As an aside; in relation to Smurfs (1994 Ax debut)
Discussion
Well a keen eyed poster on the Resurrection of an Ax thread, I have had a lot of other Axs in the past, but none quite as notorious as the Smurf.
I have told this story before on other forums, so please bare with me if you have seen or read it before!
Basically the ins and outs of it lead up to a mot'd Ax Vtr on 106 xsi suspension bought, built & MOT'd for under £100.
For bonus internet points, what car was this image taken from?
It starts with an uninspiring 5 door Ax Debut, that once upon a time looked like this:
Then a young lad from a town nearby got hold of it, and it ended up like this:
Pretty cool huh? No, nobody else thought that either, so I managed to buy it for £100 with about 3 hours MOT and no rear silencer, getting it the 15 miles home was interesting!
Many edits: finally realised pictures wouldn't show up due to a swear in my potatobucket username Oops!
I have told this story before on other forums, so please bare with me if you have seen or read it before!
Basically the ins and outs of it lead up to a mot'd Ax Vtr on 106 xsi suspension bought, built & MOT'd for under £100.
For bonus internet points, what car was this image taken from?
It starts with an uninspiring 5 door Ax Debut, that once upon a time looked like this:
Then a young lad from a town nearby got hold of it, and it ended up like this:
Pretty cool huh? No, nobody else thought that either, so I managed to buy it for £100 with about 3 hours MOT and no rear silencer, getting it the 15 miles home was interesting!
Many edits: finally realised pictures wouldn't show up due to a swear in my potatobucket username Oops!
Edited by ruffgeezer on Tuesday 30th December 11:32
Ok ok, I know it wasn't the most promising of starts, but it did get better guys, honestly!
At the time money was fairly tight, and with a lot of the members on AXOC complaining they couldn't afford to do this or that, I used this car to set out to prove them wrong, I teased them with the final cost as well as the specification run down;
Bit of a spec list to whet your appetites:
'94 shell (debut/spree spec)
'98 vtr engine & box (66k)
Miltek 421 manifold (found in a box in the garage!)
Ax scorpion single exit exhaust fitted to vtr cat.
PiperX Vtr airfilter.
Vtr front struts with ax spring pans, Gmax shocks & unknown springs, std vtr brakes, vtr arb & d/links.
106 Xsi drum beam, lowered 40mm, gmax shocks.
Goodridge braided hoses all round.
Vtr seats, OMP steering wheel, random gearknob, saxo vts clocks, xsi h/brake.
Citroen Bx 14x5.5" steel wheels with 175/60-14 Toyos.
The wheels:
The clocks complete with flood damage & wiring faults:
One of the original AXOC membership cards:
At the time money was fairly tight, and with a lot of the members on AXOC complaining they couldn't afford to do this or that, I used this car to set out to prove them wrong, I teased them with the final cost as well as the specification run down;
Bit of a spec list to whet your appetites:
'94 shell (debut/spree spec)
'98 vtr engine & box (66k)
Miltek 421 manifold (found in a box in the garage!)
Ax scorpion single exit exhaust fitted to vtr cat.
PiperX Vtr airfilter.
Vtr front struts with ax spring pans, Gmax shocks & unknown springs, std vtr brakes, vtr arb & d/links.
106 Xsi drum beam, lowered 40mm, gmax shocks.
Goodridge braided hoses all round.
Vtr seats, OMP steering wheel, random gearknob, saxo vts clocks, xsi h/brake.
Citroen Bx 14x5.5" steel wheels with 175/60-14 Toyos.
The wheels:
The clocks complete with flood damage & wiring faults:
One of the original AXOC membership cards:
Picked this up one sunday, my Dad an I took a ride from South Lincolnshire all the way down to Evesham, we did make a quick stop in Grantham for me to unleash an unholy post-pub s
t, the public loos were 20p to get in, but I reckon I had a fiver's worth. The Saxo was a cat C write off and had initially been posted up for about £800, but as the seller got more desperate for the driveway space, it dropped down considerably by the Friday. Luckily after shaking the internet around a lot, I found his phone number and arranged to take the car away with it's slightly bemused owner. The only damage was the rear panel was crunched, I chucked a spare wheel arch trim in the boot of my car for the journey home. It had only got 66k om the clock, 5 alloys with good boots and all for £200!
Time to clear the smurf's engine bay methinks.
I was more than happy to be getting £150 for the back axle, so off it comes!
The tyres on these are great, crap makes, but great. I don't like the wheels though...
Ouch! that'll be the end of that then!
I then sold the front bumper off of the saxo for £40, the cash was in my hand, the car only owed me a tenner!
So getting that off meant the car looked a bit rough, and my folks were keen for me to get on with stripping it and scrapping the shell, so that meant a little more progress,
I started to relieve the saxo of its engine & gearbox up to the point that I can't go any further due to the slope its on and the lack of a scrap axle to chuck on it.
I also mocked up an induction kit for it:
It was a bit too wobbly so another plan would be needed.
I needed to take the smurf's axle off to chuck on the saxo, but I can't do that because the new axle I went to collect that weekend (just shy of 100 mile round trip) was scrap.
I bought these on the way back to cheer myself up:
I was toying with the idea of a pair of Comp THs on the back like a mini touring car, but those plans changed for the better fairly quickly.
Another Sunday of progress, not a lot of pics though.
Some saxo lad bought up the front end panels so I whipped them off before taking the engine out:
This was once my mum's prized garden... Oops!
The crane was rescued from the skip at a garage I once worked at:
Smurf's back axle removed and chucked up the
of the saxo:
Mmmm Scabby:
At the end of play:
I need to send a letter to PPCmag, I've soiled me shirt!
So getting that off meant the car looked a bit rough, and my folks were keen for me to get on with stripping it and scrapping the shell, so that meant a little more progress,
I started to relieve the saxo of its engine & gearbox up to the point that I can't go any further due to the slope its on and the lack of a scrap axle to chuck on it.
I also mocked up an induction kit for it:
It was a bit too wobbly so another plan would be needed.
I needed to take the smurf's axle off to chuck on the saxo, but I can't do that because the new axle I went to collect that weekend (just shy of 100 mile round trip) was scrap.
I bought these on the way back to cheer myself up:
I was toying with the idea of a pair of Comp THs on the back like a mini touring car, but those plans changed for the better fairly quickly.
Another Sunday of progress, not a lot of pics though.
Some saxo lad bought up the front end panels so I whipped them off before taking the engine out:
This was once my mum's prized garden... Oops!
The crane was rescued from the skip at a garage I once worked at:
Smurf's back axle removed and chucked up the
of the saxo:Mmmm Scabby:
At the end of play:
I need to send a letter to PPCmag, I've soiled me shirt!
Another 5 hours on Smurf meant that it was now a shabby looking shell with no suspension and it's old engine is now chucked in the foot well of the Saxo. There has been a bit of a delay in the new shocks, but hopefully they'll make an appearance midweek, I've got the struts to strip at work.
I managed to round the end off of a brake pipe which royally pee'd me off, so that was one more thing on the list. Happily though I found a brand new set of braided brake hoses which would be fitted when I found a sodding rear beam Grr!
Pics of dangly engines later!
I spent some time working away at the Smurf and the vtr lump was now in place. I'd refitted the bonnet back on and started plumbing the pipes in, the fuel pipes involved some farting about.
I've upgraded the fuel pump to that of an Ax Gti, as the original fuel pump isn't up to the job. I'm going to have to do some engine mount work as there is some bizarre angles going on just now.
I ended up getting a vtr rear beam as I couldn't source a drum beam locally. Unfortunately the pipes are all seized so it'll be coming to work with me tomorrow for a play under the hot spanner. I'll also be fitting braided hoses and trying to fix a busted bias valve.
100k+ 1l engine, that just won't do:
Out she comes!:
Ghetto crane and hidden vtr lump:
Bare engine bay with new brake pipe:
Goodridge goodness as found in the garage:
Bits a vtr lump didn't need:
Yay, a lowered back axle, but the bias valve is curse word
Dangly engine part2:
Miltek 421 manifold escapes the garage to live on the smurf:
Now sometimes in these builds it is necessary to go backwards, now that the Vtr axle was fitted, it was clear that this was going to be one of those times;
I started out by fitting up the saxo vtr rear axle, this itself was not without its problems. I originally wanted a drum beam for the narrower track but could not find a decent one locally, so plumped for this. Unfortunatly the load compensator valve was goosed so I had to buy another one of those and replace a few of the brake lines, I also put braided hoses on whilst I was at it.
Saxo Vtr disc beam on,:
Trial fitment of the new wheel but with a skinny tyre fitted:
I put an axgti wheel on the passenger side as its fitted with a wider tyre and will give me an idea of how much clearance there will be at the back:
Oh...
...Cocks!
Worse still, with the offset of the new wheels, the arch on the driver's side is resting on the tyre:
So with the rear beam fitted and the wheels on, I thought I'd have a stab at chucking an exhaust up it's arse. To do this means I had to remove the rear bumper, and found a large portion of it was made of what appears to be painted manfat.
Exhaust loosely hung, yes it's Powerflow, yes its crap and yes, fitting a new rubber hanger to it involved an angle grinder.
In the wake of the busted and bodged up bumper, I had a rummage in the garage, and found this new but lightly damaged rear bumper from an ax bodykit.
Upfront the Vtr lump is now in place but with the wrong engine mounts hence the jaunty angle. The correct pressed steel mount can be seen resting on the rocker cover.
A look down the side of the stricken smurf, and I'll have to remember where that green wire came from!
The Driver's mirror was smashed so another look in the garage yielded some M3 mirrors on saxo baseplates (didn't fit...) and one driver's mirror painted white... that'll do.
Can't see f'all out of it though ???
Next up we were having a clear out of the field at work, and this little lady was up for the chop:
Given that she was terminally rotten having sat in long grass for 7 years, her frilly under carriage was well beyond saving, needless to say, I salvaged a fair bit from her to bolster the Smurf's build.
Also for the chop were these (the 2cv went a while back)
More in a bit I don't want to break the forum with too many pics!
I managed to round the end off of a brake pipe which royally pee'd me off, so that was one more thing on the list. Happily though I found a brand new set of braided brake hoses which would be fitted when I found a sodding rear beam Grr!
Pics of dangly engines later!
I spent some time working away at the Smurf and the vtr lump was now in place. I'd refitted the bonnet back on and started plumbing the pipes in, the fuel pipes involved some farting about.
I've upgraded the fuel pump to that of an Ax Gti, as the original fuel pump isn't up to the job. I'm going to have to do some engine mount work as there is some bizarre angles going on just now.
I ended up getting a vtr rear beam as I couldn't source a drum beam locally. Unfortunately the pipes are all seized so it'll be coming to work with me tomorrow for a play under the hot spanner. I'll also be fitting braided hoses and trying to fix a busted bias valve.
100k+ 1l engine, that just won't do:
Out she comes!:
Ghetto crane and hidden vtr lump:
Bare engine bay with new brake pipe:
Goodridge goodness as found in the garage:
Bits a vtr lump didn't need:
Yay, a lowered back axle, but the bias valve is curse word
Dangly engine part2:
Miltek 421 manifold escapes the garage to live on the smurf:
Now sometimes in these builds it is necessary to go backwards, now that the Vtr axle was fitted, it was clear that this was going to be one of those times;
I started out by fitting up the saxo vtr rear axle, this itself was not without its problems. I originally wanted a drum beam for the narrower track but could not find a decent one locally, so plumped for this. Unfortunatly the load compensator valve was goosed so I had to buy another one of those and replace a few of the brake lines, I also put braided hoses on whilst I was at it.
Saxo Vtr disc beam on,:
Trial fitment of the new wheel but with a skinny tyre fitted:
I put an axgti wheel on the passenger side as its fitted with a wider tyre and will give me an idea of how much clearance there will be at the back:
Oh...
...Cocks!
Worse still, with the offset of the new wheels, the arch on the driver's side is resting on the tyre:
So with the rear beam fitted and the wheels on, I thought I'd have a stab at chucking an exhaust up it's arse. To do this means I had to remove the rear bumper, and found a large portion of it was made of what appears to be painted manfat.
Exhaust loosely hung, yes it's Powerflow, yes its crap and yes, fitting a new rubber hanger to it involved an angle grinder.
In the wake of the busted and bodged up bumper, I had a rummage in the garage, and found this new but lightly damaged rear bumper from an ax bodykit.
Upfront the Vtr lump is now in place but with the wrong engine mounts hence the jaunty angle. The correct pressed steel mount can be seen resting on the rocker cover.
A look down the side of the stricken smurf, and I'll have to remember where that green wire came from!
The Driver's mirror was smashed so another look in the garage yielded some M3 mirrors on saxo baseplates (didn't fit...) and one driver's mirror painted white... that'll do.
Can't see f'all out of it though ???
Next up we were having a clear out of the field at work, and this little lady was up for the chop:
Given that she was terminally rotten having sat in long grass for 7 years, her frilly under carriage was well beyond saving, needless to say, I salvaged a fair bit from her to bolster the Smurf's build.
Also for the chop were these (the 2cv went a while back)
More in a bit I don't want to break the forum with too many pics!
My parents were having a new roof installed on their garage, and so it was necessary for me to move the Smurf, this required jamming wood in the back suspension to get the arches off of the rear wheels, but in turn ended up turning the look of the car completely on it's head.
So to compare, old vs older, I was going to clean the bumper before I fitted it, ok that's a lie, I was never going to clean it.
This is the scabby bumeyed crapbox without the front end on, I trial fitted the vtr radiator, it's only a little bigger than standard so to save arsing around, I'll fit a new standard one instead.
Front end completed with a grille from my rusting in pieces Gt, "the purp"
Hammerite, it smells bad but covers a skanky panel nicely.
The bonnet will shut better once I've refitted the catch, I hope!
Another thing I rescued from the condemned Ax at work was the door panels, I nearly took the seats but they were soaking wet.
Old panel out:
80's tastic panel in:
I polished me skulls, its a shame there is a metric boatload of deep scratches on it, but from a mile away, you'd never know it!
Coming to the side of the car, I pulled the sideskirt off, I hadn't decided on stripping the paint and refitting it or just throwing it over the nearest hedge.
OEM look is the way, I found a set of new spree badges in the garage, complete with measurements as to where to put them.
The close of play, doesn't she look [s]shite[/s] great?
So to compare, old vs older, I was going to clean the bumper before I fitted it, ok that's a lie, I was never going to clean it.
This is the scabby bumeyed crapbox without the front end on, I trial fitted the vtr radiator, it's only a little bigger than standard so to save arsing around, I'll fit a new standard one instead.
Front end completed with a grille from my rusting in pieces Gt, "the purp"
Hammerite, it smells bad but covers a skanky panel nicely.
The bonnet will shut better once I've refitted the catch, I hope!
Another thing I rescued from the condemned Ax at work was the door panels, I nearly took the seats but they were soaking wet.
Old panel out:
80's tastic panel in:
I polished me skulls, its a shame there is a metric boatload of deep scratches on it, but from a mile away, you'd never know it!
Coming to the side of the car, I pulled the sideskirt off, I hadn't decided on stripping the paint and refitting it or just throwing it over the nearest hedge.
OEM look is the way, I found a set of new spree badges in the garage, complete with measurements as to where to put them.
The close of play, doesn't she look [s]shite[/s] great?
Time for some paintwork methinks, now you'll forgive me but I've lost the picture of the boot lid before I started, you can imagine it, it was white with a couple of badges and a trim, well not any more:
The first coat showed up a lot of deep scratches so had to to be sanded back until they weren't as noticable:
This is what happens when you strangle a smurf:
The first coat, sanded back and spirit wiped:
Keep the paper wet, it doesn't clog as much!
2nd coat:
3rd coat and halfway down the can, the paint changes colour, so now most of the boot lid is done nicely, but the top part has only a thin coating.
Mmmmm Orangepeel!
The next weekend, I got round to a few bits on the Smurf, after Saturday's outings of engine and axle removal from a Saxo in mid Lincs, to collecting (well removing then collecting!) a new drum beam for the Smurf from North of Gainsborough, and home.
Sunday ended up being a day for getting a few of the fiddly jobs done, the main one being replacing the gear selector shaft and fitting new linkages, which in itself isn't very interesting, so have a picture of my knob instead:
These have new rubber, but I'm still feeling the bx steelies!
Hmmmm Moody!
Well another weekend was lost away to chores (a whole day to get a fecking toilet fitted!), but luckily I managed to sneak out for a bit of a break.
Since I fitted the lowered vtr rear axle, the arches were sat on top of the tyres, and there just wasn't enough give in the back arches to fit the tyres up there, so a narrower drum beam was the next plan.
Its the case sometimes that in order to go forwards, you must first go backwards, so today starts up front to remove the exhaust system:
With this done (and I've sold it, so a more subtle system awaits) I mocked up the new rear bumper, but proper fitment will have to wait because I've got the wrong sodding crash box
New boot lid can't come too soon, but it's a shame to lose the stickers.
Not as low as the last effort, but the wheels sit a lot nicer in the arches.
Still needs rolling or chopping up there though!
The new stance:
As a bit of light relief, I started on sanding off the blue border on the underpants bonnet, I want to make it look from a distance as if its just a scrappy bonnet chucked on to replace a damaged one, but I love the way the skulls stand out under artificial light.
I've jizzed a bit of aersol paint up the edges as it turns out the bonnet is blue under the red under the blue which made the sanding hard work, I'll flat the fresh paint back and polish it once it's hardened.
This sticker rescued from a scrap car at work, just for the irony!
Not a bad afternoon's work, multicoloured dash blob agrees.
The first coat showed up a lot of deep scratches so had to to be sanded back until they weren't as noticable:
This is what happens when you strangle a smurf:
The first coat, sanded back and spirit wiped:
Keep the paper wet, it doesn't clog as much!
2nd coat:
3rd coat and halfway down the can, the paint changes colour, so now most of the boot lid is done nicely, but the top part has only a thin coating.
Mmmmm Orangepeel!
The next weekend, I got round to a few bits on the Smurf, after Saturday's outings of engine and axle removal from a Saxo in mid Lincs, to collecting (well removing then collecting!) a new drum beam for the Smurf from North of Gainsborough, and home.
Sunday ended up being a day for getting a few of the fiddly jobs done, the main one being replacing the gear selector shaft and fitting new linkages, which in itself isn't very interesting, so have a picture of my knob instead:
These have new rubber, but I'm still feeling the bx steelies!
Hmmmm Moody!
Well another weekend was lost away to chores (a whole day to get a fecking toilet fitted!), but luckily I managed to sneak out for a bit of a break.
Since I fitted the lowered vtr rear axle, the arches were sat on top of the tyres, and there just wasn't enough give in the back arches to fit the tyres up there, so a narrower drum beam was the next plan.
Its the case sometimes that in order to go forwards, you must first go backwards, so today starts up front to remove the exhaust system:
With this done (and I've sold it, so a more subtle system awaits) I mocked up the new rear bumper, but proper fitment will have to wait because I've got the wrong sodding crash box
New boot lid can't come too soon, but it's a shame to lose the stickers.
Not as low as the last effort, but the wheels sit a lot nicer in the arches.
Still needs rolling or chopping up there though!
The new stance:
As a bit of light relief, I started on sanding off the blue border on the underpants bonnet, I want to make it look from a distance as if its just a scrappy bonnet chucked on to replace a damaged one, but I love the way the skulls stand out under artificial light.
I've jizzed a bit of aersol paint up the edges as it turns out the bonnet is blue under the red under the blue which made the sanding hard work, I'll flat the fresh paint back and polish it once it's hardened.
This sticker rescued from a scrap car at work, just for the irony!
Not a bad afternoon's work, multicoloured dash blob agrees.
Whiling away my lunch breaks on paint and polish, the mk1 tailgate was nearly ready:
[quote]Well it doesn't take a genius to realise that the boot is the wrong bleddy colour:
Also how many badges is too many? I think with the trust badge, it looks a little too busy, but I'd be interested in opinions.
[/quote]
And this update shows the bootlid finished:
[quote]Well another weekend, another hour spent poking a smurf with a stick.
I removed the masking(!) from the bonnet to see what sort of mess I'd be left with; I'm going to need to get the sander to this little lot to try and get some sort of finish out of it.
Obvious mask line:
Lumpy finish:
The last update showed the finished bootlid, well that only left fitting it to the car, so after getting it home from the workshop safely, I decided to fit it for safe keeping
Smurf's new rump:
The paint match is pretty poor thanks to the puddle of s**t that operates the customer services at Car Plan, you can clearly see the difference in colour between cans during the painting stages
Colour mismatch isn't as obvious here thankfully:
New rear bumper cobbled on just to give you an idea of the finished look:
Liberated from a set of glass from a 2cv, I think this lil' fella finishes the job nicely!
[/quote]
The last update for this post took place in october 2009, so 4 months into the build:
[quote]Well, whilst watching probably the best GP of the season today, I got one of the most tedious jobs out of the way, the smurf's wiring conversion. Now there are a few wires that I've not bothered with yet as they run the extra gauges on the saxo's dash, but I might add those in later.
The pink wire just needs a ring terminal adding for the permenant live and there are 4 immobilizer wires to lose from the saxo plug and 1 rev counter wire on the ax plug (there is no provision in the ax's dash side loom for the rev counter so this will have its own wire from the saxo side plug to the clocks.)
Here's the adapter loom completed and on my free pikea sofa, I'd strongly discourage anyone from paying money for pikea sofas, they are crap.
[/quote]
[quote]Well it doesn't take a genius to realise that the boot is the wrong bleddy colour:
Also how many badges is too many? I think with the trust badge, it looks a little too busy, but I'd be interested in opinions.
[/quote]
And this update shows the bootlid finished:
[quote]Well another weekend, another hour spent poking a smurf with a stick.
I removed the masking(!) from the bonnet to see what sort of mess I'd be left with; I'm going to need to get the sander to this little lot to try and get some sort of finish out of it.
Obvious mask line:
Lumpy finish:
The last update showed the finished bootlid, well that only left fitting it to the car, so after getting it home from the workshop safely, I decided to fit it for safe keeping
Smurf's new rump:
The paint match is pretty poor thanks to the puddle of s**t that operates the customer services at Car Plan, you can clearly see the difference in colour between cans during the painting stages
Colour mismatch isn't as obvious here thankfully:
New rear bumper cobbled on just to give you an idea of the finished look:
Liberated from a set of glass from a 2cv, I think this lil' fella finishes the job nicely!
[/quote]
The last update for this post took place in october 2009, so 4 months into the build:
[quote]Well, whilst watching probably the best GP of the season today, I got one of the most tedious jobs out of the way, the smurf's wiring conversion. Now there are a few wires that I've not bothered with yet as they run the extra gauges on the saxo's dash, but I might add those in later.
The pink wire just needs a ring terminal adding for the permenant live and there are 4 immobilizer wires to lose from the saxo plug and 1 rev counter wire on the ax plug (there is no provision in the ax's dash side loom for the rev counter so this will have its own wire from the saxo side plug to the clocks.)
Here's the adapter loom completed and on my free pikea sofa, I'd strongly discourage anyone from paying money for pikea sofas, they are crap.
[/quote]
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