Grogee's spannering (Maestro , Corsa & Avensis). FONDLE MY PARTNER

[junkyarddog]

Doesn't look too bad,should be doable.

[grogee]

Communications with my bodywork man "Kevin" is a little stilted over WhatsApp, but I mentioned this morning that there are no repair panels available. He's replied: "I will make it" which is good because when the pictures landed yesterday without any description it wasn't clear whether this was a statement saying: "look at the state of this wreck, I'm not going any further". Hopefully he's got his tin snips and cornflake packets out as I type.

[grogee]

Finally a sitrep from 'Kevin', and at first glance it appears he's doing sterling work with the MIG gun. And the grinder. I imagine the tip will charge him extra for the skip of rust he'll present soon. 

So far it looks like he's tackling the rear floor/bumper bit, and has welded up the arches and sills on RHS. @vulgalour take note... Obviously he's got nothing on your skillz.

He was asking for the paint code (it's White Diamond, whatever that is, 1nn or something) which is a promising sign!

So all I need to do now is find the £1000+ it'll cost me. Fortunately I had it saved, unfortunately it burned a hole in my pocket so I've dipped into it, oops. 

Meanwhile I've been thinking that I might sell the Puma in favour of another barge. Was tempted by @Schaefft's E38 as I do adore the 7er and I've never owned a Beemer before.

My man-reasoning goes along these lines: the Puma and the Maestro are both small, fwd things for buzzing about in. If I had a year-round barge I could enjoy winter comfort while the Maestro is out of the corrosive acid rain.

The Saab I sold would have been perfect for this... 🙄

 

[grogee]

Moar bodywork. Looks like Kevin has the wind in his sails. Encouraging for me too, I'm itching to get it back and get it MoT'd.

[grogee]

Given that the outside is receiving The Treatment, I really ought to get on with fixing the headliner that I took out before it got delivered to Kevin.

@Cluffy has very kindly given me a corner of his garage and an old table to get working on the headliner. We've already given it a coat of PVA, although perhaps not necessarily as it's polystyrene, not fibreboard stuff.

The other day I'd had enough of being scared to stick the fabric on, so I went gung-ho and just threw it on there. It's contoured and there's quite a lot of shape to it - not just 'flat' as you might expect. The fabric hasn't really sat in the curves along the corners but I'm hoping the grab handles will bolt this down and save my blushes.

Also, I ran out of pegs, so I'll have to do the other corners tomorrow and next day.  

[grogee]

Right, I'd better get down @Cluffy's and finish off this headliner. Kevin's been in touch with his usual velvety smooth customer service:

"It's about ready .I let u finish the rest off I have spent too much time on it"

I translate this as 'you can stick the stupid trim bits back on' which is ok with me if it saves me a few quid. 

Speaking of which: I've no idea what this will set me back. We started off at £600 but then I added doors and stuff plus he's welded the back end up. I hope £1000, I fear £1200. @worldofceri I've WhatsApp'd you re: trailering it back to Southam. 

[Tenmil Socket]

26 minutes ago, grogee said:

Right, I'd better get down @Cluffy's and finish off this headliner. Kevin's been in touch with his usual velvety smooth customer service:

"It's about ready .I let u finish the rest off I have spent too much time on it"

I translate this as 'you can stick the stupid trim bits back on' which is ok with me if it saves me a few quid. 

Speaking of which: I've no idea what this will set me back. We started off at £600 but then I added doors and stuff plus he's welded the back end up. I hope £1000, I fear £1200. @worldofceri I've WhatsApp'd you re: trailering it back to Southam. 

 

Fantastic!

[GregZX]

53 minutes ago, grogee said:

Right, I'd better get down @Cluffy's and finish off this headliner. Kevin's been in touch with his usual velvety smooth customer service:

"It's about ready .I let u finish the rest off I have spent too much time on it"

I translate this as 'you can stick the stupid trim bits back on' which is ok with me if it saves me a few quid. 

Speaking of which: I've no idea what this will set me back. We started off at £600 but then I added doors and stuff plus he's welded the back end up. I hope £1000, I fear £1200. @worldofceri I've WhatsApp'd you re: trailering it back to Southam. 

 

Looks absolutely brill. Wish I had a Kevin near me. 

[grogee]

1 minute ago, GregZX said:

Looks absolutely brill. Wish I had a Kevin near me. 

Am thinking I may pop over. It's 45 mins each way but I can hand over some cash (taxman look away now) AND there's a 5 Guys in Northants.

[GregZX]

4 minutes ago, grogee said:

Am thinking I may pop over. It's 45 mins each way but I can hand over some cash (taxman look away now) AND there's a 5 Guys in Northants.

Buy him a 5 guys. He might forget it’s £1200. 

[grogee]

After a little to-ing and fro-ing, Kevin and I have settled on REDACTED

In the grand scheme of things that is a great deal, unfortunately I've not been particularly disciplined with my spending/saving so I'm going to have to work the credit card until payday. 

When it gets back I'm going to have to work out how to get those black spats on that fit in front of rear wheels. I think the BL 'solution' involves self tappers, probably half the reason it rots out there.

Is there any plastic sort of 'rawlplug' thing that fits in a metal panel to accept a self tappers without the rust risk?

2/3rds done on the headliner. 

[Erebus]

18 minutes ago, grogee said:

After a little to-ing and fro-ing, Kevin and I have settled on £1250 cash. It was officially £1200+VAT.

In the grand scheme of things that is a great deal, unfortunately I've not been particularly disciplined with my spending/saving so I'm going to have to work the credit card until payday. 

When it gets back I'm going to have to work out how to get those black spats on that fit in front of rear wheels. I think the BL 'solution' involves self tappers, probably half the reason it rots out there.

Is there any plastic sort of 'rawlplug' thing that fits in a metal panel to accept a self tappers without the rust risk?

2/3rds done on the headliner. 

That sounds like incredible value to me.  Looks like he does really nice work too.  Might have to hit you up for his details to sort out my rusty 205 GTI that is buried under crap in my garage....!

[grogee]

1 hour ago, Erebus said:

That sounds like incredible value to me.  Looks like he does really nice work too.  Might have to hit you up for his details to sort out my rusty 205 GTI that is buried under crap in my garage....!

It does seem good value, I only have one other yardstick to compare to, see further up the thread.

I'm sure I'll get it back and curse any bits he's missed but then again he has a business to run and has to draw the line somewhere. As it is I have to replace some trim (any suggestions for what sticky tape to use for the side rubbing strips?).

Surely the test for any bodywork fettler is whether he accepts BL shite. Kevin passes this test with flying colours having done mine and at least one other that I know of. And I've passed on his number to our shite-hoarding local taxi driver, who has two R8s rusting on his drive, and an (apparently) immaculate Allegro Equipe in his garage (pic for illustration purposes only, I haven't seen it myself).

@Erebus The longer your 205 sits in the garage, the less lifetime you'll have left to enjoy it. Un-bury it, save up some tokens, and get it to Kevin before the summer's over.

[Erebus]

7 minutes ago, grogee said:

It does seem good value, I only have one other yardstick to compare to, see further up the thread.

I'm sure I'll get it back and curse any bits he's missed but then again he has a business to run and has to draw the line somewhere. As it is I have to replace some trim (any suggestions for what sticky tape to use for the side rubbing strips?).

Surely the test for any bodywork fettler is whether he accepts BL shite. Kevin passes this test with flying colours having done mine and at least one other that I know of. And I've passed on his number to our shite-hoarding local taxi driver, who has two R8s rusting on his drive, and an (apparently) immaculate Allegro Equipe in his garage (pic for illustration purposes only, I haven't seen it myself).

@Erebus The longer your 205 sits in the garage, the less lifetime you'll have left to enjoy it. Un-bury it, save up some tokens, and get it to Kevin before the summer's over.

You are absolutely right.  Please could you pm me his contact details?  I'll probably have to get him to look at my rusty camper van as well....

[LoftyvRS]

Looking forward to seeing the Maestro back with you and looking splendid in the sun with the wheel trims back on etc.

Good body men are hard to find!

[grogee]

Well I may as well just share it here. 

Kevin James works at Threeways (or possibly Three Ways) garage in Northampton: Dallington Industrial Estate, Heathfield Way, Nhants NN5 7QP. His number is 07989 037879.

I should caveat the above info/photos with the statement: I HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE WORK UP CLOSE. IT MAY BE COMPLETE SHIT. YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY. OBJECTS IN MY SHITE THREAD MAY APPEAR BETTER THAN THEY ARE.

Saying that his workshop seems full of other stuff so he can't be that bad.

[Carlo_Raffo_TDS]

May I ask a possibly silly question? Did you trailer the car to him and then worked out what needed to be done when he saw it? Or did you take pictures of the crusty bits and he went off that and was happy to fix it?

I need an old motor welding up but unsure how to go about it when they potentially havent got car in front of them

 

[MorrisItalSLX]

7 hours ago, grogee said:

Is there any plastic sort of 'rawlplug' thing that fits in a metal panel to accept a self tappers without the rust risk?

Rivnut?

 

[High Jetter]

Yes, BL had fittings (like many others) that took a 'screw' into either a round or square panel hole. My van inside door handles for an example

[grogee]

12 hours ago, Carlo_Raffo_TDS said:

May I ask a possibly silly question? Did you trailer the car to him and then worked out what needed to be done when he saw it? Or did you take pictures of the crusty bits and he went off that and was happy to fix it?

I need an old motor welding up but unsure how to go about it when they potentially havent got car in front of them

 

Not a silly question. It was a combination of pictures I sent, plus then another assessment when it got there. I provided panels and doors needed: 2x sills, 1x rear arch panel, 1x front wing (to provide rear arch section for opposite side), 2x doors.

When he took rear bumper off there was a lot of rust around the rear floor so there was an additional piece of work to repair that which neither of us knew about.

So, in summary: provide as many photos as possible. Be prepared to source hard to find panels. And be ready for the bill to go up beyond what you might have expected...

In addition I've had to get @worldofceri to transport it. I could risk driving it back to a booked MoT but the tyres are a million years old and the handbrake doesn't work.

[grogee]

10 hours ago, MorrisItalSLX said:

Rivnut?

 

I think a rivnut is overkill for what I need. These rear wheel arch spats were held on (I think) originally with self tappers.

I've seen square-hole grommet nut things that accept a self tapper without biting into the metalwork, but don't know how to make a square hole in the sills/arches.

Bear in mind the sill holes are 'blind' in that I can't get to the back of them to put a nut on. Any hole I make is likely to be a rust trap too, so I was just going to slather it in paint/wax.

[Jenson Velcro]

Try looking for lockuts or lokuts. They are available round as well as square.

[grogee]

I went to see Kevin yesterday, handed over some envelopes of cash for his hard work. 

Shiters beware, I think he feels a bit hard done by on this job. "I've spent way too much time on it" he said. Which is probably true, and good for me if true. How much time does £REDACTED buy anyway?

So please feel free to contact using details above but he's got a backlog of work to get through first. I can hardly blame him for prioritizing 'easy' jobs where bolts aren't rusted out and it's just a case of spraying and bolting a few panels.

He's sprayed up the drivers door I provided which is good because the current one has quite a lot of wob in it. Saying that I might save that job for next year.

I do need to find some adhesive tape for the rubbing strip on the NSR door (also new/2nd hand). In my head I'm thinking 3M but I don't really know what to buy.

Then there's the roof trim whatsits. There are two rubber strips that sit in the roof seam, he's removed these for spraying but I need to put them back. 

And of course the little spoilers in front of rear wheels. I've seen a lot of MGs that have these removed, presumably because they're a rust trap, but I do think they look cool in a "BL Sports" kind of way. 

Ceri is booked for Wednesday to bring it back to the garage, but we've had good news on the house buying front and should be moving mid May. So all hands to pump and try and get it running for June.

[Cookiesouwest]

2 hours ago, grogee said:

I went to see Kevin yesterday, handed over some envelopes of cash for his hard work. 

Shiters beware, I think he feels a bit hard done by on this job. "I've spent way too much time on it" he said. Which is probably true, and good for me if true. How much time does £1250 cash buy anyway?

So please feel free to contact using details above but he's got a backlog of work to get through first. I can hardly blame him for prioritizing 'easy' jobs where bolts aren't rusted out and it's just a case of spraying and bolting a few panels.

He's sprayed up the drivers door I provided which is good because the current one has quite a lot of wob in it. Saying that I might save that job for next year.

I do need to find some adhesive tape for the rubbing strip on the NSR door (also new/2nd hand). In my head I'm thinking 3M but I don't really know what to buy.

Then there's the roof trim whatsits. There are two rubber strips that sit in the roof seam, he's removed these for spraying but I need to put them back. 

And of course the little spoilers in front of rear wheels. I've seen a lot of MGs that have these removed, presumably because they're a rust trap, but I do think they look cool in a "BL Sports" kind of way. 

Ceri is booked for Wednesday to bring it back to the garage, but we've had good news on the house buying front and should be moving mid May. So all hands to pump and try and get it running for June.

3M tape should do the job, just fine.

Congrats on the house and the heroic progress on the Maestro.

[grogee]

So with the Maestro back and painted, the priority* is to get the old leaky sunroof out and the new (hopefully non leaky) sunroof in.

Luckily the headliner is out as detailed earlier, but unluckily all my tools are n/a because moving house etc. I've got a box of basic tools which means I'm almost there, but there's a couple of rivets (why?) that hold the front of the sunroof frame to the roof. The rest is held on with crosshead screws and a couple of M6 bolts.

To be honest I never realised that the engineering required for a slide-back sunroof was so complex. Obviously the roof has a oblong hole in it, but there's a whole double skin thing going on where the glass bit sides into. Plus four drain tubes that go to the front and rear wheel arches (I think).

My Celica did it better by sliding the glass bit backwards outside of the roof once it was tilted up at the rear, so it didn't rob any headroom.

Anyway also on the list is to fit the four Bridgestones I got for the alloys. I've found another local supplier willing to do this but unfortunately they're £18 per wheel. Ah well I need it done and they're taking up valuable space, so I took them over this morning. 

We're supposed to be getting keys to our new house today, but phone has been suspiciously quiet. Good job we're not waiting outside with a removals van... Luckily we've got some crossover with our temp accommodation to do some decorating. 

[grogee]

Had another look at the replacement sunroof. I'm not going to be able to fit it before I've given it a damn good seeing to with the wire wheel and paint. It's a bit rusty which would obviously only get worse with time. Not sure if it's holed yet, will have to see what the angry wheel uncovers.

The other bit I'm not sure about is the foam around the top of the sunroof frame. Is that supposed to seal it to the body? What little is left is crumbly and knackered, so I'm going to need to fit replacement stuff. 

Anyone got any suggestions? I'm thinking closed cell foam of some kind with adhesive backing... Any suggestions welcomed.

Oh, finally got the keys to our house. To be honest it's a bit overwhelming. So much needs doing! Not just inside, outside too. Just impossible to know where to start. 

[MrBiscuits]

1 hour ago, grogee said:

Had another look at the replacement sunroof. I'm not going to be able to fit it before I've given it a damn good seeing to with the wire wheel and paint. It's a bit rusty which would obviously only get worse with time. Not sure if it's holed yet, will have to see what the angry wheel uncovers.

The other bit I'm not sure about is the foam around the top of the sunroof frame. Is that supposed to seal it to the body? What little is left is crumbly and knackered, so I'm going to need to fit replacement stuff. 

Anyone got any suggestions? I'm thinking closed cell foam of some kind with adhesive backing... Any suggestions welcomed.

Oh, finally got the keys to our house. To be honest it's a bit overwhelming. So much needs doing! Not just inside, outside too. Just impossible to know where to start. 

The foam might be more to stop it rattling than to form a meaningful seal. Any water that gets in past that rubber round the glass 'should' run into the tray and drain faster than it accumulates. 

Can you not make one decent cassette out of the two? The tray in the car looks in much better nick. I took one very similar out of a Rover 200 many years back and successfully bodged it with P40 and hammerite.

Looking forward to seeing this done. From the pics I'd say grumpy Kev did a decent job for the money.

[grogee]

14 hours ago, MrBiscuits said:

The foam might be more to stop it rattling than to form a meaningful seal. Any water that gets in past that rubber round the glass 'should' run into the tray and drain faster than it accumulates. 

Can you not make one decent cassette out of the two? The tray in the car looks in much better nick. I took one very similar out of a Rover 200 many years back and successfully bodged it with P40 and hammerite.

Looking forward to seeing this done. From the pics I'd say grumpy Kev did a decent job for the money.

I may well do that, combine the best bits to make a Sunroof Greatest Hits. Although I think the current one has gone rusty where the drain tubes meet the frame. Anyway as you were saying, repair is possible. I was thinking epoxy but yours is probably a better suggestion. 

[grogee]

Also I got some plates made up. Mainly because the existing ones are original so they're delaminating and generally a bit crusty.

I did consider getting the 'Rowstock' and Austin Rover logo made up but then I thought it might well stretch the budget a bit too far. So I settled on some red writing and the original (0235) area code for the phone number, £38 posted and they arrived within 24 hours.

I'll keep the originals safe somewhere as they're a nice historic artifact that goes with the car.

[grogee]

Had a quick go on the sunroof frame while it's sunny. Luckily the rust hasn't eaten through the frame so I'll slap some paint on and it should be ok. Unfortunately I didn't quite get around the whole frame edge before the drill battery died, ah well.

@MrBiscuits the more I look at this frame, the more convinced I am that you're right: the foam seal is partly to stop rattling but mainly for wind noise I think. That being the case, I can make up some adhesive foam strips and curves to replace the dessicated old bits, and not worry too much about their waterproofness. The water is supposed to drain off the glass and into the frame, where it then drops down the lowest drain tube.

Going to pop to the cheap shop to get some primer and gloss black metal paint, fortunately it's on the way to master Grogee's school.