right as u all know this car was covered in rust ...everywhere and the time had come to start tidying the underside parts up ..ie suspension parts ,brake back plates hubs etc

so while lookin through the this web site i seen a guy used vinegar .....yes thats right VINEGAR ,to clean the rust of ,now i thought this would never work but thought it was worth a try

so of i went to morrsions to buy lots of the stuff


poured all this into a big bucket and left these parts to soak in it (the before pics )


and after 48 hours in the vinegar





now they still need a wee clean up ,but hey u have to admit its amazing how much the vinegar stripped the rust of ,
heres another update
got ma seats today ....what you,s think ,,,and before u ask i still hav the originals and there mint ,no wear no marks and there stayin that way ,so they are of up to the attic ,
i want my s1 to be just a little different to the rest of them ,i'am not going crazy just wee things i want to change and make people look twice


also the paint came today 5litres of candy yellow .............na only jokin,good old diamond white


also nearly got the rear panel sorted ,had loads of wee dents in it .....but no more smooth as a babys now
boot floor got a wee splash of primer to


painted the car today ,took me 3 hours just doing light coat after light coat ,dont think i done to bad as i am not a sprayer by trade and only every painted 1 car before









overall it turned out really well ,it will need a flattan and a cut and polish which will hopefully take out a few wee runs and dust marks

also got my drive shafts put back togeither and back plates and rear hubs painted to



got the boys round tonight to give me a wee hand to try and put the s1 back together ,its been almost a year since i strip her ,but i will be honest and say its a fookin nightmare remembering where every single wire,nut,screw,bolts ,etc go anyway heres a few of tonights action








thats another 12 hour day at the s1 ,made a lot of progress with the wiring loom which was in a bad way ,still got the headlight wires to sort but i can do that in place ,

put most of the inside stuff back in ,and i know the sound deading is not original and its stuck down with gaffa tape ,but i am not going for a concours car just a really good s1 i can use all the time and take to a few show and shines

i think over the years this car has had a few resto attempts and the count less spray jobs had taken its toll on all the parts with over spray on every thing and it takes me ages to scrub and clean all the part ,took me 3 hours on the fuse box alone and i am still not that happy with it ,but we will see ,might try and source a good second hand loom ..........

heres some of todays pics











been busy again today ,decided i would tackle the wiring in the engine bay what a nightmare the whole loom was covered in overspray from a past respray

tired to rub it of using paint thinners but it soon became clear this would,nt work ,so i decided to strip it right back and re-tape the whole loom ...... ...what a nightmare that was, some of the loom had 3 layers of back tape on ...oh and some red,blue and white tape to

well after hours and hours it started to look a lot cleaner so all i need to do now is repair the loom where is been cut or damaged over the years ,mostly to do with the horn and side lights and jobs a good-un :thumbsup:

also stripped down the front hubs and threw them in the vinegar to soak ,while i cleaned and painted my cossie brake cailpers up :rsg:

heres some more pics






well started of today tryin to fit the headlights and indercators in ,every thing was going well un-till i found out i did,nt have half the bits ,
the new headlights came with new top mounts ,but i was still missing the bottom mounts and the bolt and plastic clip that held the indercator to wing and headlight............(well i had some of the bits but they where fooked)

anyway was round seeing lad i know who has a body shop and was telling him about hassle i was havin .....when of he walk into the back of his garage and pulled out a box which was full of every type of clip ,bracket,screws etc for all different makes of cars ....................so as luck would hav it i managed to find everything i needed ,a bit dusty but mostly brand new .....how lucky ehhhh

polished up the header tank to (before)

(after)

done this as well ,this might change again as i dont know if i like it or not

started to make a start on the exhaust as well ,took hours to clean it up and polish it up ....worth it i think


got the front sort of built up but i am still waiting on new bits so it will all need to come of again ,just put it on for a photo


so thats it for a while back to work next week then i am of to sunny tenariffe for two weeks ,so prob wont be back near the car for a month
thought i better do the gearbox ,managed to do it at work which was magic as they had all the tools i needed ,
the box was a wee bit nosiey so a while back i bought a rebluild kit ,bearings,seals ,gaskets etc ,as u can see in the photos all did,nt go to plan as the bearings where as hard as fook to come of even with a bit of heat and the bearing puller the bearings on the diff would not shift ,in the end had to get the grinder out and cut what was left of the bearing

in all honestly it was a bit of a nightmare to do but we will see if it was worth the effort
hers some pics








this the fooked bearing

then i stuck it back together





and thats it ,prob took me 4 hours in all to do ,and also got some more bits today as well ,new front bearings ,rear shoes ,clutch cable ,rear wheel cylinders ,handbrake cable and new alloy anti-roll bar clamps



well finally got the engine put back in ,still got to plumb a lot of it in but at least iam nearly done



also got the back brakes done ,hand,brake cable etc all replaced just need the fuel lines and brake lines done and that pretty much the back end done


fronts all done to ,new bearings etc ,gonna fit new disc to just not got em yet