Thread of remorse AKA Project Last Chance Saloon.

[Jim Bell]

You answered before I'd finished typing my question.

 

You do work fast!

[fatharris]

Today. more packages arrived!

 

 

Firstly, the PCV filter arrived today, and not a moment too soon!

 

 

Then, fir tree trim clips (50 of them!)

 

 

And finally, the one I've been waiting for...

 

 

The MG only has one key and, well, it was in a bad way

 

 

Once the key had been broken down into it's primary parts

 

 

A good one could be made of the two. I re-used the backshell from the old key as it had the manufacturer stamp on the rear, and the transponder chip inside, and transferring that was pointless.

 

 

So, back to the club:

 

 

And the first task today was to finish off the service, so the pcv valve body got removed

 

 

And a filter fitted

 

 

Next, it was time to fit a new air filter. Presumably the fluffies make it faster.

 

 

Once it was all fitted, the engine could have all the parts refitted.

 

 

 

First time since I've owned it that the engine bay has been complete!

 

Next job was to reset the service counter, the usual method being to bridge pins 4 and 8 on the OBD port (8 being the bottom left pin as you view)

 

 

However, for some unknown reason, it didn't work. Will look into it later. This was despite me knocking up a nifty little switch to save me the effort of touching two conductors together!

 

 

Whilst I was heaving myself in and out of the footwell, I noticed the column getting lower each time. 75/ZT's have a nut for the steering column adjustment clamp that loosens over time, my old 75 did it, so I was happy with the remedy.

 

The steering column fairing has to come off

 

 

The nut you're looking for is a 13mm on the outboard side. Don't white knuckle it, just nip it slightly. Problem solved.

 

 

Reassemble, and you're done.

 

I decided to look further into the fuel gauge incorrect reading issue. According to the owner, when the gauge shows 1/4 it's actually empty.

 

I removed the back seats at this point for ease of access. Guess the source of the horrible interior smell was dog piss, because the back bench fucking reeked of it in one spot.

 

 

With the seats removed, I could pull back the soundproofing...

 

 

DIRT!

 

OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!

 

CALL A MAN IMMEDIATELY!

 

 

Whoops, false alarm!

 

I decided to take the drivers' side pump/sender unit out to test, as the passenger side had more pipes in-tank to disconnect.

 

Disconnected the pipes and electric connector

 

 

And removed the pump. That'll be tested with a multimeter in the kitchen, much to the chagrin of MrsH.

 

 

This car keeps on giving!

 

 

And I called it a day early, I had a long talk with the Club manager today, and MrsH isn't very well at the moment, so I figured I would grace her with my presence. Once again, I had an ultramong moment and left the interior lights on whilst I was doing all the work, running down the battery.

 

 

The job list is starting to go down, although it'll massively increase once my parts get here.

 

Oh, and for Wilson², the total man-hour count is about 39 hours. this includes dicking around time, chatting with mates I haven't seen in a while, etc.

 

Cheers!

[Jim Bell]

if you say £30 an hour labour minimum, thats a "saving" of £1170.

 

Which means youve saved enough to buy nearly three more £300 cars!

 

Well played!

[Blarno]

Harris, you're mental. Certifiable. Exactly the kind of person we need defending the country. Although I do think all this cleaning of everything is a bit OCD.

[panhard65]

My ZT has just started doing that thing with the steering column. I will have a look at that in the morning before taking it back for a re-test. It decided to have a funny 5 mins during it's mot today and needed a new earth on a rear light.

[fatharris]

Just bear in mind the tighter you nip it up, the more effort needed to overcome the clamp lever, and its only flimsy plastic!

 

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[purplebargeken]

[fatharris]

DING DONG:

 

 

No work happening today, I need to mentally prepare myself.

[purplebargeken]

And breathe...........

[oldcars]

Mine does the 1/4 tank thing. I was lead to believe its the fuel pump in the saddle tank on its way out. I fixed* the issue by always filling up when i get to 1/4 

[Parky]

Ooooh, new wheels and insidey bits?

[fatharris]

Indeedy!

 

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[Parky]

Excellent stuff, can't wait for next instalment!

[fatharris]

MUCH UNWRAPPING ENSUED

 

 

Not pictured here is another alloy wheel, as it arrived with a split in the valve rubber, and would leak when wiggled. £10 later and she's airtight once again

 

With everything account for, I could start looking at what needed doing to the new arrivals!

 

The old interior was stuffed in a corner, to offend all who walk by with its' grubby appearance

 

 

Rear bench:

 

 

New rear bench

 

 

Old front seats:

 

 

New front seats

 

 

There is slight bolster wear on it, but it's a million times better than the torn ones.

 

 

They do need a clean though.

 

 

 

Rear seat backs:

 

 

New seat ba....wait, what the...

 

 

What are tho...

 

 

Ew.

 

First things first was finishing up yesterdays' job.

 

I mentioned the fuel gauge to a friend and he found the resistance values at full and low. Full is approx 163 ohms...

 

 

No problem there...and low is about 5 ohms...

 

 

All good.

 

Then it was a case of testing the other side (all fine) and refitting and ensuring the float swing arm isn't restricted by anything in its full range of travel. Time will tell if I've been successful.

 

 

Next up was swapping out a tired seatbelt for a better one. Did involve swapping the fairings over.

 

 

Ensuring all the bolts are tightened correctly, this is a safety-critical component, so only two white knuckles will do!

 

 

Finally, the fairing re-fitted

 

 

Next was a big job, which required my glamorous, almost unwilling, sarcastic assistant, MrsHarris. It was finally time to get the carpet in.

 

 

There was plenty of shouting, screaming and swearing from both sides, but eventually we made it our bitch and it fitted like a charm.

 

 

The one thing letting it down was that sodding steering wheel, it had to go.

So, airbag off...

 

 

Nice little touch by MG. Top tip, ensure you leave the bolt threaded slightly on when you're tugging at the wheel. I didn't when I changed my 75's one and ended up with a busted lip. This time, I learned from last time and walked away with my face intact!

 

Sometimes you have to make a mark to show dead centre when changing wheels, MG-R provide one for you.

 

 

Then it's time to pull the wheel off for good. Make sure you don't let the slip ring  for the airbags move too far round, or lose its position.

 

 

New one on...

 

 

And looking much better. In this photo, I've already started the next job, which is the grey dash panel that had a few cracks in. The one I had had a hairline crack in, but was much better.

 

 

New one ready to go. The warm/cool air selection wheel below the clock proved to be a massive pain in the arse however, as the panel had to be dismantled then reassembles because the plastic castings are really fragile.

 

 

Old one out. May keep the clock for nostalgic purposes, not sure yet.

 

 

New one in.

 

 

Next job was the broken glovebox lid, snapped at the hinges.

 

 

Took the old one off, which was easy enough.

 

 

Refitting it was an utter twat of a job though, owing to the hinge operating on hinges with a friction pin pushed through the smallest of arpetures. 20 minutes later, it's in.

 

 

I was keen to get as much of the new stuff fitted as possible, so the kickplates were brought outside

 

 

Cleaned up,

 

 

...and fitted with new clips.

 

 

I then started fitting other fairings...

 

 

Some stray dirt was also taken care of.

 

 

PART 2 COMING STRAIGHT UP.

[fatharris]

Next up, door trim plates. These were rotten on my old 75, and the ZT was no exception, although these weren't as bad...

 

 

Three screws in an awkward location, and it just slides out

 

 

Old vs. New

 

 

Dirt present was cleaned

 

 

And the door was re-assembled.

 

 

Next, the wing mirror. Don't worry, it was cleaned after this shot.

 

 

The old one was in a pretty bad way.

 

 

Easy enough to remove though.

 

 

Somehow, I didn't even notice that each side had different mirrors. The one in my hand is a "bullet" type, and the other one fitted was a "Skullcap" type.

 

 

Luckily, I was sent a matching skullcap.

 

 

And he fitted beautifully.

 

 

So, whilst I'm on this door, it'd be silly not to replace the trim panel, right? Right?

 

Old Vs. New:

 

 

Dirt was cleaned once again.

 

 

And looking much more respectable!

 

 

Finally, I changed the door handle as the P.O had snapped the chrome ring off. I also refitted the door card correctly.

 

 

The glamorous assistant caught me in the middle of mopping up a diesel spill caused by my own stupidity (Forgot to re-connect the diesel pipes whilst checking levels!)

 

 

And we called it a night.

 

 

Total hours worked: 46.

 

Interestingly, today I shared the link to this thread amongst a few ZT-related Facebook groups. Amongst the well-wishers, was this comment:

 

"That was my old car, bought it 9 years ago. Was mint. Had a synergy tuning box with the pifburgh maf. I had the exhaust done was stainless from the turbo back and the tow bar was for my track bike and trailie.

She was well looked after upsetting seeing her like that."

 

He even included a few photos of the old girl in her hey-day...

 

 

Really made my day to find him!

[Jim Bell]

Well done finding the previous (previous) owner. Sounds like he cared for it.

 

How on earth did it end up with the owner you got it from?!

[HH-R]

75s used to have larger mirrors, then they were cost cut down to the Rover 25/45 items, the one without the black trim is the newer type and will have been what the car came with. The other one must have been broken at some point and come off an earlier ZT. I'd imagine it's quite rare, it must have been after the ZT was introduced but before the cost cutting kicked in in 2002 - AFAIK the 75 and ZT colour choices were different so it probably didn't come off a 75.

[purplebargeken]

Cracking progress. That will be a beauty once again due to your bloody hard work. 

 

Excellent, just excellent.

[MarvinsMom]

that is some progress that you have been able to make, i was pretty sure before hand that there was a nice car in that trying to get out, and now i see that there is (a nice car) in there!!

 

that MG will soon be back up top the standard that it once was, good work sir!

[Jon]

Aah, I can breathe a sigh of relief, now that the steering wheel's been replaced; something I'm sure you'll find some comfort in. Have you had to spend much on replacement parts? Nice to find pictures of it when new and looked after, so perhaps you can punt it on to the original owner for profit when it's all done!

[Guest JoeyTaffy93]

This is coming along really well, that steering wheel makes one hell of a difference.

[oldcars]

Great work coming on well. I replaced one of the door finishers too really fiddly job. I like the kick plates, don't have any on my 75 was it only a ZT thing these?

[fatharris]

Nope, they were on both, certainly on pre-project drive ones!

Jon - More than I care to tell MrsH! 

Finally, an afternoon off beckoned after a couple days of work, and I had a plan. The sun was shining, and blue skies were calling for a bit of outdoor labour.

 

So, time to clean this interior, I picked the rear bench first because it was the easiest to move out. As you can see, it's had a child infestation at one point:

 

 

So, laundry detergent in a high concentration with water and a small, stiff-bristled brush (I find a nail scrubbing brush is perfect for these, as it can get in the groves to clean them out really easily!)

 

Half and half comparison shot

 

 

And done. The leather wiped down and dried off to remove any residue, and the seat left to dry out in the sun after a wet vac'ing.

 

 

Next, the rear seat back, this was just more filthy from the back face, but whilst it was out here, it was going to get cleaned.

 

 

And after a quick scrub/vac

 

 

 

Drivers' seat. This had some, er... suspect staining right where a blokes johnson would expect to land.

 

 

However, as my mother will attest after years of washing my teenage sheets, detergent will get any quantity of jizz out.

 

 

Gear knob was in good nick, but filthier than a weekend in Amsterdam

 

 

The wipe never lies...

 

 

...but it looks all the better for it.

 

 

Passenger seat was surprisingly dirtier than the drivers.

 

 

Up close nastiness

 

 

Finally, came up lovely.

 

 

I wanted to get the boot trim fitted and squared away, which meant scrubbing it down, and removing the little rubber sealy-thingy to clean properly,
 

 

 

 

 

Whilst this little lot dried off in the sun, I got to work inside.

 

 

When I sorted the tow bar wiring, I left my adhesive pads at home, so Stuck the towbar intrerface unit to the wall with masking tape so I could gauge the wire length.

 

 

This time, I could attach it properly

 

 

Which in turn meant I could fit the boot lock trim, which fitted nicely, concealing the wiring to protect it further

 

 

 

The boot is still a work in progress, so I'll come back to it another time.

 

Interior is the goal.

 

Soundproofing down after the fuel tank work.

 

 

Bolsters fitted (and subsequently removed because I couldn't fit the rear seat back with them fitted.

 

 

Whilst preparing the rear seat back to be fitted, the previous smell of the interior wafted up my nose. I can deduce that the dog that ravaged the interior took a rather revolting piss on the back seat and seatbelt.

 

Scrubbing wasn't cutting it, this shit needed a damn good soak.

 

 

Whilst that soaked, I started on the centre console. Jesus fuck, that was a pain in the arse to manoeuvre into position.

 

 

Immediately found something I forgot to clean when I lifted the centre console cubby hole lid. Left that to soak in the detergent mix whilst I cracked on.

 

 

Dried off and fitted the seatbelt at this point, the water was honking.

 

 

After over an hour of grunting, swearing, squeezing and shoving, I got it in place and bolted down, next up was filling it back up with equipment...

 

 

...and had a closer look at the stereo wiring.

 

 

What's this, masking tape?

 

 

Electrical tape underneath?

 

 

Twist and tape. Fucking excellent. It's like pass the parcel, but instead of a packet of haribo kncok-off sweets, you end up with shoddy wiring husbandry and INSTA-FLAMEY-DEATH*.

 

 

After consulting the wiring diagram for a completely different stereo, I set to work...

 

 

....aaand immediately put the brakes on it because someone had borrowed the crimpers for a bit. 

 

Time to fit the front seats then.

 

 

 

Both in, no drama at all, copper greased the bolts to make life easier in the future!

 

Whilst I was fitting the seats, the crimpers were returned, so I cracked on.

 

 

Started by snipping the entire lot off. The earth lead had exposed conductor strands poking out.

 

 

Then stripped all back

 

 

Then went with male bullet connectors.

 

 

Same for the other side.

 

 

 

 

There, that's it, the centre console has been re-assembled, and everything has been functionally tested.

 

 

Finally, I re-fitted all the fairings in the drivers' side footwell.

 

 

And called it a night. Up to 52 hours now. Tomorrow is a long shift so I won't be working on her then, but Thursday may happen, I'm changing work patterns for majorly annoying reasons that I won't bore you with on here.

 

 

Cheers!

[phil_lihp]

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading this, well done for going to so much effort to get the car back to how it should have been in the first place.  Great job finding the previous owner who actually cared for it too!

[MarvinsMom]

those wiring skilllllz* are almost as formidable as my own.

 

taking the interior out of one of these looks like epic hard work.

 

i did something similar with the 820 kooop and that was hard enough!

 

am enjoying this thread, and your efforts are bearing fruit, as the car is looking so, so much better.

[vulgalour]

This is an amazing thread, it has it all and thankfully quite a lot of that you've got rid of and cleaned, which is needed. I can almost taste how bad it smelled through my monitor with my eyes.

 

One thing though...

Well done that man. Get a chocolate biscuit from the tin.

When did we start getting chocolate biscuits?

[fatharris]

This is an amazing thread, it has it all and thankfully quite a lot of that you've got rid of and cleaned, which is needed. I can almost taste how bad it smelled through my monitor with my eyes.

 

One thing though...

 

When did we start getting chocolate biscuits?

 

When the soggy digestives ran out

[Ghosty]

Always nice to see someone caring for a car so many don't care for.

Bloke who lives opposite us had a 52 plate red one for a while from new, ended up with a foot wide, stupidly deep diamond shaped dent with a rusty hole at the bottom in the rear quarter, fuck knows how he did that.

[oldcars]

Looking good, need to try and get some kickplates for my 75. 

[fatharris]

Looking good, need to try and get some kickplates for my 75.

Which bits are you on about, the chrome ones or the plastic ones?

 

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