Been a while since i've posted a build thread, life got a bit on top forcing me to sell all my retro's and focus on getting my life back on track. which brings me to this point..
After discussing with my other half i'd really love to own something 80's with potential i set my heart on a k10 micra or similar, with a limited budget and an itch to scratch i scoured the web and local papers and a friend of mine called me to say about a car he saw for sale in a quiet backstreet with a tiny for sale sign in the rear window. so me and the other half went to investigate...
i knocked the door and an elderly chap answered , we spoke about the car and he told me it had been in the family from new he was very attached to it but needed to make space in the garage, judging by the very minimal for sale sign in the rear window and no other advertising he didnt seem bothered if it sold and i was the first person to get in contact.
I got home that night and immediately researched all things metro, somehow a fire grew inside me for this little hatchback that 10 years ago i would've shunned!
so the next morning i went back and decided i was going to buy it.
seeing it in the daylight pointed out crusty bonnet and mismatched aerosol and hammerite red/orange coverups... but the arches were clean and solid and the sills and floor immaculate , he then told me he waxoyled it every winter and patched up any rust that appeared but was getting to old for it now.So after a quick test drive all the comforts of abs , power steering taken away, the memories of my retro cars i have owned came flooding back... i needed this metro.
so me and the wife arranged a day to collect it , i was so excited i talked metro's all day , searched metro's on the internet every chance i had , i was hooked... and slowly annoying the Mrs. , i woke up collection day and was ready cash in pocket. after chatting for a while to the elderly owner i signed all the paperwork and he asked me to return one day when its looking all clean and nice.
within the first hour i could smell hot rubber , then the fan belt started to squeel and then the battery light appeared, leaving us stranded on the A470 ,
after attempting to make a fan belt from wire and failing i gave in and was about to call for recovery when a mercedes pulls up and a guy gets out and shouts " if this was any other car i wouldnt have stopped but i got 4 metro's!"the gent towed us to safety and i left the little metro in a pub carpark for the night.
the previous owner called me to ask how i was getting on with it and i told him the story and he told me he had 4 new fan belts in his garage....
so off i went to get my metro home safe !
after driving it for a day i realised the gear selector was making a knocking sound and google returned results that the gearbox was failing , i decided to take it to my old boss who is a rover/austin guru...
up on the ramps the floor was solid and rust proofed which made me smile... but ! i still need to investigate the mystery gearbox knock/rattle.
Turns out the exhaust was touching the gear selector causing the knocking and popping the selector out of gear, so lenny fired up the acetylene torch.
quick bend of the downpipe and its free , a quick drive around the block confirmed how much noise the exhaust was previously making through the cabin.
so now some of the niggly bits are repaired my mind is focused on the bodywork and styling, after much thought i decided to go with a wheel that was 13x7 flavour from a mini and found a set of alley cat specials with new yokohama tyres on ebay , i bid and i won and traveled down to near reading to collect them only to find pitting on the rims which was a big dissapointment as they were described as new.
but after a bath and some wax they looked good.
I'm waiting on some alloy wheel nuts to turn up before i try them after a bit of research i see the metros have quite a high offset so I'm fully expecting these wheels to stick out and if they do I'm going to go down the route of fitting mini special or sport pack arches dependent on how far they stick out. hopefully can update soon with pics of bodywork being sorted and interior tiding up. thanks for reading.
After discussing with my other half i'd really love to own something 80's with potential i set my heart on a k10 micra or similar, with a limited budget and an itch to scratch i scoured the web and local papers and a friend of mine called me to say about a car he saw for sale in a quiet backstreet with a tiny for sale sign in the rear window. so me and the other half went to investigate...
i knocked the door and an elderly chap answered , we spoke about the car and he told me it had been in the family from new he was very attached to it but needed to make space in the garage, judging by the very minimal for sale sign in the rear window and no other advertising he didnt seem bothered if it sold and i was the first person to get in contact.
I got home that night and immediately researched all things metro, somehow a fire grew inside me for this little hatchback that 10 years ago i would've shunned!
so the next morning i went back and decided i was going to buy it.
seeing it in the daylight pointed out crusty bonnet and mismatched aerosol and hammerite red/orange coverups... but the arches were clean and solid and the sills and floor immaculate , he then told me he waxoyled it every winter and patched up any rust that appeared but was getting to old for it now.So after a quick test drive all the comforts of abs , power steering taken away, the memories of my retro cars i have owned came flooding back... i needed this metro.
so me and the wife arranged a day to collect it , i was so excited i talked metro's all day , searched metro's on the internet every chance i had , i was hooked... and slowly annoying the Mrs. , i woke up collection day and was ready cash in pocket. after chatting for a while to the elderly owner i signed all the paperwork and he asked me to return one day when its looking all clean and nice.
within the first hour i could smell hot rubber , then the fan belt started to squeel and then the battery light appeared, leaving us stranded on the A470 ,
after attempting to make a fan belt from wire and failing i gave in and was about to call for recovery when a mercedes pulls up and a guy gets out and shouts " if this was any other car i wouldnt have stopped but i got 4 metro's!"the gent towed us to safety and i left the little metro in a pub carpark for the night.
the previous owner called me to ask how i was getting on with it and i told him the story and he told me he had 4 new fan belts in his garage....
so off i went to get my metro home safe !
after driving it for a day i realised the gear selector was making a knocking sound and google returned results that the gearbox was failing , i decided to take it to my old boss who is a rover/austin guru...
up on the ramps the floor was solid and rust proofed which made me smile... but ! i still need to investigate the mystery gearbox knock/rattle.
Turns out the exhaust was touching the gear selector causing the knocking and popping the selector out of gear, so lenny fired up the acetylene torch.
quick bend of the downpipe and its free , a quick drive around the block confirmed how much noise the exhaust was previously making through the cabin.
so now some of the niggly bits are repaired my mind is focused on the bodywork and styling, after much thought i decided to go with a wheel that was 13x7 flavour from a mini and found a set of alley cat specials with new yokohama tyres on ebay , i bid and i won and traveled down to near reading to collect them only to find pitting on the rims which was a big dissapointment as they were described as new.
but after a bath and some wax they looked good.
I'm waiting on some alloy wheel nuts to turn up before i try them after a bit of research i see the metros have quite a high offset so I'm fully expecting these wheels to stick out and if they do I'm going to go down the route of fitting mini special or sport pack arches dependent on how far they stick out. hopefully can update soon with pics of bodywork being sorted and interior tiding up. thanks for reading.
