My project cars thread. Maestro fettling

[JMotor]

Took a shot at the 406 today. 

It's in need of MOT. Then it can be moved on. 

Few issues to sort first. Front drivers spring is touching the inner wing. Took the whole strut out and then apart to find nothing out of place. Eh!? 

Meh! I'll order a spring as it's a bit crusty. Then reassemble. It's had a top mount at some point and it's not had the top hat put back on correctly. 

Plus the brake caliper sliders are stuck. So think a strip and clean is in order too. Brakes look really good otherwise. 

Hopefully it will pass without too much trouble after that. 

Didn't take any pics, cause I wanted to get on with it. 

[JMotor]

406 springs. 

Not a fan of changing them at all!

Evil barstewards. 

Gave up and flung at the local garage to fit. Now to stuff it back in. 

[JMotor]

Manged a bonus Nexia shot too. 

Sounds daft. But it puts a wee grin on my face driving it. 

[JMotor]

Did fixor on 406.

Drivers front strut is back in with new spring. Now clears the inner wing. Yay. Freed off front brake sliders too. Double Yay!! 

But to restore the balance. 

Daewoo has broken another spring. Front drinkers side. The captain side ones are both still fine. 

Will price something up or buy a set. Price will dictate that. 

The above, isn't really news worthy as I realise this is AutoShite. 

It's the daily routine for shit to break, right? 

[JMotor]

Did purchases. 

Because I was overthinking an issue. Was about ready to replace the wheels on the 306 due to an wobble at speed. 

Dawned on me. Had I actually bothered to properly look to see if it was just the wheels?

Straight away found the drivers rear wheel bearing was actually knackered. Well that won't help the job. 

Also good opportunity to fit a pair of new dustshields too. 

Ended up getting full rear hub kits and genuine dustshields. 

406 is coming along nicely too. Just need to replace the dry rotted tyres and we are hopefully ready to chance a test on it. 

Gave it a wash too! 

 

[JMotor]

Results are in on the 406...

Aw, you durty bastid! 

I'll have a proper look later. Most of the issues seem to be some grot on the sills (typical 406 issue) and wonder how seized that valve is?

 

Bridging the thing should of been the smart choice.

[JMotor]

Right! 

Whip the 406 into the workshop. Tackle the jobs with aplomb! 

So tackle the hardest job first. Then everything else is easy! Right!? 

WRONG! 

As you can see. It's never a just a small hole. 

Then the extent of the grot didn't stop there. It's had your typical MOT welding repairs. Slap tin over the shit and tack on and cover with industry standard underseal. 

Even the near 2mm thick plate for the Jacking point was but a memory now. 

Gad damn it! 

Didn't even bother investigating the passenger side. As its the exact same. 

[Soundwave]

Mon dieu! C'est flocons de son!

[JMotor]

Most of that merde on the floor came from when I took the outer skin off. Think it was the sill membrane at one point. 

So next logical plan... 

Strip as much good stuff off and bin remains. 

[JMotor]

Back onto the 306.

Discovered the front passenger wheel bearing was buggered. 

I had previously checked this a while back, due to my earlier mentioned wheel wobble issue.

Couldn't find any play in it. So left it at that. Until I spun the wheel when checking again. It was very grumbly. 

To save immobilising the car. I got another hub and changed the bearing in it.

Changed the hub over and much better now. 

A quick test drive later reminded me how much fun they were to drive. 

Still a couple of niggles and the mismatched painted wheels needs sorting out. But that'll come in time. 

[JMotor]

Och! Having more than one project is a ballache!! 

Spotted a small hole, behind the rear shocker on the Corsa.

 

Ugh! It's never "just" a small hole is it!? 

Rear axle, fuel tank and filler neck out. Brake pipes? Tin snips through the whoores! 

Spinny wire wheel of pure bastard put to work. Then the Spinny discy pile of bastard afterwards. 

Hmmm.... 

OK, that's not totally horrible. 

So. One new piece of steel let in. Bashed fuck out of the steel to make it. 

Now! Let's sort out that flange on the chassis leg! Due to the shapes. I went for small patches. 

Then cut more of the strut tower out. 

Then left it at that. With a splash of weld thru just to give the fresh steel a coat of something. 

I'll have another go at it next weekend. 

[Split_Pin]

Good work there, mine would have been like that in the same place had I poked at it. 

[JMotor]

Thanks 🙂.

Yeah, it's best left alone if you can. 

But it's no wonder to why it rots out when you get dug into it. 

That area is about two to three layers of steel in places. With those plates only being spot welded. Twenty years of mud and moisture just makes a mess. 

[Split_Pin]

Never thought I'd say it, but its a shitty Vauxhall trait, as you know. Double or triple seams just fatten up and self destruct. All mine did this at some point.

Although there's some surface rust under the 75, the seams have remained watertight so a quick rub down and vactan saw it good.

I'm well tired of it!

 

 

[JMotor]

Hadn't been at the Corsa for a little while. 

Typical finding other things to do. 

But when I felt like it, I just did a little bit at a time. 

Yes, it's not pretty. But I wanted strength over some weld pRon. 

Quick tickle with the flappy disc and it looks more presentable. Then a quick dust of weld thru just to give the lot a coat over. 

I still have to finish this. Then put another layer over to get it back to what GM had done. 

[JMotor]

Nexia update. 

Been using it as a weekend runabout. 

Quite enjoy driving it. It's been doing me proud for just car duties.  

Shame T'other side is a bit rough.

That's the biggest problem with the car. Certain specific Nexia parts are near impossible to find. That rear passenger door being one of those parts. Can only find one for sale, helpfully in the wrong colour. Might get it anyway and live with it or repaint it. Or not bother.

Also have a few service parts to fit, as I hope to head down to the VBOA show next month in it (well if it's not postponed again).  So that'll be today's task.

[JMotor]

Holy moly! 

I actually got some jobs done on the Woo.

New rotor arm and dizzy cap has actually returned some useful get up and go. It was the original parts I pulled off! So not bad for being on since 1997!

Then on with some front brakes. Even think they were the original ones too. 

Reason the new disc is rusty, it's due to me buying new old stock GM/Vauxhall gear. Bit of roost ain't gonna bother me. 

Was surprised to find out these Twin cam Nexias run the same brakes as the bigger engined Vauxhalls. Or as known in the Vauxhall modifying circles as 'Valver' brakes. 

The standard choice for upgrading your Corsa or Nova. Back in the day it was near impossible to not find a set in the scrappies. 

They still give some decent pedal feel, will still stop you quite quickly and mostly..... 

They're cheap for pads and discs! Brand new GM brand pads and discs came in about £35 delivered. 

Handy when three of your fleet has them. 

Light work was made of the job. Done that many of them it's near muscle memory now. 

I couldn't get over how clean this wee car was too! 

It's still got fucking brake dustshelds for fucks sake!! 

It even came apart like a much younger car too. Such a joy. 

Still need to replace some stuff yet. Just service stuff like spark plugs, which after pulling one out. I was more than happy with its light brown colour. 

Derek at Vice grip was right! You can tell a lot from your engine from how the plugs are. 

[JMotor]

Back on with the Corsa.

The whole length of the arch tub to chassis flange is now soild. 

Tackling each section one by one has helped. Because I've done a lot of work just in this corner alone. 

Learned a lot by doing it too. 

[JMotor]

Another useless update. 

The 406 is away now. Was offered something above scrap for it. 

With me being able to keep the wheels and the battery. 

Poor thing was going to be a expensive time bomb. Shell was properly crispy and most of the suspension bushes weren't in great fettle. 

Annoying to give up. However long term, it was the best idea to be shot of it. 

[Split_Pin]

No shame in that. 

If its bothering you then best to get rid.

[JMotor]

I had chucked up an update earlier. But an upside down photo annoyed me. Then I made a proper mess of trying to fix it. So deleted it and started again. 

Wasn't much of an update anyway. 

The Nexia wafted me in air con goodness down and back from Sywell Aerodrome, where the VBOA show was. 600 mile round trip, without issue. 

Score a load of silly parts for the stable. 

Grand! 

With this week booked off from work for after. 

So with other odd jobs done, I went and started on welding up some more of the Corsa. 

Same routine with the passenger side inner arch tub as the drivers side. 

I wanted to improve my welding and metal fab skills with doing this side. 

With some cuts in the new plate to help make it form to the shape I wanted. With a tack here and there. The rough shape was formed for both layers. With loads of small tacks to make it whole again. Chassis leg was also repaired. 

Which led to an important purchase, this was a mains powered powerfile. This was used to tidy the job up afterwards. Also after seeing the results other members on here have got with them. I felt it was worth having one. 

I have an air powered one too. But the new one was much easier. I could bash on without the fuckery of the compressor. 

So much neater looking now. 

I then switched to the lower part of the rear outer wheel arch. Both inner and out parts were crispy. Both promptly asked to go away with the angry wheel. 

Nice and easy for the metal fab. As I had a whole outer sill in stock to nab this piece from. Fortunately the sill is still good to go again as a repair section for the outer arch covers that piece I chopped off. 

Just the inner arch to repair. But at least I have something to build too now.

[Split_Pin]

Good work man, welding is looking good. Not enough of these being saved, I was committed  to mine for 11 years.

[JMotor]

Thanks fella. 

Do think they be repaired more now than scrapped as much now... 

Well the GSi's will be. The povvy bus ones like mine will still be killed or reused to reshell stuff. 

But now even Novas are prized now. So maybe these newer shit boxes will be too? 

[JMotor]

22 hours ago, Split_Pin said:

Not enough of these being saved. 

Funny reading that again after today...

I started on the most notorious rust spot on Corsas and Novas. 

The chassis rail that goes to the TCA (Borrowed a photo of the net to show where I mean and that's mint compared to mine!). 

It's very crispy on both sides. Ah shit! 

Also a  tricky section to pick out and repair properly. So can see why a lot were squished instead. Or have a really crappy patches thrown on. 

Have found a repair section. Which is conveniently about the right amount I need to replace. As the rust has pretty much eaten into it all. 

German eBay saves the day again. 

Oh a shout to @sutty2006and @domenot sure if it's any use to you guys.

But Leidinger tuning on German eBay do some reparaturblech for Mantas. Might already know of them, but I thought it was a mention anyway?

[sutty2006]

Seen someone receive a wheel arch repair panel from them for a manta B, and it wasn’t the greatest of quality. Cheers for the heads up though! 

[JMotor]

No problem. 

Suppose that's the problem. The stuff that is available isn't great. 

I've had the same issue with my stuff too. 

Had a sill panel which looked like what I needed. But the quality was horrible. Klokkerholm stuff is like that too, some really good quality stuff and some utter garbage. 

The Astra I've bought genuine panels for it. Because of those reasons. 

[JMotor]

Got photos of what that section looked like. 

😰

I *love* rust!

 

This had some crap patches slapped over. 

Hmmmmm, crispy! Also those welds hadn't stuck at all. Two minutes with an air chisel had it off. 

Still don't mind continuing on. As it's all time with the welder. 

[JMotor]

306 fun. 

I do enjoy this thing. A lot!

Don't enjoy when it has a wobble at speed. Found two buckled wheels. 

So let's fix that! 

Swapped over the tyres to the 406 wheels. Got them all dead nuts zero on the wheel balancer. 

Now drives mint! 

I kinda like them too. Glad I kept them now. 

Then the starter motor packed in. Well it was my fault and after beating on it for ages it's now refusing to start when it warm. 

Got eyes on a HDi/XUD one to replace it. Common OE upgrade. 

Also finally got a delivery from Germany of some repair panels for the Corsa. 

[JMotor]

Oh! 

Oh, deary me! 

That's not good.... 

I'll have a crack at repairing it with the repair section I got and some sheet steel I have lying about. 

[JMotor]

306 starter replacement. 

Remove inlet manifold. Fit starter that you assumed would fit. Starter does start, but makes high pitch noises. Flywheel not happy. 

Haul everything back out. Find the new starter has the wrong amount of teeth on the gear. Buy another starter and fit.

Drain coolant. Fit some shiny shit. 

Replacement for now aged plastic thermostat housing. Replace a stuck open thermostat while I was there. Then realise it was actually missing the whole time. 

Bolt inlet back on with another inlet manifold gasket. Because it got torn taking off.  Fill back up with coolant.

Mutter a load of words questioning your choices and how shit you are fixing stuff.

Then relieved when it starts and runs fine again.