Microwave's Tat Corner

[Microwave]

Well shit, stuck it on marketplace yesterday and it went same day to a kid from Carlisle. Even got back more than I paid for it for once! Not bad doing imo. The current plan is to sell all the shite and buy one nice shitbox. Thinking Austin Rover right now, but I’m sure my mind is gonna change.

[Lord Sterling]

Don't know how I missed this lovely little Micra. Love the gleaming drivers wing.

Got 2 facelift K11s myself. Well... ones my Sisters currently being used by Mum and the other was my Mums currently awaiting repairs.

Fiesta and camper aren't mine.

[Microwave]

For a while there's been an ST202 Celica convertible that has been stuck in the back of my work. I've finished Uni now, and I've got nothing to do, so I wanted to buy it. Long story short, the owner is being difficult. The car was brought into the country in 2005 and was last on the road in 2007, but she still thinks it's worth a grand minimum. Despite going back and forth with her, I wasn't really getting anywhere.

On 5/14/2020 at 8:10 PM, Microwave said:

Thinking Austin Rover right now, but I’m sure my mind is gonna change.

Now, I said this the other day. I have just put a deposit down on a car that may or may match this description, and it shall arrive Thursday evening. Unfortunately, right as I went to say "yes" to this new car, the owner of the Celica finally got back to me and said she would get back in contact later to discuss selling the car at my desired price. So, in an effort to purchase one summer project, I may have just ended up with two. FML. I seriously hope I don't win that fucking BX roffle now ?

[Microwave]

Uh oh, what have I gone and got myself into now?

Follow up post to come after I've had a chance to properly look over it, here's some more photos (not the best, I do apologise):

https://imgur.com/a/MPRXoMi

[Microwave]

At last, I am back with a bigger post. Bought this last Tuesday and had it delivered last Thursday to the sum of £650. It came with a bunch of spares, including a new wing, front bumper, two seats, loads of complete light units, a full heater, shit loads of trim bits and so on. Overall, not a bad deal in my opinion. I was really after one with an MOT at first, but all of the ones that I had offered to me were up for well in excess of a grand, and to be honest, now that I'm done with uni until September, I need a project. As a sidenote, they really do seem to be appreciating in price somewhat? Not sure if it's just the Coronavirus car market or what.

Anyway, the car hasn't been MOTd since 2018. Before that, it had only really covered about 100 miles or less each year for quite some time. Because of that, this is an original 34,000 mile car, proven by the fact that the thing is absolutely loaded with Thorn bulbs (with the odd Lucas one here and there), even the H4 headlights are original Thorn stuff. The car came with loads of history, including the original invoice, as well as extensive history for another Maestro, an A-reg, that the original owner part exchanged for this one. Some really interesting stuff among it all.

Over the course of the weekend I made a list of the stuff that it needs doing. Most severely it needs welding on the rear inner sills as well as the brake system sorted. As it stands, it has no service brakes. I've not been able to get it up on the lift yet, but after doing a bit of looking around I suspect the master or servo is kaputt, as opposed to there being a knackered brake line/hose like the seller suggested was possible. Once those two major jobs are sorted, I really don't think it will take much for it to pass an MOT. A set of rear arches and doors would be nice, but from what I've heard the doors are quite expensive and hard to come by, so it might be a while before they get sorted.

So far, I've only done a couple of jobs on it. The engine was refusing to rev properly and would try to cut out under throttle until it was warmed up, had a poke around and it seemed to be missing its advance/retard tube & the dashpot was empty. Sorted those two issues out and it seemed to be a lot better, but once it had chance to cool down again it was more or less back to square one. Still working on this particular issue. Today was my first day of being able to dedicate all of my time to it, so I started off by whipping the bottom hose off to drain the radiator, so I could remove the thermostat without it pissing all over the radiator. I'd noticed that it had been getting a little bit hot when I was reversing it back into the unit, getting well on for 3/4 of the gauge, and while testing it I'd noticed the heater was hardly blowing any warm air through at all. For a couple of reasons, I had a feeling it had no stat in, or the stat in it was knackered. Got it out, and I greeted with this sight:

 

Bit of scraping pulled up this shite:

I imagine this same tar-like substance is lining absolutely every cavity in this engine, so probably not good for a heater matrix. Judging by the state of it, I don't think this has had real coolant/antifreeze in it for a long, long time - also looks like they used some seriously hard water, whole thing is full of limescale. The housing was held together by a mixture of silicone and newspaper gaskets, which were a right nob to get off the mating surfaces. New thermostat & gasket kit is ordered for tomorrow, where it will get its first of many flushes.

Other thing I wanted to do today was give it a quick jet wash to get rid of the thick layer of dirt on the paintwork, in preparation for a cut & polish at some point. I tried to be as careful as possible, not knowing which seals leak and which don't, but the whole car actually ending up seeming perfectly watertight, to my surprise. Also tried to avoid all of the rot, so as to not make it any worse. The inner wheel arches cleaned up really well, there was obviously years of mud stuck in them, probably trapping moisture and waiting to rust through. Overall, I'm pleased with how it came out. The colour combination (Lepari blue over Hurricane grey) is really growing on me, and I can imagine it will look brilliant when its all been welded, paint matched and machine polished and so on. FWIW, I also have 3 out of 4 original wheel trims waiting to go on after it's had a set of new tyres.

You can't really tell much of a difference here, but for what it's worth:

Before

After

Next up was the same treatment on the interior. It wasn't as bad as some other stuff I've had, like the red 205, but it still needed about an hour and a half of de-cluttering and hoovering.

Before

 

After

Every surface in the car needs a proper wipe down but I didn't have the stuff to do it today, and it's not massively important anyway. I'm really happy with how it's cleaned up so far ?

In terms of jobs, that was really all I did today. Did do some fucking about with it though, found out the sunroof works (to some extent, needs proper greasing), checked the plugs weren't showing extreme rich or lean, and most importantly...

Found out the cassette player still works! I was really hoping that this thing would still have its original radio, and I was so glad to see it did when it arrived. My Rick Astley tape sounds a bit shit in this video, but the sound cleaned up nicely after some use. Sounds really good now, but it still has that typical Rover problem of paper speakers that have fallen to bits in the doors, which thankfully isn't that obvious when using FM. Also typical of Rover, for what it's worth, is how obscenely comfortable this car is. It's absolutely unbelievable. Compared to the A35 infront of it, this thing is somehow more comfortable. The drive is also very nice, from what little I've experienced of it. It drives a bit pissed, with the steering a bit cockeyed and the suspension dropping on one side (especially over bumps), but it rides so, so well.

Anyway, that's about all for now. I intend to get some more serious work done on this in the coming days, and I'd reaaally like for it to be MOTd by the end of June. Knowing my luck, that's not going to happen, but we'll have to see! Really pleased with this old thing.

[LightBulbFun]

6 minutes ago, Microwave said:

proven by the fact that the thing is absolutely loaded with Thorn bulbs (with the odd Lucas one here and there), even the H4 headlights are original Thorn stuff.

you cant tease me like that and NOT post pictures! LOL  

[Microwave]

@LightBulbFun This is the only photo I've got to hand right now, but I'll try and grab some more when I pull the rear light units back out again to re-seal them. Think I've got some Thorn 209s, 380/382s and some 501s.

[LightBulbFun]

32 minutes ago, Microwave said:

@LightBulbFun This is the only photo I've got to hand right now, but I'll try and grab some more when I pull the rear light units back out again to re-seal them. Think I've got some Thorn 209s, 380/382s and some 501s.

ohh very interesting! sadly im not sure on its Date of manufacture, the Automotive Thorn lamps are proving tricky to date

where there any other markings on the lamp?  

[Microwave]

4 minutes ago, LightBulbFun said:

where there any other markings on the lamp?

I'll pull it back out tomorrow and have a gander. Think these old Thorn bulbs were made round the corner in Preston? As a matter of fact, not too sure.

[LightBulbFun]

Just now, Microwave said:

I'll pull it back out tomorrow and have a gander. Think these old Thorn bulbs were made round the corner in Preston? As a matter of fact, not too sure.

ah Cool thats appreciated, (if turns out to be too much of a faff then dont worry about it I understand!)   

indeed thorn had a Factory in Preston http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Documents/Factory - UK - Preston KS.htm

but it did not make automotive halogen lamps, those where made at Leicester http://www.lamptech.co.uk/Documents/Factory - UK - Leicester.htm

[Microwave]

Not been on here in a bit. Due a full write up of what's been going on with the cars but for now:

Sold the Trabant the other day, and within the hour I had been out and bought another car. Went for something new, but something I'd wanted for a couple of years now since I first saw one for sale. I present to you a 2000 Clio 1.6 RSi!

Brilliant car so far, very fun to drive and quicker than you'd expect. Only issue is, a couple of days ago I noticed that it felt like it was down on power. This was confirmed when, yesterday, it got to a point where I could not get it to rev past 5500RPM in second gear. Had to absolutely wind it out in 2nd and 3rd just to overtake a Sprinter towing a caravan that wasn't even trying that hard. I changed the air filter today (after discovering it was absolutely CAKED in shit) and also cleaned the MAP sensor with some EGR cleaner (gave the engine a healthy dose of EGR cleaner directly through the intake too). It has helped a bit, and the lack of power hasn't been quite as bad as it was the day prior, but it is still a bit inconsistent. It's apparently had new plugs and coils recently but I'm probably going to replace them again with proper branded items if I find no other solution. My fuel economy has been awful too, feels like it's been getting progressively worse. Has anyone experienced similar issues on a K4M or any Renault engine in the past? This is going to be my daily car so I'd really like to sort it out soon

[paulplom]

Try unplugging the maf sensor and giving it a go.

Do these have a variator on the inlet cam?

[Microwave]

3 hours ago, paulplom said:

Try unplugging the maf sensor and giving it a go.

I don’t think this particular K4M has a MAF. By variator, do you mean the dephaser? Because if so, yes it has a dephaser. Not entirely ruled that out yet but remaining optimistic.

[Isopon]

@Microwave do you still own the Maestro? I saw it on the M1 earlier

[Microwave]

On 8/27/2021 at 4:25 PM, Isopon said:

 

@Microwave do you still own the Maestro? I saw it on the M1 earlier

 

Been meaning to make a new thread for ages, not got round to it as yet.

I do indeed still have the Maestro, and yes you’ll have caught me on the way down to Folkestone. First proper long drive I’ve had in it!

10 hours in a fucking Maestro.