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ZX MOT day tomorrow


GregZX

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Purchased this little monstrosity in April and have done about 300 miles since then, albeit slowly, whilst I did a few jobs to clean it up mechanically and cosmetically.

Now it's the dreaded MOT tomorrow, a week early because I just NEED to know what has to be fixed.

Jobs done by me so far

- full service (oil, air filter, fuel filter)

- front brakes stripped and cleaned which also helped with a binding front wheel

- new timing belt, auxilliary belts and water pump (surprisingly easy job and of course I didn't use Citroen's special tool) and coolant changed

- exhaust tarted up but it's still leaking

- the very small amount of surface rust treated and the underside waxoyled and some bits painted with Corrosol.

- leaking rear shock cleaned up (new one bought anyway)

Issues which will cause MOT failure;

- leaking brake cylinder (I'm expecting the brake shoes to be shot also)

- absolutely no nearside handbrake action

- exhaust leak

- cracking tyre wall on offside rear

- EMISSIONS - praying the catacleen and Esso 99 I pumped in does the trick

There's also a nasty noise under load which I'm putting down to a worn rear engine mount (purchased!!) causing excessive movement in the exhaust system and making the cat hit off the floorpan. Or something like that. It's actually ruining what is a very nice driving experience so it needs fixed.

Also helpfully the central locking has ceased to work. All wires have been checked and are fine as is the fuse. Thus I can only put it down to the little box that lives beside the handbrake. Anyway we shall see.

 

 

 

 

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14 minutes ago, GregZX said:

There's also a nasty noise under load which I'm putting down to a worn rear engine mount (purchased!!) causing excessive movement in the exhaust system and making the cat hit off the floorpan. Or something like that.

Rear suspension mountings usually cause this. Knocking noise behind the drivers seat. When braking it sounds like a machine gun.

these

s-l500.jpg

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3 hours ago, meggersdog said:

Rear suspension mountings usually cause this. Knocking noise behind the drivers seat. When braking it sounds like a machine gun.

these

s-l500.jpg

Checked those. They appear fine.

No, this noise - similar to the one you describe - is definately coming from the front of the car. Trying to pin it down it's either the exhaust clattering on the floorpan (there are indentations which may  prove this theory) due to the movement created from the gubbed engine mount. It only happens under engine load, it even happens to a lesser extent when you run down the window and keep your finger on the button (increasing load on the engine) weirdly. OR it's the actual exhaust leaking which is my main suspicion, perhaps at the manifold or front pipe.

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8 hours ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

No rot in the front turrets or sills then?

There was a small amount in one of the turrets which has been welded.  As for the sills there is absolutely nothing, even in the rot trap behind the  front mudflaps. I’ve poked every available possible rot area and nothing. 
 

Just slight surface rust on the jacking points where the paint had flaked off which I’ve treated and painted. The body is in amazing condition but there’s a 5 year gap between MOTs but the car still did 700 miles in that time. I’m wondering if it was taken abroad, maybe to France, 

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Sounds like you've got a goodun then :-) Maybe, but 700 miles isn't a lot for a trip. The jacking points are a real weak point rust wise when they get damaged, best avoided using them. Very lucky on the turret tops too if only a small amount. The first one I did was probably 12 years ago now and it was bad! I've done a couple more since too, including a 16v.

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2 hours ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

Sounds like you've got a goodun then :-) Maybe, but 700 miles isn't a lot for a trip. The jacking points are a real weak point rust wise when they get damaged, best avoided using them. Very lucky on the turret tops too if only a small amount. The first one I did was probably 12 years ago now and it was bad! I've done a couple more since too, including a 16v.

I’ll post a pic of the work done to the turret top when I get it back. I’ve managed to damage a jacking point of course, can’t believe how thin the steel is. It’s been lathered in corrosol anyway, so hopefully it won’t rust out. 🙏 

Sitting here now refreshing the MOT status page to see what the score is. 

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9 minutes ago, twosmoke300 said:

Not too bad 

5D7FD7C5-FE1B-4244-B126-F82BA2542BB7.png

Yeah, had it back home and put on the ramp. 6 fail items relate to the rear brakes which I expected. My friendly mechanic reckons a clean up of the drums might suffice but worst case scenario is new shoes and a new cylinder. 

The sill corrosion is a very small patch required so I’ll either do that myself or speak to the welder tomorrow.

All in all not too bad. 

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18 hours ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

No rot in the front turrets or sills then?

You were right about the sills. Thankfully it’s a very small hole and will require a very small patch.  
It had rotted from behind the paint so I didn’t notice it.  Never mind it will get sorted. 

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3 minutes ago, GregZX said:

You were right about the sills. Thankfully it’s a very small hole and will require a very small patch.  
It had rotted from behind the paint so I didn’t notice it.  Never mind it will get sorted. 

Like I said, I've got previous with saving these... Depending on what the sill is like some 25mmx5mm bar can be useful to substitute the jacking point and give you something  decent to weld to. ZX's are very much overlooked but great little cars.

Not much work there as soon as the rear brakes are given a going over by the looks of it :-)

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1 minute ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

Like I said, I've got previous with saving these... Depending on what the sill is like some 25mmx5mm bar can be useful to substitute the jacking point and give you something  decent to weld to. ZX's are very much overlooked but great little cars.

Not much work there as soon as the rear brakes are given a going over by the looks of it :-)

Jacking points are in really good shape.  I’ve checked the rest of the sills and they’re solid but my worry is you don’t know what’s happening inside them as this rot was hidden by the paint. 

Any thoughts on saving them? I was thinking about sticking the pressure washer in to clean out any debris then firing in tons of rust converter.
 

Tbh it’s only coming out during the summer now as it has retired from daily duties. 

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sealey-grey-zinc-primer-paint-500ml-scs034s.thumb.jpg.cbe6f40a0d05fa688e25b74f040473fa.jpg

I wouldn't introduce any more water tbh, Vactan and Bilt Hamber S50 is the way I'm going from now on after welding is done. I've also found the Sealey zinc stuff to work very well as a weld thru primer for bits that get covered over. https://www.thedarkwob.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=265&start=470 A sheet of Zintec isn't a bad investment either.

Zx's have rubber grommets in the ends of the sills to allow wax injection. The chassis rails could probably do with a drop of S50 too, especially if someone has damaged the factory under seal with a trolley jack or a bit of off roading at some point in its life.

 

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3 hours ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

Like I said, I've got previous with saving these... Depending on what the sill is like some 25mmx5mm bar can be useful to substitute the jacking point and give you something  decent to weld to. ZX's are very much overlooked but great little cars.

Not much work there as soon as the rear brakes are given a going over by the looks of it :-)

That thread is fantastic and terrIfying in equal measure. I haven’t checked under the inner wing liners or lifted the boot floor or carpet🙈. You’d imagine the MOT tester would have picked up anything untoward but they’re not allowed to remove trim. It looks likely this car was off the road for 5 years so perhaps that’s what has saved it. I’ll be checking tomorrow. 

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Did you get to page 5 with the 16v? lmfao Fingers crossed by the sounds of it you've managed to find one that's survived better than a lot of them did. :-)

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My TD Volcane sadly ended up like that and I still kept driving it for months afterwards, loved that bloody car.  At one point in time 6 of my mates were driving them too, they served us well!

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1 hour ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

Did you get to page 5 with the 16v? lmfao Fingers crossed by the sounds of it you've managed to find one that's survived better than a lot of them did. :-)

CIMG1295Medium.jpg.4388368d7860a8360cebc6951a89113a.jpg

My TD Volcane sadly ended up like that and I still kept driving it for months afterwards, loved that bloody car.  At one point in time 6 of my mates were driving them too, they served us well!

Yeah some amazing work by yourself on that old ZX. Had a quick check there and all seems well, I’ll have a more in-depth check tomorrow and post some photos. The thing is with these cars is that there’s no visible rust, the arches are spotless for example.  I’m used to dealing with old Fords where the arches rot out and eat into the sills and front wings  and battery trays dissolve. I bought this car to replace a rotten Escort I had no time to weld as it looked so clean. 

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23 hours ago, Scruffy Bodger said:

Hopefully its just certain bits and it'll be all good. I've had Fords too years back but they dissolved around me and I couldn't weld then.

Went over the car with a fine tooth comb, lifted the carpets and it's as clean as a whistle. There's nothing apart from the sill and a little bit on the inner wings where the wheel arch liner screws go through and that's been treated.

It's at the welders just now, brakes will be sorted Monday/Tuesday.

Then it's just the horrific clacking noise under load which I'm praying is the lower rear engine mount causing havoc or the front pipe leaking profusely. 
 

Anyway as you can see there’s nothing on the inners and the jacking points are surface rust which I’ve treat and will paint with corrosol  

 

 

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