Remember this....

[Kenny.S]

Hi all,

Sorry i've not been on here for a while but i've been pretty busy since i started working offshore.

My last trip got cancelled at the last minute so i took the opportunity to get the RA into the bodyshop. I'm quite fortunate that i know the guy that owns it and most of the guys that work there so he's happy for me to do all the stripping down and most of the basic prep work.

What it looked like shortly before it went in

The section of paint that came off when the window was changed kept flaking until it was at the bottom of the A-pillar and most of the way down the rear pillar.

Out of curiousity we tested a section of the roof and the paint wasnt too clever looking there either so the whole roof has been taken back to bare metal, took some pictures today but i left the camera at the garage.

As you may have gathered the engine bay and the insides of all the doors are also being done, as they say, in for a penny in for a pound.

Might take the chance to opt for just a pure white high solid paint as opposed to base coat and laquer. It should make any future repairs etc far easier as there's no matching involved as it wont have any pigments in it just straight out the tin, plus i think it'll look awesome in blinding white!

Kenny

 

 

[the squiggle]

When you said that you were gonna tidy up the rough bits..........[]

Proper Preparation Prevents Pi** Poor Performance and that is Proper Preparation

Hows the inlet manifold coming along?

Grant

[vicki]

Who lost their hand in the preparation? Last pic lol

[Kenny.S]

Which one [] i've been quite busy behind the scenes working away at various ideas.

I eventually had to partially admit defeat because of time constraints and opted for a slightly modified Phase 1.5.

Got a little carried away with the engine side of things too and decided to do a full rebuild [] Figured i might as well get the most out of the newly aquired 18g rather than having to be slightly conservative in order to preseve an 11 year old motor. Got it pretty much stripped down and i'm glad i did, found a few potential problems waiting to bite me in the bum!

Kenny

[the squiggle]

What problems were they?

Grant

[col666]

All the prep work will be worth it in the end, nice wheels too[H]

[Kenny.S]

Who lost there hand in the preparation? Last pic lol

lol I learnt my lesson after the first day i spent rubbing the bulkhead with a scotchbrite pad! Your fingers start to get a little sore, had to admit defeat and get some gloves.

Kenny

[Gumball]

When you said that you were gonna tidy up the rough bits..........[]

Proper Preparation Prevents Pi** Poor Performance and that is Proper Preparation

Hows the inlet manifold coming along?

Grant

Prior Planning and Preperation Prevents Pish Poor Performance lol

Goathead[]

Car looks good !!!

[Kenny.S]

So far anyway,

Both engine mounts are perished to the point they have almost split in two.

This

The engine doesn't look like it's ever been apart so this must have been split since build or for some time.

It still has it's CDB (thankfully) but there were one or two "dinks" on the top of one of the liners right on the compression sealing face. Again they must have been there since build as the head gasket has the corresponding impressions on it. Not a big deal as i can get the block skimmed slightly to remove them but left as it was with further increased boost it was a failure waiting to happen.

Kenny

 

[the squiggle]

all this fresh air is going to my head........[]

I was thinking of Preparation H

Kenny, one of the swinging factors when choosing the car for Imy was it had recently been properly disected, inspected and rebuilt with the proper parts.  The engine mounts were also split in two and been replaced with Grp N items from Roger Clark

[Kenny.S]

It's quite daunting attacking your car with a DA sander and 80 grit sandpaper

Ill be happier once we start putting paint back on instead of tearing it off!

Then i've just got to put it all back together, last count i had over a hundred zip bags with screws and clips in them together with about 150 pictures, fingers crossed. Not broken any bits of trim yet but one or two clips have died! Thats the next challenge, trying to explain to the parts dept what i'm looking for.

Kenny

[Kenny.S]

If i remember rightly the RA's should have uprated mounts as standard although age seems to effect them just the same. There's a part number on them so ill check them out and see what it comes up with compared with my mates uk. If there's any hassle ill prob just do the same and get some gpN ones.

Kenny

[wilky]

Yes, I totally agree with the factory build conclusions,

When my cars original engine said "Goodnight and goodluck!" It was obviously stripped of all the bits that were needed,

There was no obvious signs of the engine having been opened before, but many of the seals were in the same condition as you find yours and because the engine was built early enough to have supposed to have been blueprinted by STI, alot of the portmatching was found to be just a token effort or non exsistent.

The TD05 also had a new shaft, that was the only evidence of work.

Our eastern friends work quality left alot to be desired unfortunatley.

 

Callum W

[andy]

I'm dead envious of you guys with the ability to do this sort of thing. I wouldn't know where to start. Keep us posted with progress - please. Could build up into an interesting little story.

[RA Dunk]

yea same here i have the time to do jobs just dont got the know how []

[Kenny.S]

I'm not really up to speed with paintwork etc but i've learn a fair bit over the last week or so working along side the guys in the bodyshop.

As for the rest of it, at the end of the day it's only nuts and bolts and lots of stupid one time only clips! So long as you take your time, put all the bits in bags (not a big pile in the footwell!) take loads of pics and label everything you should be fine. He says, wait till i try to put it back together []

Ill do my best to post any progress, i've also got a project thing going over on 22b if any of you want a look http://bbs.22b.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?...ic;f=2;t=000120

Kenny

[andy]

I had a young lad on my Trials forums that posted his story of stripping his bike engine down and rebuilding it. He was only about 15 at the time. His story ended "I had some bits left over so I just put them in my pocket" []

[fai17]

You are very handy man in the car department.

You are doing a great job[Y]

Keep us posted and i'm looking forward to see the end result.

[Kenny.S]

I'm looking forward to seeing it finished too!

Because we've had to strip the roof back to bare metal it's set us back a few days. Now it'll have to get etch primed then rubbed down, then two pack primed and rubbed down, then painted!

If it's not finished by the time i need to go offshore again the boys will finish it and then ill need to call in a few favours and get it shifted back to my lock up.

Be a nice surprise to come back to though, open my garage door and get blinded by the whiteness!!!

Kenny

[Kenny.S]

Had a fairly productive day although we didn't manage to get the roof primed as previously planned, just need to see what tomorrow brings.

All the panels are now off the car and i've only got the insides edges of two doors to go over with a scotchbrite pad.

Kenny

[RA Dunk]

looks like yer going the whole nine yards with yer car m8 , wish i had the bottle to do something like that []

[col666]

Thats a nasty rust spot you've got on yer roof, need to fill that[]

[Kenny.S]

Finally managed to get the car into the oven tonight. It's been sitting pretty much ready to go in for the last few days but the guys have been really busy. The guy that owns the bodyshop is competing at Ingliston on Sat so he's been concentrating on getting the car ready. Its a light blue Mk2 escort with his business name "Grant Vehicle repairs" up the sides of it.

Anyway back to business... i managed to talk my mate, the guy in one of the previous pics, to work late so that we could get some paint on it.

First up he put on two coats of etch primer

Then two coats of regular two pack primer, with a guide coat to help me when i have to flatten it tomorrow

Once the primer had been baked for a while it was time to get the engine bay painted, in pure white, number 11 straight from the tin []

Rather bright i think you'll agree, picture doesnt really do it justice. It would have been a bit easier to paint had i removed absolutely everything but i had to draw the line somewhere, he did a cracking job all the same. For those of you who about spray painting, theres nearly a litre of paint under there!

Now that there's a bit of white on it i cant wait to see the whole car finished, just going to have to be patient until i get back from my next trip offshore.

Kenny

 

[andrew_duff]

Kenny , this by far is the most interesting of threads on a dull and boring website . Canny wait for the next installment.[Y]

Andy .  

[Kenny.S]

Cheers mate

It's a bit slow just now but hopefully after my next trip we'll get it all painted and i can start putting it back together, if i remember how that is [^o)]

Kenny