It All Went Grey And I Passed Out

As you will have guessed from the fact I have not posted a blog for a while I have lost interest in the wifes vitara and just want to get it done as quickly as possible. I did not bother to take any pictures of the inner wheel arch repairs and welding on the passenger side of the car because it was basicaly the same as the other side anyway. Nonetheless the repairs were carried out and ground back ready for filler and primer. I spent the best part of two days filling, rubbing down filling rubbing down, you get the idea, on the drivers side. I now have it in a state that I am happy to put top coat on and see what imperfections are left to deal with. Grumbling aside I am actually quite pleased with how it has come out. Mind you things always look better in primer as it is matt.

The arch looks good and with luck I will not have to buy a set of wheel arch extensions (and wider wheels and tyres). The sill area also looks ok and with luck I won't have to worry about refitting the plastic over sill covers.

I had to drill two new holes for the bottom mounts of the front wing and install two new bolts to replace the sheared off ones. While the wing was off I undersealled the inner wing just for good measure. The wing was then refitted and positioned. I have resided myself to the fact the top coat will not get done until next weekend but I needed to get the car back on the road so the wife could use it. Besides after initially refusing to drive it painted in redoxide (Having got used to seeing it that colour for so long I was starting to like it and thought it similar to the paint jobs done by GULF on their sponsored race and rally cars) when she saw it with grey primer she decided that she would be prepared to drive around like that (short term). So with that carrot dangled in front of me I set to with the passenger side.

This has been worked on for about a day and a half in the same manner as the drivers side. I still need to do more rubbing down and filling but it is close.

The front wing on this side was also removed and undersealed. With luck a couple of afternoons of prep should see this side done.

The rear panel below the boot door was another area I was hoping to ignore but then decided that while I had all my welding stuff out I may as well just do it. Once again no pics but as it still needs a little more work I will probably take some when the rear bumper comes off again. Talking of the rear bumper. I initially hoped to repair the arches without removing the bumper reinforcing panel that is bolted to the chassis. To allow access to the areas I needed to weld the arch panel to I had to cut the ends of the reinforcing panel and bend them out of the way. However when I decided to repair the rear panel I had to remove it anyway. The bolts were all rusted in and had to be ground off or drilled out. So when it came to re fitting it today I had to drill and tap all the mounting bolt holes and weld the end sections back on. When I finished for the day I slid the bumper back over the panel but Now I cant get the passenger side to slide all the way in. I will need to look at that when I have painted the rear panel repairs. I'm sure it is nothing a 2lb hammer can't sort.

The other aspect of getting the car to drive again was the fitting of the new fuel tank. I painted it first in spray hammerite (I ought to buy shares in them) then as a belt and braces effort I undersealled it top and bottom. Paying particular attention to the areas of the old tank that had rusted out. Other than getting rather dirty (got to love non drying Waxoil underseal) and drilling and tapping the mounting holes. It went back in ok. All new hose clips to replace the rusted ones and the new filler spout/neck (another £40 on the bill) went in. I have now added two gallons of fuel and went to test it for leaks when running but the battery was dead. After that was charged up the engine started and ran as well as it did before I took it apart. As my friends will know this is no mean feet.

As a much needed distraction my Austin A40 came to the rescue again. I welt round to my friends (where the car is being stored) on Friday to fit the secondhand steering idler and try to shim the front spring on the drivers side. The steering idler was a pig of a job. In theory two track rod ends and three bolts but the access was so poor and my ball joint splitter was too large for the rodends. I ended up having to unbolt the steering arm from the hub and let the tie rod go that connects to the steering box to it could be unscrewed from the rod end. That way I could then mount it in a vice and hammer F*&£ out of it until the rodends came free. Obviously the only problem with resorting to brute force is that the threads got a little damaged. But a little filing and the nuts went on ok. The new idler was fitted and then the drivers spring was dropped out. Before I took it out I had a look see. Where the spring had been cut the end is no longer flat in a full circle and the spring had spun round and the end of the coil had dropped in a gap on the spring pan thus making the car sit lower. I decided that rather than fitting a shim under the spring I would just turn it upside down as the top seat is a full circle. I did this dropped the car to the ground and all looked well. The car was then fired up and off we went to the MOT shop for the retest. The tyres were still rubbing and by the time we got there the car was once again sitting lop sided. The spring must have rotated into a position that is making it shorter than it is. I am now looking at getting a pair of uprated springs for a midget if the length checks out ok or get a pair of standard A40 ones and just use spacers under the spring pan to get the lowering I want. As to the retest, I was unable to get it done free as it was more than 10 days since the original test so I had to pay again. Anyway it passed and the MOT certificate proves it. I just need to sort out the insurance then get the taxation class changed.

The only thing of note on driving the car is that when driving under load the engine missfires. This could be down to fuel or spark. My hunch is fuel as the engine starts and idles well and reves freely when there is no load on it. I suspect the solex carb is out of adjustment or just needs a damm good clean. I hope to cure the miss fire by fitting my go faster parts before too long. This should then make it perform a lot better. I have a choice of 3 three branch exhaust manifold to try, a set of twin carbs (1 1/4") and a 998cc mini Cooper cylinder head waiting to be fitted. Assuming the car proves itself to be reliable, as soon as the MG is mot'd and garage ready for it's engine swap I will remove the electronic ignition kit and fit that to the A40.

Thats all for now folks.