Discussion
Made it to Le Mans and back and I have to say she didn't miss a beat! This project has been totally worth the hassle just for this experience. Only small hicup being that my gearbox oil leak has returned but only a few drops. If the new seal is now leaking I'm expecting that something else is wrong to cause it. There's a chap I spoke to on Facebook who can make me a tighter ratio'd gearbox for £150 using parts from other OEM rover boxes so I think this is a good excuse to get one. Watch this space! Highlight of the trip was blasting through Indianapolis and down to Arnarge. Very happy bunny!
Matt Bird said:
Saw this at Friday Service and it looked marvellous. Top work sir! 
Thanks Matt, I appreciate it.The Le Mans stickers are gone but I managed a trip to goodwood before they were removed.
Well, I found the source of the internal damp, the only clue I had was a tiny amount of water collecting under the rear seats but after many attempts at trying to locate the issue it's been found! It's dripping into the boot via a clip that holds the wiring for the o/s speaker in the parcel shelf, ultimately coming in through the rear screen, a local firm is going to remove it and re- seal it at some point next week with any luck, but then the nasty task of rust hunting, welding and sealing is at hand. On top of that by my reckoning the following tasks need to be carried out ASAP!
Pretty much every bush on the rear end wants replacing.
Exhaust system needs new rubbers and clamps.
New center section as it's half the width it needs to be on the bends.
The rust I've found so far includes the bottom of the n/s chassis leg about the size of a 2 pence piece. And the 2 jacking points, so I'm going to be taking the car off the road at the end of summer again to carry out the work and probably won't see the road until the next MOT. For now I'm just going to enjoy it as best I can.
On a more irritating note, somebody saw fit to vandalise it resulting in this small but pretty hefty dent. Gutted isn't the word as it's right in the middle of the drivers side front wing.
So, I'm going to be needing a car while my banana car is receiving much needed love. I was trawling classifieds and came across this with a knackered clutch, went to view it and walked away with a very high mileage ZT 190 with FSH, Cambelt well in date and a load of recent work carried out to the tune of £700 plus a full set of new tyres for.... Wait for it.... £100 !
Got it home on last Sunday and began work this Sunday, everything topside is ready for the box to come out, going to get it up in the air this week and do the underside next weekend.
Quite a boring update I suppose but I like having a record of this tale of woe!
MadInventions said:
OK, bolt from the blue here.. I think that this is my old car and I was the first owner back when it was Y131***. I've been trying to track it down for a little while now and if you ever want to sell then please please let me know as I have cash waiting! So good to see she's been looked after. :-)
Ed.
Good grief! Ed.
E31Shrew said:
MadInventions said:
OK, bolt from the blue here.. I think that this is my old car and I was the first owner back when it was Y131***. I've been trying to track it down for a little while now and if you ever want to sell then please please let me know as I have cash waiting! So good to see she's been looked after. :-)
Ed.
Good grief! Ed.
Bit of an update. The old girl managed a full year on the road pretty much trouble free. Catastrophic MOT failure has ensued but so it's another rebuild. It will probably take quite some time as it did before bit she's still getting regular love and is Sorn with a full tank of v power and a solar trickle charger attached so I don't end up having the bizarre electrical happenings that I went through last time. She's still looking good, someone helpfully shot it with a bb gun though and it acquired some new dents from the car park at Goodwood fos last year. Cash is flowing a bit more freely these days so hoping to take it a little further this time round. Will post plans and photos from the last year as soon as I can.
Looks really good chap!
I managed to drop the bolt into the engine bay on Sunday that holds the battery in place (don't ask). Upon trying to find said bolt I had a rummage under the car, right beside the passenger front wheel the underseal has been pulled away with a big patch of rust like yours Weather permitting I am going to pull the side skirt off and get the car in the air, fingers crossed I can get away with grinding it back and painting it.
I managed to drop the bolt into the engine bay on Sunday that holds the battery in place (don't ask). Upon trying to find said bolt I had a rummage under the car, right beside the passenger front wheel the underseal has been pulled away with a big patch of rust like yours
Weather permitting I am going to pull the side skirt off and get the car in the air, fingers crossed I can get away with grinding it back and painting it. Daston said:
Looks really good chap!
I managed to drop the bolt into the engine bay on Sunday that holds the battery in place (don't ask). Upon trying to find said bolt I had a rummage under the car, right beside the passenger front wheel the underseal has been pulled away with a big patch of rust like yours Weather permitting I am going to pull the side skirt off and get the car in the air, fingers crossed I can get away with grinding it back and painting it.
I find they're either surprisingly solid and look alot worse than it is or completely and utterly destroyed.I managed to drop the bolt into the engine bay on Sunday that holds the battery in place (don't ask). Upon trying to find said bolt I had a rummage under the car, right beside the passenger front wheel the underseal has been pulled away with a big patch of rust like yours
Weather permitting I am going to pull the side skirt off and get the car in the air, fingers crossed I can get away with grinding it back and painting it. Right, proper update, i'll start with a few pictures from the year it was on the road. I got rid of the ZT and bought a big posh Audi as a daily so I can focus on doing the work on the ZS to the best quality I can achieve.
MGF wheel and Alloy gearknob. both were horrid to get to fit.
Service 2
2 day machine polish just before coming off the road in February.
I have a boot leak that wont go away. I found this inside the boot, I have tested and tested looking for the leak but this part, although rusty has never gotten wet or dripped in my tests.
this clip is dripping water into the boot and collecting under the drivers side rear seat. it's odd because it's right inside the car where the steel parcel shelf meets the rears of the back seats, it holds wiring for the speaker up. bizarre, I have re-sealed every join I can find and it still drips.
So, this week I had a quiet week so spent a few days getting to grips with the task ahead. the list is pretty big.
Investigate persistent gearbox leak.
Replace Clutch and Hydraulics.
Cambelt.
Waterpump.
Thermostat + housing and pipes.
Eliminate rust spots in engine bay and slam panel.
Replace all rear end bushes.
Replace front ARB bushes.
Fit Short shifter kit.
4 tyres.
Welding to both front jacking points and small patch on bottom of NSF chassis leg.
Find out why chassis legs are filling up with water.
Strip down underside of car, de-rust and protect.
Replace poorly made center section of exhaust.
Fit new ABS Reluctor ring.
I've probably forgotten a few bits but i'm determined to preserve this car for reasons that I haven't yet worked out!
Pics from visit to local MOT place
cracked reluctor ring.
Crunchy jacking point.
trailing arm bush
I started on the boot interior as it was time for preventative medicine, it's constantly damp so dried it right out, ground all the surface rust off, used Rustoleum rust cure and primer and then 2 coats of Rustoleum all surface top coat.
slave labour...
Did the pollen filter too, found a forest in there. also discovered that my containment skills are pretty poor and i'd covered the whole interior in yellow dust. took 3 hours to clean but came out perfect thankfully!
I've only collected a couple of parts so far, not a bad start though, bought these today. Polybushes for the trailing arms and ARB bushes. Also Skunk2 LCA's complete with polybushes. only another half million pounds to spend!!!
That's it for now, more updates as they happen, going to focus on getting the floorpan sorted first and anything else that crops up for MOT. Thanks for reading.
MGF wheel and Alloy gearknob. both were horrid to get to fit.
Service 2
2 day machine polish just before coming off the road in February.
I have a boot leak that wont go away. I found this inside the boot, I have tested and tested looking for the leak but this part, although rusty has never gotten wet or dripped in my tests.
this clip is dripping water into the boot and collecting under the drivers side rear seat. it's odd because it's right inside the car where the steel parcel shelf meets the rears of the back seats, it holds wiring for the speaker up. bizarre, I have re-sealed every join I can find and it still drips.
So, this week I had a quiet week so spent a few days getting to grips with the task ahead. the list is pretty big.
Investigate persistent gearbox leak.
Replace Clutch and Hydraulics.
Cambelt.
Waterpump.
Thermostat + housing and pipes.
Eliminate rust spots in engine bay and slam panel.
Replace all rear end bushes.
Replace front ARB bushes.
Fit Short shifter kit.
4 tyres.
Welding to both front jacking points and small patch on bottom of NSF chassis leg.
Find out why chassis legs are filling up with water.
Strip down underside of car, de-rust and protect.
Replace poorly made center section of exhaust.
Fit new ABS Reluctor ring.
I've probably forgotten a few bits but i'm determined to preserve this car for reasons that I haven't yet worked out!
Pics from visit to local MOT place
cracked reluctor ring.
Crunchy jacking point.
trailing arm bush
I started on the boot interior as it was time for preventative medicine, it's constantly damp so dried it right out, ground all the surface rust off, used Rustoleum rust cure and primer and then 2 coats of Rustoleum all surface top coat.
slave labour...
Did the pollen filter too, found a forest in there. also discovered that my containment skills are pretty poor and i'd covered the whole interior in yellow dust. took 3 hours to clean but came out perfect thankfully!
I've only collected a couple of parts so far, not a bad start though, bought these today. Polybushes for the trailing arms and ARB bushes. Also Skunk2 LCA's complete with polybushes. only another half million pounds to spend!!!
That's it for now, more updates as they happen, going to focus on getting the floorpan sorted first and anything else that crops up for MOT. Thanks for reading.
I had one of these a few years ago - MM52 EOH, a green hatchback. I always felt they were a very underestimated car and the handling was so much better than I ever expected!
Sadly, according to the MOT history site it doesn't seem to have survived long after my ownership, despite being in good fettle when I sold it on. Although having seen the many (many!) places they appear to rust, perhaps that's not a surprise...
Keep up the good work though, it's been an enjoyable read
Sadly, according to the MOT history site it doesn't seem to have survived long after my ownership, despite being in good fettle when I sold it on. Although having seen the many (many!) places they appear to rust, perhaps that's not a surprise...
Keep up the good work though, it's been an enjoyable read
Daston said:
Looking good chap,
Managed to clean up both my jacking points at the weekend, thankfully nothing worse than a bit of surface rust.
As far as I can tell they go there because water is getting into the chassis leg. There's a rubber bing there, I've removed mine so the water can drain out before it gets there. Yours looks like it might be wet all of the time same as mine. Looks like you caught it nice and early though! Managed to clean up both my jacking points at the weekend, thankfully nothing worse than a bit of surface rust.
BenWRXSEi said:
I had one of these a few years ago - MM52 EOH, a green hatchback. I always felt they were a very underestimated car and the handling was so much better than I ever expected!
Sadly, according to the MOT history site it doesn't seem to have survived long after my ownership, despite being in good fettle when I sold it on. Although having seen the many (many!) places they appear to rust, perhaps that's not a surprise...
Keep up the good work though, it's been an enjoyable read
They've ve got everything going against them, expensive parts compared to the likes of vw etc, insurance companies write them off for a scratch because they can't guarantee the parts all on top of being practically worthless! Scrapyards are bursting at the seems with them. Probably the reason it didn't live long. Sadly, according to the MOT history site it doesn't seem to have survived long after my ownership, despite being in good fettle when I sold it on. Although having seen the many (many!) places they appear to rust, perhaps that's not a surprise...
Keep up the good work though, it's been an enjoyable read
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