I must appologise the pictures really do not do the car justice, my camera gets a panic on at the slightest drop in light and automatically flashes when this happens, so sadly the flash reflection makes the pics a bit hard to get a true picture. So bare with me.
So here we go, the car was rather dirty after the 260 mile trip on the back of a loader, with lots of salt (
) spray from the snow filled roads. This i will wash off tommrow, its a shame cos it really hides the amazing condition of the bodywork.
The transit could not get up the drive due to the ice so we had to offload it on the road and then i used my landrover winch to pull it up the drive.
the winch machine
Quick poke around just out of excitement really
3 seats
8 genuine 16i only wheels with the single motor sport stamp on 1 spoke, 4 with brand new pireliis. ( i belive the S1 had stamps on 3 spokes?)
In its new home
the heart (just won a finned cover on the bay, £36!)
Old sticker (not sure if this is circa 80's)
Nice solid mild steel (but with surface rust) full Walker exhaust system, i believe these are standard, i know the S1 used walker items
Coils and 2 sensor wires
Id only very quickly peeled the carpet back when i vent to view the car due to all the parts inside the car, so was preparing for the worst, but to my total joy it was tidy as, not an ounce of rust anywhere in the boot
Even the tailgate hinge area is rust free
The tail gate its self i believe is not original, due to the lack of rear wiper hole, not that im complaining because its mint, i was expecting rust around the lower corners where the window rubber is and rust where the spoiler sits, but again clean as a whistle. The tailgate i believe is in its original paint also with a red primer showing inside the hard to reach double skined areas, and the spoiler bolt holes look factory not diy, so im wondering if the 16i had a rear wiper delete option from new?
Another problem area on mk3's but again good as new!!!
Full set of spots, still in original ford boxing (i believe these to be correct as the post may83 should have hellas all round?)
Rear banch doesnt even look like its been sat on
Pulling up the carpet again, i was met with more joy, shiny O.E paint and 0% rust
2 passenger and one driver. driver has a rip so im wondering if i can use the cloth and retrim the drivers seat. just have to try and make good the seat tilt lever hole.
Mint door cards, no marks, or cracks or scuffs in the plastic, i have not checked but i believe all the electrics to be present behind the door card!
THe shark grey carpet, which i believe is unique to the Rsi? It is almost flawless, could do with a shampoo just to bring it up, but no wear or tears, and the drivers incorperated mat is totally unmarked
You get the idea buy now, rolled back the sunroof, the tray is almost perfect
The complimentary 'Bucket of bolts' i seem to get with every project i take on
The 4 spoke, in need of a retrim really, i may put one of my S1 3 spokes on for the time being.
Good as new headliner
Peeled back the floor carpet, and again you guessed it................
Professional welding repair to inner arch/floor where the foot speaker is, nice and strong, lots of gass must have been used
In my haste to get it in the workshop i didnt manage to get many pics of the front end, but all the pannels line up perfectly and again its 100% rot free, only one pic here, but will take some more when its rolled out again.
The bonnet is off of a ghia, when i viewd the car it had the 16i bonnet, but it had rust bubbles on the front lip, so i took this ghia one. As the bonnets are double skinned, it is nearly impossible to repair and rust on these. I also have a tidy spare bonnet from my S1, so i may use this as the ghia one has holes for the chrome trim!
Even the door bottoms are smooth as a babies bum, and all in original paint still.
And door tops
Took the plate off and again not one bit of rust. You get an idea just how much salt and dirt the car got covered in one the journey over here today.
Pulling up the weather rubbers, again not even an ounce of rust where the pannels join on the lip. Also still has the factory white sticky adhesive stuff, so its all original here also.
What i assume it the original dealer sticker, i havnt flicked through the history folder yet to find out.
Again i appologise for the quality, the video camera mixed with the dirt on the car again simply does not do the body work justice.
Well thats all for now, sadly i have a busy few weeks at work, and my misses has the hump that i bought "another old heap of S^*t", so i dont know how much i can get away with in the evenings.
As the car is in such good condition, i feel there is no need to bare metal the car as i did with the S1. Ford spent a lot of money protecting these cars with anti corrosion dips, sealer/stoppers and primers, and as its in such good condition, i feel bare metaling it may actually be detrimental to the shell. and at £2500 for a acid dip and then a anti corrosion dip, its something i simply cant justifiy on this project
Plan of action is
1- Remove the rest of the interior
2- Refinnish the shell as near to factory finnish as poss.
3- Refit it all and wire it up
4- Strip rest of engine bay
5- Refinish bay, inner wings, front valence area
6- Do a total rebuild on the engine
7- Strip remaining running gear and suspension, fuel tank and lines.
8- Bead blast these and powdecoat
9- Clean, burn off any waxoil and degrease, Im not expecting any rust, so straight on to refinishing, either as standard in dove grey, or a nice think layer of chassis black and a coat of protection wax oil
10-Refit running gear, and repair/replace worn parts, it brakes, wheel bearings, bushes (with polys) and rubbers
11- Refit engine and exhaust
12- Sort out the wireing loom
13- Get the car running, check all pannel gaps, and make sure any remaining mechanical work is done
14- Strip the exerior
15- Remove glass
16- Prep the body
17- Spray body
18- Refit trim
19- Stickers
20- MOT-TAX-Insure
21- Enjoy
Sounds easy, when you say it like that.
Im half tempted to do a full total shell strip down and rebuild, but i really dont think the car needs it, and also im not sure im up to doing it all again like that.As the job can soon become like an over whelimg chore. I think if i do it the way ive listed, i can tread each section as a seperate job, and the whole project will become much easier and more managable.
I plan to keep an extensive photo documentation through out, and also Im making an expenditure list, so i can carefully track how the build is going and just how much/little i spend
Hope you enjoy. :thumbsup: