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 MK2 Principles Edition Mental ProjectModerators: Jump to page : 1 Now viewing page 1 [25 messages per page] | |
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xaxben |
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| Member Posts: 25  | Picked up a 1988 MK2 Metro, one of those in the weird period between austin and rover. But because it makes it easier, I'll probably call it an austin from time to time. It's got a 1275 A+ and has done around 50,000 miles.. completely clean underneath, literally no rust. Doors are rotten at the bottom but that will get repaired at some point.. Plans involve making it grip and stop like stink, then powah, then some general playing about to get it doing all 3 together well, get it doing some autotest events, rallies, rallycross, track days, etc... these are all only in the pipeline though. So when I picked it up it looked like this:  Relatively unloved, the poor car had been given roof bars, had a wing mirror replaced (but not painted..) and the other wing mirror had been knocked off. The aerial has gone missing at some point too. The doors are rotting, rear bumper mount has failed (surprise..) on one side, the front bumper appears to have been replaced and is held on by two (different..) bolts. Rear heated screen didn't work, and rear wiper. Front wiper blades were knackered, all the decals have faded, the paint was matte, etc etc etc So I set to it, removed the rood bars the evening I had the car, rear wiper came off after I realised there would be some more complex diagnosing involved (blew the fuse as soon as I put it in), rear heated screen had had its fuse removed (presumably for rear wiper) so that was an easy fix. Replaced the passenger side mirror and gave it a wash. Then it began to misfire. It turns out the car hasn't been serviced in a LONG time, replacing the plugs initially lost the misfire, then it came back. In the end, retarding the ignition back to 5 degrees advanced and replacing a rather broken vacuum pipe (to the vac advance..) fixed it. Valve clearances were also done, along with a coolant flush (was brown/black), thermostat change and rocker cover gasket change. Currently waiting on a rear ARB, 13x7 et-7 starmags, rear individualising valves and rev counter clocks. Bloody metric wheels and tyres with the hydrolastic set up in a stupid way! (thank you austin..) The car came up well with a wash (fairly watertight too!), undersealed, bolt hammered into the aerial hole to increase reception a little, original MW/LW radio swapped with some wiring for my pioneer one, twin 12" subs and a 2 farad power cap on 4AWG wiring kit. Lots of fun! Also stops like fuck thanks to having 4 pots and 8.4" vented discs as standard! I will update as and when things happen, plenty of things happening this month  In the mean time, here's some photos     | ||
| Cake_Destroyer |
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| formerly p319 hok Posts: 1965    Location: Under a car somewhere | |||
| ding |
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  | What you doing/done with the roof bars? I need a new set | ||
| xaxben |
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| Member Posts: 25 | p319 hok - 3/11/2013 12:11 AM id check the rear valance, looks like its got a bit of rust on the outside at the bottom and unfourtunately the inner rear valance is often forgotten about and is normal much worse than the outer It's not too bad actually, although there is some further corrosion on the other side And I still have the roof bars in the garage, condition isn't brilliant but they'd still do the job if you want them, fiver plus postage | ||
| xaxben |
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| Member Posts: 25 | As you can see from the photos.. there's plenty of corrosion on the doors. Got the drivers side card off and had a look underneath, it's not quite as bad I as feared, although rear passenger side looks like it will be scary.  | ||
| 111Sli |
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 Transport Guru MP Moderator Posts: 4947 Location: Bromley, Kent | |||
| xaxben |
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| Member Posts: 25 | |||
| 111Sli |
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Transport Guru MP Moderator Posts: 4947 Location: Bromley, Kent | |||
| forcker |
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 Regular Posts: 241 Location: Germany | The door skins are on sale at rimmerbros. If you can get a new skin for £25.54 inc VAT I personally would not start with fiber glas. http://www.rimmerbros.co.uk/Item--i-BDA39017 Edited by forcker 5/11/2013 5:07 PM | ||
| xaxben |
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| Member Posts: 25 | |||
| xaxben |
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| Member Posts: 25 | Oh and I couldn't stand the standard pathetic horn.. so I fitted a truck horn. 125db and 45cm long haha.  | ||
| xaxben |
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| Member Posts: 25 | So some parts have started arriving.. The new wheels, 13x7 ET-7 Starmags, the tyres fitted currently are far too chunky though so I can't even turn them in the arch. and I have around 25mm of tread poke and about 2" of full wheel poke. Will be fitting 175/50/13's to the wheels to roughly match the current rolling radius, then some 4.5cm wide arches.  The rev counter clocks arrived and are fitted, still running my 110 speedo at the moment until I set the mileage on the 130mph speedo. Had to run a wire from the screw on the back of the rev counter to the negative of the coil too.  The truck horn is fitted and ridiculously loud, lovely! Please ignore the messy wiring, I haven't got the time after work during winter to spend time making it pretty!  Unfortunately, since fitting the rev counter clocks, I thought I'd have some fun and take it up to 6k, presumably higher than it'd ever been taken by me, and it showed a fault in my adjustment of the valve clearances, I didn't nip up the locking nut tight enough and the clearance adjusted itself up to about 20mm instead of 11 thou. So I had my first breakdown! Managed to adjust them up to around about 16-20 thou at the side of the road to get me home as I wasn't far from home. Then got it home did them properly! 10:20pm in the pitch black with the trailing light doing clearances, fun!  Following that, this weekend was time for some love to happen. The individualising valves arrived (thanks Ralph), I had acces to a ramp, a dry unit and plenty of tools for the day (thanks Goldrush). The plan was to do an oil change, lower it, stiffen it, fit the rear ARB (that hasn't arrived yet..) and a couple of other bits. The night before though the brakes had started to feel a little odd.. well very odd. Checked the reservoir... no fluid... whipped the drums off, some very wet cylinders. Bugger. So the lowering didn't happen as I want to sort the brakes first. New cylinders and shoes Monday. I ended up readjusting all the valve clearances to 11 thou properly this time, and then nipped them up nice and tight. The oil change went ahead though. Sump plug came out nice and easy, and I found where 4th gear had got to..  Once all the oil was out, it was time for the filter to come off. Here's where the issues began. Tried with my hands first.. nothing. Hammered a screwdriver through the side. Nothing. Hammered a bigger screwdriver through.. Nothing. Hammered it through the other side. Still nothing. Found a gert pry bar, whacked that through both sides and with nearly all my strength got about 1/16 of a turn out of it, but at least it was something. Lowered the car back down on the ramp, whacked the bigger screwdriver through from the otherside (handle was alternator side), one end of the pry bar on the front ARB, levering against the screwdriver and with a shit load of force got around a 1/4 of a turn, carried on with the pipe grips from there and got the fucker out!   All the oil was out, new filter was on, with the seal oiled before going in, filled up with Halfrauds Classic 20w50. Turned it over, started with a bit of choke, and ran sweet as a nut, sounds just right now. Remarkably since the oil change and re-adjustment of the clearances, it now pulls much better in every gear, although most notably in 4th where I can now go from 30 to 40 with as little as 1/4 throttle when previously it really struggled to even do 30 in 4th. So other than the complete failure of the rear braking system, the day was somewhat of a success. And for those that care, here are some other photos...    | ||
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