Andy's awful autos: Vanden-blah

[grogee]

I'm in awe of your bodywork skills, having done a little bit (badly) by myself. 

Lovely little car, I do really like the simplicity of them. Bet it's fun to drive too. May nothing else fall off or reveal wob (that isn't your own)

[Andyrew]

The rear bumper was popped off for some paint, with that off i rinsce off the masses of crud that had built up behind.

In the pic about you can see the foam seal around the vents has degraded and failed. I pulled these off cleaned them up and bonded them in with some polyurethane sealer/ adhesive

They are not coming out anytime soon!

 

 

[Andyrew]

Being a bit of a stickler for a tidy plate, the damaged and crazed front one was bothering me. So this morning i knocked some up at work.

Who doesnt Love a fresh plate?

[Andyrew]

23 hours ago, grogee said:

I'm in awe of your bodywork skills, having done a little bit (badly) by myself. 

Thanks,  given what it costs i feel i get a result thats good enough for my old sheds, and given the car will more than likely get knocked again its an easier pill swallow when it does take a knock. 

All my cars are a minimum of a 10fter or  good enough for a funeral car park spec is what id call it, the mx5 is at least a 30fter!

Im in credit with the local painter at the farm after i fixed his bmw and a MGB bonnet for him. I didnt want to waste that on this tho, i Will save that for something more worthy of a pro! 

 

 

[Andyrew]

Rough as pugs arse!

I think we can all agree thats one ass thats seen alot of action. 

Again a used replacement seems to start around 30 quid with less damage and the prices creep anywhere towards 80  quid for a tidy one! Do i look like jeff bezos? 

Guess im fixing it.

 

[Andyrew]

I think we can all agree these are fugly little things. The rear bumper is a very awkward design to my eyes.  The "peugeot" and "107" letters look too busy and as i wanted to add a detail i felt they needed to gtf.  The flatness of the bumper makes it look awkward.

Filled smoothes and painted red, The rear lower plate area was then painted with the same dark ish satin silver used at the front bumper and door mirrors to give an almost OEM option look. Well i think it does. Maybe just me tho!

[Andyrew]

The unfestive person that i am see me over the workshop this afternoon. I was going to do some pug fettling but the Astra was like a mobile skip. With it having not been cleaned for some months and having not long completed a trip to tenby and back the grime was pretty much everywhere, all id done to it was keep the lights windows and plates clean. 

A good scrubbing, a quick run over with a clay mitt then some spray sealant followed by two coats of wax.  A splash of dressing on the trims and tyres and its looking much much better. 

[Andyrew]

A little tinkering has occurred.

Over the crimbo hols i did a quick repair on the damage that had been sustained on the n.s, but i was running low of the basecoat paint and used another brand we hand in stock. This didnt match nor didnt it mix well with the clear and sagged like an old tomato. Thankfully the damaged sill came out okay. This side was scrapped and is slightly dented. No pics as it was a bit of a mojo killer tbh, 

Anyway, these things are know for water leaks and i wanted to address them now rather than find what does leak. Like the lower vents i already sealed up before, with so poly sealer i gooped up grommes and seams.the foam seal is known for letting water in so i ran so bead on the panel (more after this pic) that would in theory guide water away from and around the seal area. I also smeared the same sealer around the foam gasket sides to seal it up again the the mating face was smothered in silicone grease hopefully creating a nice seal but not bonding the light inplace. 

While in the boot area the seal on this was badly damaged. Like it been hauling rubble or something at some point. The rubber seal was destroyed. So i had ordered the x8r seal upgrade kit that is ment to help with water leaks.  Some oversized seal and some D shape foam.

Seam edges dollied straight enough, panel was knocked back with 80grit and then a quick spray of stone chip went on.

Tailgate now needs a proper slam to sqaush that seal down. I ran the addition seal accross from light to light above.the last inch or so is slice so the light unit tucks into the foam.

 

[Andyrew]

With the tailgate shut the foam seal fills the void so maybe water will go over and down  the glass or at least some of it will. Maybe.

I had some left over so opted to go down the lights to fill that void, my hope is that any water from the top of the seal goes down the centre of the downward seal if that makes sense. 

While i had the goop out i popped the ariel out and sealed that, no signs of a leak here but no harm in doing it as it is also a common complaint.

The high level brake light is also a well known leak spot. Shitty foam seal degrades and fails. New seal kits online but to pricey for my already blown budget. Boo!

Old Seal cleaned off, 4 new bulbs chuck in to be on the safe side. I then bolted the lamp back in situ, most people seam to clagg these in sealant then fit it, i didnt like that as its a right mess should it need to come off. I masked the lamp and roof area and ran a bead round, then a little wipe and im calling good enough. To remove the lamp it should peel away easy enough.

 

[Andyrew]

Couldnt handle it, 

Door handles it would appear are a known weakness, this one had already had a repair done. Neatly made but there was a fair bit of glue about the place.  A company in the uk make a replacement thats about 0.5mm thicker overall so i purchased on and lobbed it on. The drivers door card was given a clean and some sound deadner chucked in whilst it was off. A memebrane was also made up and taped in place. These are also know to let water in.

[Andyrew]

I discovered the N.S window didnt work, being a cheaper car there is no dual switch on the drivers door so while i had the switch out i tried it on the door and the window came back to life thankfully. A new switch is a cheap fix so thats a good start.

But id rather not spend any money, so lets pop the switch appart. Maybe just rain water has corroded the contacts and a bit of a clean will bring it back around.

Well fuck a duck, 

I pulled it to bits, cleaned the corrosion, mud and pubes of the contacts and stuck it back together.

Woop! Love a free fix me!

[Andyrew]

That was sundays efforts,  shortly after i came over all funny and cold . so hopped in the car and headed home before it got worse.

Id gone to a pizza hut buffet saturday with two friends for a good catch up and some filthy bastard in there hadnt washed their hands and thus norovirus has taken me down. Id been dubious given the whole handling stuff, should have stuck with my gut instinct.

Pleasant it was not. Be a long time before i do a buffet again. 

Fuck that.

Pizza was shit too!

 

[somewhatfoolish]

At least it's not plague. Buffets are always a bit of a roulette job.

[2cvspecial]

was the 107 a copart car if so what cat was it ?

[Andyrew]

16 minutes ago, 2cvspecial said:

was the 107 a copart car if so what cat was it ?

Bought from a fellow shiter, it was a write off may years ago probably when it was only 3 or so years old assumed cat C, so worth the big fix at the time. 

It was fixed, but has taken a knock to every single panel since, 

Ive gone over budget and it looks like ill be in it for £800 all in now when its done.  Which is still cheap it seems looking on fleabay. 

It will never be perfect again it will look alright from 10ft away, but its also fully serviced, newish battery and brakes, 4 matching 2019 tyres, with MOT and hopefully watertight.  Good enough for my standards. 

 

[stuboy]

On 12/25/2021 at 6:35 PM, Andyrew said:

The unfestive person that i am see me over the workshop

rather be in a workshop than sitting on my arse feeling festively bored

[Andyrew]

Burgandys back! Now sporting beaded seats! 

Only a Quick tinker tonight (and a cheeky beer that the owner had made) tonight. He had been getting a fumey smell coming in the cabin and it was occasionally running a really high idle on a cold start.

Quick noisey around, popped the airbox off to check for any knackered vac pipes, found a pipe from the cam cover to the inlet manifold had failed, snipped off the bad bit,refitted, let it idle with the blower on and my mate gave the big thumbs up so we are calling that fixed. 

New headlight and numberplate bulbs, fluid check and top up, tyres pumped up. 

Overall still going good, sump gasket needs doing as its leaking quite a bit, its due a oil change in a few hundred so we will do it then. 

Only issue to report is the tax has gone up its £280 now, that stings for a 1.6 auto!  It is offset by the overall lack of money this thing costs maintain, 

 

[Six-cylinder]

12 hours ago, Andyrew said:

Only issue to report is the tax has gone up its £280 now, that stings for a 1.6 auto!  It is offset by the overall lack of money this thing costs maintain, 

Same as my Clio and while 1.6 is even smaller!

[Andyrew]

5 hours ago, Six-cylinder said:

Same as my Clio and while 1.6 is even smaller!

A shit system i feel, i think 3 or 4 catagories would be more sensible.

It makes cars like these even more undesirable!

 

[Six-cylinder]

8 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

A shit system i feel, i think 3 or 4 catagories would be more sensible.

It makes cars like these even more undesirable!

I believe it is to clear the roads of old clunkers that kill bunny rabbits by just driving by!

Don't get me started with the pollution involved with making new battery cars. Or the incomplete path to electric cars when we don't have enough electricity or distributions cables and supplies who are not always friendly to us. Let alone the importance of keeping lower paid workers mobile at an affordable cost.

Angry of Bucks!

[Andyrew]

Yes its another vauxhall!

Its been mentioned before but no pics, this was the one that the young lady drove 20miles with no oil, did it survive that? 

Kinda, its still alive but its using 1.5ltrs of oil in twos weeks. She comutes 5 days a week 40miles plus general useage miles so its doing maybe 250miles a week.  We cured the external leaks and its bone dry underneath so its burning it, assume ring damage?  i guess it could be worse but as shes not very financially well off its not helping.

Swapped the 5w30 out for fresh 10w40, just to see if that will get her a few more miles before a top up, ive got a  few motors that get maintained here running 10w40 / 5w30 and they get serviced regular (4-5k) , if the oil consumption of this stays the same ive offered to bottle up the old stuff from them and she can keep it going with that stuff. Its beyond help now so no point wasting the money on loads more fresh stuff. 

While it was here we gave it a bath, wet sand and polish on the headlights (just doing a finish cut in the pic) 

The heating was shite, the stat appears to be stuck open but with a gunged up expansion tank the systems had oil in it in the past. The timing cover gasket fails and allows oil into the water. We know the chains been done so this should be old gunk. The gunk however clags up the matrix so heating is shite. Today then we done the same as on the green Corsa featured here when i owned it, pop the pipes off, flush back and forth with hose Then i fill it up with neat APC (g101 or similar will do fine) let it soak for 20-30 mins then repeat the flushing. Then connect it back up, cleaned out the expansion tank and chucked some coolant in.  Heater actually now had heat, sure it could be better with a new stat but a stuck stat on a fucked engine wont be getting fixed.

Its got a misfire and the coil pack is a bodged up mess. We may try and fix this, maybe a scrappy coil or even just a new plug boot and spring.

We Also Found a knackered rear wheel bearing thats howling its tits off, this will of course be fixed ASAP, because safety.

 

[garethj]

Fantastic determination - what a hero!  If that Corsa were a horse it would be clip-clopping towards the glue factory by now

[Andyrew]

2 minutes ago, garethj said:

Fantastic determination - what a hero!  If that Corsa were a horse it would be clip-clopping towards the glue factory by now

They are tought little buggers to a certain extent. 

The mint green one feature here previously is still around, now in the hands of an older lady, bombing around with a fag on the go whenever i see it locally and shes not hanging about!

This ones owner is a young early 20s lass, had a shity couple of years and is a bit short of money.  Shes my friend Garys neice and he wants to help her out and ill help him anytime and i feel she could use a hand.

A replacement car isnt really on the cards money wise.  This ones been keyed and crashed into outside her home so something new would be an even bigger liability. This one was from a friend of hers and hes stictched her right up with it, its a pup.

We will do what we can to help her out for as little money in parts as possible. 

Id like to add, none of the repairs seen in this thread are paid jobs, favours in return is the preffered payment for me. Donations have been accepted aswell. I like to help friends and family save money on cars so they can enjoy spending it doing something else. 

Im also a bit of a sucker for fixing complete sheds!

[Andyrew]

Talking of sheds!

This little red bastard is now 98% red again. Finally painted this side tonight. Will flat and polish tuesday.

 

 

[UltraWomble]

Been reading this with interest as Im giving very careful consideration to chopping the C3 Picasso for one of these wee shopping carts.

[Andyrew]

28 minutes ago, UltraWomble said:

Been reading this with interest as Im giving very careful consideration to chopping the C3 Picasso for one of these wee shopping carts.

Everyone i speak to who has one loves it, a bit cheapo inside and a bit crude but does what it says on the tin. 

Ive not driven this on the road yet so wouldnt know. It leaves the workshop tuesday so ill report back! 

My other halfs got it from thursday onwards while i have a look at her jimny and get it MOT'd. She has been telling me its thirst for fuel is getting expensive with her longer commute right now. I said they are just shit on fuel maybe mid 20s, 30 on a decent run. 

She reckons 4 shifts is a full tank, 18 miles home to work, i make that 144 miles in total, 40l tank, so 8.8gallons 

So if ive got the math right thats 16mpg! Bugger me sideways. 

E10 fuel? Seized brake caliper? Knackered lambda sensor?  Me not listening properly and probably ballsing up the maths ? (likely). 

Tune in soon to find out! 

[Crackers]

3 minutes ago, Andyrew said:

She reckons 4 shifts is a full tank, 18 miles home to work, i make that 144 miles in total, 40l tank, so 8.8gallons 

I wonder if its like my MX5, i.e. When it's hanging off the bottom of the gauge after 250 miles, you go to fill up the 50 litre tank but only 39 litres goes in - it's hiding 11 litres somewhere but makes you think the fuel economy is even worse than it is?

[Andyrew]

2 minutes ago, Crackers said:

I wonder if its like my MX5, i.e. When it's hanging off the bottom of the gauge after 250 miles, you go to fill up the 50 litre tank but only 39 litres goes in - it's hiding 11 litres somewhere but makes you think the fuel economy is even worse than it is?

Its possible, tho shes a low fuel kinda gal, she ran it low enough once that when i took it down the workshop one evening it cut out as i went round a big roundabout, fired back up on the straight so i just got up the road to a BP.

If i dont find a stuck or siezed something ill brim it with super unleaded, do a long drive, brim it again and do the math to check that MPG. Its Also about due a service.

[Andyrew]

Didnt wait, quick polish tonight. Did the bumper corner too as i hadnt flatted that yet, the clear blends in near the upper peak of the c pillar between the glass and light.

Good enough for rattle cans.

[Andyrew]

Back so soon? 

That misfire came back with a vengance. My mate was working so i popped out today on my day off and chucked a new coil pack on, and only two plugs! Two didnt want to budge and the cars needed to be used at 3 today so the quickest fix is the only fix

Cyclinder twos looks to have got mighty hot. Cylinder 1 was the misfiring one.  

Sorted, for now, we will have a look at the other two plugs when it comes back to change the fucked wheel bearing.