And so my journey begins...part II.....
Posted: Mon Oct 14, 2013 10:53 pm
So after 8 weeks of ownership it's begun.
For those I’ve not met via the intro section, my names John and I purchased a 1983 silver Series2 about 8 weeks ago. Me and the old man need a project, he to fill his time now he’s retired and believe me he’s gonna become very close with a wire brush! So HYB has been mentioned on this site before, She was actually free (worrying!) to a good home in 2009 and ended up in Woking. I’m told a chap who raced RX7’s had two cars for spares. This one was never touched. She then went to an MX5 breaker and sat there for about 3 years. They were going to break her, but she fired up straight away so put her up for sale. A quick once over a few hundred quid later, a spare engine and gearbox throw in she was mine. I got her home and started the task for emptying the car which was full of parts. Once emptied the usual check under the seats for "small change" occurred and I found a 2K receipt for an engine rebuild! Hopefully the engine remains good after being sat for a while and was not a reason/factor in her being laid up. Next I looked her up on the DVLA site to find she failed the last MOT in 2009 on emissions? Checking this Forum and the DVLA site rotary’s are only smoked tested so a mistake by good old kwik-fit. Surprisingly, there was only one other advisory for the discs all round.
So I wasn’t too sure where to start but she needed to be garaged (drive way is well too steep!) So last Thursday she had the front end stripped off, moved into the garage, up on axle stands, rear bumper removed and fuel tank/pump removed to flush. Oddly the tank had about 25 litres of fuel which was very clean.
Plan was to clean up the underside/rear end. refurb the tank, (see pic its messy but solid) Flush the coolant (rad will be rebuilt at a later date) so I could start her up each week bring it up to temperature keeping the engine sweet whilst laid up for what I think could be 12+ months. Like your thoughts on this, if you think this is required/good thing to do or not. What the other options are with regards to laid up cars engine?
couple of pics....
poorly tank..
I could see someone had already coated the parts of the chassis you could see so the rear end is pretty clean. It’s all the parts attached to it which need the work, all covered in surface rust,pics actually make it look worse!
and another scabby pic, rear end needs a complete strip down and replace shocks/springs/bushes and complete brake rebuild. Chassis/axle will be cleaned and por-15’d. nothing like a challange!!!
A-Pillars despite being full of mud/leaves and general crap were very clean. Surface rust on off-side about 2 inches long, just see it at the top on this shot..
Front end not started yet but as above stripped all body work/bonnet to get a better look at the chassis legs and all the “rust points” this great forum pointed out. I did check this before purchasing but without banging the hell out of it you still don’t know truly what’s underneath. Well…Chassis legs are good throughout the engine bay area. Two patches 10p size near the steering box and think it’s the idler on the opposite side. One 10p sized patch where the inner wing meets the firewall on the nearside. Suspension struts good, one patch on the off-side about the size of a 5p. Other than that the engine bay just needs a spruce up.
So the biggest job looks to be both sides of the chassis legs kinda in-line where the wings meet the doors. May need to cut out about 4inches and replace a section. The rest of the rails are solid. So jobs for this Thursday is to get under there and see how bad it really is when I wire wheel it! Updates/pics to come Thursday night, here’s praying for no surprises!
For those I’ve not met via the intro section, my names John and I purchased a 1983 silver Series2 about 8 weeks ago. Me and the old man need a project, he to fill his time now he’s retired and believe me he’s gonna become very close with a wire brush! So HYB has been mentioned on this site before, She was actually free (worrying!) to a good home in 2009 and ended up in Woking. I’m told a chap who raced RX7’s had two cars for spares. This one was never touched. She then went to an MX5 breaker and sat there for about 3 years. They were going to break her, but she fired up straight away so put her up for sale. A quick once over a few hundred quid later, a spare engine and gearbox throw in she was mine. I got her home and started the task for emptying the car which was full of parts. Once emptied the usual check under the seats for "small change" occurred and I found a 2K receipt for an engine rebuild! Hopefully the engine remains good after being sat for a while and was not a reason/factor in her being laid up. Next I looked her up on the DVLA site to find she failed the last MOT in 2009 on emissions? Checking this Forum and the DVLA site rotary’s are only smoked tested so a mistake by good old kwik-fit. Surprisingly, there was only one other advisory for the discs all round.
So I wasn’t too sure where to start but she needed to be garaged (drive way is well too steep!) So last Thursday she had the front end stripped off, moved into the garage, up on axle stands, rear bumper removed and fuel tank/pump removed to flush. Oddly the tank had about 25 litres of fuel which was very clean.
Plan was to clean up the underside/rear end. refurb the tank, (see pic its messy but solid) Flush the coolant (rad will be rebuilt at a later date) so I could start her up each week bring it up to temperature keeping the engine sweet whilst laid up for what I think could be 12+ months. Like your thoughts on this, if you think this is required/good thing to do or not. What the other options are with regards to laid up cars engine?
couple of pics....
poorly tank..
I could see someone had already coated the parts of the chassis you could see so the rear end is pretty clean. It’s all the parts attached to it which need the work, all covered in surface rust,pics actually make it look worse!
and another scabby pic, rear end needs a complete strip down and replace shocks/springs/bushes and complete brake rebuild. Chassis/axle will be cleaned and por-15’d. nothing like a challange!!!
A-Pillars despite being full of mud/leaves and general crap were very clean. Surface rust on off-side about 2 inches long, just see it at the top on this shot..
Front end not started yet but as above stripped all body work/bonnet to get a better look at the chassis legs and all the “rust points” this great forum pointed out. I did check this before purchasing but without banging the hell out of it you still don’t know truly what’s underneath. Well…Chassis legs are good throughout the engine bay area. Two patches 10p size near the steering box and think it’s the idler on the opposite side. One 10p sized patch where the inner wing meets the firewall on the nearside. Suspension struts good, one patch on the off-side about the size of a 5p. Other than that the engine bay just needs a spruce up.
So the biggest job looks to be both sides of the chassis legs kinda in-line where the wings meet the doors. May need to cut out about 4inches and replace a section. The rest of the rails are solid. So jobs for this Thursday is to get under there and see how bad it really is when I wire wheel it! Updates/pics to come Thursday night, here’s praying for no surprises!
