Vulgalour
Enthusiast
- Messages
- 206
- Location
- UK
Update time! Burning through the jobs on this one, it's a joyous thing to work on for the most part. I've never worked on a car where every nut and bolt I encounter comes undone with minimal effort and no need for WD40 or Plusgas or similar.
The weather today has been stunning, an ideal opportunity to sort out the floors if everything is dry. The cabin was dry inside for the first time since I've known the car and given that it rained last night that means something I've done has stopped the water getting into the front.
One small section of the front wing rail needs a small patch letting in.
On examining the car today I found most of it was completely dry apart from the top of the passenger side wing rail to A-pillar juncture. This was still really wet. It was only when I hit it with the wire wheel revealing some perforations and saw water spurt out that I realised what was going on. Water must have been getting in through the gutters before they were taped, running down the A pillars and pooling in this pocket, some overflowing and going down the A pillar into the footwell on the passenger side and, given the amount of water that came out, the rest reaching a point where it overflowed and came through the dashboard. After 8 hours it was still weeping water, there must be a lot hiding in there.
One thing I did want to do was paint the hidden bits and some of the more serious rusty bits. To stay true to the car's appearance I wanted to get a close match to the faded green off the shelf but not go to the trouble of getting it mixed specially to match. I want my repairs to be visible. I chose a satin paint so it wouldn't look too new against the rest of the car and took a chance that this exterior metal paint would be suitable. No spray paint, this has to be brush painted.
After the corner had been extensively cleaned up and all perforations found I had to wait a while for it to stop leaking enough water for me to paint it. Even then, any movement of the car made more water emerge so this will need a small retouch. Still surprisingly solid here, I'm going to have to let some fresh metal in to stabilise things properly.
The other side is much better, only one perforation. The rust here is mostly caused by the accumulation of acidic conifer sheddings which was absolutely packed into this area on both sides, without that and the gutter holes this would likely need no work beyond waterproof paint.
Cleaned back the bottom of the sill too. Quite pitted but solid metal, I couldn't blow any holes through it so was happy enough to give it a top coat.
Then the floors, I wanted to get it done the first dry day I had and this was that. Cleaning all the surface rust off was easy enough but not ideal a job to do inside the car, made a lot of dust. Really surprisingly solid, there were a total of three pin holes which need a small blob of weld. For now it's all painted to keep it solid.
Next was time to get the engine out, I hoped. Really easy access for everything. I removed the front valance/undertray which is also in superb condition but does need a fresh coat of paint and underseal to keep it that way. Steering rack came out, just 5 bolts none of which put up much of a fight.
Mike put some sealant on the leaking rear window seal, that should stop all the water ingress into the cabin.
Got both front calipers off, and the dust shields which are still intact. The calipers look to be in need of a refurb but don't appear to have any glaring issues. Still a good amount of material on the discs and pads surprisingly and again all this came apart very easily.
That is, until it came to doing the ball joints so I could free the hub and remove the driveshafts from the gearbox. I want to remove all the mechanical components anyway to get them cleaned and painted and any worn out parts replaced. In the process of trying to remove the balljoints the CV boot became dislodged and leaked grease everywhere, including all over my leg and straight through my work trousers, which was nice.
Thing is, those ball joints would not budge. I've known stubborn ball joints before but these are something else. They broke the splitter!
Sod it. I was quickly running out of daylight and patience by this point so I tidied up and called it a day. Not bad though, a week of work on a car that's been untouched for 20 years and it's only just thrown a difficult job at me.
Shoved the bonnet on to protect the engine bay a bit before we shut up shop. The inner arches smell of cow poo, an unpleasant side effect of a farm car.
The weather today has been stunning, an ideal opportunity to sort out the floors if everything is dry. The cabin was dry inside for the first time since I've known the car and given that it rained last night that means something I've done has stopped the water getting into the front.
One small section of the front wing rail needs a small patch letting in.
On examining the car today I found most of it was completely dry apart from the top of the passenger side wing rail to A-pillar juncture. This was still really wet. It was only when I hit it with the wire wheel revealing some perforations and saw water spurt out that I realised what was going on. Water must have been getting in through the gutters before they were taped, running down the A pillars and pooling in this pocket, some overflowing and going down the A pillar into the footwell on the passenger side and, given the amount of water that came out, the rest reaching a point where it overflowed and came through the dashboard. After 8 hours it was still weeping water, there must be a lot hiding in there.
One thing I did want to do was paint the hidden bits and some of the more serious rusty bits. To stay true to the car's appearance I wanted to get a close match to the faded green off the shelf but not go to the trouble of getting it mixed specially to match. I want my repairs to be visible. I chose a satin paint so it wouldn't look too new against the rest of the car and took a chance that this exterior metal paint would be suitable. No spray paint, this has to be brush painted.
After the corner had been extensively cleaned up and all perforations found I had to wait a while for it to stop leaking enough water for me to paint it. Even then, any movement of the car made more water emerge so this will need a small retouch. Still surprisingly solid here, I'm going to have to let some fresh metal in to stabilise things properly.
The other side is much better, only one perforation. The rust here is mostly caused by the accumulation of acidic conifer sheddings which was absolutely packed into this area on both sides, without that and the gutter holes this would likely need no work beyond waterproof paint.
Cleaned back the bottom of the sill too. Quite pitted but solid metal, I couldn't blow any holes through it so was happy enough to give it a top coat.
Then the floors, I wanted to get it done the first dry day I had and this was that. Cleaning all the surface rust off was easy enough but not ideal a job to do inside the car, made a lot of dust. Really surprisingly solid, there were a total of three pin holes which need a small blob of weld. For now it's all painted to keep it solid.
Next was time to get the engine out, I hoped. Really easy access for everything. I removed the front valance/undertray which is also in superb condition but does need a fresh coat of paint and underseal to keep it that way. Steering rack came out, just 5 bolts none of which put up much of a fight.
Mike put some sealant on the leaking rear window seal, that should stop all the water ingress into the cabin.
Got both front calipers off, and the dust shields which are still intact. The calipers look to be in need of a refurb but don't appear to have any glaring issues. Still a good amount of material on the discs and pads surprisingly and again all this came apart very easily.
That is, until it came to doing the ball joints so I could free the hub and remove the driveshafts from the gearbox. I want to remove all the mechanical components anyway to get them cleaned and painted and any worn out parts replaced. In the process of trying to remove the balljoints the CV boot became dislodged and leaked grease everywhere, including all over my leg and straight through my work trousers, which was nice.
Thing is, those ball joints would not budge. I've known stubborn ball joints before but these are something else. They broke the splitter!
Sod it. I was quickly running out of daylight and patience by this point so I tidied up and called it a day. Not bad though, a week of work on a car that's been untouched for 20 years and it's only just thrown a difficult job at me.
Shoved the bonnet on to protect the engine bay a bit before we shut up shop. The inner arches smell of cow poo, an unpleasant side effect of a farm car.
Happily, Chrome has a translate function when I'm browsing French and other-language sites which has helped me understand a few bits and pieces, along with there being a surprising number of blogs with pictures for R4s, much of which is interchangeable info.
Van plans are shelved for the time being, if I do come back to them it'll be like the Ami is done as it looks teh part and is easy to revert to original. I have a little update today.
