Thought I'd start a thread on what will be a newbie with the tools (fitting new suspension is the most I've done before) attempting a rejuvenation on a car that has seen 6 years with not much more than a few services and new suspension.
My girlfriend is a Kiwi and the end game is to take it with us when we move out there - hence the need for it to be as close to new as possible to get through quarantine... but with a ~2500 mile road trip planned for August, the target is to have it ready for that.
I don't know too much of what state the car is in but I suspect the do list will at least cover (plus any other suggestions)...
Suspension Bush Refresh
Restore and paint Wishbones, hub carriers etc
New Toe Links
Engine Mounts
Brake Lines
Hand brake cable
Exhaust
New wheel bearings
ARB bushes
Replacement short driveshaft (the hopefully cure a weird knocking while turning right that's worse with acceleration issue)
Headlight clean up
Sub frame plate
The Car
2002 N/A 135,000 miles
It received a whack on a roundabout 5 1/2 years ago and I went with a repair garage recommend by one of the popular VX garages... sadly me and Vocky (when doing the timing chain) discovered this garage hadn't been very attentive with the repairs, with a mix match of bolts used attaching the second hand clam used to stop it being written off.
Work
Where I'm at so far.. the car is sat on 4 axle stands on the drive way with the wheels off. That took a very long time thanks to some buggered under tray bolts, mostly the two main ones for the rear tray.
The middle under tray also uncovered what appears to be damage caused by jacking the middle tray, so some sill repair work is going to be needed on that edge.
A wire brush to the all the road grime that had built up shows what looks like a worrying amount of corrosion between sub frame and chassis.
Removing the arch liners - but managed to rip a chunk to the sill away with one of them where the corrosion around a nut and bolt the repair garage used to attach the arch liners to the sill instead of the usual RAWL types virtually welded the liner to the sill - showed what looks like a lot of corrosion on the sill brake lines.
Decided I'd try and get the clam off next thinking it would be reasonable given it had been off before. Am I right in thinking the speaker panel has got to come out? Because it is still stuck down. Given the bodge the garage have done elsewhere, I'd be very surprised if they stuck this back down on reassembly.
Pics will be added soon, just using a quiet spell at work to start this thread off.