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Hi people,
I wasn't going to publish my project, but i've been persuaded to.
So first a small bit of back ground, my car went in to get MOT'd in October 2020. It ended up failing due to the usual corrosion on the rear brake lines, not fancying doing the job laid on my back heading into winter I paid the garage to sort it to get it through. They did their thing and I had a years ticket on it, but they said she was starting to look a little tired on the whole back end. After checking myself when i got it home I was shocked. It seemed that in the space of a year rust has got to everything. At this point I'd had the car for getting on 8 years and didn't want it to just fall to bits, or end up being too far gone to sort out later down the line.
So in February 2021, I started taking things apart:
As you would probably agree, certainly not looking pretty. So after a lot of trial and error, my best friend became my angle grinder with a wire brush cup and a shot blaster. It was very hard going, removing all the paint and whatever the hell the undercoat crap was on the spare wheel well. I decided to cut out where the brake lines and where fuel lines go through under the seats, the steel was in a terrible state so it had to go. I welded in 2 fresh bits of steel and cut the required holes for the cables, pipe etc.
Then came the bit I was most looking forward to, priming it, I used Buzzwelds Rust Encapsulator Primer. 4 coats.
Then the top coat, for this Buzzwelds Chassis In One. 3 coats
Next I gave it a coat of UPOL Gravitex to give a bit more protection.
That was the first bit of spraying it, didn't take a photo of the whole thing.
Next was the fuel tank, that was looking a bit untidy in places so got it clean up and gave it the Gravitex treatment as well.
The rear lateral arms where solid but needed freshening up, so got them powder coated along with some other parts.
The rear suspension was just another thing that looked pretty poor. They are Pedders Sportsryder's, the spring and gators had seen much better days even though they weren't that old.
The shocks didn't seem too bad, so I took them back to bare metal and resprayed them. I got some new springs and gators to finish them off.
The whole thing then started to come back together.
Pretty much every nut and bolt has been replaced, as well as:
Trailing arms
rear disc backing plates
bushes
rear subframe
abs senors
rear wheel bearings
handbrake cables
rear anti roll bar
anti roll bar mounts
charcoal canister mounting brackets
rear brake pipes and braided lines
fuel filler pipe and lower vent pipe
refurbished rear diff crossmember
rear brake pads and shoes
plus god only knows what else.
It has taken pretty much a whole year of work, all done on my gravel driveway. All apart from the powder coating, it's all been my own work. I'm not going to lie, its not been easy. I have had to buy so many new tools and bits of equipment to complete it, such as a welder and hydraulic press to name a few. It has cost a damn sight more than I expected, and took far longer than I thought it would.
I've never minded doing my own work on cars, but this for me was a whole new ball game. Many things in this project were a first for me, some things went right first time. Other things I screwed up and had to do again. But that's all part of learning, some lessons are cheap and others not so and those are the ones that you definitely don't forget.
The point of this isn't to show off, or for praise or anything like that. This car means a lot to me, I have invested in it for many years and it has looked after me and not once let me down. It was my daily for 7 years. I didn't want to see it going for scrap after been broken for parts like so many seem to be now.
My point to this long winded post is to try and encourage others to do the same. I am not a car mechanic, just someone with a passion for something. If I can do it, anyone can. Confidence comes from doing things. If you are unsure of something, ask. If you don't think you will remember how something goes back together, take loads of photos beforehand. Watch videos on youtube even.
So after the year of work, she went straight through the MOT. The only advisory was for corrosion on the drivers front wing (possibly going to replace both with fiberglass).
Looking back, yes there are certain things I would have done differently. However I am still very pleased with the result, and even more pleased that I can drive it again and hear the noise
The only things left to do on the back end are paint the rear diff, in my excitement to putting everything back together I forgot to paint it. Also need to finish spraying the rear arches. But that is all.
If anyone is still here this far in, thank you for sticking with me
I definitely saw a bumper off and some cleaning and rust prevention going on........
Quite a few bits at the back were needing a bit more than Dynax, just ask Rusti about rear subframes! All the metal suspension and mounts seem to be rust magnets, so it will have a good refresh
Thank you for the feedback
Defo should have put a big board on the gravel to lay on, bits of cardboard just didn't cut it.
For corrosion prevention I'd highly recommend a product called Tectyl, its something we use at work on trains and its amazing stuff. Nuts and bolts look near as damn it new after cleaning the tectyl off during overhauls.
You can get it in a spray can or in tins for brushing on, I used the brush on stuff. You may have noticed that all the fasteners and rear disc backing plates looked brown in colour, thats the tectyl. Once the MOT was out of the way, I went back under it and coated the rear knuckles, trailing arms, the shocks and springs brake pipe joins and pretty much everything that I didn't want to rust any time soon. If you want to cover larger areas, its thick enough to smear it on by hand (it feels like a thick grease). Once it dries it won't be coming off easily. I would definitely recommend wearing nitrile gloves while applying it though, it sticks like brown stuff on a blank.
I love this. How long did you take looking for dropped bolts in the gravel.
Far too long, turns out swearing doesn't make them appear either 🤣 I manged to loose everything along the way, spanners, sockets, plastic clips. Still finding bolts 🤷♂️ When we sell this place, someone will be finding crap for years.
18 February 2022, 12:12 AM
Blobeye back end refresh & rejuvenation
