I've been battering away at the Honzuki since October and although I'd been borrowing 24vsters Escort van since then to serve daily duties I was missing having my own daily. When SWMBO passed her test last year I'd found her a Cinq Sporting for her first car, mainly because I'd enjoyed my last one so much and she loves it. However, she's not willing to let me make it significantly lighter or lower so that leaves only one sensible option...............
Get myself another one
After a couple of evenings of scouring ebay, freeads, autotrader, gumtree etc for a cheap one I'd come up with nothing. I was starting to wonder what else I could get for a couple of hundred quid with some tax and test so I started looking in the bargain motoring section on here and found a Cinq sporting in Waterlooville (which is only 2.5-3 hours away) advertised with MOT until the end of Novenber and tax until the end of May for £325. It had a noisy gearbox, rust, the rear interior was supplied loose and the battery only holds charge for a day.
Sounds like my kind of car! I checked the bank, roughed out how much fuel it'd cost to collect it and sent the seller a PM.
The only other person that'd shown interest in it was Ben90210 so I figured I'd best PM him too to make sure I wasn't treading on his toes. He wasn't interested anymore but the seller had emailed him more pictures which he kindly forwarded to me. By the time the seller had PM'd me back to ask if I'd like the pictures emailed to me I'd already seen them and was keen to go get it.
Friday 11/03
SWMBO picks me up from work and we head over to Waterlooville, find the car and wait for the seller. While waiting a quick look over confirms what the pictures had suggested, not a straight panel on it and a rear end rust issue. Test drove it 100yards down the road and back, agreed £250 for cash, seller very kindly filled the washer bottle for me and directed us to Pompey Asda for fuel and food. Fuelled up and parked the Cinqs to get food...........
By the time we came out they'd gained another Cinq! I love it when that happens
On the way back it became apparent that the hesitation I'd experienced on the way to Asda and put down to the lack of fuel wasn't. It felt like it had a rev limiter at 4k, pulled really well right up until then, and then it was like someone switched the ignition off and it didn't come back on until the revs dropped below 3900. Much fun was had by SWMBO all the way home, sailing past me waving, then slowing down and letting me crawl past.
Saturday 12/03
Had to go into work
so took the Cinq and went via my local factors, purchasing a fuel filter, lambda sensor and plugs. After work I chucked it on the ramp and swapped all the bits.................
.................to no avail still exactly the same on the drive home.
Sunday 13/03
Got SWMBO to take 24vsters van to work so that I could have hers to swap bits with to identify what was broken on mine
Swapped:
Coil packs
Leads
Throttle position sensor
Coolant temperature Sensor
Injector
ECU + code box
Checked cam timing
And finally found it!
Crank position sensor
Now that I knew what I needed to order on Monday for it to run properly I could get on with the fun stuff!
First things first, throw all the rear interior away
Previous welding on n/s
Poked my finger through a blister in the o/s inner arch
Rust appears to stem from it having had a back panel and tailgate replaced not very well at some stage, notice the different colour on the tailgate and bumper?
Had to get a picture with SWMBOs looking all red and shiny whilst mine sits in the background
What's that cover hiding? A worn seat?
Nope, a knackered non sporting seat
Why does the seat feel like it's not bolted in? Ah, I see
Boo, non sporting steering wheel
And someone's peeled the leather off the gearknob
Monday 14/03 after work
On with the weight loss,
Look, no dash!
Fusebox moved and wiring starting to look unruly
Tuesday 15/03 after work
Less wiring
By Saturday 19/03 I'd managed to get all the loom shortened, switches moved closer to the gearstick, look how much weight I've saved!
I'd also managed to get it a bit closer to the floor and took it over the weighbridge to find out how much lighter it is. Parkers and the HBOL say 745kg standard, mine weighed 690kg.
Went to halfords to get some paint
Monday 21/03
Stayed on after work to sort out the rust holes
Wednesday 24/03
Took some pictures of the progress, sunroof replaced with 1.2mm ally sheet
Seats and harnesses in
Passenger footrest knocked up and fitted, all excess bracketry removed from dash bar, painted and fitted
Ally shade for clocks to stop them reflecting off the screen at night and column dropped
50mm chopped out of the gearstick and welded back together
Centre exit exhaust knocked up out of the original exhaust and an old powerflow tip I had knocking around
Headlights, which were non sporting ones and thus pale grey inside, split open and the insides painted black
Friday 25/03
Take the day off work so that 24vster and I could go on a road trip to......................
Stevenage to pick up a 1242 16v engine (that as it turns out looks like it's been in a pond) The guys next door neighbour had this in his parking bay
Bristol to pick up a Cinq sporting for him to put the rusty engine in
Bridgewater to meet Ben90210 at his unit and buy a 1242 8v and gearbox for me
Saturday 27/03
Go to the scrappy to pillage a Cinq S for its wind up windows
Farewell heavy leccy window motors, wiring, switches, relay and fuse
Hello even neater loom
Sunday 27/03
Engine and gearbox out of my Cinq
Gearbox casing on the 'box from Ben is damaged (which I knew already) which means that, with much appreciated help from 24vster, I have to face my hatred of the inside of gearboxes and swap the bits into my case
Argh!
Engine and 'box back in. Engine is 1242 bottom end, 1108 head and management. Noticeably more torquey and ideal until I find a Punto 75 head, inlet. exhaust and MPI management for sensible money.
This Saturday I spent a couple of hours chasing a poor running when hot issue which turned out to be my 3 week old lambda sensor
Anyway, apart from a new steering wheel, which I haven't taken a picture of yet that's it.
Have a picture from outside my house on Friday evening
Well pleased with it, looking forward to trying 24vsters 16v one.
Get myself another one
After a couple of evenings of scouring ebay, freeads, autotrader, gumtree etc for a cheap one I'd come up with nothing. I was starting to wonder what else I could get for a couple of hundred quid with some tax and test so I started looking in the bargain motoring section on here and found a Cinq sporting in Waterlooville (which is only 2.5-3 hours away) advertised with MOT until the end of Novenber and tax until the end of May for £325. It had a noisy gearbox, rust, the rear interior was supplied loose and the battery only holds charge for a day.
Sounds like my kind of car! I checked the bank, roughed out how much fuel it'd cost to collect it and sent the seller a PM.
The only other person that'd shown interest in it was Ben90210 so I figured I'd best PM him too to make sure I wasn't treading on his toes. He wasn't interested anymore but the seller had emailed him more pictures which he kindly forwarded to me. By the time the seller had PM'd me back to ask if I'd like the pictures emailed to me I'd already seen them and was keen to go get it.
Friday 11/03
SWMBO picks me up from work and we head over to Waterlooville, find the car and wait for the seller. While waiting a quick look over confirms what the pictures had suggested, not a straight panel on it and a rear end rust issue. Test drove it 100yards down the road and back, agreed £250 for cash, seller very kindly filled the washer bottle for me and directed us to Pompey Asda for fuel and food. Fuelled up and parked the Cinqs to get food...........
By the time we came out they'd gained another Cinq! I love it when that happens
On the way back it became apparent that the hesitation I'd experienced on the way to Asda and put down to the lack of fuel wasn't. It felt like it had a rev limiter at 4k, pulled really well right up until then, and then it was like someone switched the ignition off and it didn't come back on until the revs dropped below 3900. Much fun was had by SWMBO all the way home, sailing past me waving, then slowing down and letting me crawl past.
Saturday 12/03
Had to go into work
so took the Cinq and went via my local factors, purchasing a fuel filter, lambda sensor and plugs. After work I chucked it on the ramp and swapped all the bits..................................to no avail
still exactly the same on the drive home.Sunday 13/03
Got SWMBO to take 24vsters van to work so that I could have hers to swap bits with to identify what was broken on mine
Swapped:
Coil packs
Leads
Throttle position sensor
Coolant temperature Sensor
Injector
ECU + code box
Checked cam timing
And finally found it!
Crank position sensor
Now that I knew what I needed to order on Monday for it to run properly I could get on with the fun stuff!
First things first, throw all the rear interior away
Previous welding on n/s
Poked my finger through a blister in the o/s inner arch
Rust appears to stem from it having had a back panel and tailgate replaced not very well at some stage, notice the different colour on the tailgate and bumper?
Had to get a picture with SWMBOs looking all red and shiny whilst mine sits in the background
What's that cover hiding? A worn seat?
Nope, a knackered non sporting seat
Why does the seat feel like it's not bolted in? Ah, I see
Boo, non sporting steering wheel
And someone's peeled the leather off the gearknob
Monday 14/03 after work
On with the weight loss,
Look, no dash!
Fusebox moved and wiring starting to look unruly
Tuesday 15/03 after work
Less wiring
By Saturday 19/03 I'd managed to get all the loom shortened, switches moved closer to the gearstick, look how much weight I've saved!
I'd also managed to get it a bit closer to the floor and took it over the weighbridge to find out how much lighter it is. Parkers and the HBOL say 745kg standard, mine weighed 690kg.
Went to halfords to get some paint
Monday 21/03
Stayed on after work to sort out the rust holes
Wednesday 24/03
Took some pictures of the progress, sunroof replaced with 1.2mm ally sheet
Seats and harnesses in
Passenger footrest knocked up and fitted, all excess bracketry removed from dash bar, painted and fitted
Ally shade for clocks to stop them reflecting off the screen at night and column dropped
50mm chopped out of the gearstick and welded back together
Centre exit exhaust knocked up out of the original exhaust and an old powerflow tip I had knocking around
Headlights, which were non sporting ones and thus pale grey inside, split open and the insides painted black
Friday 25/03
Take the day off work so that 24vster and I could go on a road trip to......................
Stevenage to pick up a 1242 16v engine (that as it turns out looks like it's been in a pond) The guys next door neighbour had this in his parking bay
Bristol to pick up a Cinq sporting for him to put the rusty engine in
Bridgewater to meet Ben90210 at his unit and buy a 1242 8v and gearbox for me
Saturday 27/03
Go to the scrappy to pillage a Cinq S for its wind up windows
Farewell heavy leccy window motors, wiring, switches, relay and fuse
Hello even neater loom
Sunday 27/03
Engine and gearbox out of my Cinq
Gearbox casing on the 'box from Ben is damaged (which I knew already) which means that, with much appreciated help from 24vster, I have to face my hatred of the inside of gearboxes and swap the bits into my case
Argh!
Engine and 'box back in. Engine is 1242 bottom end, 1108 head and management. Noticeably more torquey and ideal until I find a Punto 75 head, inlet. exhaust and MPI management for sensible money.
This Saturday I spent a couple of hours chasing a poor running when hot issue which turned out to be my 3 week old lambda sensor
Anyway, apart from a new steering wheel, which I haven't taken a picture of yet that's it.
Have a picture from outside my house on Friday evening
Well pleased with it, looking forward to trying 24vsters 16v one.
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