Thread of remorse AKA Project Last Chance Saloon.

[Parky]

Seal of approval!

[fatharris]

Today started with the small things

 

 

The car didn't come with the screenwash cap.

 

 

Does now though.

 

Since the last update, I've had two parcels arrive, one of which was a replacement brake caliper to replace the seized on on the front

 

 

Whilst looking to be in good mechanical order, it was going to be a hinderance to the performance of this car for one very good reason: it wasn't painted. Mighty Car Mods has covered this subject extensively, labouring the point that unpainted calipers are just unattained horsepower waiting to happen.

 

Looking at the caliper though, it did need a thorough clean.

 

 

 

Once cleaned, they were dried and the VHT pain applied. Sadly, the only VHT paint available was red, and the rest of the calipers are yellow... Guess I'll have to do them all at some point.

 

 

 

With the paint drying, I focused on cleaning the other parts of the brakes to ensure they were in good order

 

 

 

Next up, the sliders:

 

 

Nice, easy one this. Soaked in parts cleaner, attached to a pillar drill, turned it on and applied scothbrite soaked in parts cleaner.

 

Came up well:

 

 

The other package I received was:

 

 

Fresh from a scrappy, it was filthy, a thorough cleaning revealed some oxidation to the top layer of the headlight

 

 

An air drill, a couple of polishing pads and some metal polish, followed by plastic polish netted the following results:

 

 

Hell, I appear to be on a roll, let's do the other side:

 

 

Oxidation:

 

 

Final result:

 

 

Sorted.

 

Next it was time to remedy my fuck up from last time. I had sheared a welded-on anchor nut used for securing the O/S headlight. Luckily, there were numerous anchor nuts available to me.

 

First thing I did was drill the holes out to 4mm 

 

 

That way my 4mm pop rivets fit beautifully

 

 

 

Next, I positioned it upside-down so I could mark out the holes for drilling on the slam panel

 

 

Like so

 

 

Next, get everything into position

 

 

And squeeze the rivets off! Et voila...

 

 

A quick test fit to ensure it all lines up

 

 

Now we can begin the front end rebuild.

 

 

Whilst everything was going back on, I figured this would be the best time to clear the bulb blown dashboard light. Took a few filament changes to get the light to disappear!

 

 

More of the previous owners' handiwork. Considering the correct filament is a brake light bayonet type filament, I'm not sure what he expected would happen.

 

 

14 years after Austin-Rover became defunct, and I still find the logo somewhere. Somebody clearly ordered way too many of these back in the 80's!

 

 

Whatever, it may be old, but it works.

 

 

Front end is finally rebuilt!

 

 

 Now a parking space has opened up outside, I can get in and move her to the...

 

 

Bugger, maybe another day, eh?

 

As for the parts front, I'm in the process of ordering a metric fucktonne of parts that'll effectively cover everything I need. Once that arrives, the real work will begin, and updates will come thick and fast!

 

Cheers!

[Rusty_Rocket]

Flippin' heroic effort here and very enjoyable, thanks and keep going!!!

[panhard65]

If you need any secondhand stuff let me know as I am scrapping a 75. Junction 26 of the M5

[danthecapriman]

Fair play to you for bringing this back from the dead. It's good to see an otherwise unloved and minging filthy old car get some attention like this. Great work!

[fatharris]

If you need any secondhand stuff let me know as I am scrapping a 75. Junction 26 of the M5

Excellent, what is the undertray like? That appears to be the only thing I haven't sourced yet!

[MarvinsMom]

that is great work, already that old bus looks so much better, and how in the hell can someone drive a car with more bulbs not working than actually are....

 

some folks just leave me speachless

[panhard65]

Excellent, what is the undertray like? That appears to be the only thing I haven't sourced yet!

 

I will have a look in the morning it did have one but I can't remember what it is like

[fatharris]

Thanks, appreciate it

 

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[oldcars]

Great work on the headlamps, Need to get this done on mine.

[panhard65]

I have a choice of 2 undertrays bot are complete but do have scrapes on them as you would expect. Free to collector. It also has a good pair of headlights which would cost more to post than I would want for them.

[fatharris]

Excellent, thank you so much! My brother is currently in Wiltshire, so I'll fire him a message to see if he can pick it up en route to me!

 

Cheers!

 

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[fatharris]

I have a choice of 2 undertrays bot are complete but do have scrapes on them as you would expect. Free to collector. It also has a good pair of headlights which would cost more to post than I would want for them.

I've managed to rope my brother into collecting this Undertray, is there any chance you could PM me some address details so I can send him your way and arrange a time and day?

 

Nothing happened today, however the service kit arrived today, so no prizes for what's happening as soon as I get some free time.

 

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[purplebargeken]

Wow. Just....... wow.

[HH-R]

GR9 work.

 

Those Austin Rover boot lights survived all the way to the MG6 saloon.

[fatharris]

GR9 work.

 

Those Austin Rover boot lights survived all the way to the MG6 saloon.

Excellent, I bet they've still got hundreds of thousands stashed somewhere!

 

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[hairnet]

chip foose called

 

he wants you on the deconstruction team on overhaulin

 

yer mental - respec

[Jim Bell]

Double wow. Amazing work.

[oldcars]

GR9 work.

 

Those Austin Rover boot lights survived all the way to the MG6 saloon.

Going to check mine out tonight  Wonder if there in the 75 too?

[Lukas]

I wonder which type of people have owned this car. Show me your car and I´ll tell you who you are. 

 

This huge amount of dirt and debris and waste inside, this huge amount of mud outside, it´s horrible. Better said, it was horrible, you are doing a great job! 

 

If it were a Land Rover Defender or a Toyota Hilux, working on a farm, it would not be unusual. Most Pick-Ups from local lumbermen look like that. But sporty saloons don´t. Usually. 

 

Do you know something about the cars former keepers or the story behind the car? 

[Bobthebeard]

Wow. Just....... wow.

Quite! Am impressed! Nice work sir.

[Guest JoeyTaffy93]

Some amazing work being done on this. Maybe some projector headlamps as a later upgrade? They make them look so much better.

[trigger]

Excellent thread, At first i was a bit 

 

 

but now I'm very

 

 

[greengartside]

Read this thread from start to finish - how on earth has that accumulated so much dirt and detritus in 12 years? Amazing attention to detail to getting this old barge back to tip top condition again. Top work!

[fatharris]

Jesus, imgur takes the piss. Two hours of uploading.

 

Anyhoo...

 

Today was a big day. I had received goods that remained under the watchful eyes of Mini....

 

 

I got straight to the car club as soon as I had some free time and cracked the package open...

 

 

She needed this badly, if the service counter was to be believed

 

 

First things first, car on the ramp

 

 

As the oil had potentially been in there for over 35,000 miles, I decided a flush was required. Once up to operating temp, the flush was poured in and the car left to idle for 20 minutes.

 

Once the time elapsed, I cracked the sump bolt, done up way too tight.

 

 

Some hard working oil there!

 

 

Next up, whilst the oil was draining, it's a good time to take the filter out. LOOK I ACTUALLY USED A TORQUE WRENCH.

 

 

Old one out, utterly honking

 

 

Wiped out the filter bowl to give the engine a chance

 

 

Prepared the new filter

 

 

And popped the bugger in the hole, I also changed the o-ring on the filter bowl cap.

 

 

Once in position, I cleaned the cap up and torqued it down.

 

 

Interstingly, the lower engine mount appears to be polybushed.

 

 

And the exhaust decatted, not entirely sure on the legality of it, especially with regards to the MOT

 

 

Fuel filter next, the oil was still dripping out.

 

Disconnected the fuel pipes

 

 

Then the electrical connector, loosened the clamp..

 

 

And clamped it in the vice for removal 

 

 

New one screwed in nicely

 

 

All back in situ. Luckily, the fuel system is self-bleeding, so no need to prime the system.

 

 

Refitted the sump plug and de-greased the underside of the engine and transmission

 

 

Also scrubbed away any accumulated mud/grass/debris

 

 

Dirty

 

 

Slightly less dirty

 

 

Once the sump plug was back on, I filled the engine back up. Big bloody sump on these, 6.8 litres!

 

 

After 20 minutes of starting, stopping level checking and topping up, the level is bag-on.

 

Next up, the cabin filter. A bit of a bastard to do, as it's under the windscreen scuttle panel.

 

First off, the wiper arms.

 

 

Then the scuttle panel itself, and finally the ECU compartment cover.

 

 

Well, this hasn't been changed in a while.

 

 

With a lot of crap and debris clogging up the water drain, that would have spelled an early demise for the ecu.

 

 

So, filter out...

 

 

Plenum cleaned out and blown through...

 

 

...and remaining crap cleared out.

 

 

I figured it wouldn't hurt to check the other side which houses the brake master cylinder. Similar levels of crap but I couldn't get a good camera angle, so I just cleaned it up.

 

 

Then all the accumulated dirt and grime under the scuttle panel got cleaned off.

 

 

Old vs. New.

 

 

It's hard to describe just how clogged this thing was.

 

Back in, and ECU refitted.

 

 

And rebuilt.

 

 

Next up was replacing the seized caliper on the nearside front. It took a big bloody fight and loads (I mean LODAS) of swearing, but I eventually freed it off.

 

 

Then the caliper carrier came off too.

 

 

Before I fitted the new caliper, I decided to change the ARB link whilst I had better access.

 

The steering wheel was locked fully left with my ingenious method:

 

 

 

If it works, it can't be a bodge

 

And the new one fitted, being a massive pain in the arse due to MG-R hiding the top nut in a small cup, inaccessible to normal spanners.

 

Enter my SU carb mixture tuning spanner.

 

 

Made light work of the job in the end.

 

 

Other end did get fitted, honest!

 

Once complete, the caliper carrier got refitted:

 

 

Then the caliper itself, New mintex pads were greased and fitted, and the sliders greased thoroughly. Quick bleed and all appears well!

 

 

The wheel was reattached

 

 

And the car put to bed for the night.

 

 

The eagle-eyed amongst you will have clearly noticed I haven't changed/fitted the air filter tonight, I'm still waiting on the PCV valve filter to arrive, and the procedure to change that includes the step of removing the air filter. Not much point in fitting it to take it straight off.

 

Plan for tomorrow is to remove the drivers' front caliper to clean and paint that, before fitting new pads, and changing the ARB link.Hopefully the PCV filter arrives tomorrow too so I can complete the service and reset the on board counter.

 

Cheers!

[Jim Bell]

Please calculate what cost the time spent making good thus far would translate to if local garage labour had been employed.

 

Then smile smugly and continue.

[fatharris]

You're in luck, we have a club event log, where you write the time you enter and leave the club every time you are working in there, so it shouldn't be hard to tot up the hours, I'll do it if I remember tomorrow!

[Honey Badger]

Further epic progress, cant belive how fast you work.

 

 

Is the location your working in a community garage or avery well equiped car club?

 

Looking forwards to the next update.

[fatharris]

It's the Car Club based at RNAS Culdrose, so partially funded by the 160-ish members and some funding provided by the Navy Welfare Fund. It's a very good set up, and I spend pretty much all my free time in there in some form or another.

[Jim Bell]

How does the whole CAR CLUB affair work dude?

 

It all looks very swish, clean and proffesional (and great) and obviously well equipped. Is it a subs based limited numbers club or something even more complicated and intriguing?