This car is now ours.
First job was to take it straight round to the MOT Station. It was given a full "MOT", but not logged onto the system, so we got a full list of what it would have failed on and advisories, and it looked like this:
Fails:
Windscreen Wiper Blades Perished
OSR Brake Pipe Corroded
Exhaust Blowing from a Flexi
NSR Lights Inoperative
Advisories:
4 x Tyres Perished
Rear Heat Shield Insecure
Various Suspension Components Slightly Corroded
So, first thing was to fit a pair of wiper blades. One item ticked off the list within 5 minutes.
Then yesterday, the car went up on the ramp, had a new flexi welded in. Exhaust now performs perfectly, but I've ordered a new backbox, as I was looking at replacing the rusted tailpipes, but the backbox was looking a little crispy, whereas the rest of the exhaust now looked very good, so may as well pay the extra and do it properly.
Made up a new rear brake pipe, cleaned up and re-attached the heat shield, de-rusted and coated all the suspension parts. Applied a fresh coat of stonechip to the underside (the bodyshell is completely rust free and very solid and tidy).
The brakes were all good, but took the discs and pads out, gave everything a good clean up and re-fitted. Adjusted the handbrake.
4 new tyres are on order, so just refurbishing the alloys ready to fit those.
The tail lights were the most problematic area, but lots of cleaning, some new connectors and 2 new fuses later and they all work.
Does everything else work on the car? Almost. The heated rear windscreen switch isn't working, so just in the process of investigating that.
Some of the electric windows were a little slow, so cleaned and lubricated all of the mechanisms and window channels and they're all good now.
The sunroof tilts, but doesn't slide. but that needs to come out to address the roof anyway, and it just seems stiff.
It's had a full service, new cambelt, water pump, aux belts and alternator as that was a bit iffy. Just giving the engine bay a good detail now and painting a few corroded components under there.
What's next? Get it back in for MOT, which it should pass without any advisories. Sort the couple of bits listed above, then it will be:
Headlining needs to come out to be retrimmed and for the sunroof/roof to be sorted. The roof will require some welding around the sunroof aperture, then prep for a full repaint, Apart from the roof, the shell is rust free. A couple of the doors will need a little new metal on the bottoms, there are a couple of dents, but other than that, nothing too bad.
The dash isn't cracked or warped, but there are a few blisters on it, and some of the wood will need a little attention. The chrome effect strips in the bump strips are all quite nasty, so these will be replacing (it's missing completely on one door).
Then it will be ready for the road/shows in a few weeks time.
