Vulgalour's Vehicles - 10/03 Ignition Switch Woe

[vulgalour]

My new badges arrived and turned out to be precisely the right size and close enough to the original design to be acceptable. Tailgate looks much improved now.


The proper wheel trims arrived too. I'm always amazed how much difference the right wheel trims can make to a car, they've made such an improvement on Nugget's overall appearance that I'm very happy with them.


Hoping to be wheeling the Princess outside soon so Nugget can come in for paint detailing, it's just too cold to be doing it outdoors at the moment, especially with much of the work being fiddly stone-chip repair. So, the Princess then. I'm actually really excited about the progress made today because it's ALL positive.

My first job of the day was to strip down the remains of the orange donor car. I've salvaged the wing that's good where my damaged one is bad (and vice versa) so I can splice them together later and a couple of other bits. There's a chap in Germany who needs a front valance and cross member and since mine is solid but a little bent where his is completely rotten it makes more sense to sell this bit to him as he needs it more than I do. Took me less time than I expected to strip it all down.


I don't have a picture of the spare driver's door I brought in to repair. It's in slightly better condition than the door fitted to the car, but only slightly. I've cleaned it up and worked out what needs replacing but I have no easy way to make the long bits of rectangular metal I need for the repair, could really do with a guillotine. The repair to the door is super simple, but I expect it'll warp if I think about it too hard let alone attempt to weld it.

Next, my Winter Beater of Distinction sticker for the bonnet.


Made a start on the scruffy rear arch. It's pretty solid, all I've done is blitz it with the flapwheel and weld up the trim holes so far, I've got various small sections to patch back in to finish this off before top coat. For now the metal is protected with some weld-through primer.


The most awkward bit to weld in was the sill closing plate. I put this in before welding the outer sill on and I didn't enjoy doing it at all. Plenty of seam sealer to keep the water and dirt on the proper side of it and to give a nice smooth finish.


Offered up the outer sill section and found it welded in really easily, surprisingly so! You may recall that the old sill had been bashed in and given a lot of filler that I didn't know about which means the profiles aren't a perfect match. Welds ground back lovely, I feel much more confident about getting a consistent bead now and while a little filler will be needed it's not too horrendous.


Top edge is fastened down and just needs neatening up with some seam sealer.



The bottom sill rail needs welding together to pull everything nice and tight. I feel like I've broken the back of the bit of the car I was dreading the most now and have a lot more confidence about doing the rest.


I'm not worrying about making things pretty yet, I just want it all solid with as much rust chased out as possible.

[vulgalour]

Urgh, today was no fun. I found that the trailing edge of the sill wouldn't sit close enough to the bottom rail. I should have checked this when I first fitted it and I'm not sure why I didn't. The problem turned out to be part of the curve on the sill closing plate was a fraction of an inch too big. Could I get in with tools? No, of course I couldn't.

Off with the sill repair, a tweak and a trim of the closing plate and I offered the sill back up again, this time it fitted a bit better. While I was at it I also took out what I could of the dent in the original sill so the two parts line up without that step. Silver lining I suppose. I also fabricated a repair panel for the bottom 2-3" of the arch where it meets the sill. I haven't the means to make the repair in one piece as it's a bit complicated with the curves and whatnot and spare panels just don't exist which means two or three smaller patches cunningly snipped so I can fold and weld them into a continuous piece. All that time reading and enjoying welding and fabrication porn has helped me understand this task a lot better.

Will all my pieces set and me on target to get the corner finished today bar top-coat paint I was feeling pretty positive about it all. Got the welder all set up, cleared my work space and set to... zzaapstackatacktacka... One tack, and not a very good one at that. Now, last time I'd done the welding there was a moment when it played up a bit and just made this staccato noise as it welded badly, I'd put it down to needing a break which I took, after which the welder was fine. Today it was down to the gas bottle being completely empty, couldn't get anything out of it at all. I could have carried on without the gas, but the welds were going to be ugly and I suspect not as strong. I decided to be sensible and down tools.

Rather than get too huffy I had a good tidy up of the inside of the car, everything has been a bit rushed and I've been struggling to find decent chunks of free time to really get through the work on the Princess. Clearing out the cabin meant I could properly inspect the floor and reminded myself of the dent that had appeared in the passenger floor pan shortly after it was taken for inspection for welding after she failed her MoT last year. Happily the metal hadn't split and judicious application of the universal adjustment tool saw it bashed out pretty well so there wasn't a big lump sticking in or out of the floor. There is another smaller dent further forwards which has split the floor pan, no rust on show so I'll knock this back and give it a tickle with the sparklestick to make it good again before painting and undersealing.

After that I had a think about what was actually left to do. Since the car was so recently in daily use and I hadn't gone mad taking it apart I knew I was still likely to be able to get everything done by the end of February. There's probably a week's worth of full-time work to get it all done properly, especially if I have someone to help me with things like the brakes and suspension. So here's the list.

Welding
Several small patches on the passenger floor pan, nothing more than about 4" square
One large patch on the driver's floor pan. Happily I have a good section of floor liberated from the donor car for this
Reattach sill end and spot weld bottom rail
Rebuild rear arch inner and outer

Electrical
Refit rear wiring loom - I've got a good spare which has already been modified for the towbar I will fit later
Fuel pump. I'm fed up of the mechanical one leaking and have admitted defeat, I've got a spare blanking plate for the new head and I'll get a suitable electric pump wired in somewhere tidy and as much out of sight as possible
Check fan switch, I recall this was being a bit funny

Mechanical
Strip and rebuild the rear drums again to try and get the handbrake working properly
Replace front sphere and pump up hydragas
Swap later rocker cover onto rebuilt head with good thermostat housing and fit in place of existing head with knackered stem seals and knackered thermostat housing
Fit carburettor/manifold heatshield to try and alleviate fuel vaporising issue
Bleed brakes, a job overdue by at least 12 months now

Trim
Refit carpets and seats and anything else that needs to go in
Purchase appropriate trim clips to reinstate C pillar trims
Reattach sill trims
Weld up remaining arch trim holes
Weld up door mirror mounting holes


When that's done I can get an MoT booked. It's not that scary a list of stuff to do really.

[Topaz]

When that's done I can get an MoT booked.

So that's next week then . . . .

[vulgalour]

I'm aiming for a more realistic 'end of February' which I probably wont' achieve, never had much luck hitting deadlines with my own cars.

It's got to be back on the road for the 26th of March at any rate, off to Cowley all being well for the Princess 40th do.

[vulgalour]

Didn't get much time on the Princess today. Acquired a new gas bottle and then found that it didn't have the right fitting for the regulator we've got so I'll have to try again, or get a different regulator or something. Rookie error that one.

I had mentioned in a previous update the repair I'd started to do on the rear arch. I've also splashed a bit of orange paint on to keep the moisture away from the metal I'd previously primed, I've got no beige in at the moment and this was the nearest to a match I had. As you can see, with that first bit repaired at the bottom of the arch the rest of it is pretty straightforward if a little fiddly.





Okay, so I can't do any welding. I've got brakes, suspension and engine on my list for attention instead. Could not be doing with messing around with brakes today, and I haven't a pump accessible for getting the car back up once I've replaced the sphere so engine it is. I was going to swap the head over for the rebuilt one so the first job is draining the water out. Which somehow evolved into me removing the radiator, and the front grille when the bonnet release cable decided to break a clip and not work. I now know how to get my bonnet open if the cable snaps in the future, which is handy.


Battery needed to be disconnected so I thought I might as well remove it... and the tray... and the three horns (why are there three horns?), and the expansion bottle... A lot of degreasing action happened too.


With all that lot out I could clean up the scabby bracketry too. Pleased I did this as the battery clamp had some really thick, really flakey powder coat on it which I've now removed. Took an age to clean up the battery clamp. Everything primed I went to put the top coat on and realised just how cold it was when the paint just refused to cure and mostly wanted to run straight off the metal slowly. I'll finish these another day then.


I brought the expansion bottle home, it's disgustingly mucky.



This engine bay used to look a lot cleaner than it does at the moment, I want to get it back to being clean again if I'm doing engine work in there. A few localised bits of degreasing and a few tiny areas that need a bit of paint touch up should see it all shipshape. I may have to unwrap, tidy and rewrap the wiring loom too, there's a few non-factory connectors I don't like the look of and some wiring from the old electric fuel pump that needs sorting out and labelling correctly ready for the new one going in at some point. I'll also give the halogen headlight set I've got a whirl, they're quite old and could even be worse than the sealed beams currently fitted.

[vulgalour]

Larger than usual update today.

For the first time in too long the Xantia got a wash by me, not a full clay and polish as I didn't have enough time for that but it is at least looking better. I was worried about the repaired arch going rusty but when all the rust came off with cutting compound and left no trace behind I was very confused. I was going to spend today at the unit so I attacked things with sandpaper and found that the paint was flaking off in really localised patches. This is the same thing I was faced with before I did the repair, as though the paint just doesn't want to stick to the metal which is itself in really good shape. Gave it a fresh coat of primer and paint after cleaning it all up and lacquered it to keep the water out. It needs going back to at a future date because the finish is pretty poor but it is at least weatherproof and looks nicer than orangey stains.




The main reason I was heading in was to make use of the mild weather and make some progress on the Corsa. I was hoping to get the machine polisher to do its magic but the lambswool bonnet has gone missing. It didn't mean I had nothing to do, there was still some lower door de-tarring action to undertake and I swear I removed enough tar to protect the Mary Rose. I tidied up the stone chip repairs I'd already completed, one or two will need redoing but the majority have disappeared into the paintwork as I hoped they would. I also gave the sides of the car a go over with cutting compound by hand since I couldn't use the machine polisher and it's helped bring the paint up brighter than I'd expected.

I'd already cleaned up the sill ends and got them primed, today I cleaned them up again and put the tiniest skim of filler on to smooth out the slightly pitted surfaces. Top coat of metallic and lacquer saw them looking smart enough that you wouldn't know I'd even done the work.



I need to re-black the sills properly now to finish the job.


For a Halfords rattle can, the colour match and finish is really good, I'm actually quite proud of this.


This is the sill end that looked quite rough but wasn't, with some fresh matching paint it looks excellent now.


The other end of the same sill needed virtually no work before the top coat went on. The wing bottom isn't painted as it is going to get repaired first.


This inner sill had worn through to the white basecoat, careful application of paint saw it blended back in nicely.


You may remember the B pillar was very badly scarred when I collected the car. Plenty of careful sanding and masking saw all that in the past. The matching damage on the driver's door got the same treatment.




The driver's door corner was the ugliest bit of bodywork on the car. You wouldn't know it was even an issue now.


The return lip on the bonnet was finished too. I couldn't do more on the bonnet without bringing the car down off the ramp so I'll tackle the rest of it later. I also need to do a little extra sanding on the top side of the bonnet to make it look a bit smoother. All in all, not a bad effort.





I couldn't do much more on the Corsa today and wanted to make use of the last few hours of decent weather. Finished the satin black on the Princess bracketry and took the worst picture of it.


Finished off my 'lazy Sunday' by cranking the Princess round to TDC before stripping all the ancillaries off and removing the head.


PHEW! This has been a super day, I'm dead chuffed with what I've achieved.

[JPB]

Damn! I've just read every word of a post largely relating to a Corsa and I've enjoyed it. It's your fault, Vulgalour, because your enthusiasm is extremely catching and looking at the small GM product, I'm realising that it is now older than my first road legal car was when I bought that back in 1981 yet, while my Austin A40 was already in need of substantial amounts of fresh steel back then, your Corsa is basically impressively well preserved and as such, demonstrates that - for some cars at least - it's no bad thing that they're not built like they used to be. Thinking about it, I've seen plenty of battered and abused Corsas but I don't remember having seen a terminally rusty one.

OK, so I'm off to book some therapy now but I suspect that the damage has been done and that I'm developing some respect for the much-criticised Vauxhall hatchback and maybe even starting to look at them with some affection. After all, that's a 20ish year old car and for that alone, it deserves some praise.

[vulgalour]

You don't get much more non-descript than a Corsa, it's true! This little trooper got me home from London to Thornaby in one shot during some of the worst cross-winds I've ever experienced and didn't miss a beat. It's delightfully basic as we like with classics and yet has enough modern bits and bobs to make it feel a bit more relevant in daily use. There's quite a few tooling around up here, this is the oldest I've seen and is from the second year of production.

It's hard to believe this little car has already done 100,000 miles. My Princess is on about 78,000 miles and has undergone a restoration in the 1990s and is in far worse condition in every regard. Both cars are fairly representative of their eras, at 100,000 miles most 70s and 80s cars are completely dead both mechanically and structurally. 90s cars generally have at least another 50,000 miles in them, sometimes as much as another 200,000 miles with little more than regular servicing.

I wasn't enthusiastic about the Corsa, it was the opportunity to acquire a good one really cheaply that attracted me. I figured I'd work out what to do with it when I got it home. Surprisingly, light restoration has felt pretty sensible and it's been nice to put all the little bits and pieces back to proper again.

Easy to work on, cheap to maintain, robust bodywork, tough interior, predictable handling and excellent fuel economy make the Corsa a very viable modern classic. It does many of the things for the enthusiast that the more traditional chrome bumpered cars do and isn't entirely devoid of charm. May well be another decade until they're taken as seriously as Novas are beginning to be, but my money is on the Corsa being a classic of choice in the future.

[vulgalour]

I'm getting better at taking this engine apart and putting it back together. Removed the perfectly fine head gasket and cleaned the block face before dropping the rebuilt head in place. Torqued it all down as per the book, fought with the cam belt and got that on and tensioned up and spark plugs back in. Then fought with the stupidly designed manifold and eventually got all the bolts in and tightened up, this should hopefully completely eliminate the minor chunter the car has always had. The donor car offered me a better and more complete heat shield for behind the the carburettor and a full set of proper spring washers to replace the mismatched assortment the car has always had so those went on along with the carburettor and air box.







I removed the spacer block for the mechanical fuel pump from the old head but couldn't budge any of the rocker cover bolts to liberate the cambelt cover bracket so the replacement head doesn't have that luxury at the moment. The fuel pump spacer block wasn't leaking where I thought, it was so firmly attached to the head it couldn't leak while the pump side of the block was quite wet, I have no idea how to resolve that which is why I'm planning to switch to a remote electric pump. I'll have to refit the mechanical pump in the meantime and just keep an eye on it.

The front of the block got a degrease but wasn't that bad, it looks worse than it is due to really thick lumpy black paint that's starting to flake off so that's a job to sort one day. Later I'll get the battery and expansion bottle brackets refitted, a new O ring seal for the distributor before that's fitted and then it's a case of popping the coil on, radiator and refilling with coolant before first fire.

I'm happy I've got the head swapped over, it's one of the bigger jobs. Getting the rest together and the engine running shouldn't cause too much of a headache.

[vulgalour]

I've taken today off work, much needed, and determined I'd do some fun, easy, engine detailing stuff. The problem with the engine bay is you can see very clearly where I've been, the repainted air box, cleaned up carburettor and rebuilt head make everything else look really shabby. It was a bit colder than I would have liked to be doing paint, thankfully we have a new heater in the office at the unit so I could get paint to dry off better in there.

First thing to do was remove things I wanted to clean up and paint. That meant pulling off the starter motor first which I thought had just been badly painted like quite a few things in the engine bay. It was actually caked in grime and some bad paint on the cylinders, it made such a mess removing it that I couldn't use the camera to photograph it so you'll have to take my word for it. The oil filler tube was removed so I could create a blanking plate template and I could now get to more of the block face to clean off yet more crust and flake.


I've got as much of the grime off as I can without removing the alternator (which I don't particularly want to do) and pulling the engine. Eventually I'm going to get the block painted purple and will likely strip the bell housing back to bare aluminium to match the rest. You can see part of the wiring loom that runs across the block face here too which needs cleaning and re-wrapping ideally.


With the filler tube removed I decided to use it as a test bed for an idea I wanted to try out. I'm going to be ditching this part eventually, but until I get the blanking plate it needs to go back on the car. Spent a while cleaning the flakey paint, rust and bad powder coat off the outside and cleaning the remains of blown-head mayonnaise out of the inside before setting to with some purple and beige rattle cans and fine line tape. The end result looks like a souvenir from Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and I'm okay with that.


It took me far longer than I wanted to get the starter motor cleaned up. It needed up to half an inch of oily crust to be scraped off before I could degrease it and then needed brake and clutch cleaner applying to the aluminium parts to get it back to silver again. The steel cylinders - normally painted satin black - had so much gloss paint badly brushed on over layers of oil and rust that it took me a couple of hours to strip them back far enough to be okay for painting. I was going to do something similar to the filler tube until I discovered how bad the steel cylinder surfaces are, if I do something super fancy in the future I'll do it to a brand new starter motor, this one is worth only really using a single colour. In this instance I've completed the cylinders in Velvet Purple, a nice contrast to the Champagne Beige and a match for the new dash panel I completed a little while ago. You can also see the finished battery tray brackets, the cleaner expansion bottle and the starter motor bracket that's also been repainted in Velvet Purple.


Even though I've still not got the cam belt cover bracket removed from the old head I did get the cover repainted, again in Velvet Purple. I'm going to do something more interesting with this eventually, it's a bit boring as it stands. I'll have a think.






I didn't get anything refitted to the engine, too risky to handle freshly repainted parts. I've got to clean up the coil and distributor and repaint the coil bracket. I might repaint the brackets I've done in satin black to match the bodywork they fix to, so that means more Champagne Beige. Once that's done I can put everything back together and try and fire it all up again.

I'll likely eliminate all the satin black in the engine bay and keep it limited to Champagne Beige, Velvet Purple and bare aluminium. The only exceptions are likely to be the distributor cap, spark leads and battery, I'd like them to be purple but it'll probably be a bit too strong and look a bit... rubbish.