Twin-Cam's Motoring Maladies: Povvo Rover Metro Restoration, Austin Metro 1.3L, BMW E46 325i

[Eyersey1234]

How many miles has Melvin done? 

[Twin-Cam]

48 minutes ago, Eyersey1234 said:

How many miles has Melvin done? 

A smidge under 70k. I'll probably hit it within the next week.

[Eyersey1234]

11 minutes ago, Twin-Cam said:

A smidge under 70k. I'll probably hit it within the next week.

Not many for a car of his age, mines about to hit 201k

[Twin-Cam]

17 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Not many for a car of his age, mines about to hit 201k

Not many at all, although many Metros were just used to pootle to the shops.

I've done 11k since the last MOT.

[Eyersey1234]

25 minutes ago, Twin-Cam said:

Not many at all, although many Metros were just used to pootle to the shops.

I've done 11k since the last MOT.

That's true, my stepdads E reg Metro City had about 55k on the clock at 10 years old

[DoctorRetro]

Love this little car! 

[Twin-Cam]

*Gulp* it's been four years since I was last here, and for some strange reason, I've suddenly felt the need to update this.

As of the last update, 'Melvin' was my daily driver. I was commuting everyday on an 80-mile round trip, and the car was just flawless. Perfectly and utterly reliable up to the start of the pandemic. After that, the mileage cooled off, but down to Devon and Portsmouth, up to John O'Groats, that little car did it all with minimal fuss. I can wholeheartedly say that a K-Series Metro remains a perfectly useable and acceptable everyday car. An A-Series one, as I've learned, not so much!

Until October 2022, Melvin remained my primary car, until the rust finally began to take hold. After rebuilding the brakes that summer, I decided to start picking at the rear wheel arches. It turns out that a previous owner had bodged the hell out of them, and the filler was finally breaking free from what was left of the steel. Additionally, the offside rear inner wheel arch strengthener panel had turned to dust. With just a screwdriver, I could touch the rear tyre from inside the boot. The funny thing, however, is that the car remained mechanically perfect. That little K-Series just purred along all the way up to the MOT expiring - mileage: 83,000. Naturally, I wasn't even going to entertain a tester with it, so I took the car off the road. The rest of the car is really quite good. It's just the outer rear arches on both sides and the inner arch on the driver's side. Melvin being my first and most beloved car, however, I decided I wanted to restore him. Not repair, and certainly not bodge, but to spend an obscene amount of money to secure this car's indefinite future. Is it financially worth it? Christ no. But I love this little car.

And so the strip-down begins. 

I've been saving as much money as I can to fund this ridiculous passion project, hence two years and not even a full strip down, but next year things should begin progressing.

 

[Twin-Cam]

While I'm here, I'd also like to introduce you to my level of nerdery. While bored the other week, I stumbled across a service invoice from what would have been my local Rover dealer. I'm far too young to remember all this, but I embarked on a mission to faithfully recreate the blank invoice, resized for A4 paper and my printer's dreadfully large margins.

I'm a proper weirdo.

[Dan302]

Nothing strange about being a weirdo! 

I really enjoy the tinkering videos and heartily approve of the nerdery 🙂

[Twin-Cam]

Just now, Dan302 said:

Nothing strange about being a weirdo! 

I really enjoy the tinkering videos and heartily approve of the nerdery 🙂

Thank you kindly! The YouTube thing has been totally abandoned of late as I've been busy doing other things. This weekend, however, Twin-Cam is back. Metro videos coming in three weeks.

[Twin-Cam]

Rather than create a new thread, I thought I’d bore you all with my other Metro-shaped pain in the arse. This little one is called Melody, and she’s a 1987 Austin Metro 1.3L. She was donated to me by a viewer in October 2021, and since then, she’s had a fair amount of love…

The day of collection!

The first wash.

….And a flat battery. The alternator was knackered so the battery started to drain once it went dark. 
One new alternator, please!

And some more driving.

The nearside front wheel bearing was noisy, so I decided to buy a care package and do all four, the ball joints, and the front brakes. Word of advice though: buy Timken wheel bearings. Mini Spares/Sport own brand are made of cheese. I went through eight of the damn things in total.

The pepperpot alloys aren’t original. It would have had metrics from factory. So as the peppers are a cliche in Metroland and this set are nasty, I bought some flashy gold wheels.

Before fitting, however, I met Melody’s twin!

A few problems remained, however, including a leaky thermostat housing that was easily sorted.

Still hadn’t serviced her though, and what was in the oil I did not enjoy…

Funny fluid suspension doings.

But in all this work, I somehow hadn’t spotted this hole in the sill, on which it failed the MOT!

Once patched up, however, I continued tinkering, replacing the original bus-size steering wheel with a Mk1 MG unit, complete with Austin centre.

Met another friend:

And went out for some beauty shots:

She doesn’t like the rain.

Finally, some polishing really brought up the faded Targa Red paint.

And I finally fitted the wheels!

To complement them, I replaced the broken seats and dull carpets with bright red MG stuff!

There’s plenty more to come though!

[Twin-Cam]

But after all that love, she started to make some bad noises. My fears from the oil change had been proved correct, and the gearbox was not very happy, so she came apart!

The differential was fortunately fine, as that was my first guess. Instead, many bearings were FUBAR, plus the synchros were virtually none existent. 
With a good clean and a raft of new parts, it all went back together.

I painted the engine. 998cc Metros had yellow blocks. 1275s like Melody were painted red.

I also fitted a Maniflow exhaust for more NVH.

And then all back together (after having to chase out a few threads in the transfer casing!)

While pondering my actions, a friend invited me to pilot one of the display cars for the Metro Owners’ Club’s NEC stand.

The black MG 1300 was mine, a very late car with the high filler neck and steel wheels.

And then I bought another car - an E46 325i!

But finally, Melody came back together.

Plus a new stainless J-pipe, a reproduction part from the owners club.

And there she was. Fixed and back on the road!

[Twin-Cam]

I appear to have accidentally attached same pictures from the NEC that year. 
Some more BMW first, which is proving relatively efficient. But anyway, onwards to more Melody!

I found her an original tape deck. Her factory radio was MW/LW only, so useless today.

I also found some *ultra rare* NOS fabric floor mats for Melvin. I’m very proud of these.

Then was a big day - Hydragas day!

Ian and Dawn Kennedy came along to fit some regassed suspension units, taking away Melody’s originals for refurbishment and use on another Metro.

Next up was an issue I’ve needed to address for ages - the steering rack.

These are not available, and inner tie rods are rare, but this barely used rack tightened it up sufficiently.

The final piece in the puzzle lay under the bonnet. She’s never run perfectly, and since I installed the silly exhaust, she’s needed a good tune. Enter the legendary AC Dodd to recurve the distributor, shave the carburettor needle, and get the emissions dialled in just right. This car now *pulls*. From 13 mph in top gear, she now pulls cleanly and strongly all the way up to speeds I’m not going to divulge on here, all in a stock 1275cc engine fitted with the economy camshaft!

And here’s Melody’s original dizzy, being recurved ready for use on someone else’s A-Series.

I’ve since scored some genuine accessory wheels. These are appallingly rare and already, seven people have messaged me with offers. I’m not selling. Need to get them refurbished before fitting.

The headlamps had always been disappointing as the reflectors had gone matte, and the bolts that go into the wheel arches had naturally seized.

Mk2 Metro headlamps are NLA, but Mk1 headlamps are everywhere NOS. The only difference is the lens on the front, so some surgery ensued…

And finally before some more driving fun - fitting a new instrument cluster to fix a nagging speedometer issue she’s had ever since I collected her.

[Eyersey1234]

Which is your favourite of the 2 Metros?

[somewhatfoolish]

2 hours ago, Twin-Cam said:

The headlamps had always been disappointing as the reflectors had gone matte, and the bolts that go into the wheel arches had naturally seized.

 

Mk2 Metro headlamps are NLA, but Mk1 headlamps are everywhere NOS. The only difference is the lens on the front, so some surgery ensued…

 

10 minutes at gas mark 4? Or just until it hurts to pick it up?😁

[Twin-Cam]

8 hours ago, Eyersey1234 said:

Which is your favourite of the 2 Metros?

Oh, Melvin, the white one. No doubt about it. An A-Series car is an entertaining curiosity. Something fun that feels elderly. The K-Series ones are just brilliant drivers' cars, wrapped in an elderly body shell. If I could find one, I'd have a BRG 1.4 SL in a heart beat.

[Twin-Cam]

7 hours ago, somewhatfoolish said:

10 minutes at gas mark 4? Or just until it hurts to pick it up?😁

The adhesive is bloody stubborn stuff! In all honesty, just long enough to be able to chisel through the adhesive. It's very easy to start melting the housing.

[Twin-Cam]

After three weeks of incredible faff, the 46 has a new MOT.

Wheel bearing and drop link weren't surprising at all. The front end sounded and felt like a cement mixer in town. But the SRS fault was a total ballache. It showed as the driver's belt pre-tensioner being faulty, but it was fine, as was the wiring. The airbag module itself was at fault, but it took the useless repair company two goes to get it fixed. 

Anyway, it's back working now, and my ears can relax again after gunning the Austin up and down motorways. I'd forgotten just how hateful the clutch delay valve in these is. Maybe I should look into bypassing it. And installing that tape deck I bought for it. Either way, the dream E39 530i Touring will be automatic, so I might leave alone. I'm dreaming of Oxford Green and a light interior...

[Twin-Cam]

Eeek. We're getting dangerously close to the engine having to come out.

This week on Melvin, I started by stripping out all the glass. I simply cut the seals as only the windscreen seal was in a good enough condition to reuse, and all seals are available as reproductions now. You'll be pleased to know that I didn't drop any of the glass, and because I'm a nerd, only the rear screen will be reused. The windscreen is a Pilkington-branded replacement, installed by the previous owner in 2016, which ain't good enough for me! I've sourced an original, date-correct Triplex screen, which will be going in its place. I've also managed to find an incredibly rare set of non-tinted pop-out rear quarters, which after some remedial work on the frames will be going on the back. Therefore, if anyone needs a Metro windscreen or rear side windows, then give me a shout.

With the glass out of the way, I decided to wear a Metro headlining as a dress. I didn't worry about tearing it as it was already torn around the sunroof, so this was dispatched of quickly. It is a shame that vinyl headliners are no longer available. Unless I come across a NOS one, it's fabric in the future. I have to say, I was quite pleased with the condition of the roof and the support rails, but this is all by the by. The sunroof is a dealer-fit aftermarket unit, which I'm not happy with, and again, I've sourced a perfect roof skin with a factory sunroof. Sure, it's a massive job for the sake of a sunroof, but I'm me. Doing the entire roof skin will actually be easier than either filling the hole or cutting further and welding in just the sunroof section from the new roof skin. No bodyshop in the world could get the contours just right. 

The headlining was the next job because I need to get the tailgate off, the bolts for which are hidden behind the headlining. With me needing to keep the garage clear for the day, the conservatory wound up looking rather scrap yard like. Safe to say I wasn't popular that evening. Regardless, there's no significant rot to speak of.

Your reminder to label everything! I didn't run the offside tailgate wiring back through the shell as it all needs de-pinning. I didn't feel up to doing that at the time, so we moved on.

They took my fooqing eyes!

The final job for the day was off camera - the fuse box. This means the wiring is all loose, so with some de-pinning and once I have the heater ducting out of the way, I can just remove the loom. As I mentioned at the start though, I think it's engine time next!