It really wasn't tidy I shouldn't have thought. It may have looked shiny but there was so much filler and sealant it was unreal.
Here's the boot floor
It really wasn't tidy I shouldn't have thought. It may have looked shiny but there was so much filler and sealant it was unreal.
Here's the boot floor
The pictures don't show just how bad this car is. I stripped it down on my drive and was really shocked. There's one thing about fives they hide the rot well. The boot area was bad but all the inner arches on the inside had been skimmed with filler and painted there was just no where to weld to. Floor pans were the same. The tailgate was bowed out wards so guessing that's where the water went in. Underneath was rotten again it would require floors and inner and outer sills the wiring was shot I took the dash out put it inside house and had to remove 3 alarms and countless scotch locks it took hours to repair. Then the gearbox is a campus's one that's why speedo cable was just cable tied up. And engine loom was just a mess. Then there's the roof that was full of filler . Drivers seat had been put in on a homemade plate that was loose. And steering uj on rack had a bolt just pushed through uj with no nut . We just couldn't justify doing anything but stripping it. And starting again just didn't want people to think we gave up and scrapped a good car. Hopefully by next weekend the new shell should be painted and coming back
Now all we gota do is put it back together lol
Good work Chris looking smart keep up the good work then u can help me finish mine off 😁
Lol not just me ross done his share aswell. Yea give me a shout mate
Excellent work lads.
Beaut mate - hats off to you.
This ^
I really worry when people think re shelling is the best option, what I've found is the rust starts forming between panels at the spot welds and just spreads until the point you can see it, which is then too late I really don't think many will survive
That said, you guys were right to re shell, once the floor/boot pan is shot it's beyond saving IMO.
With regards to the Iva/sva, the only reason I can see that being worthwhile is if the new shell was either, a non turbo or phase 2 and you'd want it to stay as a phase 1 on paper?
Good work so far, nothing like seeing a five with a fresh lick of paint
Looking forward to watching this progress
Well heres another thing that i forgot to add to this thread until now.
The engine
Many moons ago i bought the europarts renault extra from ian nixon. It was a great bus but i ended up binning it one night in the snow.
I pulled the engine and left it in various places for 12 years or there abouts.
I knew it was now seized and in need of a rebuild so i lobbed it in the back of my van and headed down to Markey Marks for it to be rebuilt.
These pics are brilliant
As delivered
And when opened up
Unfortunately the spec wasn't quite what I was told it was when I bought it as the head was standard but the rest of it checks out ok.
So after mark rebuilt it for me, it now looks like this
So the spec of it now is:
Fully rebuilt with new liners, bearings water pump etc etc
Lightened bottom end
Low comp pistons
Europarts cam
Volvo 480 turbo clutch
And for the purpose of running in will be using a stock t2 but when it's got some miles under its belt I'll be fitting something a little fruitier. Perhaps a t28?
Anyway, big thanks to mark for building this up for me
That's it for today
keep up the good work ross, love the leccy paint, can always rely on markey mark too for a good lump, keep us up with pictures mate as it comes along
Nice work mate
Great work mate, phase 1 in 'leccy blue mmm mmm mmm keep the pics coming!
Very small update but I've just been to collect some new parts for old Ethel.
Thanks to Jon aka thundercat I've just collected some campus rear windows and rubbers and a campus fuel filler neck to allow me to bin off the reserve tank.
Just a thought though, how accurate is a gt turbo fuel gauge when the reserve tank has been removed?
Coming together nicely now mate
Props to you for sticking with that lump, i'd have tossed it right in the bin if i'd opened it up to that!
Fair play for all the hard work, it will look mint once finished.. but I noticed you don't have holes to fit the kit & you have painted it now are you sticking the kit on ??
Yeah that was a 'slight' oversight on behalf of the painter
I'm heading over to Shrewsbury on Saturday to give a hand to rectify that and get it all bolted up properly. I picked up some new sideskirt clips a couple of years ago from Bod182 so can finally put those to good use.
Luckily my kit is ready now after having been painted again. I could really slap myself for having it painted grey first time round. Anyway, it's all sorted now and I'm finally happy with it
This is starting to get quite expensive now but should ultimately be worth it.
Looks much better black/dark grey
shame about the fitting of the skirts & arches though after all that hard work
Great work love the colour to
Was it a campus or GTT shell, if it was a campus it won't have holes unless you swapped the wings with GTT ones, can't remember if the rears have holes as standard on campus shells, nor the clips for the side skirts
Campus are the wrong shape rear arches anyway Steve. I guess on a campus you'd see the original steel arch below the line of the plastic arch if it wasn't cut right
VALE46 thread shows that one side has a campus arch. Can be used.
No they are fine. I've seen the rear quarters listed in Italy ebay. Believe there are some currently for sale. Shipping could be a problem.
Well, been over to Shrewsbury this weekend to drop some bits off for the resto and then a quick drive down to Essex to collect some parts from TopCat.
Despite being an extra from 'TOWIE' and a massive bummer TopCat is a proper gent.
He's sold me some seriously sweet refurbed cup wheels and even chucked in a spare phase 1 drivers seat which I was in need of.
Cheers mucka
Anyway after we got back last night it was too late to start doing anything on the car so left it till this morning.
Not long after dragging the new engine into the garage to start 'fitting up' r5beatty showed up with much needed sausage bacon and egg buns cheers dude. That's the breakfast of champions y'know
So we got the engine pretty much ready to drop in with a new volvo 480 turbo clutch on it too and that was it for this week.
This weekend was the first time I've actually seen the car since it's been painted and WOW!
The pictures from the other week do the car no justice at all. The paint is just so vivid it's unreal. Really made up with it but like a twunt forgot to take any pics before my phone died.
Hopefully back over to Shrewsbury in a few weeks to do a bit more. And have more 'cuddles' with Chris' mum
Bloody hell my mrs thought you were gonna rob the place when you scruffy twunts showed up!
So you have a resprayed shell & cup rims & you take a picture of a c1j? You need to sort your priorities out lol.
Just laughed out loud reading that comment about "you know who"
Enjoy the stuff mate, I know you're committed when you make a 8 hour round trip to come get parts. Hopefully the seat and exhaust made the drive home a bit better x
Dave you should have told me you needed some backup mate. I could have acted as a translator...
No problem mate was nice to meet you good day with Chris sorting out the engine for Ethel..also Chris kindly took us out in his car for a blast wellllll I'm still smiling now was such a laugh.. good way to finish of a good weekend
Ha ha..all good fun!! No problem Ross glad to help out see you when you next come down when Chris completes it..till then sausage bacon and eggs on you next time ha..over and out
I got a nice supprise last night in the form of a couple of pictures from Chris.
First up was a bit of the kit against the car so I can see how it contrasts. I think it looks great.
And next up was an even better suprise
The most annoying thing is seeing your car progress and not being there to do anything about it or even lend a hand.
As such I've got to thank Chris and dan for giving up another full day to work on Ethel.
Don't worry chaps I'll treat you to a bag of haribo each when it's all done.
More new parts
Rear window 1/4 trims as the originals disintegrated on removal
New headlining as the old one is saggy and ripped. It's got a stain on it but a bit of elbow grease should sort that
And finally, refurbished phase 1 suspension parts with new bearings and rubbers etc, so that'll be my coilovers fitted soon
Also picked up a load of spares from Jon aka ThunderCat on here such as headlights, fuel sender, campus windows and seals etc etc so big thanks to you dude
Back over to Shrewsbury this weekend to get a bit more done on it