hi all ive managed to get me photobucket account now and here is my 1985 XR3i. its black and brown (rusty!) its a custom model (yeah strange i know) its got all the custom model spec items and im the 2nd owner from new so i know its genuine!!!
the original owner was either blind or just plain lazy! it was absolutely standar when i bought it even down to the ford radio and mudflaps and other stupidly original stuff. when i bought it it was also sporting the normal rust ( inner wings, slam panel, rear inner arches and a bit in the rear floor and the front crossmember etc etc!) it also had a race spec engine (modified original) although it had standard brakes and suspension! even down to the rubbers!
so off it went to have the welding done and as you all know when you start you find more!!!! heres a small list!
inner sills outer sills inner and outer rear arches both rear floors and a little bit in the o/s footwell and the slam panel and surface on the battery tray (more of that later!!) then i used it to get to work and back for a week after the welding had bin done.
now the fun starts! the engine started developing the normal top end startup problem (RATTLE!) so i just had it serviced and hoped for the best (i'l get it done next week etc) i did'nt get it done cos i took it for a thrash one day and the bottom end went DOH!!!
so i phoned round getting prices for rebuild and got ridiculus quotes here and there £500-1000+ so i rang another place and the bloke said it'll be £560+ for the rebuilt engine but ive got a brand new one you could have for £500! and it was only down the road as a bonus!!!!
so i had it done and ran it in for 1000 miles (he said 500) just to be on the safe side. had it serviced again! ( id had it two months) and went to devon in it. 1000 mile round trip.
all seemed well until i took it for a B road spanking just to see waht we had and tap! tap! tap! bang! bang! bang! hiss! the engine seized!!!
it was 1 month to the day when i had bought the engine!!!
so i took it back and they said ring in 2 days.
i waited and waited and rang them and they said 'cant find owt wrong mate but weve put you another in!'
ive had it 1500mls now and no probs except losing me license
me own fault though being a lazy twat from the pub and yes ive learned my lesson
anyway to the resto. obviously im keeping it and its in bits as i type but its bin an interesting and eye opening experience to find out how bad the shell was bodged and im here to share and to ask a few questions myself.
firstly i took the wings off to cure the rot on the inner wings
this is the offside inner wing top
this is the bottom which is thankfully sound
at some point it had had a small but significant accident and had an offside wing and the owner had bodged the wing on
and this brings my first question. is there such thing as blue primer? cos this side of the car under the paint seems to be blue and it isnt anywhere else!
this is the nearside inner wing
as tou can see its not only rotten but stress cracked as well in the bootom pic.
and this pic explains why!!!
that was the surface rust on the battery tray concealed by underseal!!!
so ive took the dash out and found this little bit
and this is what it looks like inside now
ive also been doing little bits to make myself feel better and borrowed a few ideas from here and there
and now a dilemma what colour wheels?
the car is going to have a S1 kit and coilovers and maybe become silver cos white is a litle been there done that IMO. hope you enjoy me photo's so far and i'l keep posting. give us some encouragement and any ides will be much appreciated
