My Old GTi (Gizmo)
- Thread starter Corbalicious
- Start date
Little update, been working on the car these past few days.
First up its the front crossmember, it was rather rusty and I know they are a weak point on micras, so I decided to spruce mine up a bit.
Attacked with a wire brush, this shows the extent of the rust.
A couple of coast of kurust rust eater gel, left that on about 2 and a half hours.
Wiped it down, then a nice coat of red oxide anti-rust paint.
And the first of two coats of hammerite black, really thick stuff!
I made sure that any bolt holes I was reusing had the bolts in them so as not to block them up. It now has the final coat on and I should be waxoyling it after reassembly.
The gearbox and head were rather tatty compared to the nice shiny block so some sanding and painting was in order to spruce them up a bit and prevent oxidation.
Gearbox after wire brush attack.
After Painting.
A few of the engine and box.
The engine bay was filthy so I bought a big can of 'gunk' to clean it up, worked a treat!
Then I decided it needed some protection so the entire bay now has about 3 coats of lacquer on it.
The SSAC exhaust manifold with new copper gasket is now fitted, all the studs were treated to some copper grease to prevent them seizing. Tomorrow I'm planning to crack on with fitting the inlet manifold and water pipework.
We had a few issues with a seized timing chain tensioner but some 'persuasion' with a hammer seems to have sorted it out.
More to come later in the week!
First up its the front crossmember, it was rather rusty and I know they are a weak point on micras, so I decided to spruce mine up a bit.
Attacked with a wire brush, this shows the extent of the rust.
A couple of coast of kurust rust eater gel, left that on about 2 and a half hours.
Wiped it down, then a nice coat of red oxide anti-rust paint.
And the first of two coats of hammerite black, really thick stuff!
I made sure that any bolt holes I was reusing had the bolts in them so as not to block them up. It now has the final coat on and I should be waxoyling it after reassembly.
The gearbox and head were rather tatty compared to the nice shiny block so some sanding and painting was in order to spruce them up a bit and prevent oxidation.
Gearbox after wire brush attack.
After Painting.
A few of the engine and box.
The engine bay was filthy so I bought a big can of 'gunk' to clean it up, worked a treat!
Then I decided it needed some protection so the entire bay now has about 3 coats of lacquer on it.
The SSAC exhaust manifold with new copper gasket is now fitted, all the studs were treated to some copper grease to prevent them seizing. Tomorrow I'm planning to crack on with fitting the inlet manifold and water pipework.
We had a few issues with a seized timing chain tensioner but some 'persuasion' with a hammer seems to have sorted it out.
More to come later in the week!
shaggy_master
brapp brapp!
Glad to see some progress mate!
Did you use traditional hammerite and a brush on the crossmember?
Only asking cos I've got some restoring to do too. Cheers, Joe
Did you use traditional hammerite and a brush on the crossmember?
Only asking cos I've got some restoring to do too. Cheers, Joe
Yup good old brush paint, its thicker, theres no overspray and you can get it into the nooks and crannies easily
Few hours down the garage today. Took off the inlet manifold and oil coolers (Primera GT and Almera GTi inlet manifolds are different! Ever so slightly) and started reassembling the almera one. Fitted new alternator belt, a bit of a spruce up and lacquer on the manifold, and its starting to look more like an engine. With any luck I can mate the gearbox and engine up tomorrow and refit the starter and the rest of the loom.
Sadly no pics today, but this evening we put the engine back in, was a bastard to line up especially when one of the ropes snapped! Thank goodness I had put 2 on for security. Now it is sitting in the side mounts nice and secure.
Engine is in
Fuel rail installed
Starter Motor replaced
Clutch cable on
Tomorrow are a few more things to do such as:
PAS piping
Throttle body
Driveshafts
Front and rear mounts
Once the engine is ready then the dash has to come out to reinstall the heater matrixes and connect up the water pipes. Then the time to fill fluids, check it turns over, and attempt starting it!
Maybe it'll come to the mids meet!
Engine is in
Fuel rail installed
Starter Motor replaced
Clutch cable on
Tomorrow are a few more things to do such as:
PAS piping
Throttle body
Driveshafts
Front and rear mounts
Once the engine is ready then the dash has to come out to reinstall the heater matrixes and connect up the water pipes. Then the time to fill fluids, check it turns over, and attempt starting it!
Maybe it'll come to the mids meet!
all the best fella, it'll start
Cheers man, I've no doubt it'll start, whether it ever runs properly again is another matter.
Tonights Jaunt.
Engine in, front all painted up (No rust resides here)
Throttle body, PAS pipes, fuel rail and that thing with the wires on fitted, missing a holder for the throttle cable but hopefully mr shaggy will supply one. Tomorrow is finishing the underside, fitting the cradle, final gearbox bolts, driveshafts, gear linkage. Then fill the fluids up and crank it over to build up some oil pressure, check if its all working properly. If I get time I'll remove the sump, clean it and paint it then re-seal.
Engine in, front all painted up (No rust resides here)
Throttle body, PAS pipes, fuel rail and that thing with the wires on fitted, missing a holder for the throttle cable but hopefully mr shaggy will supply one. Tomorrow is finishing the underside, fitting the cradle, final gearbox bolts, driveshafts, gear linkage. Then fill the fluids up and crank it over to build up some oil pressure, check if its all working properly. If I get time I'll remove the sump, clean it and paint it then re-seal.
Mini update.
As some of you may know I've had a lot of trouble with trying to get the car to work. It wont idle, is very irregular and the rev counter still wont work (Which possibly hints at more being wrong). But today we had a mini breakthrough after trying a multitude of things. Found that the inlet manifold is still not sealing properly and that there is a massive air leak from the manifold to head join. I actually felt relieved to find out as it has been driving me up the wall.
So, tomorrow got to rip off the oil cooler and inlet manifold again and going to seal the fuck out of it. If it works I'm going to take it out for a spin and maybe a clean to test the rad fan etc. Expect an update tomorrow!
As some of you may know I've had a lot of trouble with trying to get the car to work. It wont idle, is very irregular and the rev counter still wont work (Which possibly hints at more being wrong). But today we had a mini breakthrough after trying a multitude of things. Found that the inlet manifold is still not sealing properly and that there is a massive air leak from the manifold to head join. I actually felt relieved to find out as it has been driving me up the wall.
So, tomorrow got to rip off the oil cooler and inlet manifold again and going to seal the fuck out of it. If it works I'm going to take it out for a spin and maybe a clean to test the rad fan etc. Expect an update tomorrow!
Well....
Found out the cause of the inlet manifold leaking....
Fixed that, resealed, attached everything and she ran just fine. Rad fan, heaters, idle, everything except the rev counter worked.
Reassembled the front end, and toook her out. Had a slight mishap with a loose rear engine mount bolt causing the gearbox to slip down and the linkage to go ergh, but fixed that on the roadside.
She was pretty nice to drive too.
BUT it was all too good to be true and on the way home whilst coasting up to a roundabout the engine started to misfire for about 3 seconds, then a sharp rattle and then it died
Maybe the cam chain slipped off or something, I dont know. Had to push it down a hill then my mate towed us back to the house with his van (Thanks to tommo for doing the driving). At the time I laughed but the reality is sinking in now. Will have a look in the daylight and see.
Found out the cause of the inlet manifold leaking....
Fixed that, resealed, attached everything and she ran just fine. Rad fan, heaters, idle, everything except the rev counter worked.
Reassembled the front end, and toook her out. Had a slight mishap with a loose rear engine mount bolt causing the gearbox to slip down and the linkage to go ergh, but fixed that on the roadside.
She was pretty nice to drive too.
BUT it was all too good to be true and on the way home whilst coasting up to a roundabout the engine started to misfire for about 3 seconds, then a sharp rattle and then it died
Maybe the cam chain slipped off or something, I dont know. Had to push it down a hill then my mate towed us back to the house with his van (Thanks to tommo for doing the driving). At the time I laughed but the reality is sinking in now. Will have a look in the daylight and see.
Not like it matters now though!
shaggy_master
brapp brapp!
BUT technically your GTi did make it to a 'mini meet' lol
Looked well on the road too
Joe
Looked well on the road too
Joe