Project Domes shonky autos - Grand Cherokee departs, Kangoo titivation and 911 dug out.

[dome]

8 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Shite thats infuriating, I hope the suspension is OK. Stuart will surely have a wheel and tyre kicking about?

Yeah, he's got some alloys kicking about and I've ordered a new Rainsport. Will need to check the suspension in case there's any damage.

[cort16]

On 5/10/2021 at 9:45 AM, dome said:

Well, time to find out what this thing is hiding. I started by pulling the interior out to see what I could find. 

Back seat. Nice and blue

Boot carpet.

Boot carpet out and a bit of a poke. Hmm, not great but I've seen worse. 

 

Onto the cabin.

Should probably not use the fire extinguisher going by the date on it...

How many mats does one car need?

Passenger seat out

And drivers seat out.

 

I could then get the carpets out and see what it had to hide.

I had a poke at the usual Manta rot points- jacking points on the front and inner wing/bulkhead-these were the MOT fails form the latest test.

It didn't take long til it was looking like this.

 

Passengers side, looking forward.

And the drivers side which has been repaired* by covering it in filler...

Jacking point repair sections are still available new. I did think about replacing them with box section for strength (they run out from the main chassis rails) as I'll never use the factory jack but it does look like a complex piece so it might be best to keep it original.

 

I'll need to find out if repair panels are available for the inner arches or if I'm going to have to manufacture something.

Plan for the minute is to stop poking at rust and keep it looking relatively car like for the time being as it sits in the drive.

I've ordered a rotisserie to make repairs easier so I'll carry on stripping out the dash and wiring loom and then get on to getting the running gear out of it ready to get it on the spit. 

Oh and I'm off to look at a rusty Mk3 MX-5 tonight as a possible engine donor-2.0 16v with 160bhp and a 6 speed box would be a good starting point.

it's always nice to see your bulkhead not connected to anything. I always judge the severity of the rot by how big a cat could climb through the hole following the famous kitten Peugeot 604 picture.

I think you're at an american curl heading for an exotic short tail

[dome]

3 hours ago, cort16 said:

it's always nice to see your bulkhead not connected to anything. I always judge the severity of the rot by how big a cat could climb through the hole following the famous kitten Peugeot 604 picture.

I think you're at an american curl heading for an exotic short tail

Interesting comparison. Considering in the 90s the Mantas I bought were"Fat lion who ate all the antelopes" on that scale I'll take that.

[sutty2006]

Manta manta manta manta!!! 

[Crusty Sills]

18 hours ago, dome said:

Hit a small* pothole with the Kangoo. Was doing under 40mph but it was a helluva bang. 

Bother.

I'll try and claim it through the council buy I expect they'll do everything the can to avoid paying out. 

 

I've only had 1 modern Renault in my life. But I mangled 3 wheels at various times in different pot holes. Never in any other car!

 

 General consensus Renault alloys are made from chocolate! Love the Manta btw. 

[dome]

Did a bit more stripping down today. 

Battery tray. 

Not too bad

Under the washer bottle-a known bad spot. 

Not pretty but there's seems to be mostly metal there. 

Into the boot and I started removing the wiring loom. Bumper off to get the number plate light wiring out

And onto some more interior stripping. Most of its in pretty good nick. This helps explain why

One non smoking owner from new M9.

Plan is remove the full loom and dash to sort the bulkhead/A pillar. It'll also need modified for the new engine and whatever other changes I make along the way. 

Rotisserie arrives tomorrow in kit form-welding it together will give me some practice. I'll carry on stripping and get ready to drop the drivetrain out. 

I'm getting my covid jab tomorrow so we'll see how that affects me for making progress.

Plan is to take the Jag to get my jag

[dome]

Did a wee bit of work on the MR2 this afternoon. It needed a new manifold to downpipe gasket as the one that was on there was blowing. The OEM Toyota ones are very meaty and the replacement we got from the factors when I built this never sealed properly. 

With its new paintjob some protection had to be employed before working on it.

 

New gasket fitted  and a test drive was in order. Duncan had complained about iffy handling on the new coil overs, this was traced to one of the rears being set to fully stiff and the other to fully soft 🙈 By him I should add!

A quick test drive ensued which confirmed it was quieter and handled better with the suspension on the same settings...

 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

25 minutes ago, dome said:

Did a wee bit of work on the MR2 this afternoon. It needed a new manifold to downpipe gasket as the one that was on there was blowing. The OEM Toyota ones are very meaty and the replacement we got from the factors when I built this never sealed properly. 

With its new paintjob some protection had to be employed before working on it.

 

New gasket fitted  and a test drive was in order. Duncan had complained about iffy handling on the new coil overs, this was traced to one of the rears being set to fully stiff and the other to fully soft 🙈 By him I should add!

A quick test drive ensued which confirmed it was quieter and handled better with the suspension on the same settings...

 

Facelift rear lights - did you fit them? They look surprisingly condensation-free!

[dome]

18 minutes ago, Dick Longbridge said:

Facelift rear lights - did you fit them? They look surprisingly condensation-free!

Aye, we got lucky in a scrappy and picked them up cheap. They do look a bit fresher than the pre facelifts.

[Dick Cheeseburger]

7 minutes ago, dome said:

Aye, we got lucky in a scrappy and picked them up cheap. They do look a bit fresher than the pre facelifts.

Agreed. You did well to source them cheaply as they tend to sell for strong money. Could do with a cheap spare set for mine!

[dome]

I set out yesterday to see how far I could get toward getting the engine and box out of the Manta. 

I decided to drop the front subframe out of it with the engine and box attached, this made sense as the subframe needs to come off to weld the chassis rails, also I'll be refreshing everything at the front. And rear. And middle. Anyway...

I started in the engine bay and removed everything I could  to be able to drop it out, taking photos and marking connectors as I went. Fluids also were dropped and pretty soon it was looking like this.

Onto the underside and I made a list

Again all fairly easily achieved and everything that came off came off in a way where it can be either reused or sold on if not required for the future.

Off to my lockup and I picked up my engine crane, in storage since the MR2 engine swap.

Hello old friend.

There are essentially 6 bolts holding the subframe on and engine and box in

Two near the shock turrets-loosened off ok

Two at the gearbox crossmember-not part of the subframe but required obviously.

And 2 main ones at the rear of the front wishbones. I'd removed the nuts from these leaving just the bolts to withdraw.

The passenger side one came out no bother, the drivers side one wasn't playing. I ground the head off with a view to hammering it through but no joy-it had seized into the bush sleeve on the subframe. 

 

Bother.

I sacked it off last night to save my sanity and go and get beer/curry.

Back at it today after cycling and I had another go. I managed to get the grinder in to the shaft of the bolt between the chassis rail and subframe. Success!

So, we're now at this stage.

Entire subframe is resting on the trolley ready to be pulled out. 

I need to get the front of the car high enough to make this happen. This could be interesting, but it's not my first rodeo. Plan is to get the back of the car as high as possible and then raise the front to slide the whole lot out. Should be fun...

Before removing the engine from the subframe I'll get the measuring tape out to get dimensions of the existing engine, I can then compare that to the proposed donor to make sure it'll work. 

 

[jaypee]

Some good progress dude! 😎. 

It'll be on the road in no* time... 👍

[DodgyBastard]

If you're thinking about selling the engine, gearbox and diff I would be interested in buying it for my chevette as it'll be a relatively straightforward swap and would be infinitely better than the standard 1256 engine I have in there at the moment.

Sent from my moto g( power using Tapatalk

[sutty2006]

And I might need to refer to your wiring loom as the masking tape labels I made on mine had faded 😂

[dome]

7 hours ago, DodgyBastard said:

If you're thinking about selling the engine, gearbox and diff I would be interested in buying it for my chevette as it'll be a relatively straightforward swap and would be infinitely better than the standard 1256 engine I have in there at the moment.

Sent from my moto g( power using Tapatalk
 

Engine and box will definitely be getting sold, not til I'm a bit further forward with getting a donor engine sorted out though. 

Back axle will likely need to stay, there's not a lot I can replace it with that's not bloody expensive!

[dome]

15 minutes ago, sutty2006 said:

And I might need to refer to your wiring loom as the masking tape labels I made on mine had faded 😂

Yep, no worries. If you're needing any parts let me know.

[big_al_granvia]

get a forky truck/telehandler to lift car off subframe, otherwise jacks, axle stands, wooden packing and repeat several times

[dome]

1 minute ago, big_al_granvia said:

get a forky truck/telehandler to lift car off subframe, otherwise jacks, axle stands, wooden packing and repeat several times

I admire your optimism but it's under a car port and our bedroom is above it 😆

[big_al_granvia]

1 minute ago, dome said:

I admire your optimism but it's under a car port and our bedroom is above it 😆

so access not great then, nae crane access... better go and borrow some widden pallets for packing

[gm]

1 hour ago, dome said:

I admire your optimism but it's under a car port and our bedroom is above it 😆

stop messing about, man, where's your sense of adventure ?  

 

[Supernaut]

Hey, there's an idea.

Just* bolt the Manta body onto an MX-5 drivetrain / frame.

[dave j]

13 hours ago, dome said:

I set out yesterday to see how far I could get toward getting the engine and box out of the Manta. 

I decided to drop the front subframe out of it with the engine and box attached, this made sense as the subframe needs to come off to weld the chassis rails, also I'll be refreshing everything at the front. And rear. And middle. Anyway...

I started in the engine bay and removed everything I could  to be able to drop it out, taking photos and marking connectors as I went. Fluids also were dropped and pretty soon it was looking like this.

Onto the underside and I made a list

Again all fairly easily achieved and everything that came off came off in a way where it can be either reused or sold on if not required for the future.

Off to my lockup and I picked up my engine crane, in storage since the MR2 engine swap.

Hello old friend.

There are essentially 6 bolts holding the subframe on and engine and box in

Two near the shock turrets-loosened off ok

Two at the gearbox crossmember-not part of the subframe but required obviously.

And 2 main ones at the rear of the front wishbones. I'd removed the nuts from these leaving just the bolts to withdraw.

The passenger side one came out no bother, the drivers side one wasn't playing. I ground the head off with a view to hammering it through but no joy-it had seized into the bush sleeve on the subframe. 

 

Bother.

I sacked it off last night to save my sanity and go and get beer/curry.

Back at it today after cycling and I had another go. I managed to get the grinder in to the shaft of the bolt between the chassis rail and subframe. Success!

So, we're now at this stage.

Entire subframe is resting on the trolley ready to be pulled out. 

I need to get the front of the car high enough to make this happen. This could be interesting, but it's not my first rodeo. Plan is to get the back of the car as high as possible and then raise the front to slide the whole lot out. Should be fun...

Before removing the engine from the subframe I'll get the measuring tape out to get dimensions of the existing engine, I can then compare that to the proposed donor to make sure it'll work. 

 

Spot the evil face looking at you from the wheel arch! 

[sutty2006]

Just now, sutty2006 said:

5 hours ago, dome said:

Yep, no worries. If you're needing any parts let me know.

Any parts left over let me know. I’ll save them for a rainy day! Don’t bin anything lol. 

[Fraz]

1 hour ago, Supernaut said:

Hey, there's an idea.

Just* bolt the Manta body onto an MX-5 drivetrain / frame.

I like the cut of this mans jib.

[dome]

17 minutes ago, Fraz said:

I like the cut of this mans jib.

Right idea but @Supernaut spelled S2000 wrong.

[gm]

here you go - someone's already done the hard work

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/942602949903954/?ref=saved&referral_code=null

 

 

[dome]

1 hour ago, gm said:

here you go - someone's already done the hard work

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/942602949903954/?ref=saved&referral_code=null

 

 

Nah, needs to be an NC for MZR/Duratec engine!

[Barry Cade]

That pic makes my eyes water.. many many years ago,3 cars up in Tam Muirs yard, I was in the back seat of a Manta, nose broken and blood all over my  Fido Dido T shirt.. 

That was before I learned when you are removing a steering wheel,  leave the nut on a few threads..

Oooya.

[dome]

1 hour ago, Barry Cade said:

That pic makes my eyes water.. many many years ago,3 cars up in Tam Muirs yard, I was in the back seat of a Manta, nose broken and blood all over my  Fido Dido T shirt.. 

That was before I learned when you are removing a steering wheel,  leave the nut on a few threads..

Oooya.

Sorry, shouldn't have laughed. I'm going to hell🙈

[Snake Charmer]

@dome Is this car sat on original SR springs or has it been lowered? With the springs out or the arms compressed you would not need to lift the body so much. I posted on @sutty2006 thread about his Manta, I did exactly what you are doing but used two scaffold poles (may have been gas pipe) down the chassis rails to lift the car over the engine like a wheelbarrow.