I hate Spongy & Scotty thread (Peters Project )

I hate Spongy & Scotty thread (Peters Project )

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pmessling

Original Poster:

2,284 posts

203 months

Wednesday 14th March 2012
quotequote all
Initially my project was to refresh the steering as it had become a bit notchy,but that was only the start, the more i dug the deeper it has gotten. But I keep saying to myself it will be worth it in the end. As i do shift work i get a good set of four or five days straight on doing the bits to it, except this Monday with having to do rear springs and shocks on the girlfriends KA, but got that done and have been doing bits on and off over the last month or three, thinking about it i started before it showed. I polybushed all the suspension last year, but the deeper i have dug the more i want perfect, so all the suspension has been removed, and is currently being sand blasted and will be powder coated

So new track rod ends, painted and now fitted



Also removed all the coolant hoses and water pipes water rails and other than the hoses will be making my own water rails and pipes.



Made chassis out rigger guards to protect them getting sand blasted from the tyres these are now complete and ready to fit, just mounting holes need drilling. Started with a card template, then plasma cut them at work and folded





What my guards will be protecting, the metal is all solid, but will be stripped back and repainted and protected for the future



Thought i would give my calipers a fresh look, but wasn't happy with the finish, so got my spare set out and just went with black.



Front calipers are now done and will have stainless braided hoses.



One side of the front suspension, currently being refinished.



Also completed the welds on one of the drag links, shows before



I have moved the dipstick and redone the oil breather hose for better access



This is the hose joiner i made for the oil breather



I had the steve heath drop links for about a year or just a little bit more and they were seized solid so had to machine one end as the rose joint had sheared, and have fitted high performance stainless steel racing ones. You can feel the difference in them







Also added boots to protect them, something i never originally fitted, i have suggested to steve about included them in the price of the drop links



My car is an 04, with the chassis date of 03, but the surface rust where the powder coat has failed is horrible, so another good reason to tackle all this now



I've replaced all the cable heat shielding, mocal sell it for about £18 enough to do all the main battery cables, did get some on ebay at first and was £79, this stuff is the same, so very pleased to send it back to get my money back









Lots of brackets that i didn't know existed like the ones that hold the condenser to the car, so may get these remade in stainless, have found a laser cutting place near me which have made me some flanges, which you'll see later





Removed the rad, give me better access for painting and will add new waterproof plugs

Was easier to get out by removing the bigger of the two fans



One side of the engine bay heat shield has failed so got new, same stuff on racing greens website, but half the price



Bucket of powder coat remover, it works but needs to be left on as long as possible. I have also brought a compressor and sand blasting kit so can get all the hard to reach places removed of rust







Water rails have been removed to replace with new ones made my me



flanges for the water rails



I have an SPA dual gauge to install, this shows the boss for the water temp gauge



I'm going to drill the oil filter blank for oil temp gauge when i order one, you can by them ready done from mocal, but save a bit doing it myself.



Also have a oil stat to fit, so need to remove the oil hoses and get some made up either i'll do them at work has we have the hose and crimping machine, or use reusable ends.



So i have lots and lots to do, no end in sight at the minute, my aim is the may car show at duxford but that would only be the front end, but may say fook it and do everything this year and enjoy the car next year. we will see what happens.

Peter







robsco

7,825 posts

176 months

Wednesday 14th March 2012
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Excellent work Peter, look forward to seeing how everything develops.

Gray_101

1,118 posts

190 months

Wednesday 14th March 2012
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Fantastic job so far Peter.

I've got all this sort of work to do on mine, but I'm still on with my new engine at the moment, but I may need to pick your brains in the not to distant future

spongy

2,236 posts

161 months

Wednesday 14th March 2012
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wish mine was back frown

natben

2,743 posts

231 months

Wednesday 14th March 2012
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I think you could sell a few of the outrigger guards I would have two no problem! Stunning work on the car BTW.

scotty_d

6,795 posts

194 months

Thursday 15th March 2012
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That is how it is done. cool

Few jobs in there i need to do myself but that is for next year's winter smile

Great Workmanship Peter Nice to see there are a few DIY guys out there now.

Where did you get the Cable/hose heat shielding from in the end as i could do with some new stuff as well as yours looks Great.

Cheers Scott

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,284 posts

203 months

Thursday 15th March 2012
quotequote all
Have a look on the Mocal website Scott. May have to search within the website as I think it's any other or accessories. I put heat shrink on the ends to prevent water getting in. The size was 14mm. Have fun getting the old stuff off. I'm still finding bits in my hand.

I'm also thinking of moving the big fuse. But not sure where to move it to for better access? Any ideas people

ukkid35

6,171 posts

173 months

Thursday 15th March 2012
quotequote all
natben said:
I think you could sell a few of the outrigger guards I would have two no problem! Stunning work on the car BTW.
+1

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,284 posts

203 months

Thursday 15th March 2012
quotequote all
Thanks people, i think sometimes i should have brought a kit car and made it how i wanted it, but its good being able to improve upon something that could have been make so much better in the first place.

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,284 posts

203 months

Thursday 15th March 2012
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Just started to make a jig to make positioning the welding the water rails easier, few more bits to be added to it before beginning.


pmessling

Original Poster:

2,284 posts

203 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
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Been cracking on and made some good progress so far.

Getting new airbox brackets made after drawing them on a free cad program i found. hopefully see them this week



Had some parts in the rust removing tank at work and works great, got some more stuff to go in tomorrow. Had my front disks in it and they come out as good as new, although the tank was clean when they went in, rather dirty now.



Made some improvements to my jig for the water rails







Should allow me to get the angles correct

Made the bosses for the water rails on the lathe, they are 1/4 bsp if any one every needs to know.



Finished both the water manifold pipes, just need to pressure test them now and weld up any pin holes in the welds



Powder coat stripper doing its thing on the caliper that i painted yellow and didn't like, will paint in when i have finished the car since i'm putting my spare new ones on.



Both engine mounts off to re paint once all the rust has been removed.



New toy to help me



TO go with my new toy i made a blasting cabinet, the only cost was the perpex for the window, everything else was to hand.



Crack in my drivers side manifold



The welding on the manifolds is shocking

Passengers outrigger, surface rust, nearly all removed. funny that the passenger side has suffered yet the drivers is perfect



And nearly removed all the powder coat on the passenger side, dremel is great for getting in places, the powder coat remover softens it enough to be able to scrap it off then clean up with a handy sander and the dremel





Thats it for now, but hoping to get done before may and if any luck maybe chats, the rear is in much better condition, when i done the suspension last year it was really clean compared to the front so may do that later on in the year. really miss driving it now with such good weather


scotty_d

6,795 posts

194 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
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Looking really really good. Wish i knew about this powder coat remover 3 months ago lol.

jackwibble

664 posts

159 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
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Would be really good if you could see the pics Peter whistle

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,284 posts

203 months

Sunday 25th March 2012
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Oops gone over my bandwidth allowance. I'll sort that later.

peteA

2,681 posts

234 months

Monday 26th March 2012
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my outriggers where the same as yours...n/s worse than o/s. My theory was that the n/s picked up more road debris from the gutter side of the road? The middle of the road generally being cleaner...or could it be somthing to do with manufacturing or the powder coating procedure? Anyway, cracking job!

spongy

2,236 posts

161 months

Monday 26th March 2012
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good job sir biggrin

anonymous-user

54 months

Monday 26th March 2012
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I'm kinda thinking this is where my front end is gonna end up. Crack to the n/s suspension mount would mean taking off the top end of the suspension, so I'm weighing up taking it all off and doing something similar to you Peter.

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,284 posts

203 months

Monday 26th March 2012
quotequote all
It's work doing Steve. Strip it all down doesnt take long to be fair. Get the wish bones etc shot blasted and re powder coated then whilst your waiting on your engine get the chassis welded and and either strip and repaint or just paint the bits that need doing

Best way of getting rid of the powder coat is a handy sander. Gets through it easy

pmessling

Original Poster:

2,284 posts

203 months

Sunday 1st April 2012
quotequote all
Bit of an update

Made a stainless steel battery bracket, one less thing to rust in the future, just need to add a stainless bolt to finish it off



I've welded up the crack in the exhaust, also had a good look and found what i think were a couple more so ground them out and reweld. The actual welding on the exhaust is erm to put it "Crap", don't think its a repair but Christ is crap



Managed to wrap one of the manifolds, just got to do the other side now, and the cable ties were temporary to get the wrap right before the proper metal ties.





Cleaned up more of the chassis, including sand blasting the outriggers, and where the end mount sits, and primed them, need to finish up this area, only primed the areas that where completely fnished, totally free from rust, i know in my heart that i'm not going to get it completely perfect and that will be when the time comes to do a body off, but for now this work will prolong the life or the chassis before more major repairs need to be carried out, hope i have a garage by then



Today i managed to clean up some of the spacers, engine mounts, and few little bits in my home made tank and ebay grit gun, doing a very good job so far, just need to find a platers for the spacers to be done again.





Booked easter off so got two weeks in total to get lots more done. Go see the powder coaters tomorrow and hopefully my stuff will be ready.



spongy

2,236 posts

161 months

Sunday 1st April 2012
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Top job sir biggrin