Project Domes shonky autos - Manta progress!

[big_al_granvia]

she looks lovely, do love a big cat, the kind of car you just waft along in

[dave j]

Will be very satisfying cleaning that one up! 

[Broadsword]

The X300 shape is very elegant, and they are a very nice place to sit. All hemmed in nicely. Good luck with the MOT. It will be exciting to see what is underneath all that crud! I swear carnival red must be the most common X300 colour, so many of them I see in that combination of carnival red and oatmeal leather.

[hairnet]

25 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

she looks lovely, do love a big cat, the kind of car you just waft along in

woaft

[hairnet]

@Fraz nae need to clog much to get away noo :D

 

[Split_Pin]

Yassss!!!!

[eddyramrod]

Good choice there young man!

[dome]

Was cycling tonight but picked up some TFR on the recommendations of some learned gentlemen. I gave it a quick going over tonight

Before

[dome]

And after

I've been dying to do that since I first saw this thing 2 years ago! Still a long way to go but it's looking good. Shame about the lacquer peel on it, I can only find 2 spots of rust on the whole body and not a single dent 

[big_al_granvia]

What stuff was that you used mate

[Split_Pin]

Great result and even moreso on the not rusty side of things. I'm glad that this is a popular colour because it suits these cars so well.

[dome]

Yeah, I should've waited till it was dry to take the bonnet shots;I've never seen paint so fucked in my life!

I tried G3 and even wet sanding but nothing is bringing that back sadly. I'm open to suggestions?

It's not all bad. I went round all 4 corners and stripped the brakes and cleaned it up a bit. I didn't prod very far but did take it for a drive on my private test track. It drives very well, especially considering it's done about 3k miles in 10 years.

 

Dash shot. 

That's it as far as MOT prep goes, I'll maybe fettle a couple of other things before the MOT though-the throttle cable has a bit of slack in it and I've not cleaned the interior yet.,

This weekend, for some light relief, I'm going to change the Kangoo cambelt.?

[Split_Pin]

Last seen down the side of a Renault engine bay, legs waving in the air!

[big_al_granvia]

What traffic film remover did you use as it has brought the paint up lovely

[Isaac Hunt]

I bet you find that the bonnet has been painted at some time in its life.  Post factory lacquer just does not last.

i’ve many A ‘proof’ of that

FIL took his Rover 620 in for a MOT once and someone backed the fekker into a wall, fecked the rear bumper and bootlid.  Garage proprietor ‘fessed up’not that he could do much but and said the the FIL “i’m Not very happy about it” to which the FIL responded “i’m Not very happy about it either” anyway, it was shipped off to a local bodyshop and when it came back, it looked a really nice job.  About 8 years later the lacquer peeled, only on the repair, test of car spot on

my uncle had someone clip his OSR wing on the motorway.  Into a local body shop and when it came back, very nice job.  Years later, lacquer peel on the repair.

Our MGZR looked as though it had been painted down one side, looked nice job,  8 years later, lacquer and paint peel only on the side that was painted.

numerous other similar examples

[dome]

5 minutes ago, big_al_granvia said:

What traffic film remover did you use as it has brought the paint up lovely

It's Carplan stuff from Halfords. Was all I could get my hands on yesterday but did work well.

[dome]

6 minutes ago, Isaac Hunt said:

I bet you find that the bonnet has been painted at some time in its life.  Post factory lacquer just does not last.

i’ve many A ‘proof’ of that

FIL took his Rover 620 in for a MOT once and someone backed the fekker into a wall, fecked the rear bumper and bootlid.  Garage proprietor ‘fessed up’not that he could do much but and said the the FIL “i’m Not very happy about it” to which the FIL responded “i’m Not very happy about it either” anyway, it was shipped off to a local bodyshop and when it came back, it looked a really nice job.  About 8 years later the lacquer peeled, only on the repair, test of car spot on

my uncle had someone clip his OSR wing on the motorway.  Into a local body shop and when it came back, very nice job.  Years later, lacquer peel on the repair.

Our MGZR looked as though it had been painted down one side, looked nice job,  8 years later, lacquer and paint peel only on the side that was painted.

numerous other similar examples

You could well be right. The bonnet, roof and bootlid all have lacquer peeling off(or disappeared completely in the case of the bonnet) yet the flanks look great

[Broadsword]

That is absolutely typical X300 with the epic lacquer failure. The parts taking the brunt of the sun's force (bonnet, roof, bootlid) strip the 90s lacquer away quite effectively. There seems to be relatively little in UV stabilization. I've replaced several Jag bonnets from a specialist in Bolton. They supply a freshly painted bonnet at a remarkably good price if you are willing to be patient with them. Just hand over the old bonnet when you collect the replacement. They always get there in the end.

I'm the type to prod at rust (because I prefer to know) and from my past experience with these that inner back sill will go through for sure, but you of course may prefer not to prod. It will be a bonus if the chassis outriggers (i.e. the jacking points) are still solid. The box sections trap mud and moisture and rot away. In my opinion the critical area to check is the front bulkhead, especially under the black plastic trim at the base of the windscreen. If it's gone there, that is not so good. Nice low mileage though!

[Zelandeth]

TFR has its uses...but for the love of puppies, DO NOT use it on anything that's old enough to not have clearcoat.  Not unless you really want to have to mop every single panel it's touched.

That speckled effect is where it's stripped all the surface off the paint.

[dome]

8 hours ago, Broadsword said:

That is absolutely typical X300 with the epic lacquer failure. The parts taking the brunt of the sun's force (bonnet, roof, bootlid) strip the 90s lacquer away quite effectively. There seems to be relatively little in UV stabilization. I've replaced several Jag bonnets from a specialist in Bolton. They supply a freshly painted bonnet at a remarkably good price if you are willing to be patient with them. Just hand over the old bonnet when you collect the replacement. They always get there in the end.

I'm the type to prod at rust (because I prefer to know) and from my past experience with these that inner back sill will go through for sure, but you of course may prefer not to prod. It will be a bonus if the chassis outriggers (i.e. the jacking points) are still solid. The box sections trap mud and moisture and rot away. In my opinion the critical area to check is the front bulkhead, especially under the black plastic trim at the base of the windscreen. If it's gone there, that is not so good. Nice low mileage though!

Good to know that, thanks. I'm not planning to get too invested in this as the XJ40 is the one I really want to resurrect so painting is out. I'll keep an eye out for a bonnet in the right colour though.

Prodding wise the end of that sill got a mild one and didn't move. I'm a fucker for overthinking things though so would rather do some basic prep and cleaning and let the tester see what he can find. I didn't go underneath for that reason...

[Isaac Hunt]

Broadsword makes a good point on laquer.  The trend was started by Ford with 'Silver Fox' although the paint fell off that as well as the lacquer.

[Zelandeth]

1 hour ago, Isaac Hunt said:

Broadsword makes a good point on laquer.  The trend was started by Ford with 'Silver Fox' although the paint fell off that as well as the lacquer.

Citroen made a good go of it in the 90s too...

[They_all_do_that_sir]

Citroen made a good go of it in the 90s too...

Yes, the XM I bought from jonathan dyane had a good dose of peel....

Sent from my SM-A202F using Tapatalk

[dome]

So while the Jag awaits it's fate at the hands of the man from the ministry yesterday cracked on with the timing belt on the Kangoo.

I had all the accessory drive off so access was pretty good, also unlike when this engine is in a Clio you don't need to remove the bumper and headlight to get access.

Spark plug out of number 1 (gearbox end) to find TDC

Locking tool into crank-a bolt comes out down by the oil filter to allow it to fit. A friend was around so I got him to turn the engine over when close to TDC while I popped the tool in. It's the silver knurled thing in this pic

Then the cam locking tools go in. This is where I had problems on my 182-it had been timed wrong so the tool didn't slide in. This one was spot on though and slotted straight in.

I then went to the timing belt end and removed the crank pulley (You're supposed to lock the flywheel but I haven't) My buzz gun took this straight off.

I also removed the  water pump-it had a bit of play and hadn't been changed in a while so was worthwhile doing. A bolt rounded off so had to be ground off-it was something stupid like M7 fine so I had to get one from my tame Clio botherer today.

Timing covers off-this is a bit of an arse as you have to jack up/lower down the engine to get access to the bolts. This revealed what I had been suspecting.

Yep, that's the old timing belt and dephaser pulley-in excellent condition and clearly changed when the engine was fitted. The seller never mentioned this though, I suspect he didn't know!

It was fitted at least 4 years ago though. I'm not sure what the time limit is on these belts but it's irrelevant-it's getting done!

New dephaser, pulleys and water pump fitted and ready to tension 

And that's where I left it yesterday.

Tensioning these is a headfuck-You leave the crank and cams locked and lightly tighten up the cam, exhaust and crank pulleys. You then set the tension on the belt and rotate the whole lot over 6 times to set the tension with the crank and cams locked! 

Then tighten everything up, remove the locking tools and check they can be reinserted after turning it over a few times. 

I'll get it running with the new belts before moving onto the next stage-swapping the column over for the EPAS column and wiring it in, followed by fitting the new alternator belt setup. Might give things a lick of paint while they're off too.

 

 

 

[Ghosty]

TFR is good stuff, I use Comma stuff to clean customers' bikes at work. 

It's in short supply at the moment but we managed to get a 25 litre drum of Gunk brand concentrated TFR, so we should be OK for a while. 

[dome]

Well, it's been radio silence on here for a while, with good reason. The S4 is dead. 

The dreaded timing chain issue struck a couple of weeks ago after particularly enjoyable blast with codes for a misfire appearing on all 4 cylinders on one bank. I limped it home 5 miles which may have been unwise but it sounded OK at the time bar the misfire.  

It'd need the engine pulled to sort as the chains are at the back. Going by the noises it's making now though I think a new engine would be the only way forward. It's done 140k which is well into danger territory for these engines. The chains were always silent on startup though.

However, I quite simply can't be fucked to pull it apart, let alone source another engine. That, coupled with the fact that a local breaker is offering decent money for it dead has pretty much sealed it's fate. 

I'd been aware from the start of the potential for borkage with these and have had timing tools in my ebay watch list since i bought it. If it hadn't just spent the best part of 2 months in bits whilst I did the gaskets and wings I might've been up for a fight. As it is though it can get in the sea. It's in my lockup for the time being.

It was a fantastic car while it lasted but such is life. 

So, naturally, I've bought another car....

[Jenson Velcro]

Oh no, that is one of those cars that gets associated with its particular owner and couldn’t see them being parted. Perhaps sit on it for a bit and see how you feel then?
Still interested to see what you’ve got now though.

[J-T]

What a pisser, but I think I'd probably make the same decision. Onwards as they say!

[NorfolkNWeigh]

Bummer on the S4. 
But I couldn’t help looking the Jag up, not all bad news...

[Supernaut]

Aw man.

This is like hearing somebody's lost a pet. As others have already said, that car was associated with you.