Cavalier mk2 - another blue giffermobile.

[4wheeledstool]

As seems to be the case for the last few weeks, there hasn't been a right lot of time to spend on this recently. A few bits have been cleaned up something like prior to blasting. 

Next pile of junk for the treatment. 

Started stripping the steering gear down.

It all seems to be cleaning up pretty well. 

These should be good to go back on after a bit of a buff up. 

Centre piece sanded clean ready to paint. 

Steering arms stripped ready to clean and paint. 

New tin of paint should be landing this week, and hopefully my rear beam and subframes will finally get blasted too - every time I've gone to drop them off, the bloke has just left! 

[4wheeledstool]

Stone chip paint finally arrived today. 

This is all thats required to finish off the underside of the shell, I'll hopefully get that applied in the not too distant future.     More bits and pieces have arrived recently, including these nice shiny gubbins for the rear brakes.

More pieces have been cleaned up ready for painting, including the rear anti roll bar brackets. 

Some items have been painted ready to reassemble, including the steering arms. 

Slowly, but surely, its getting there still! 

[Tickman]

As always fantastic levels of effort going into this.

[4wheeledstool]

Still very short on time for this at present, but the demands on my free time should be dropping in the next week or so.

Track adjusters were cleaned up and wound back in. 

Cleaned up some more pieces before a painting session was due. 

Painting session yielded some fresh looking parts for reassembly. 

Steering rack put back together ready for refitting at a later date. 

Stub axles, hubs and drums separated, bearings removed then cleaned up. 

My rear beam should be powder coated in the next week or so - once its been put back together, there's just the drive shafts and brake servo to sort, and all the gubbins are done. (deep joy of getting the bodywork ready for paint imminent!) 

[4wheeledstool]

Got a couple of bits painted this week. New bearings fitted before the rear hubs were done, and stub axles painted too. 

Brake drums were cleaned up and painted. 

Should get the rear end built back up when I get my rear beam back next week. 

[Tickman]

What paint are you using for all your black stuff? 

I'm likely to need more stuff for mine so Thought I'd ask

 

[4wheeledstool]

It's POR15 chief, I'm getting a little tired of the preparation faffing required for optimum performance, but it is incredibly durable when done as per instruction - I accidentally dropped a hub onto the floor and amazingly it didn't mark the paint! 

[Tickman]

That's what I've already got so will just order more when it is running out.

It does go a very long way really.

[4wheeledstool]

Grabbed a bit of time for this earlier. Master cylinder and servo as removed. 

Master cylinder and reservoir bottle were dismantled and cleaned up. 

Made a start on getting the servo unit ready to paint. 

Hopefully get these bits prettied up and reunited over a couple if evenings this week. 

[4wheeledstool]

Servo chamber hit with POR15. 

It was then rubbed flat, and given a coat of etch primer, followed by two coats of satin black. 

After hardening, it was put back together with the master cylinder. 

Drive shafts were stripped, cleaned, re greased and some paint was splashed about. 

Still waiting for the rear beam to be done.

[4wheeledstool]

Not a lot to report this week - bit of brake line fettling. 

Once all the proprietary black filth was removed from the rear beam brake lines, it revealed that they were in really good nick. There was just a couple of small areas where the protective green coating had been breached. 

The green coating was removed with emery cloth, and the unions were de rusted with the help of Deox gel. 

Eventually they were given two coats of POR15 gloss black, and are now ready to put back into service. (should be good for at least another 30 years).

Master cylinder to front brake lines are in process. 

Rear beam still not done yet.

[4wheeledstool]

Stuff has been happening - front brake lines were finished. 

Rear brake stuff assembled ready for fitting. 

Powder coating now back with me. 

[Amishtat]

Really looking forward to seeing this come back together! 

[beko1987]

God its enviable isn't it! 

[4wheeledstool]

Time was in short supply, but I got the brake gubbins fitted. 

Brake lines and anti roll bar went on too. 

Just need to fit the beam mounting bushes and it can go into storage until the time comes to fit it. 

[4wheeledstool]

Rear beam bushes were pushed in with next doors" hydraulic press. 

Mr Haynes suggested using threaded bar and "distance pieces". Definitely easier said than done. 

Now all undercarriage gubbins is ready for action, attention can be turned towards getting the bodywork ready for paint. I need a new compressor before I can get some epoxy primer on there, so I aim to get that sorted before I bare metal all the areas requiring bodywork.  "Just" a paint job away from reassembly now.   

[4wheeledstool]

Time has been in short supply again, however, all the nice ready to fit stuff has been packed away to keep it all clean and dry until reassembly commences. 

All the rubber bungs for the underside have been cleaned of all sealant and muck ready to go back in. 

A couple of bungs were missing from the spare wheel well - if anyone has any spares, or knows of somewhere that sells them I'd be most grateful.

The gear selector gubbins had cleaned up pretty well a while back, but was now filthy again. A better job was done, then it was wrapped up and packed away. 

Had a good look at all the work done on the under side, no rust has appeared, so I'll get stuck in to scotching it all in preparation for applying the stone chip coating. 

Once my new compressor arrives, I can start making some decent progress on the body.

[scdan4]

11 minutes ago, 4wheeledstool said:

new compressor

Oooooooooo fancy 

[Matty]

If only they'd put more effort into nailing them together like this in the first place there might be more still living

[4wheeledstool]

Compressor has landed. 

Need to rearrange a load of junk and mk2 bits to fit it in by a wall, then after a monster cleaning session (ridiculously dusty in the shed at present) I can finally get back to the bodywork.  

[4wheeledstool]

Didn't fancy a cleaning session with today's available time - thought that I'd tackle a job that I've never done before. That job was the removal of bonded glass. 

I'm sure its a lot easier with the correct tools, but a Stanley knife, plastic card and a screwdriver, along with a bit of bloody minded perseverence, saw the job done without damaging the glass. The glass in the replacement tailgate is heavily scratched, so the glass from the original tailgate needs to be re used. I'll probably smash the damaged glass out of the replacement tailgate to save time.

[4wheeledstool]

Monster cleaning and tidying session happened at the weekend. 

Once spruced up, I started to make it dusty again by scotching the underside to prepare it for stone chip application. 

Should get it all cleaned and stone chipped at the weekend.

[4wheeledstool]

The stone chip is finally on there! Cleaned all the sanding muck off yesterday, masked and sprayed today. 

It goes on shiny and black. 

And dries textured and dark grey. 

The blackness will be restored once its been hit with the underbody wax. 

Few more pics of the newly coated underside. 

Need to get some epoxy primer on the welded sections of the body now so I can get on with preparation for paint.  

[4wheeledstool]

I finally got round to stripping the doors bare today. The rear doors were a bit of a faff to strip, I imagine they'll not be much fun to reassemble when fresh paint is involved. 

The front doors were a lot easier most probably due to there being better access to the mechanisms within. 

Hopefully epoxy priming will commence this week. 

[danthecapriman]

Looking really good! Great to see the fresh stonechip on.

[4wheeledstool]

After 14 months or so up on the spit, it finally came off it this afternoon 

The spit was partially dismantled, as it is due to be loaned to the owner of a seriously rusty XJC. 

Bodywork now next on the "to do" list. 

[Dick Cheeseburger]

Looking amazing. This is going to be the most solid mk2 Cav left I reckon. Can't wait to see the old girl back on her wheels eventually. 

[4wheeledstool]

Disappointingly little progress this week. Started removing paint from the back end in preparation for getting the epoxy primer on there. 

Daubed the rust pitted bits with Deox gel, then taped plastic sheet over it to stop it drying out. 

It'll probably take a couple of applications to remove all the rust, but when it's gone, I can prime it. 

While the Deox gel does its thing, I made a start on getting the Nearside rear quarter cleaned back to the metal. 

Most likely be splashing the primer about next weekend.

[4wheeledstool]

I got tired of bare metalling bodywork once the offside rear quarter was done, so decided to remove the scratched glass out of the replacement tailgate. This time less finesse was employed, and I used a hammer. 

Doing it this way was a lot quicker than doing it properly - from swinging the hammer to finishing cleaning up the mess  took about half an hour. 

Just need to wire wheel off the rest of the sealant - That can be done when I get round to priming it.

[4wheeledstool]

The Deox gel did its thing.

 80 grit sand paper used to get a decent key for the paint.

Masking complete to ensure the stone chip stays fresh 

Epoxy primer applied - it was a bit thick, but got it to spray reasonably well.

Sills + door apertures next in line for this treatment - then engine bay and front valance.