hey guys just thought id give you some pics of my 2.0 wb which im trying to resurrect before the end of september, tax and mot on my van runs out so need it as my daily transport, kinda up against it as you may imagine.
well hopefully ive got the engine problem sorted ( huge thanks to rob, you are a legend mate ) so just a quick rebuild of the suspension and brakes then the welding and reassembly.........
my welder aka dad is on holiday for 10 days as of now and im workin in germany for a week so time is tight but hopefully ill get there
will keep u guys posted anyways, if ur interested lol
Looks like you and your dad have got your work cut out!!!!! Looks worse than mine did when i got it and mine was sat in a garage for 6 years. Good luck and hope to see updates on soon.
Hi Alex, You have got a lot on bud!!, i suppose ill have to get on with mine now! post up more pictures on how you getting on, will be good to see the progress, let me know bout the engine too regards and good luck with the deadline!! Rob
thanks guys big thx especially to rob , will post more pix next weekend, off to germany for the rest of the week now bad timing or what? lol my wife insisted on coming to collect the parts with me so i didnt get carried away and spend too much money..... wheres the trust there then ? lol, she knows me too well i think. she now regrets it tho, the engine moved a bit on the way home and tore a hole in the vinyl door card on her tailgate.... not mister popular when we got home especially when i reminded her it was her idea to use her car not mine... hehe im sure she'll get her own back by making me do a garden waste run or something similar in the starion when she's done tho lol.
laters guys ( n gals, if there are any viewing this )
Looking at yours and looking at mine, it looks like we have both got our work cut out? I've just finished all my panel work underneath and I've rebuild the rear wings and at the moment I'm rebuilding the rear suspension and working my way to the front.
anyway it's all good fun and it keeps me of the streets at night.
errr :) u mean the large 'adjustment stick' rob? lol
September 9 2008, 9:09 PM
i think it was used as a last resort to try and unseize the three engines that i had, 2 sets of very rusty bores that it didnt help with and obviously no luck with the one that was in it due to the conrod being stuck between the crank, balance shaft and bottom of the block :)amazingly despite a few heavy hits the pistons in the rusty bores didnt break, they are still firmly wedged in place
just suffered another minor set back, checking parts to reassmeble and the turbo had rather a lot of play in it ( both impellers touched respective casings when moved with fingers on the end of the shaft ) so i stripped it down and the bearing is well and truly knackered supposed to be putting the damn thing back together an all im doing is taking more stuff apart. still with a new bearing and seals it should be good for a long time ill post some more pics later in the week.
Re: errr :) u mean the large 'adjustment stick' rob? lol
September 10 2008, 1:06 PM
Mate, you're a legend!Best of luck, can't wait to see it on the road. Surely this is enough of an inspiration for a few of us to do some sort of get together involving a pub?!
Ash.
Re: errr :) u mean the large 'adjustment stick' rob? lol
September 10 2008, 9:22 PM
I agree, after looking just lately at some of these restore/rebuilt projects i feel embarrassed that i havent sorted mine out sooner! So give me a couple of months to get my easier project than most done and put me down for a meet/pint yarn etc. Rob
hey guys will post more pics soon (is there a max number per post? i wont clog up the forum by posting too many will i?) muchos gracias to ROB (LEGEND), the engine went in at 2 am sunday morning and just got her fired up at 10.30 pm tonite, just a down pipe no exhaust so farmer probably wont be impressed tomoro.... once i get the exhaust on and water in i'll see how good she runs but atm it all looks good, can hear the turbo whistle down the exhaust and no knocks or rattles
i think god is a woman and she didnt like me at the weeeknd, took me 3 1/2 hrs to change 1 plug on friday nite.... 3 came out last one snapped thread off in head had to drill the therad out VERY carefully with a magnetised drill bit and retap the thread in it, then the bloody distributor cap bolt snapped off in the distributor housing.... aaaaaggh
then the turbo i had is from a narrow body non intercooled so i had to change the front housing for my one from the knackered turbo which is bloody awkward when u dont have a strong pair of circlip pliers.
on the plus side now that she runs my dad is back and is going to start the welding this week but now i have to go and work in oxford for 3 weeks only home at weekends and family commitments mean i probs wont get a lot done so end of september is looking unlikely but it will definately be on the road in october so ill take up the offer of a meet late october if anyones interested
huge thanks gop to rob for parts supplied and help/advice line and to all u guys for ur encouragement
hey guys n gals , my dad has thought about it for a few weeks and planned out his actions on paper and today he sprang into action and has almost made all the repair parts for the drivers side holes.
Hes cut up an old narrow body front wing to get the curve of the wheel arch and has made the flare for the rear quarter bit of the skirt kit and also made the inner box section for the sill and a patch for the floor. ive ordered some angle steel for him so he can put a repair section almost the entire length of the sill ( it was a bit worse than i thought.... sounds familiar aye guys... ) next hes going to make alomost half of the rear inner wheelarch 'tub' as that had been plated previously and not very well then start actually welding it up
In the mean time my credit card is being abused very badly just ordered a full set of poly bushes from superflex for 140 quid delivered ( please dont tell the missus ) and have been looking with interest at some of the threads on here concerning tyres..... 245's on the back sound good lol can u fit the 225's on the front then?
Ive started doing the important thgings like giving a brake caliper a second coat of red paint... my enthusiasm was waning a lil bit due to my dads apparent lack of action and the possibility of having a mechanically sound car with an 'un-m-o-t-able' ( not sure if thats a real word but you understand it i hope ) rusty body but now id better get my finger out coz he'll finish first otherwise lol.
A bone of contention that is arising at the moment is colour, my dad and his mate say that as red fades it aint gonna match at all so they think i should have it done 2 tone, red top and silver or graphite grey up to the lower body line. i m really not keen on 2 tone stuff but what do u guys think? im not sure if thats the way to go or just to respray the bottom half in the right colour red and polish the top, i know it wont match but at least the car would be 1 colour ( ish ).
ill post some pics later in the week as it progresses
alex
Hi Alex,
Good to read about your project's progress mate. Your Dad sounds like a useful bloke for repairing car bodies, can't say I agree with his recommendations for the actual paint job though!!No offence but the idea a two-tone approach doesn't appeal to me!If you're considering it, you could always try mocking it up on a computer program first?
Anyway, just my two pennies worth because you asked for people's opinions!
Best of luck with the rest of it.
Ash.
Hi Alex, i agree with Ash i saw a starion a couple of years ago
which was two tone, silver top and from the wing lines down in blue
it looked complete wrong it had lost its "wow" factor. You have a choice to paint it any color you want now but i think you should keep it red but paint all of it and if done properly the car would look amazing.
I saw Eugene's red starion at the Billing show in 2004 and that had
been recently painted and loved it ( check it out at the event pages)
I belive do the job once but to it right that's my opinion.
hey everybody, first thanks savie and ash for ur opinions on the paint, they were pretty much what i thought when dad said about it, ive looked at some magazine pictures of a few different cars in two tone paint and it really sucks.
Here are some more pics for u to look through.
front caliper
front leg
anti roll bar
dads diagrams
more diagrams
sill/skirt patch
sill patch again
and again
other patches including narow body front wing section to be modified and used to repair wheelarch section
Its interesting how you find out who ur friends are at certain times, as i have no car at the moment and have been stealing the wifes, with increasing frequency of late, a couple of my friends have been real stars, luigi and his wife lent me their year old fiat panda while they were in italy for a few days and even put me on their insurance! several of my work colleagues have offered me lifts to and from work and another friend, phil , has just given me his fiat seicento to use for as long as i need it! Even u guys on here have been great and u dont even know me , yet lol, rob in particular for helping me out with the engine and a few other bits which im not entirely sure he really wanted to sell but to help get mine back on the road he did!
Al,
You may stand to make good money on here by pimping your Dad out to repair the remaining Starions?! I think I speak on behalf of most of us fellow owners when I say that we're all more than happy to help because your restoration project is really interesting, especially because there's no way I could even begin to contemplate doing that sort of work myself!!
Keep it up!
Regards,
Ash
i have the same starion and i have 245's on the back and 225's on the front! mine is lowered aswell and handles fantastically! Loads of fun when it works!!
You are an inspiration and i will be starting mine in the spring!
hey guys will put up more pics etc this weekend, been working away again and now looks lhke we r moving house next week. Have made some progress tho. All front suspension arms, bottoms of legs brakes and anti roll bar have been painted and drivers side inner wing and under arch area is awaiting its 2nd coat of red hammerite after being welded and having new seam sealer put on and 2 coats of what used to be finnigans number 1 anti rust metal primer. Alex
hey guys, sorry no more pics at the moment, ive got a few but my phone cable has been packed up ready to move house so i cant upload them. Moving house at the end of this week so all progress on the car, apart from more welding if my dad can get some spare time to do it, has stopped for a couple of weeks. Also ill lose internet for a while as tiscali swap it over to the new place but when i do get back up and running i should hopefully be at a reassembling front suspension stage, to the drivers side at least. A full respray is also looking more likely now the truew extent of thje damage to the roof has been seen( its been in a scrap yard at some stage and had a car dumped on the roof which left huge dents in it and where it was lifted with chains all the door shuts along the roof were crushed). Once again my dads superfly bodywork skills were employed to straighten the roof and also, upon measurement of the door gaps to a reference book of bodywork dimensions, the roof was pulled down to push the pillars back where they should be. but now the doors fit and open and close properly, after careful inspection no more creases have been found so all ahould be back where it was originally
the amount of time effort and money put in so far im seriously considering whether it would have been a better idea to have done my 2.6 instead as this is turning out to be about as involved as that one because in the end i just couldnt bodge it and dad wouldnt let me initially i just wanted to have it welded and jsut do enough to get it on the road i wasnt too bothered what it looked like but then dad said if ur going to do it you may as well do it properly and it needed more than just a few patches so i think it has turned into a rapid (ish) restoration. may have it finished for next year now. Hope some of you's will be doing some shows next year so i can bring it along ( if its still in one piece ) id like to meet u guys and also if possible get the car on the club stand if u think its good enough and if we have one lol.
hey guys, sorry for the long break but ive had a few changes of circumstance lol, left the wife and now engaged to a lovely lady who actually encourages me to work on the starion and even comes and helps me, she has even said i can bring parts home and refurb them in the flat so we can do it together rather than me spend hours alone in the barn!!! only possible downside is that she wants either her own starion or my red one when i get the blue one done lol, small price to pay i feel hope u guys n gals are all doin ok, only just got the net back so ill be posting some more pics over the next coup[le of weeks. work has sorta progressed on the car but there is still a long way to go, i have actually driven it ( only about 150 yds in and out of the workshop but u get the idea ) the front suspension is all back on now with new brakes and all painted up although some of the bits i bought last year have turned out to be narrow body parts ie the brake pipes are about 2 inches too short as are the track rod ends... so if anyone needs some let me know and we can come to some sort of arrangement.
my dad has slowly continued with the welding the drivers side is almost done all the side skirt and sill inner and outer have been rebuilt with patches made by hand , he has also made a new wheelarch inner for it from scratch and unfortunately burnt a huge hole in the ruddy carpet! hes just contemplating how to change the roof skin as it was to badly damaged to straighten without a lot of filler which u all know isnt a good idea in a roof panel or for longevity, ive told him to use lead loading as much as possible on the repaired parts of the whole car with just a skim of filler over that to smooth it out, that way it should last a good few years coz i dont fancy doin this again any time soon.
not sure how much longer it will take to get it done but as most of u know all too well these things have a habit of runnning way over any schedule we try and impose on them especially when u arent doing all the work urself and are relying on other people to help. one good thing to come out of it is my dad is teaching me to weld now and i have done a couple of bits on the starion but only under the floor and on the inner wing where no can see it lol, dad says although its not that pretty its got good heta spread and seems to have penetrated both pieces of metal to an acceptable level which is encouraging i guess.
ROB: how u gettin on with urs? and whats the carpet like in that irish shell u had in ur yard ?
catch y'all later when i put up some more pictures.
Hi Alex, Glad to read your back was wondering how you were doing,Blimey youve had a bit going on. next time you come over bring your missus with you and she can give my woman a few lessons on letting me bring parts in the house!!!! Ha ha. im sure ive got a carpet around here somewhere for you and by the way the answer to your first question was: Crap!
Regards Rob
