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Thanks for the feedback everyone. Really not sure whether to spend more or just buy a few cheaper helmets within the same time period now. I was getting fed up not being able to see what I was welding so after a good months overtime a couple of years ago I bought a Lincoln Viking 3350 helmet. I also bought a set of slip in optics at 1.5 and 2 so I don't need to wear my glasses if I don't want to The difference between this and the cheaper helmets I was using has been night and day. I was amazed I was able to weld with the cheaper helmets. Yes it is well out of your price range but it is worth it. Adrian Out of interest, not having experienced a higher quality helmet myself, what is the material difference? Is it a big difference in clarity through the screen and speed and effectiveness of the auto darkening function?
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Oct 25, 2021 22:04:02 GMT
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I think it's time I treated myself to a new helmet. I've had a SifLite for the past 10 years which has done me well for the relatively few times I've used it but I've recently noticed it's not dimming as much as I feel comfortable with and as a result I'm getting 'light' arc eye during welding, or at the very least finding it difficult to actually see the piece I'm working on after the first couple of welds.
Not keeping up to date with welding helmet technology, is there now a better product that can be had for less, or will a bit more money (up to £100ish ideally) get something significantly better? Needs to be auto darkening and primarily if not solely for MIG (have an ARC but never used it, would love a TIG but unlikely any time soon). The only particular complaint I've got with the SifLite is it's quite big and cumbersome which make it awkward in tight, typical car respo, spaces.
Any recommendations?
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Oct 10, 2021 23:58:33 GMT
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A little update for the past 5 weeks, small bits done here and there but unfortunately no progress again in the 9000. The van wiring modifications are almost done. Switched live feed taken from the fuse box for the radio via a changeover relay, and the 'changeover' feed run to a connector under the driver's A pillar. This will eventually be connected to a switched feed from the leisure battery so that the radio can be used while the van is parked up. Circuitry also extended for power antenna/remote which feeds an adapater box to use the standard aeiral for digital radio (supposedly works reasonably well) and continues to the connector with the leisure switched feed for the amps. Circuits either run from new fused feeds or extended from existing loom as necessary for a Slaughter House Customs GPS speedo, and coolant temperature and oil pressure gauges located on the A pillar in SHC pods. 4.2A double USB socket also in the dash. Interior lights (originally one over drivers door and one over sliding door, independant of each other and neither working) now extended to incorporate one over the passenger door, and all linked so that any door triggers all lights, and wired into a timer relay. Horn wiring modified as per factory spec for relayed dual tone horn. This actually now drives a compressor behinf the front grille for air horns, because why not! Just need the 'L' connector for the CE1 fusebox if anyone knows of one for sale. Still to add relays for the headlights which will receieve completely fresh wiring and plugs as the existing is scabby and coroded to say the least! Switch in the dash for emergency start from leisure battery via the split charge relay. In the engine hatch everything is very scabby, so the positive cable to starter was replaced with Brickwerks rather nice version and I remade the batter earth to alternator mount. First test of the chinese hydraulic crimps wasn't too impressive, the chucks seem to be a size larger than they're marked as. Other cables will be repaired or replaced as we go through it but in general the engine bay is another mini project in itself which will happen at some point. The only exception is the starter solenoid wire which is really mangled and nasty, so this will need to be cut short and a replacent section spliced in, and I'll modify it to run via a relay that will take the load of the ignition switch and allow me to use it as an immobilised circuit. On that note I made a bracket to mount the alarm ECU neatly behind the dash out of reach, painted it at which point it kindly slipped off the hook and bounced around the garage floor. Could have cried! So that's now been stripped back to bare metal again and has just had its second-first coat of primer. Had to remake the front grille pin switch too to move the pin 10mm further back. Had my first play with rivnus and the Memfast tool for the ECU bracket, siren etc and have to say it's a really neat, compact bit of kit. Otherwise mrs8925 is making some progress in redesigning the interior. We tested the old propex heater and found the motor to be seized at the very least so sent it to them for further diagnosis. That came back as pretty much terminal, so we bought a brand new unit from them with some discount applied. Nice to have it shiny and new, and a new digital thermostat which uses the same CBE mounting as the water level and battery condition indicators we bought, so that can go into the redesign of the countrol unit. In other news I finally managed to find some stock for the Schroth crutch straps And this morning I managed to snag another type 1 4.1 TorSen for (what is these days) a fairly reasonable price. I was going to avoid another type 1 because of the worm drive issues mine has but the seller was happy for me to split it on his driveway and inspect it first. Looked pretty immaculate inside so that can be stripped down, painted and bolted up to my refurbed diff hanger, and new side seals installed. Fingers crossed this solves the nasty vibration at ~70mph. Regardless the MX5 has now mostly been retired for the winter as my dad is preparing to move house and can't be bothered to take one of his cars, so I've taken it on a temporary basis so that we have a second family friendly(ish) car. The agreement is I'll sell it for him next spring when the 9000 is hopefully back on the road. Not sure why it has 4x4 stance, makes for a very comfortable ride but it's a bit wallowy in the corners. Not that it inspires much confidence anyway. Can honestly sa I'm please I have no desire to keep it, but I'm grateful for it anyway. The kids like it... And the current road-worthy fleet all together, curse word off the neighbours
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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I do need to expand my tool collection to get into the rust in the tight corners, so if anyone has any suggestions please say. Great work on the Saab and T25 there. It's soul destroying, takes forever and is a really horrid task grinding everything back, especially any thick underseal. You may already have these, but having experimented with various tools stripping the underside of both my Golf and now T25, I can thoroughly recommend a cheap electric finger sander (and as many belts as you can buy) for getting up in the corners plus a cheap electric scraper/multitool for chugging through underseal. Comes off in strips rather than a wire knot wheel melting it and throwing it over everything in sight. Keep the updates coming Thanks for the suggestion, a multitool has been on the wishlist for a while so perhaps now is the time. The underseal on the T25 is horrible and mrs8925 doesn't like angle grinders so this might be a winner. The finger sander is already a well established part of my arsenal. We've actually spent a lot of time on the T25 this week but nearly all of it has been taken up in the planning stages, finalising all the additions we want to add and making sure we have the right colour and length of cable in the basket. I still need to confirm a hook up socket, consumer unit and make a switch panel with water level meter and battery condition meter but otherwise we're ready to put in the first big orders. That said mrs8925 has done well wire brushing back the rust behind the dashboard, treating with hydrate 80 and coating in epoxy and then white primer. Just needs its final prep and top coat in the original pastel white. I made a little bracket to hold a pin switch for the front grille to protect the alarm siren I'm waiting on a rivnut tool and will need to weld a patch into the bulkhead to mount the siren and the air horns, I'll also make/find somewhere to mount the alarm ecu and relays for the headlight rewiring, then I can touch in and finish the internal side of the bulkhead and strip out, treat and paint he external side. All the attention paid to the T25 has meant a lack of progress on the 9000 though. Unfortunately all I've managed to get done is rid the arches of the last of the rust scabs, made a few more CAD templates and started turning some of them into metal. And to finish off the spare wheel tray I re-applied some seam sealer and overcoated with epoxy.
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Last Edit: Sept 6, 2021 7:51:23 GMT by oli8925
Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Aug 23, 2021 21:08:35 GMT
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Bit more progress on the van over the weekend. Dash came out to reveal the rats nest of wiring. Main purposes of this were it needs to come out for the welding anyway, I wanted to check and unbodge the wiring, and the heater motor needs replacing. Thankfully it wasn't too messed with anyway, I've removed the old defunct alarm system (looked like it might have been a fancy VAG endorsed product back in its day) and reversed some bodgery caused by the tow bar install. A few more bits of plastic broken but Plastex on its way to hopefully rescue the day. The dash clocks are pretty shot though. Over the coming weeks I'll be wiring in a Toad Ai606 I've had lying around. Mrs8925 is itching to get cleaning in there, then I'll do my bits and run part of the leisure system wiring that needs to extend this far forward. New rock n roll bed is about to be ordered as well as a few other bits that will require holes to be drilled before the bodyshop in February.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Aug 20, 2021 22:01:36 GMT
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Got a little bit more done to the 9000. Made up 7 cardboard templates for the offside wheel arch patches when I had some time to kill, too windy to weld nicely today so left it there. Wire wheeled the nearside arch and thankfully no nasty surprises there, only what was expected. All other patches found were only light surface rust so with little or no pitting so cleaned back, Deox-Gel where necessary and Hydrate 80. They'll be overcoated with epoxy primer tomorrow. And finished wire wheeling all patches of rust on the spare wheel well panel. Again, no holes and while there was some medium pitting I'm going to take my chances to treat it rather than a full scale cut out and replace. As before Deox-Gel, Hydrate 80 and epoxy promer tomorrow. Now looks like a patchwork quilt but will be worth it when done I do need to expand my tool collection to get into the rust in the tight corners, so if anyone has any suggestions please say. The new TPS arrived for the MX5. It fixed that issue and was giving the correct readings to the ECU but the car was still spluttering and dying. Decided to take it back to basics and go through all the settings on the map I was given, turns out my brother in law had missed out a zero and set launch control to trigger at 400rpm Turned all the extra stuff off for now until the map is better sorted and it's back to being quite a nice drive. Even took it down to the bodyshop to get a quote for a respray which was reasonable so that might be coming up in the close future. Also fixed an exhaust leak, although I suspect the manifold is blowing slightly again, and taped up two new cracks in the plastic window. Finally, mrs8925 got involved and helped me to tidy up the parts garage so that we could empty the contents of the van. This culminated in finishing off stripping it out of all the trim and carpet so that we can further plan, start buying parts and start the wiring for the leisure battery/hook up side. This unfortunately did reveal a couple of areas in the front needing attention, but common areas so to be expected.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Aug 16, 2021 21:55:50 GMT
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OK so back on with this, I got the heat shield and the rest of the bracketry on the underside off and the skirts, please to say other than a few pathes of what I'm sure is surface corrosion there were no horror stories. Gave it all a hose down, wash with shampoo, scrub with a TFR/degreaser mix and then rinsed it down. From here I used a panel pen to mark all the areas I could notice that would require some kind of attention, even if it was just mild bubbling under the surface. Unfortunately this showed more work was needed to the driver's rear arch than I bargained for, in particular this odd penetration hole in the very top of the arch that had been undersealed over. Passenger arch Rear panel, need to tackle the awful rust around the seal lip at some point Looking at the driver's side inner sill Passenger side Back at the spare wheel well And then it was on with the angle grinder and a wire wheel. I have to admit, after this little lot I felt reasonably dejected. None of it was too surprising but seeing it in gaping holes brought it home, and there's a bit of pressure that I can't let this one come to the same fate as the grey car, or other cars that have come before it that are still waiting. This one needs to be welded up and returned to the road within good time. Before the light and the wire wheel forced me to give up for the day I stuck it into the ropey looking repair done to the offside rear skirt. I'm a bit peeved at this, considering the guy's reputation and that I paid a decent amount of money for this repair, its not to the standards I would expect. Thick underseal was used to cover holes and significant rust that remained. The external skin was also worse for wear, although no major holes it's pitted enough to need to be cut out and replaced and will take care of the inner return Offside chassis section is starting to go at the rear aswell, not sure of the best way to repair this I have the rest of the week off work although plenty I need to squeeze in, so will try to make some more progress. I had thought I'd have the welding done and the rear half freshly undersealed but fat chance of that. In other news the mrs and I recently took a trip up the country to see family so thought I'd take the MX5 and drop in to her brother who works at an MX5 place to get it on the ramps and work out this odd wobble. After many hours, a wheel balance and another alignment the wobble is still there. Strangely when looking back to front underneath the car it look by eye that the prop isn't running centrally down the tunnel suggesting the diff is off alignment. Unfortunately there is no diff alignment on these so it's likely the subframe I resprayed and put on in place of the previous due to stripped threads is bent, although really odd for the diff mounts to be bent but the subframe straight enough to bolt up and not cause any geommetry issues. Other potential culprit is the diff itself? Which needs replacing anyway so I'll start with that. While there he thought it would be a good idea to fit the Megasquirt MS3 Basic I'd bought because the deal was too good to pass up. I wasn't exactly prepared for this so the additional £200 of parts to make it fit wasn't very welcome. What was less welcome was learning that my alternator is only pumping out 12.9v and my compression is down on cyl 2 and 3, to such an extent that to those in the know it feels very underpowered and isn't responding to tuning in the way it should be. Because of this I don't think the map was finished anywhere near to the extent that was promised and to make matters worse the TPS died on the way home. It's still just about driveable because the map is based off MAP rather the throttle position but it's pretty nasty. I have a new TPS (now E36 1.8 IIRC) arriving on Tuesday which will hopefully get me back to a position where it's driveable and I can start fine tuning the map (or perhaps TunerStudio is better placed). In other other news, the T25 is booked into the body shop for February. A lot of work to do in the mean time though. Maybe I should throw the 9000 and MX5 down there with it???
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Is there a date by which it's too late to pass tickets on to someone else? I'm not sure I'll be going and currently the only car I'd want to take is having issues. Might be fixed around the weekend/mid next week or might not. Could be two camping tickets available but obviously it's cutting it very fine. Confirmed two tickets available. Have sent a message to the team via the trybooking email.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Is there a date by which it's too late to pass tickets on to someone else? I'm not sure I'll be going and currently the only car I'd want to take is having issues. Might be fixed around the weekend/mid next week or might not. Could be two camping tickets available but obviously it's cutting it very fine.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Thanks for the review, I think I need to do mine. I have IL Motorsport uprated bushes in my that were new maybe 5 years ago and haven't done many miles, it's not too clunky and noisy but anything to make it better is worth a shot. Also living on borrowed time with the diff but a good TorSen is getting pricey now
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Jun 27, 2021 21:29:24 GMT
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A couple of updates in one... 13/6 Took the tank out over the weekend, didn't realise how much petrol I'd left in it, made it more of a challenge. A little bit grubby behind there but only another couple of rust patches to deal with Offside tank strap didn't have much life left in it. The end in particular was very weak. I've also decided I need to drop the complete rear suspension to strip back and trat the rust properly for this to be worthwhile, so that and the exhaust will be the next stage. I'm expecting it to fight me a lot. Might look at replaceing the fuel lines as well, if not available there are a few bits I'd like to brush back and treat. 27/7 This weekend was the first time I've had a chance to get under the car in a few weeks, the objective being to get the underside completely stripped ready to wash and start dealing with the rust. Thankfully the suspension didn't throw up too many issues, paying particular attention to wirebrushing the exposed threads and copius amounts of GT85 helped. The only bolts that fought me were one of the stabiliser arm mountings on the passenger side which needed a bolt/nut welding on each end to break the corrosion and turn it out, one of the ARB hangers on the passenger side which needed the nut splitting/cutting off (really odd method of providing a captive bolt in my opinion (pictured below)unfortunately the threads took a couple of small nicks so I might have to replace it anyway even if I can fix the captiveness), and one of the exhaust bolts needed mutilating but amazingly three out of the four actually came undone. So this is what it looks like currently. Exhaust heatshield, spare wheel carrier, fuel filter and fuel/brake lines, tow bar, rear bumper and skirts still to come off before I can really get stuck in. One of the problems I'm really struggling with now is space to store all the bits, this was the end of Saturday's work and I've now added the midsection and suspension hangers. Going to need the garage to do all the painting with this weather too Tow bar wiring for my reference on reassembly In MX5 news I finally got it up to Wheels in Motion to sort out the geometry. Obviously it made a big difference and I was very pleased to have my positive and confidence-inspiring car back, however it still has its issues. Before the alignment I had a really bad shake/wobble at ~100-110km/h, that's now improved significantly in terms of severity and speed range but it is still there and worse than I can accept it being. Not sure what to try first - turning the prop seeing as it's free but I doubt it will be the problem/make much difference, or have the wheels rebalanced but they were done by a decent place so hope it's not that. Since the alignment my wheels gone off centre too but this could be because I used uprated SkidNation alignement bolts but didn't tell WIM to torque them higher than standard spec. WIM may well offer to sort it but it's a 2 hour journey I don't particularly want to make. Otherwise it's still working well as a daily and I may have spent money I don't have on a couple of nice bits for the future. In T25 news my wife still can't make up her mind with it so is simultaneously talking to bodyshops whilst looking for others for sale and failing to commit to either.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Thanks for your feedback, appreciate it is very subjective. Seems like I'm on the right track and can scratch the epoxy mastic off the shopping list.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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May 31, 2021 23:29:19 GMT
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I've not really done too much to this for a number of reasons; lack of spare time, lack of spare money, and to be honest feeling s bit overwhelmed by the task ahead and mentally drained from having just done it all on another car. To make it more manageable I'm going to break it down into a few phases. The first phase is to replace the brake lines as that's the MOT requirement, so that's brake lines, flexis and caliper rebuild, rear bumper and side skirts, de-rust the underside and underseal, replace any needed parts (fuel hoses, clamps etc), sound deaden and run audio cable to put carpet and interior back in. So far the rear interior is stripped, I need to make more storage space for the front seats and carpet to come out. It's up on axle stands with wheels off so today I had a nose around underneath. It's not too bad, a good few rust scabs though all over the place. Some bits will definitely need welding but in general unless the metal is holed or significantly weakened it will be treated rather than cut out. Everything will be treated/repaired, the full underside degreased and fresh Bilt Hamber underseal applied. One side of the quarter repair carried out by the body shop looks really nice (oddly enough the worst side) but the other side looks like there might be some bird poo hiding beneath the stone chip and the rear part of the skirt/return for the bumper mounting has been missed so I'll redo or add a bit on. In hindsight I might as well have saved my money and done it all myself but nevermind. Fuel tank strap bolts are soaking in GT85, O/S strap looks new but N/S will be replaced. Tank breather hose had split right the way through which explains the strong petrol smell. Will need sort that out before I start grinding and welding. Might choose to drop the suspension for access to the bidy, and will likely refurbish the components and replace the bushes while I'm there. Or I might need to leave it for later. Some of the nastier bits Hoping to order and awful lot of stuff in the next week or so and get really stuck in to stripping the underside back now weather's better. Meanwhile the MX5 has been performing pretty well. I've not managed to get the alignment done yet so not given it much stick in the corners and the engine doesn't seem to sing at high RPM like I remember, so may need to look into that.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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May 31, 2021 17:46:01 GMT
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Hi all,
I'm planning to freshen up the underside of my 9000 using the Bilt Hamber range of products and have a few general questions, and also questions for those that have used Bilt Hamber UB before:
I've just done this with my Mk1 MX5 using Dinitrol products but the 9000 has more in the way of rust scabs to deal with which gives me a few questions. My current thoughts are to wire wheel back all scabs to rid them of as much rust as possible. Where the metal is too thin/fractured/holed I will weld in new metal but I don't want to do this for every little bit of rust coming through unless necessary. For the bits that don't need welding: Deox-Gel, Hydrate 80, zinc rich/epoxy primer, UB underseal. As well as the scabs the entire underside of the car will be degreased and fresh underseal applied but I won't remove the factory underseal where it doesn't need it. The factory stuff on this late car is very similar to BH UB in that it's a very thin rubbery covering that doesn't lift and allow moisture creep like traditional thick underseal, so I'm happy to keep it.
1. For those that have used this before, how much UB do you estimate I'll need to cover the whole of the underside (the 9000 is 5-series sized for those that aren't sure)? I have a compressor but not sure what gun would be needed and conscious of cost. UB comes in 750ml aerosols or a 5 litre pail. Reviews of the UB suggest only 3 aerosols would be enough but I'm sure I used 5+ of the Dinitrol cans on the MX5.
2. What primer should I use for maximum protection? I've never been quite sure which between Epoxy for being non-porus or zinc rich primer for it's sacrificial layer properties. Or use both? I'd rather use aerosols for ease so epoxy would likely be 1k such as HB Body's aerosol. For zinc rich I'd either buy BH Electrox or I have a tin of Bondarust left (think that's zinc rich).
3. Would it be a good idea to paint over the primer with epoxy-mastic before applying the underseal? I've seen a lot of very enthusiastic opinions on both sides for this but without any reasoning for it being a good or bad idea.
Many thanks in advance
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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I'd wire wheel the other nasty looking bits of the underside and common areas and see what you're left with and how you feel. These closing panels will likely also be a little holed around the welds, and as others have said the inner sill structure front and back will likely need something. If you were planning a quick flip to save a car and for a bit of profit it may be best to move it on and let someone else take care of the hard work. If you were looking forward to having a fun little something on the side see what the quote comes back as. It's far from awful for an MX5 and they're getting to the age where most will be hiding at least some amount of rust.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Apr 21, 2021 12:01:09 GMT
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Looks pretty clean under there all things considered, pleased for you that it didn't put up too much of a fight. I've heard horror stories from other owners (although much like any other 20+ year old car).
Look forward to seeing the renovation.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Apr 19, 2021 19:01:00 GMT
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So, no time like the present, my list for Rodney: - Remake and replace brake hard lines front to back, and replace flexis with braided items
- Fully strip interior, replace any broken trim and try to fix rattles and creaks
- Run audio cable to and from 6 channel amp in boot, install subwoofer and sound deadening, maybe try to open up front speakers to 5.25"
- Wire in knock light
- Change carpet and maybe headlining from the grey 9000
- Investige drivers door latch; door was replaced a few years ago due to rust and I struggled to align it, causing rubbing on the door frame that now needs to be fixed. The door has since been aligned but doesn't shut nicely, and this door is now showing rust
- Replace and repaint slam panel, bonnet, hatch with Carlsson spoiler, possibly body kit and drivers door. Maybe the roof too. Might as well just do the whole car
- Renew gear linkage and install Jamsaab shortshift
- Swap interior for another, better, set of Aero seats
- Replace passenger wing with a freshly painted one I already have
- Investigate current draw causing flat batteries
- Replace exhaust mani and turbo hardware causing exhaust leak
- Replace aux belt and pulleys
- Replace steering wheel air bag causing SRS light
- Investigate ticking noise thought to be chain tensioner
- Replace turbo oil and oil cooler lines with custom made items
- Replace boot seal and investigate water ingress
- Deal with a bit of minor rot in odd places - boot seal lip and one rear door seal lip, a bit around the bonnet hinges, and anything esle I find underneather the body kit. I may end up refreshing all the underseal as I did on the MX5, along with a paint and rebush of the suspension components. OVerall though I don't want this to take forever to complete as it's supposed to be my daily.
- 3 stage machine polish as an interim before paint
Recently had the rot in the corners of the inner rear quarters repaired Remaining rot A fair bit of tidying needed A nice little sub enclosure I snagged from a friend. The system won't be anything fancy, just an old school Alpine amp driving all the speakers and old school responsive sub to produce decent quality sound. The standard system in a 9000 is awful so I'm sure anything will be a nice improvement.
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Apr 19, 2021 18:24:17 GMT
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At least the Mazda failed next to the tented city, and near Asda! So you didn't have far to go for a refreshing beverage and comfort food Ah, you know it well. I was so close I was in their service entrance...they weren't best pleased. So, this sorry chapter is finally over! Last week the last few bits arrived and the driveshaft was put back together Reinstalled on the car. It went back in no problem, new hub nut and suspension arm bolts retorqued with the wheel on a ramp. While I was there I lowered the coilovers a little bit to get a F:310mm/R:320mm height from hub centre to arch top which is supposed to be the ideal height. A few weeks ago I'd packed the wheels up on planks of wood to get it level and weighted down the drivers seat so I knew how much I needed to go down by, which ranged from 3 to 13mm - does seem to sit a bit better now. Rechecked and adjusted the handbrake while I was there. Spacers for the harness bar made and painted (yes, I dropped one of them mid-paint!) And changed coolant. I flushed it out several times when I first got because it was just a rusty solution and the water pump had seized. It then got another flush a couple of years later when the thermostat housing cracked but that was 4 years or so ago now. The coolant in the header tank looked ok but once out and in a bottle it was obviously due a change I'd asked on a local retro car facebook group for MOT centre suggestions and had quite a few suggestions, but one of them was actually from the guy who'd MOT'd this for the past 4 years, and his new centre was only 2 minutes down the road from his old place. Turns out he left a little while ago because the new owners were pressuring staff into finding reasons to fail the car and earn a bit of extra work...which explains things. So the car went to him first thing Saturday, bucket seats and new harnesses refitted, and came out with a nice clean pass. And that's pretty much that for the MX5 for now, other than a few little tidyups, while I try to find somewhere for a paint job. I did a few little jobs to it on Sunday seeing as there was a bit of sun. Replaced the tape on the rear window (zip failed on the motorway sending the screen flapping about and left a whacking great split down the middle) and gave it a clean up with quick detailer, put the pedal covers back on and destickered the sides Interestingly I found the imprint of a Mazdaspeed decal in the paint on the rear quarter, just above the swage line, but Googling doesn't bring up anything meaningful. No rest for the wicked, the MX5 was immediately kicked out of its resting place and replaced with old Rodney
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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Apr 12, 2021 12:45:23 GMT
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Yeeesh, this is a bit of a shock. I followed his/your car's thread closely and found him a very helpful member for bodywork advice, was considering searching him out and sending one or two of my projects his way but thankfully I didn't. Appalling work. The filler is one level of bodgery that, considering his attitude of 'doing things the right way', shows how much of a liar he was, but to use household cable...
Full respect to you, Pete, for keeping your motivation and positivity up. I think I and many others would struggle to get over the negative experiences with this car (not that it's the car's fault).
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Project Diary1975 Viva / 1988 T25 Camper / 1989 Mini / 1991 MX5 / 1992 Mini / 1994 Saab 9000 / 1997 Saab 9000 / 2008 Saab 9-5
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