £1200.  I watch for 940's (too) often and still think a decent one can be had for £1500 max if you're patient and quick.

Out of those 3 the Volvo would get my vote, although I've never owned a Rover tourer.

[JimH]

On 11/23/2020 at 9:10 PM, captain_70s said:

I have been known in the past to put up a stout defence of the Triumph Acclaim and its part in the revival of ARG's fortunes. However, regardless of the groundwork the car laid which lead to a close and very fruitful partnership with Honda I would have turned that into bean tins long ago. You are to be congratulated for your grim determination.

[Austin-Rover]

Your Acclaim welding is an absolute inspiration. I've never seen such madness for a lowly BL product - please, keep it up!

All the talk about Volvos... I'm planning on trying to move my 960 on (again) when I can get to it (in storage). It's a 3.0 Auto saloon, for your information...

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Just read through the last few months worth. Bloody hell. You deserve a medal each lads. Services to shite.

I reckon as a daily driver you want something late 90s. I think that's where peak automobile resides. Anything older won't keep up with modern traffic as well, anything newer will have OMG electronic complication. Bodywork will be the only issue but you clearly have the skills to keep rot at bay there.

I'd be tempted to get a mid sized cheap estate car for tat hauling duties. Something that just runs and runs.



Sent from my Pixel 4 XL using Tapatalk

[Idriveaclassic]

On 6/21/2020 at 9:38 PM, plasticvandan said:

Can't watch because of that hateful woman unfortunately. Captain,have you not thought that the extra few hundred quid insuring a car like the Volvo would be offset by not having to spend every spare penny,every spare minute,docked pay,etc on the triumphs?

Ha, sorry you find me hateful! Have we met in person? Sorry if I've upset you in some way, not at all intentional. 

[big_al_granvia]

21 minutes ago, Idriveaclassic said:

Ha, sorry you find me hateful! Have we met in person? Sorry if I've upset you in some way, not at all intentional. 

omg steph is a shiter, love your channel 

[Idriveaclassic]

3 hours ago, big_al_granvia said:

omg steph is a shiter, love your channel 

Haha I come on from time to time, mainly to stalk other people's knowledge if i'm honest. A rare poster x 

[horriblemercedes]

5 hours ago, Idriveaclassic said:

Ha, sorry you find me hateful! Have we met in person? Sorry if I've upset you in some way, not at all intentional. 

I hadn't seen your channel before but I've taken a look now. Keep up the good work! 

[captain_70s]

Work continues, mostly in my absence admittedly, @GingerNuttz did approx 98% of the work...

With the rear quarters reattached more rot was dug out in the front valance, boot lid and around the rear lights.

When finishing welding to the rear quarters it was found that the bushes for the strut were shot, and with parts being largely unavailable for these cars the only option was to cast custom poly ones...

 

Due to the sheer amount of repairs the only viable option was to respray the whole car. Originally planned to be a quick blow over along the sides and polishing the existing paint on the roof and bonnet it soon became clear that it'd be not much more effort to paint the whole thing. Sanding back the roof found quite a few areas of surface rust that'd previously been painted over too...

So Saturday was mostly spent sanding, with a trip out to the paint shop to choose/buy a top coat. Over time the goals for the quality of the respray grew, so I took off all the doorcards to remove the locks and handles as to avoid harsh masking lines, then the doors were removed to allow painting of the jams.

Fun fact, the hinges must be fitted to the car before it's painted, as it's just bare metal underneath them.

Over the next week @GingerNuttz is going to finish the primer stage, spray the door jams in blue and clear the garage ready for the top coat to be applied to the body on Saturday.

Oh, the latest colour was chosen from swatches at the local paint place. So the stock colour was Eclipse Blue:

But the car had been sprayed Mercedes Stahlblau:

And it's now getting sprayed Iveco Kolbatblau:

A bit more saturated and more depth to it I think.

[Spiny Norman]

Epic work going on here, 11/10.

This'll surely be the most solid Acclaim on the road once it's finished.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Needs a bit of welding to serious restoration in 4.3 seconds.  Fantastic work.

[Broadsword]

Last time I tuned into the thread the Volvo was just sold. Then I just come back and see the photos of the Acclaim restoration. My jaw actually dropped in amazement. Jesus Christ! This is amazing, next level AS stuff. Well done! Only on this forum etc. etc.

[LightBulbFun]

1 hour ago, captain_70s said:

And it's now getting sprayed Iveco Kolbatblau:

* @Cavcraft has left the chat *

 

but seriously awesome work  

as others say this is going to be the most sorted acclaim there ever was

[Spottedlaurel]

Excellent work!

Back in around 2000/01 our Acclaim was going rusty along both roof gutters. It wasn't particularly bad anywhere else, bit odd that. I feel bad that it never saw the road again after we sold it, as my stepdad's father had it from new, but back then there wasn't the interest and who'd pit all that effort into saving an Acclaim?.......

I still have those lights etc here for you. They won't be going anywhere until we can find a reliable way of getting them up to you.

[davidfowler2000]

Fuck the duck until nuclear explosion this is a fucking tremendous effort by yourself and Mr @GingerNuttz. Will need to get over to see progress if and when lock down allows especially as the 205 is now roadable which it wasn't last time I was over.

[Mr_Bo11ox]

Fantastic work man. Absolutely top notch. I seem to recall telling you to sack this Acclaim off maybe 2 years ago - good work for ignoring that 'advice'. I take my hat right off to you. If you had a crowdfunder I'd chuck £20 straight in it!!! 

[horriblemercedes]

This is awesome. OTT cool!

 

Years ago, I knew a guy called Victor. Haven't seen him since July 2008 but he had two Acclaims, both in beige. He bought them both brand new in 1982 (I think) and they had consecutive number plates (unfortunately I can't remember them). He kept one in the garage for best and one on the drive for every day. I think the garage one had about 1300 miles in 2008 and had literally never seen a wet road  or had rain touch it but had been serviced and maintained perfectly.

I doubt he's still around, he must have been pushing 90 back in 2008 but if he is and that garage one is still in his garage, that must be quite something.

[GMcD]

[GingerNuttz]

Captain put a coat of the primer on the checks with no runs and good even coverage while having good gun control for someone who had never painted before.

Hopefully on Saturday he'll have the courage to lay down some colour on the body and then when the Dolly is getting painted I can just watch and scream obscenities at him because I'm a moaning pain in the arse 😂