Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
Jan 29, 2022 19:12:25 GMT
|
The next instalment was a lot of alignment work to make sure it all fitted. The critical part is the upper inner wing panel. It has an alignment hole onto the A pillar, and the slam panel, bonnet hinge and front wing all mount to it, so it’s placement is fairly critical. In comparison the larger lower inner wing panel is just a gap filler really as is the lower splash panel. There’s one bolt hole for the corner of the light panel between them and that’s it. I got all 3 panels tek screwed into place with the slam panel and headlight frame bolted up to check fitment. Everything sits in the middle of its adjustment so seems to be happy enough where it is.   I had to replace this little section of lip on the firewall before assembling it all.  Then it’s a case of going round welding up all the previously drilled out spotwelds. Note the offcuts of steel sheet taped to the screen at this point!  I didn’t take many pics of that lot tbh, it was just lots of spot welding and a bit of cleanup and dressing up after. Then I seam sealed it all.  Including the section across under the screen from fitting the scuttle.   And more importantly, the bits underneath that see the most crud.  Getting those 3 panels in is good progress though, it’s everything in front of the A pillar welded. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
|
|
Once everything was sealed to within an inch of its life, it got overpainted. I had a weird paint reaction on one panel, the white inner wing section. It’s like the paint on it was being melted by the new paint. It’s sagged a bit in places but has now set. Not like I could do anything about it so it’ll have to stay like that unless I give it a second coat.     With that I fitted up a few more bits to check alignments. Everything sits in the middle of its slots so it can’t be too far off. Airbox back in too.  And screen lower trims which also fit nicely.  Then a big bit. Actually bolted down properly on the mounts rather than just tack welded on like before!  So the front end is about there. Got to continue down that side yet though. |
| |
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
|
|
In an interlude from transit welding, I’ve fitted these-  Surprisingly they’ll almost go in without compressing, if it whacked em a bit more they might have but I didn’t want to mess up the paint. They would go into the cup were getting hooked on the retaining/centering ring.  A tiny squeeze and they popped in dead easy.  The ride height is a bit unacceptable now though!  But it did allow me to run it down and get a test, after replacing half a dozen bulbs.   So it’s now legal and on the road. It drives pretty ok tbh, there’s a few more jobs need doing but nothing that major, mostly cosmetics and preventative maintenance. Tbh I’ll probably just sell it as I don’t need it really though. |
| |
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
|
|
|
So, I can revise the scores on the doors again.
1. '28 model A ford
2. '48 chevy fleetmaster
3. '50 ford shoebox
4. ‘47 ford/ranger pickup
5. ‘63 ford falcon sedan delivery
6. ‘01 lupo tdi sport ✅
7. 1981(?) bmw e28
8. ‘34 ford pickup
9. ‘04ish Nissan Cube
10. 1995 lada riva estate
11. ‘04 Transit recovery truck
12. Skoda pickup✅
13. Fiat panda 100hp✅
A heady 23% workingness. Until I move the Skoda on and it knocks the scores back down again anyways 😂
|
| |
|
|
ToolsnTrack
Posted a lot
Homebrew Raconteur
Posts: 4,128
Club RR Member Number: 134
|
|
|
|
|
I say you should set a target of that 23% to be maintained, that way another of the fleet comes back to life before the Skoda goes.
Then again, that may just be so we get to see more win on this thread...
|
| |
|
|
jamesd1972
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 2,921 
Club RR Member Number: 40
|
|
Feb 10, 2022 18:15:42 GMT
|
|
Think the rake actually suits the graphics pretty well.
At least it could actually carry a load now !
Progress
James
|
| |
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
Feb 10, 2022 18:36:21 GMT
|
I say you should set a target of that 23% to be maintained, that way another of the fleet comes back to life before the Skoda goes. Then again, that may just be so we get to see more win on this thread... Well as the number of cars reduces, the percentage per car actually increases… Tbh the cube I just actually have to bother to take for a test before giving it a scrub and selling. Transit is also nearly ready to test. As it stands I’m working through starting with the easiest so the numbers should only improve. |
| |
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
Feb 10, 2022 18:41:27 GMT
|
Think the rake actually suits the graphics pretty well. At least it could actually carry a load now ! Progress James Carrying a load you say? 🤣  |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
So, I can revise the scores on the doors again. 1. '28 model A ford 2. '48 chevy fleetmaster 3. '50 ford shoebox 4. ‘47 ford/ranger pickup 5. ‘63 ford falcon sedan delivery 6. ‘01 lupo tdi sport ✅ 7. 1981(?) bmw e28 8. ‘34 ford pickup 9. ‘04ish Nissan Cube 10. 1995 lada riva estate 11. ‘04 Transit recovery truck 12. Skoda pickup✅ 13. Fiat panda 100hp✅ A heady 23% workingness. Until I move the Skoda on and it knocks the scores back down again anyways 😂 One of the old Yanks should be next, failing that, the Lada. |
| |
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
Feb 11, 2022 18:54:28 GMT
|
So, I can revise the scores on the doors again. 1. '28 model A ford 2. '48 chevy fleetmaster 3. '50 ford shoebox 4. ‘47 ford/ranger pickup 5. ‘63 ford falcon sedan delivery 6. ‘01 lupo tdi sport ✅ 7. 1981(?) bmw e28 8. ‘34 ford pickup 9. ‘04ish Nissan Cube 10. 1995 lada riva estate 11. ‘04 Transit recovery truck 12. Skoda pickup✅ 13. Fiat panda 100hp✅ A heady 23% workingness. Until I move the Skoda on and it knocks the scores back down again anyways 😂 One of the old Yanks should be next, failing that, the Lada. I’ll do the cube and sell it and the recovery truck has to get done asap. I think it’ll be the falcon after that, it’s sort of in progress but I’m lacking workspace cos it’s full of transit. |
| |
|
|
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
Feb 11, 2022 19:10:43 GMT
|
Well as shown above the first task was scrap duty. That first load was just under half a ton, 480kg to be exact, which netted me £86. Not bad to say it was nearly as much plastic as metal, it was a right load of rubbish. He way happy to pay me that after looking at it though, so I wasnt going to complain! I then did a ‘heavy’ run of a motor, axle, some old Jack and a steel drum and that netted me another £84.  Between the two that’s pretty much paid for a years tax, the yard is tidy and my landlord is happy with that. I thought this was going to be about £270 to tax as I thought it would just be ‘commercial’ rate, but pre-2001 it seems the commercial rate was split in the same over/under 1500cc way as normal car tax was, so it was actually £175. I’ve only ever had bigger commercials or post 2001 ones, so it was a nice surprise. I then listed it for sale on marketplace and got every braindead windowlicker in the lower counties messaging me about it 😂 Still, got a coupe of people who could manage to string a sentence together coming for a look tomorrow so we’ll see what happens… |
| |
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
Feb 12, 2022 23:23:07 GMT
|
Fleet reduction is going well, today i managed to not only not sell the pickup, but also to buy a van.   It’s more or less fully functional, is a twin sliding door model, has 6 months ticket, no rust to speak of, and although it has plenty of small dings and scrapes they don’t detract too badly. The back is ply lined and carpeted on the floor and has LED lights. Amazingly I picked this up for £500. In a world where any van under a grand (if not £1500) is suspiciously cheap, I can’t believe it either. I suppose it being as ugly as sin has worked in my favour 😬 Being really picky it probably needs a battery as it feels like it only just starts it, the rear doors don’t open from the outside as the key supplied doesn’t operate the slam locks so I need to drill or cut them out and replace, and it has what I think squeaky aux belt tensioner so I’ll probably replace that. But everything else seems to work and be in reasonable order. it’s perfect for what I need it for this week, so much so it’s already loaded up with junk* ready to go. How long it will stay remains to be seen. |
| |
|
|
wodge
Part of things
Posts: 458
|
|
Feb 12, 2022 23:39:50 GMT
|
|
Beware the squeaky belt it may be the rubber insert in the crank pulley breaking up. It’s quite spectacular when it lets go on the m11 at nearly 3 figures 🙄🙄🙄
|
| |
|
|
misteralz
Posted a lot
I may drive a Volkswagen, but I'm scene tax exempt!
Posts: 2,495
|
|
Feb 13, 2022 19:06:53 GMT
|
|
That needs 'backdating'. And now that you're into motorsport flavoured commercials now, here's some inspiration:
|
| |
|
|
misteralz
Posted a lot
I may drive a Volkswagen, but I'm scene tax exempt!
Posts: 2,495
|
|
Feb 13, 2022 19:07:27 GMT
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Davey
Posted a lot
Resident Tyre Nerd.
Posts: 2,348
|
|
Feb 15, 2022 11:49:20 GMT
|
|
That would be so horrendous it would be amazing.
Have spent far to long in the Citroen equivalent and they are suprisingly comfortable although not very spacious for 6ft plus idiots like me...
I had an old customer who had one with near on 450k on it and point blank refused to do the cam belt... It only died when a bottom ball joint let go at motorway speeds. I assume from the type of owner it was that this was also original.
Great buy!
|
| |
K11 Micra x3 - Mk3 astra - Seat Marbella - Mk6 Escort estate - B5 Passat - Alfa 156 estate - E36 compact
Mk2 MR2 T-bar - E46 328i - Skoda Superb - Fiat seicento - 6n2 Polo - 6n polo 1.6 - Mk1 GS300
EU8 civic type S - MG ZT cdti - R56 MINI Cooper S - Audi A3 8p - Jaguar XF (X250) - FN2 Civic Type R - Mk2 2.0i Ford Focus - Mercedes W212 E250
|
|
Dez
Club Retro Rides Member
And I won't sit down. And I won't shut up. And most of all I will not grow up.
Posts: 11,790
Club RR Member Number: 34
|
|
Feb 16, 2022 18:03:21 GMT
|
Well I’ve done 350 miles in it over the last few days and nothing has fallen off. That’s not how French cars are supposed to work is it? 😂 So much so I’ve treated it to a full belt/tensioner/idler kit to try to get rid of the annoying whine. Well I will when it turns up anyways. On that note what is it with motor factors these days? Even with their supposed ‘omg mega discounts 60% off’ they’re keen to plug, ECP wanted this much, and that’s without one of the idlers that they didn’t have!  GSF we’re about £15 less. Also without one idler. So I went online and in 10 mins I’d found the full brand name (gates) kit with both idlers included and next day delivery (only the same as what Gsf or euros could offer) for this much-  I just don’t get it. Do they honestly think people think an aux belt is £45? Cos that’s what they’re trying to say. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 16, 2022 19:34:20 GMT
|
|
I don’t generally use them unless I’m cornered. There’s a real motor factors a few hundred meters from Yeovil ECP who are generally cheaper. They hand out a better class of abuse too 🙂
Nick
|
| |
1967 Triumph Vitesse convertible (old friend)
1996 Audi A6 2.5 TDI Avant (still durability testing)
1972 GT6 Mk3 (Restored after loong rest & getting the hang of being a car again)
|
|
LowStandards
Club Retro Rides Member
Club Retro Rides Member 231
Posts: 2,716
|
|
|
|
CarParts4LessThis is Euro Car Parts but cheaper for some unknown reason, who knows how business works hey
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
Feb 17, 2022 10:14:58 GMT
|
|
Aside from their prices the quality of parts can be appalling, drop links that lasted 5000 miles, lower arm ball joint that lasted 8000, I think much of their stuff is designed to last long enough to get an MOT and that's it!
As Dez pointed out they are not cheap for decent branded stuff mainly it's their own stuff that appears cheap.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
