Discussion
I should love metro's. I helped restore one. But, how are they ever deemed safe? With a VVC they must be deadly. They're rust prone like hell, even at 15 years old the one I helped sort needed new sills, new doors, rear wings, lots of floor patches, boot was rusty... And yeah, you can find 1.1's that have been well looked after ,but it only takes a teenager with no care for them for them to just turn into the rest. Need welding, get scrapped.
My car isn't much safer, a ZR. For daily driving I'd rather have an air bag filled barge, because even if I was the best driver on the road, there is always someone else who is the worst.
My car isn't much safer, a ZR. For daily driving I'd rather have an air bag filled barge, because even if I was the best driver on the road, there is always someone else who is the worst.
Update time!
The current list of bits done; Welding, remap.
Current list of bits to do: Steering rack upgrade, Wishbone upgrade, Service, Front brakes, Front hydro cans, Headlights, Rollcage, Rear arches
Not much eh?
The welding was quite significant and why it took so long to get back on the road, as usual with metros, start cutting and don't stop until a large hole has appeared or the grinder breaks. I have still got the rear arches to do, but the car has had:
Both sills, inner and outer
Floors, both drivers and passengers
Rear spreader plates
Jacking points rebuilt all round
The plates have been put in using 1mm thick steel, both inside and outside of the car after removing all of the older metal and with a more modern version of waxoyl inside the sills and under the car to try and make it as resistant to corrosion as possible, however how long it will last I have no idea.
Some pics of the work:
Under:
Quite a lot done, but the garage have been excellent so far and very good humoured about the car and apparently used to service loads so are used to seeing them.
Also done, a remap. I have been looking into the turbo conversion route for quite a while, especially after going out in another turbo metro and feeling the torque of them. However, there has always been a nagging feeling that for what this car is going to be used for, a turbo might not be the best option as the engines can be a bit picky and imo, the powerband of a turbo can never really match a NASP. Regardless of how the car is mapped, a turbo will run out of power before the redline as the turbo will never be able to flow enough, and if the turbo can flow enough, it will be quite laggy. Neither of which I really fancy on a track, even after using a turbo charged daily for the past 12 months, I still find it is more diesel in the way the power is delivered than a petrol NASP.
Anyways, I got a ZnF remap at POL yesterday, apparently with the mods on my car, the "Race" tune was most suited which on a standard ZR160 gives 10% more power accross the rev range and a 7450rpm redline, on mine it could be anything from 10% upwards. Either way, it is bloody fast and reminded me of why the car was kept when I took it off the road nearly 18 months ago...
The current list of bits done; Welding, remap.
Current list of bits to do: Steering rack upgrade, Wishbone upgrade, Service, Front brakes, Front hydro cans, Headlights, Rollcage, Rear arches
Not much eh?
The welding was quite significant and why it took so long to get back on the road, as usual with metros, start cutting and don't stop until a large hole has appeared or the grinder breaks. I have still got the rear arches to do, but the car has had:
Both sills, inner and outer
Floors, both drivers and passengers
Rear spreader plates
Jacking points rebuilt all round
The plates have been put in using 1mm thick steel, both inside and outside of the car after removing all of the older metal and with a more modern version of waxoyl inside the sills and under the car to try and make it as resistant to corrosion as possible, however how long it will last I have no idea.
Some pics of the work:
Under:
Quite a lot done, but the garage have been excellent so far and very good humoured about the car and apparently used to service loads so are used to seeing them.
Also done, a remap. I have been looking into the turbo conversion route for quite a while, especially after going out in another turbo metro and feeling the torque of them. However, there has always been a nagging feeling that for what this car is going to be used for, a turbo might not be the best option as the engines can be a bit picky and imo, the powerband of a turbo can never really match a NASP. Regardless of how the car is mapped, a turbo will run out of power before the redline as the turbo will never be able to flow enough, and if the turbo can flow enough, it will be quite laggy. Neither of which I really fancy on a track, even after using a turbo charged daily for the past 12 months, I still find it is more diesel in the way the power is delivered than a petrol NASP.
Anyways, I got a ZnF remap at POL yesterday, apparently with the mods on my car, the "Race" tune was most suited which on a standard ZR160 gives 10% more power accross the rev range and a 7450rpm redline, on mine it could be anything from 10% upwards. Either way, it is bloody fast and reminded me of why the car was kept when I took it off the road nearly 18 months ago...
Time for another update!
Car has been in the garage over the weekend to get some bits and pieces sorted, mainly was the somewhat vague steering feel which didn't really instil confidence when driving and even less so at motorway speeds. Turns out that there was a slight bit of play in the rack, so I used it as an excuse to swop in a quicker rack from an MG TF and have some polybushed MGF wishbones fitted also, giving the car a bit more front end camber and the steering much more responsive, I will need to take it for a bit of a run over the next few days just to check how much difference it has made.
Other things done myself - Drank a lot of Tea and planned the next few mods.
Couple of pics:
Currently the engine bay looks like this:
The new wishbones, with polybushes:
One of my favourite pictures of the car(posted earlier on):
Car has been in the garage over the weekend to get some bits and pieces sorted, mainly was the somewhat vague steering feel which didn't really instil confidence when driving and even less so at motorway speeds. Turns out that there was a slight bit of play in the rack, so I used it as an excuse to swop in a quicker rack from an MG TF and have some polybushed MGF wishbones fitted also, giving the car a bit more front end camber and the steering much more responsive, I will need to take it for a bit of a run over the next few days just to check how much difference it has made.
Other things done myself - Drank a lot of Tea and planned the next few mods.
Couple of pics:
Currently the engine bay looks like this:
The new wishbones, with polybushes:
One of my favourite pictures of the car(posted earlier on):
After reading the other metro thread, I realised that I need to update this!
Had a busy weekend, ended up removing the engine to do a clutch upgrade to a bigger clutch after the one I removed was covered in burn marks. Whilst it was out I did the cambelt, waterpump, tensioner and fitted some offset dowels to my exhaust cam to make it actually work more efficient.
I just need to do some odd jobs left and then refit the interior then see how it behaves on the road again.
Had a busy weekend, ended up removing the engine to do a clutch upgrade to a bigger clutch after the one I removed was covered in burn marks. Whilst it was out I did the cambelt, waterpump, tensioner and fitted some offset dowels to my exhaust cam to make it actually work more efficient.
I just need to do some odd jobs left and then refit the interior then see how it behaves on the road again.
Thread Resurrection!
I knew it had been a while since I updated this but didn't realise it had been years
So since my last update, the grand total of...nothing has been done with the car. I ended up taking it off the road back in Oct 2016 after the insurance ran out to mothball it whilst I started to get the ball rolling to buy a house. Ironically, the house move got postponed a year due to changing jobs in 2017 and only now has the main bulk of DIY/Building work/decoration has been done with the house to enable me to get on with the metro.
I will add photos at some point but basically, after getting it from storage, it was looking very sorry for itself. Moss was growing all over it, the tyres were flat, brakes were seized on and there was mould on the interior and a puddle in the passenger footwell. I have eventually managed to get it moved to the new house and got it in the air, expecting the worst and it looks like all the floors are still solid under the underseal, the rear valance needs a 8x4" patch putting on it and that (fingers crossed) is all it needs for an MOT.
So, being proactive I have been ordering boxes of various parts to fit, mostly stuff like a new windscreen seal(explains the passenger side puddle), brake calipers and new hydrogas units to replace the current ones, and service stuff like plugs and filters and a new battery thanks to a 50% deal at ECP!
Its also booked in to get replacement rear arches fitted as the current arches are mostly rust and sadness. New panels are ~£65 a set and a local bodyshop has the car booked in with them in a few weeks, so the current task is to get the car through an MOT and road legal so I can start giving it a shakedown and seeing what I need to get sorted.
The main reason why this has kicked off suddenly... A mate wants to do a driving holiday in Scotland for his stag and my current daily (A Mitsubishi Outlander), isn't really suited for any sort of fun or involved driving!
I knew it had been a while since I updated this but didn't realise it had been years
So since my last update, the grand total of...nothing has been done with the car. I ended up taking it off the road back in Oct 2016 after the insurance ran out to mothball it whilst I started to get the ball rolling to buy a house. Ironically, the house move got postponed a year due to changing jobs in 2017 and only now has the main bulk of DIY/Building work/decoration has been done with the house to enable me to get on with the metro.
I will add photos at some point but basically, after getting it from storage, it was looking very sorry for itself. Moss was growing all over it, the tyres were flat, brakes were seized on and there was mould on the interior and a puddle in the passenger footwell. I have eventually managed to get it moved to the new house and got it in the air, expecting the worst and it looks like all the floors are still solid under the underseal, the rear valance needs a 8x4" patch putting on it and that (fingers crossed) is all it needs for an MOT.
So, being proactive I have been ordering boxes of various parts to fit, mostly stuff like a new windscreen seal(explains the passenger side puddle), brake calipers and new hydrogas units to replace the current ones, and service stuff like plugs and filters and a new battery thanks to a 50% deal at ECP!
Its also booked in to get replacement rear arches fitted as the current arches are mostly rust and sadness. New panels are ~£65 a set and a local bodyshop has the car booked in with them in a few weeks, so the current task is to get the car through an MOT and road legal so I can start giving it a shakedown and seeing what I need to get sorted.
The main reason why this has kicked off suddenly... A mate wants to do a driving holiday in Scotland for his stag and my current daily (A Mitsubishi Outlander), isn't really suited for any sort of fun or involved driving!
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