|
|
|
Nov 14, 2011 13:35:52 GMT
|
I seem to spend a lot of time on here reading about other peoples cars so I thought it was about time to join myself and show off my mighty Metro! I got her in August after finding myself broke and car-less when my Pug 306 blew its gearbox on the M40. After managing to scrounge a lift home and leaving the old oil burner for the scrapper I found this little gem on eBay for just £380. The only problem was the large amount of England between me in Kent and the car in Sheffield! Still, being a lunatic and unable to resist a low millage classic in an equally classic colour scheme I went in and bought her unseen! The drive back was eventful and only made possible thanks to several borrowed/stolen Biro's taken form petrol stations! The fuel line had been replaced and was touching the exhaust manifold. It held out okay, for 125 miles then started stalling at junctions. I thought it was the idle so whipped off the filter only to find the melted mess of fuel line! With nothing with me to fix it I had to beg for a pen from the petrol station to join the two bits of hose together! 3 miles later it stopped again because petrol eats pens and makes them go soft so I had to wedge it in as far as I could and pray. That lasted 25 miles and expired just as I pulled into the M25 services - the pen completely gone! Luckily the Smiths had some more pens so I was able to get back on the road only to find the gauge reading empty and 15 miles to the next station! The pen had leaked £15 of fuel before giving up and I broke down just 5 miles from home and had to be rescued by my mum with a jerry can! Since then shes passed an MOT with no advisories and caused me no problems at all. She's my daily drive and so far has benefited from Accuspark electronic ignition a set of MG wheels with Yoko 008s on! The cornering is like nothing else! Anyway, here she is.   The engine bay cleaned up nicely. The rocker box was flaky and nasty so I started prepping it for a respray but figured I'd leave it shiney instead!  The interior is like new!  Silly tyres for 30-odd horsepower!  |
| |
Last Edit: Apr 7, 2021 21:15:20 GMT by metroman
|
|
|
|
djefk
Part of things
Posts: 844
|
|
Nov 14, 2011 14:01:54 GMT
|
|
Good work, look after it and you'll get years of budget motoring fun out of that, now go and properly rust-proof the he'll out of it when it's fully dried out underneath ASAP!
|
| |
|
|
ben1
Part of things
Posts: 340
|
|
Nov 14, 2011 14:20:11 GMT
|
|
very good , looks nice on thoose wheels, the blue doesnt glash with the gold, you got a bargain motor for £380.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 14, 2011 15:02:43 GMT
|
|
How would you guys go about rust proofing? Inject the sills and underseal?
I have a new wing (and details for someone with over 30 brand new Austin mk1 front wings) to go on and there is some welding that I want to sort out around the headlights this Christmas - it should be okay until then? It is undersealed already but it was done a while ago.
I didn't paint the wheels - they came like that! I bought them for £120 on eBay again because they had a near new set of tyres to repace the metric steelies/worn tyres it came on (saving those for shows). I'm not convinced blue is the way to go and they need a repaint anyway as they are a bit chipped. I'm thinking black centres at the moment.
Does anyone happen to have any centre caps knocking about?
|
| |
|
|
ben1
Part of things
Posts: 340
|
|
Nov 14, 2011 15:35:13 GMT
|
I undersealed my metro, this is the best thing to do imo, the welding will be okay until december if it isnt that bad, the wings are very hard to get new, so if you have a source, that is brilliant, good buy on the wheels, i paid £80 for mine, for the 5, i can ask over at metoownersclub for the centre caps if you like, or you could join up and show of your metro there too  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 14, 2011 17:32:24 GMT
|
Does your spare fit in the spare wheel well? I'm having to keep a steelie in there because the 13" is too large. I don't know if they changed the well in later cars? My old R100 certainly had a larger well. I've signed up to the Metro OC and I'm just waiting for the confirmation for the board now. |
| |
Last Edit: Nov 14, 2011 17:33:21 GMT by metroman
|
|
ben1
Part of things
Posts: 340
|
|
Nov 14, 2011 18:09:02 GMT
|
I havent put the wheels on my car yet, but i will try the spare in the wheel well for you first thing in the morning for you |
| |
|
|
Wizzpop
Part of things
"Go boil an egg!"
Posts: 110
|
|
Nov 15, 2011 13:15:23 GMT
|
|
Ive been looking into these (going to the NEC this weekend didnt help!!!). Love the story about it Pen munching....genius!
|
| |
Current rides:
Peugeot 205 1.9 GTi
Previous chariots:
'88 Merc E230
'91 MR2 GTi16 T-Bar
'87 Ford Escort RS Turbo S2
'88 E30 BMW 318
'88 Citroen AX GT
|
|
BenKH
Part of things
Praise the lowered
Posts: 421
|
|
Nov 15, 2011 16:34:31 GMT
|
|
Jewish Racing Gold!
Nice car, I do like Metro vans. I was surprised to see a Metro Van drive past me the other day, can't be many of them left now?
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
That does look good in gold! Looks like original rear arches too!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 27, 2011 10:27:00 GMT
|
|
What a beauty!
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 27, 2011 10:48:18 GMT
|
Jewish Racing Gold! Nice car, I do like Metro vans. I was surprised to see a Metro Van drive past me the other day, can't be many of them left now? Theres a metro van by me, a old guy uses it as a work van always got a trailer on the back of it |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 27, 2011 16:10:54 GMT
|
That's a very clean Metro, me likey ;D Being gold it reminds me of my third Metro a 1.3 that decided it had had enough of running on all four cylinders at ##mph down the A21!! Never did figure out why the one cylinder died  |
| |
My YouTube Channel www.youtube.com/user/UkWheelHorseBlokeQuote - D'you know, it's people like you, doing totally brilliant and pointless stuff like this that gives me a little hope for humanity |
|
BenKH
Part of things
Praise the lowered
Posts: 421
|
|
Nov 27, 2011 16:50:55 GMT
|
Jewish Racing Gold! Nice car, I do like Metro vans. I was surprised to see a Metro Van drive past me the other day, can't be many of them left now? Theres a metro van by me, a old guy uses it as a work van always got a trailer on the back of it Just noticed you're in Cannock. Could have been the one I saw, I saw it in Bloxwich. Dark blue? |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 28, 2011 11:02:52 GMT
|
|
Lovely car mate, I have a mk2 and had a fun drive home when I got mine. I've never had so many looks ever there awsome!! Join the metro owners club good advice and bits
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 28, 2011 11:21:53 GMT
|
|
I see you have a similar username. I saw this thread and though, hmm i don't own a mk1? haha.
Very nice mate, any future plans for her? :-)
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 28, 2011 12:26:20 GMT
|
|
Really liking the Metro - You hardly see any on the road these days, especially the Mk1 versions.
If you have a source of wings, I would certainly be interested...
|
| |
1950 Ferguson TE A20
1971 VW Beetle 1300
1972 VW Beetle 1302S
1977 Leyland Mini 850
1983 Austin Metro 1.0 HLE
1984 Honda Acty TN 550
1989 Rover Mini 30
1990 Rover Mini City E
1990 Mazda MX5
|
|
|
|
|
Nov 28, 2011 12:45:58 GMT
|
|
I'm not usually a fan of Metros, but there's something about that with those wheels. It looks kinda fun.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Jul 15, 2012 21:33:57 GMT
|
Finally an update! I've done 9000 miles in her now and not really had any problems so I felt she deserved some attention. I got a rebuilt gearbox which I stripped and checked over and then took the old engine and gearbox out because 2nd gear syncro had eaten itself! While on the bench I figured it was worth giving the engine a once over so stripped that down too. Everything bar the oil pump was perfect and well within factory tollerances which isn't bad. The oil pump was a right mess tho! I took note of the orientations of the rings and marked every bearing for reasssembly before pressure washing the block and giving it a nice repaint. I modded the oil ways so they line up with the holes in the bearings and tapped the block for grub screws instead of bungs in the oil ways. I then rebuilt it over a few days with bits I had laying about as follows: Stock bottom end with balanced pistons MG Metro cam and new followers (110') Duplex chain 12G940 head with recessed exhaust valves and all ports matched to the gasket Cut down water pump and Cooper S pulley wheel to clear the head MG Metro Tubro inlet manifold with original HIF38, matched to gasket Stock 'LCB' exhaust manifold with inlet cut off matched to gasket. Total cost well under £200 and I still need to return the new rings I got cos I reused the old ones. Doesn't burn any oil at all by the way. Fired up almost first turn but ran like curse word until i noticed the dizzy drive was out by 180' so it was only going to 2 pots! The I saw the clutch release bearing on the bench. Now goes like a train but needs a good tune up on a rolling road. I want to get an HIF44 on there first tho and I've got a few dizzys to try with different advance curves. I also need to stop the bloody timign cover leaking. I think it's bent from drifting out the old seal and knocking the dent into it for the duplex chain. I really need to sort the handling now though. I'm thinking of individualising the rear hydrospaz units cos it corners really nicely to start with then the back end gives way when all the fluid slops to the wrong side of the car! I'm hunting for some new front shocks and considering making up a rear ARB as the factory ones seem pretty rare now. The body is also a little tired now. I put a new wing on at Christmas and had to do some welding to the headlight panel which has also gone on the other side. I've got a new front valence to go on as the one on there's been repaired before and is a bit shagged. Rear arches are a touch bubbly now too  Poor old thing! I'll try and get some photos up asap. James |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Photos of the wing being replaced. The old one was a bit tired around the edges and had been repaired in the past. It was also welded to the front pannel rather than just bolted/sealed which was a pain!  Wing off. It was a bit rusty under there but nothing that a wire brush didn't sort in most places. It was just around the headlight that needed welding.  Made a repair out and welded in. My welder was on the way out - damnned SIP Cosmo rubbish - hense the curse word welding.  I got the wing from GC Motors, the Mini specialists in Swanley. They have a about 50 Mk1 wings. www.gcminis.co.uk/Paid £30 for the wing and £100 to get it sprayed. I seam sealed everything and then covered it in underseal. I still need to sort the pannel gap at the door, I think it's the seam sealant getting in the way!  Finished! At the same time I did the rear arche that needed a little patch at the back and then covered it in underseal but it needs doing again as the rust has come through the paint and the rear valence is crumbling. Photos of engine to follow. James |
| |
Last Edit: May 1, 2020 23:43:33 GMT by metroman: Images swapped from photobucket to imgur
|
|
|
|
Poor old thing!