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Jan 22, 2022 17:25:23 GMT
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Hi everyone, I've not done a build thread for a long time. And actually I am only deciding to write this 8 months in... The story starts back in May when I got a new job that I needed a commuter for. At the time I hadn't had a car for a while after my XJ40 had turned in to a huge project and I had gotten rid of it. There was no way I was getting a modern, so my husband and I started scouring the Internet. My criteria... It has an a-series engine and ideally under a grand but the cheaper the better and my budget was almost non existent... Tough call. Metros seemed to be the cheapest thing to buy meeting this criteria. There was a nice gold one on here, a red one on ebay that was £1200 and I had just missed out on a blue one that had gone for about £700. While I was mulling over my choices the blue one popped back up on ebay having had a time waster bid on it. It was spares or repairs but had MOT and blue with a blue interior is one of my favorite combos so I start bidding. Low and behold, I only go and win it for a wicked price, £535  Now to collect and drive it home from Suffolk 156 miles away from here in Chesterfield. |
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Last Edit: Jan 22, 2022 17:44:29 GMT by 7M.elody
You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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Jan 22, 2022 17:31:07 GMT
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A good buy - hopefully . Have fun and Good luck …. I like them ( but I’m biased)
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Jan 22, 2022 17:57:37 GMT
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So we get there and we are greeted by a cheeky lil metro on the drive, filthy, with a dent in the bonnet and bent rad as a result, but only 21000 miles on the clock and solid as a rock. A full set of alloys in the boot and it starts on the button. Absolutely delighted I hand over my cash and make my way to the nearest petrol station as its on dregs. When we get there, a good look round finds us the standard airbox in the boot so my hubby Phil swaps the k&n for it as we weren't sure if the carb needle had been changed as it looked like it had just been thrown on.  Then for a nice bath before we fill up.  A few people on my face book really fretted about the car wash brush but the paint is shot, covered in lacquer peel and sun fade, I could have washed it with a brillo pad and you wouldn't have noticed! We didn't make it too far before the first mishap (it was advertised spares or repairs so we had brought tools and fluids). I was finding that anything over 40mph and the car was getting mega hot. It had coolant but clearly the cooling system needed some love, the rad was badly bent and the car hadn't done much in the last few years according to the MOT history. There wasn't too much we could do about that at the side of the road. Executive decision was, rather than call breakdown, we'd drive the rest of the way home on the back roads and stick to 40mph. A 3hr drive there was a 5hr drive back  Here's some photos we took on the way home, I was chuffed to bits and the BMW was doing epic MPG at those speeds haha.   Fortunately the new job is at a motor factors so parts are very reasonably priced. Once home I bought a race rad, new thermostat and water pump and new ignition parts to make sure I could reliably get to work. He was given his name the same day too. My sister was also born in 1989 so I asked her to name him and that's where Goofy came from. She was quite ill at the time and didn't even remember that she'd done this |
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You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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spacekadett
Part of things
F*cking take that Hans Brrix!!
Posts: 838
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Jan 22, 2022 23:43:48 GMT
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I like 😎. Think I remember it being for sale, especially as it was my neck of the woods. From memory you’re right, the paint is a bit grim! Me and my brothers had loads of them back when they were ten a penny and you could afford to break or scrap a five door just for having too many doors 😂  This is mine, bought on a whim at an auction cos I saw it and got all nostalgic! 998 City Special with 16K on the clock |
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Mechanic's rule #1... If the car works, anything left on the floor after you finished wasn't needed in the first place  |
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That's a stunning little mk1!
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You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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The obligatory run out to Monsal Head after renewing the cooling and ignition systems. He's running great now and over heating is definitely not on the cards. I'll have to get a picture but the rad is 4 times the thickness of the original. The electric fan he did have was too chunky to go back in so a slimline one is on order, along with some spigot rings and tyres for the alloys that were in the boot. These steels are the old metric wheels, you can't get tyres any more and these are shot.  Here is a close up of the bonnet paint too, I'll have to get a replacement at some point as the dent isn't pretty either.  These original dealer mats came with the car too. I think they are really cool and a part of his history. I bet Fletchers don't do them any more so I can get some fresh ones lol. If they are still around I expect they will be using paper these days!  |
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Last Edit: Jan 23, 2022 9:43:47 GMT by 7M.elody
You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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New tyres and spigot ring arrived and I got them fitted and gave the interior a clean. Had to take it for a run out to Carsington water of course.   The interior is really nice apart from the seats are a bit worse for wear, I'll have to replace them at some point as the foam is crumbling and ending up on the floor underneath. |
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Last Edit: Jan 23, 2022 9:53:33 GMT by 7M.elody
You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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Jan 23, 2022 10:02:04 GMT
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The next mod is just a bit of personalisation. Some stickers, a Mexican blanket to brighten up the back seat and some orange fluffy Crash Team Racing dice. Plus another bath with assistance from my best mate Jarger, who is sadly no longer with us.     Had to have a little picture with his older brother too haha. The Metro is a small car but it looks massive next to a Mini!  |
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Last Edit: Jan 29, 2022 9:30:44 GMT by 7M.elody
You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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Jan 23, 2022 20:07:00 GMT
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Next on the to do list is some fresh discs and pads and new front wheel bearings as we were getting quite the grinding noise coming from that direction. The discs were shot, the pads were OK and the wheel bearings were fubar! My little helper decided he wanted to do a side too. You couldn't get this dog away from the cars. A proper petrol head.  A little lesson in how to park efficiently next to my mums. Usually you get 2 cars on here but about 4 metros would fit, 5 if you got rid of the bus stop  A nice parcel got delivered to my work recently too...  Can you guess? 4 diddy little 12" wheels in there just dying for some Mel paintwork, (see supra thread from some years ago)  And the finished product    I love splashing paint on stuff, I think it looks ace, I did the same to my bike last year too, oh and my roller skate plates haha   Gotta love it.... Or hate it, its not everyone's cup of tea. Anyway, I can't actually fit the wheels yet, I bought mini ones, the only way I could get white. But that means the centre bore is too small so I need to get rid of the lugs that help you centre the wheel when fitting. Minis don't actually have these at all so we should be all good when I have time to get it done. |
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Last Edit: Apr 10, 2022 17:25:57 GMT by 7M.elody
You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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Jan 27, 2022 15:15:43 GMT
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We need to get this thread up to date....There's a big road trip this weekend which should generate some decent updates! Having driven this car a fair bit, it's amazing how much appreciation and attention they get on the road, people smiling and waving, letting you out at Junctions etc. It certainly makes the most mundane drive out interesting and fun.
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Jan 27, 2022 15:25:24 GMT
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Ah I love a proper little Metro! Even the ruined paint doesn't detract from the look of the car, I sorta like it wearing it's age. Looking forward to seeing the wheels on  |
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Jan 27, 2022 23:52:00 GMT
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I quite like him wearing his age too but we do have future plans for the paint. Another little maintenence job that I tried to squeeze in before the bad weather hit was a good underseal. This car is like new underneath and I want to try and keep it that way. Unfortunately I only got the back end done as far forward as the front floor pans but at least the awkward to repair end is done.    Not too much time after this, it was MOT time! The tester loved it, commented on how nice it was underneath and was very happy for it to be the first Metro he'd ever tested. It flew through with no advisories but did bottom out on the rollers. There was some stratigic steering to get back round them without falling in them again on the way out.  Then some happy driving about to follow. A big smile of approval from the collie too.     Sorry if this all a bit haphazard, I'm trying to catch up to now, I think one more post and we are about there. |
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You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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Goofy's first "fail to proceed"  He had started with a cold miss fire which was getting worse so I changed the points and condenser which I hadn't bothered to do at the start and we thought he was fixed.... However, 2 weeks in this happened on my way to work, very sudden heavy miss fire and he couldn't pull himself up this hill. Plugs black as soot.  Having checked all our work we couldn't find anything else wrong, so seeing as the symptoms smacked of failed condenser, even though it was brand new, a Google suggested they are pretty unreliable. I bought another condenser and the symptoms still didn't change but we still couldn't find an issue. To rule it out completely I bought an electronic replacement for the points and condenser from power spark and that sorted him right out.. A couple of weeks on again and we still seem to be having misfiring issues. As is typical on old cars quite often a symptom is cause by more than one problem. After messing with the mixture and plugs for the last few weeks I've notice each time I get a miss plug 3 is sooting up and it's getting worse. I highly suspect the valve stem oils seals now. He has needed them from the start, according to the little puff of blue smoke on start up, so I think the leak has got worse over cylinder 3 and it's oiling the plug up. For now I'll just keep spare plugs in the car and clean it up everytime it starts to miss, as big plans are afoot! We are now up to date finally. So future plans are as follows; I want to make him a bit faster and a a bit longer legged on the motorway. He is my only car after all. The plan was to pull the engine, get rid of all the leaks (of which there are many from every orifice) chuck it back in and slap a turbo on it. I have already bought a lovely T2 from a Renault 5 turbo and the higher final drive. Then a nice 1275 with 33k on the clock popped up on ebay which seemed like the perfect solution! 2 engines means I can run the 1275 whilst I build my perfect 998. I can take my time doing it exactly as I want it and in the mean time the 1275 is more than double the horsepower  win win. Engine collection day is tomorrow so I will take lots of pics for a good update. It's 3hrs 45 away at the seaside so fish and chips will be happening too. Yay. |
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You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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So, cool road trip came round this weekend. Off to leigh-on-sea to fetch a 1275 temporary engine for Goofy. A nice early set off after some breakfast. Driving my dad's Ford ranger. It guzzles diesel like crazy so a nice steady 70 all the way.  We made really good time and apart from a bit of traffic on the M1, due to an accident on the other carriageway, it was clear roads. The chap and his mate were lovely and gave us a pallet and some straps which were very handy as the ranger only has 2 tie downs, which is as useful as a chocolate tea pot. I'm really happy with the engine, it looks an honest one and I even have the reg of the car it was in to show the 33000 genuine miles on the MOT history. Securely loaded in the back,  And against the sea.  We couldn't resist a walk round to take in the veiws and grab some fish and chips.   After a long run home, back up the M11 to avoid the earlier accident, we got on with the bit no one likes after a long day.. shoving 2 cars about to get access to the garage and thankfully with our crane, got the engine tucked up for the night.  This weekend I'll be cleaning and freshening it up ready for the swap! |
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Last Edit: Feb 3, 2022 22:21:15 GMT by 7M.elody
You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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Great to see a number of Metro threads appearing, I have reasonably fond memories of selling them new… reasonably fond, due to the number of rust warranty front wing replacements! Bookmarked…
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Ich habe kein Geld!
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"The Metro is a small car but it looks massive next to a Mini!"
I have always thought that size wise the Metro was comparable to the ADO16 and the Allegro rather than the Mini.
I'm a serial (often multiple) BMC owner since I got my licence in 1983. I've had Minis, ADO16s, and an Allegro and I'd love to get hold of a tidy Metro.
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A collection of parts have come during the week for the engine refresh. I'm really looking forward to the extra horsepower now  First it needed a good clean though, a whole can of foam gunk is applied and I attacked it with the pressure washer.  Back in the garage looking much nicer now.  I've taken off the clutch, which actually looked pretty new anyway but we're there now so it'll get changed still. And then the head comes off, I want to change the valve stem seals as I don't need them leaking later. One of the head studs was a bit stuck and we have a damaged exhaust stud I need to change too but otherwise its all looking really nice.  The engine turns really nicely and there is no play in the piston rings at all, a testament to its 33,000 miles.  I stopped for the day as it has been really cold, windy and rainy and we couldn't keep the garage door shut. The wind wanted it open to chuck the rain in  I'll be doing bits in the evenings though so it should progress pretty quickly. |
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You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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This is all kinds of fantastic...!!
Love it!
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***GARAGE CURRENTLY EMPTY***
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Feb 12, 2022 15:01:59 GMT
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Love it, bookmarked to follow your Metro adventure.
One day I'll get my old MG Metro out of mum's garage and see how much it's carried on rusting and how much the mice have eaten!
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Apr 10, 2022 17:09:07 GMT
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Sorry an update has been a bit slow coming. I've done a fair bit though, the head has had all the valves lapped back in and the mating surfaces cleaned ready for reassembly.    Followed by the head and rockers going back on, I couldn't resist resting the rocker cover in place even though I realise I forgot to buy new seals!   Then I've got a bit bored of engine things for a while and thought I'd do come comfort related jobs. I bought a pair of these and drove all the way to Enfield for them, they are MG TF seats and I found some in blue leather which I'm very happy about. The old seats have degraded foam falling out the bottom of them and are getting increasingly uncomfortable.  They have been a bit of a faff to fit, the rails are narrower and fit to the seat differently so no option to swap rails. in the end we opted to grind off the tabs that fit them to the MG and drill new holes in the metro for them to mount to. They now just bolt directly down through the rail into the car. I have only done one as it took all day but now I know what to do the second should go much quicker.    The suit it really well and are soooo much comfier! I can't wait for the smell of hot leather when I open the door this summer.  Next job to tackle is the suspension. Its riding on the bump stops on all but one rear corner and although it doesn't rub on the front it will do when my new wheels are on as the offset is different and they will poke out more. So I need better clearance and I'm on a budget. There are coil overs on the horizon but I need a more immediate solution so this is what I have come up with... Mini bump stops are identical apart from they have a threaded bar coming out of the top instead of being held in by a circlip, and I can buy them in poly. Add some packing washers and we gain a little height. Not much but if I roll the arches too we should be left with clearance plus mega lows over the new wheels.     And voila, you can now get a finger in between the arch and the tyre. I'm actually not sure how they weren't rubbing before? The back will be a little more tricky and will be tackled another day.  |
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You can't buy happiness but you can buy cars and that's kind of the same thing.
1989 Austin Metro
1994 Harley Davidson hardtail bobber
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win win. 
