99 replies to this topic

[DarrylB]

Wow, what a week its been!

The car is basically done! Went and filled the tank up today at about 4pm :-)

I'll let the pics do the talking first:

Wheels were balanced


Clams waiting to go back on:


New Aerial base:


Stripping the passenger seat subframe and the side drivers side vent. I'd done the passenger side one a few months back and I'll do the drivers seat subframe now I know how well the passenger one has come out:

[DarrylB]

Old:


New:


(other side done too)

Old:


New:



Before:


After:

[DarrylB]

And finally.......after a quick wash......





So all that is left to do is:

Re-bleed the brakes (pedal is still a bit soft)
Refit the rear undertray and diffuser
Paint the interior dash and door inserts

I would like to also get the wheels refurbished as they are letting the car down now

It was sooooooo good to get back behind the wheel!!

Cheers for reading and thank you so much to everyone that has commented and helped answer my questions along the way

Edited by DarrylB, 04 December 2011 - 08:53 PM.

[ChrisS1]

Well done. Pat on the back and a pint (or two) for you

[Harry0075]

excellent work, enjoyable read, good pics

[Arno]

you still had some steel under the rust of the towing strut? When mine looked that bad on my Elise I could poke holes into it with a screwdriver.. It had gone paper thin with rust on the outside and inside eating away at it Stuck a stainless steel one in there, so should be good for some years Bye, Arno.

[DarrylB]

you still had some steel under the rust of the towing strut?

I was as shocked as you were, pretty please with how it came out in the end

[DarrylB]

Thought I'd give this thread a quick update seeing as I've had to replace the cooler AGAIN since last year.

So I had the sump off again, to clean all the sludge. I also replaced the oil pump. I've replaced the original rad with a Pro-Alloy larger capacity rad courtesy of Joe.

Here are some pics from along the way in no particular order:

Making way for the new rad:


Dirty old plastic rad:


Fitting of the fan:


Knackered relay (all 3 were water damaged like this one):


Forcing my 6"+ mate to run some cables for the 4 in 1 guage:



Thread on the fun and games I had with getting the thing started again:
HERE

Thread on how I fitted the 4 in 1 gauge to my car:
HERE

and for a laugh, a random pic from last Christmas whilst in Vegas for my mates 30th, this was taken in the Bellagio at the Bank nightclub by a couple who we met out there, he sent it to me only the other week, and I'm still laughing now. I dont remember this at all, don't have a clue what we were doing!

my mates from L > R: Rich, Nick, Me, Ben (see if you can spot him), Matt

[ChrisS1]

random

[DarrylB]

Very random Chris

Oh and some more odds and sods:

Parked up to get some Tax after getting my MOT with 2 days to spare on the old Tax disk, thought I was close to kerb....turned out I was VERY close:



Next on the list of things to fix is to replace the right hand side rad pipe as it's leaking and I wasn't happy with it when I replaced the rad, new one turned up today.

If I leave my wipers on intermittent for a while, it starts to go on the medium speed and wont turn off! not sure if its relay (i have the 99 mod) or the stalk

my sidelight light switch has broken, opened it up and the little plastic tab that makes it click had snapped off so I'm going to swap all the switches like other others have done. Just deciding what type to go for: Type 1, Type 2 or Type 3?

[rob999]

Type 1 definitely Darryl

Edited by rob999, 06 July 2012 - 10:57 PM.

[ChrisS1]

Type 1 definitely Darryl

+1 definitely type 1

[DarrylB]

Just added the type 1 switches to the basket and it comes to 126.99 with delivery still to go...now I know I can be a little bonkers but I'm not THAT mad. 127 for five push button switches....I don't think so! Unless anyone knows if I can get those switches a lot cheaper elsewhere, I'm thinking I'll go type 1 hazard switch and type 3 for the 4 light switches

[Whiteboy]

Type 1 definitely Darryl

+1 definitely type 1

+ 2 the others look cheap and nasty.

[DarrylB]

Well the winter hack / VX Support vehicle bit the dust over the weekend

I moved it over the weekend to get my VX out and in the hour it was at the other of the drive, the scorching 19c Sunshine managed to do this even though the drivers window was open about 8":


You could still hear the glass shattering and creaking from the heat, I picked a piece up and it was boiling.

So what with it being uninsured, SORN'd and out of MOT, it's too unecomical to repair (needs a new front screen too as a chip has turned into a crack from the heat too) and the MOT failure list was 2 pages long for rust issues. So it'll get raided this weekend for parts for my brothers girlfriends Ka and then sent to the crusher.

Farewall cheap little Ka!

[euphoria]

great read! poor KA lol

[DarrylB]

great read! poor KA lol

Cheers! Yeah the poor little thing, don't think I could of got a better car for the 250 it cost me!
Insurance was 40 a month, already had tax and MOT to last. Had electric mirrors, windows, AC, heated screens front and back, leather and 50k on the clock. All I did was put 100 worth of tyres on it.

Sad way to go but oh well, onwards and upwards!

[rob999]

Did the Ka have decent centre caps Darryl? If so, would you sell them?

Edited by rob999, 26 July 2012 - 03:25 PM.

[DarrylB]

Did the Ka have decent centre caps Darryl? If so, would you sell them?

I'll have to look when I get home. It also depends if my brother doesn't swap the wheels at the weekend, as his missus's car has nasty steelies with hub caps and obviously my tasty 14" alloys or what ever they are, are much, much cooler.

Will keep you informed

[Gedi]

Really enjoyed reading this thread! I'll be doing a similar thing as soon as the weather get above 10 degs. Hoping to start in march. Hope this thread inspires others to do a mini overhaul too