Tommy's A-series Misery - Panda and Allegro Tinkering

[tooSavvy]

Oi! .... If it looks like the arse of a bulldog, with warts BUT you can't poke a spike heel through it 😉

You'll roll in it 😜

Ace, geterrdun

[somewhatfoolish]

  

On 8/3/2021 at 12:51 PM, Tommyboy12 said:

No rear speakers here thank you very much. Oh and a Cork shoved in a hole instead of a rear wiper motor.

The wiper does the same thing as more recent VAG things like golfs; water creeps along the driveshaft in the absence of grease, rust forms and eventually it seizes solid, possibly blowing the motor in the process. Easy enough to strip, derust and lubricate once removed.

On 8/23/2021 at 9:19 PM, Tommyboy12 said:

So begins the welding...

I won't profess to these welds being pretty and I may be welding to some pretty crap metal but theyre 'MOT standard'. I did find a bit more rot after digging under some filler so the plating went a bit further than I intended.

I definitely didn't just use a pair of pliers to bend round to form a lip...

Unfortunately I ran out of gas hence some of the welds look a bit shit. I wanted to get it tacked in at least until I go get some more tomorrow.

I did pretty much that repair on ours 27-ish years ago; it rotted out as it had been wobbed up by the garage after Mater clipped a wall rather than fixed properly a couple of years previously. the other side was fine other than a few scabs.

[Parky]

Just an epic save!  That is all

[Tommyboy12]

I spent the August bank holiday weekend in Wales so not much action until today. I'll start at the front. Did the tappets which were a bit loose to say the least. As I'm so used to Minis it feels a bit odd doing it the other way around! The tappets are a mess of caked on oil which isn't a great sign but it runs so not too fussed! I also changed the spark plugs which were three different brands/heat ratings...

Also I blew out the hard line and fitted a fuel filter. I did manage to get hold of a fuel tank. Drove a few hundred miles to get a fuel tank off a Maestro that was parked under a tree looking very sorry for itself. The tank was absolutely brimmed so I got soaked in fuel but the silver lining is the tank was brimmed so I know it's a good one! Probably not very rusty either although I haven't looked inside.

 

[Tommyboy12]

I also finished the welding today! Didn't take many pics so only got an in progress and finished but we have some more MOT grade welding, which is solid but ugly. Basically I had to rebuild the back of the sill that connects to the floor and folds against the seam for the sill. A couple more patches on the bottom of the sill too.

Drowned in seam sealer obviously to hide my sins 😅

 

[Tommyboy12]

I also vacuumed the disgusting carpets. Took the seats out and lifted the carpet to stop me setting fire to it while welding so thought I might as well!

They were properly grim...

[somewhatfoolish]

Worth giving it a squirt of detergent and a jet wash if it's not falling apart.

[Tommyboy12]

Just now, somewhatfoolish said:

Worth giving it squirt of detergent and a jet wash if it's not falling apart.

Didn't take it out completely as I left a load of clips and bolts in. Plus I'm not sure some of it would survive a jet wash 😅

[phil_lihp]

Very impressed with the amount of work going into this.  Top job!

[Leyland Worldmaster]

5 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Didn't take it out completely as I left a load of clips and bolts in. Plus I'm not sure some of it would survive a jet wash 😅

Try a Wet Vac.  Quite effective! 😎 This car has over 250,000 miles and is totally OK with this... 👍 

[Tommyboy12]

More progress this morning! From this...

To this...

Then had the fun of the handbrake cable. So the new cables fitted ok but I was having problems with adjustment. Basically on fully tight they were still completely slack and not grabbing the shoes. You can see below how it was on maximum 'tightness'.

After umming and arring I decided I needed to move the stop so I could effectively dial in more adjustment. As such I whipped up a spacer to fit between the stop and the tightening nut.  Basically I used a bit of 25mm tube and two driveshaft flange nut washers from a drum brake Mini to create about another two inches of adjustment. Works a treat and now it has a handbrake!

 

[mk2_craig]

That bracket doesn't quite look right, do you think the lever has been yanked too hard previously and bent it to that angle? Might explain the adjustment issue if the parts are definitely the correct ones. 11/10 for the solution to the problem though!!

[Minimad5]

My old man had a Montego estate back in the day, the thing was green and I remember the Countryman stickers on the rear (Plus it cooking the battery coming back from Bangor & my old man giving it "Piece of shit") 

So yeah, I'd have one in the stable of dreams 😅

Do upload some external shots of the whole thing 

[High Jetter]

Montego + welding complete does not compute. Loop to line 10. 🤣

[Tommyboy12]

12 hours ago, mk2_craig said:

That bracket doesn't quite look right, do you think the lever has been yanked too hard previously and bent it to that angle? Might explain the adjustment issue if the parts are definitely the correct ones. 11/10 for the solution to the problem though!!

That's correct for the bracket. I've since learnt the handbrake middle section comes in two lengths and I seem to have bought the wrong one. Although the saloon/estate/maestro are meant to be identical forward of the rear axle so not sure that's the case.

[Tommyboy12]

Oh god I have booked an MOT for it 😬😬😬

Its next Monday which gives me a week to do the final bits which are:

• Completely reattach the fuel tank - I nearly got there on Sunday but ran out of time before the F1 started
• Drown the underside in waxoyl/paint
• Fettle the carb so the emissions arent horrible
• Take it for a short test drive to determine if the brakes actually work

[tooSavvy]

As a man who just* scraped his MOT.....

All I Can Say IS..... Getterdunn!

😎👍

 

[beko1987]

Wow, not far to go then! Good luck, please keep us updated 

[Zelandeth]

If it's anything like my last Metro take a screwdriver with you...wind the mixture screw in before going into the test to lean it out...will run like crap but pass the test.  As soon as you're out just richen it back up again!

[Rust Collector]

Just now, Zelandeth said:

If it's anything like my last Metro take a screwdriver with you...wind the mixture screw in before going into the test to lean it out...will run like crap but pass the test.  As soon as you're out just richen it back up again!

Good shout - I had a Mk2 Golf and a Mk2 Scirocco both like that... You'd go in for test with the car running beautifully*, it would fail on CO emissions... Adjust mixture using highly accurate* Gunson Colourtune, car now runs like shite, limp to MOT, pass emissions, wind mixture screw back out and find the correct* setting by ear in the car park before driving home with a ticket. Repeat next year.

[tooSavvy]

Yes.... Well, I'm not saying a thing about parking a 'CAT compliant' car behind my 'CAT fail' SuziQ to....... Can't say >> or I will have to kill you!! ☠️

Needless to say, fitting the n.o.s. CAT fixed it all perfectly 👍

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, Zelandeth said:

If it's anything like my last Metro take a screwdriver with you...wind the mixture screw in before going into the test to lean it out...will run like crap but pass the test.  As soon as you're out just richen it back up again!

I have to do this with the Minis so pretty normal for me! I'm going to have to get it somewhere near before I take it because during rebuilding the carb I obviously found a lack air filter and a very rich mixture screw and I've since reset it to factory and put an air filter in!

[Noel Tidybeard]

[Longbridge Apologist]

God Speed

[Tommyboy12]

Tank reattached. Underside drowned in waxoyl.

Purrs like a kitten. Smokes like a miner.

[sharley17194]

16 hours ago, Tommyboy12 said:

Tank reattached. Underside drowned in waxoyl.

Purrs like a kitten. Smokes like a miner.

nice healthy engine, good to see its factory fresh!

[Noel Tidybeard]

that's odd even with the 1275 it still makes a montego noise not a maestro noise!

[Tommyboy12]

1 hour ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

that's odd even with the 1275 it still makes a montego noise not a maestro noise!

I assume by that you just mean a racket of tappets and ropey exhaust joins? 😅

[Noel Tidybeard]

1 hour ago, Tommyboy12 said:

I assume by that you just mean a racket of tappets and ropey exhaust joins? 😅

don't be so rude 😲! an A series never makes "a racket of tappets" that would be the fraud kent/valencia yoi're thinking of!🤣

[High Jetter]

11 hours ago, Noel Tidybeard said:

that's odd even with the 1275 it still makes a montego noise not a maestro noise!

I'd forgotten that, but you're right, they did sound different.