Mr Simmonds 3B lite project.

[K Simmonds]

Used the oil pick up from my old NG engine as it has an O-ring instead of the gasket, refitted the sump filled with oil and fired up for the first time in two years. No leaks etc, the lifters were noisy for a bit then quietened down after a coupe of running temp restarts. Oil pressure seems stronger than before, now got a full two bar on hot idle with the fan on.

[Error404]

Looking good mate. Did that gasket not turn up?

[K Simmonds]

The exhaust seems to fit nicely, will have to wait and see if it knocks on the rear diff, the clearance is tight!

[K Simmonds]

Looking good mate. Did that gasket not turn up?

No mate, expect it will arrive tomorrow, glad I opened the sump on my NG and found that pick up, the O-ring is a better job.

[Error404]

Royal Mail are ****!

[re2500]

Looking good Kit, making nice progress there...

[Error404]

What's left to do then mate?

[K Simmonds]

What's left to do then mate?

Quite a lot, but on the scale of what I've done so far not that much.

Fit the front end, wings, liners, bumper and lights ect. I'm on this today, a nice job that I really enjoy.

Finish exposing all the rust patches on the floor so I can paint them with POR 15 and re-underseal the whole lot. I'm well over halfway through the prep, spent two days on it so far, it's so laborious.

Prep and paint the fuel lines. If I do something about them now they should last for years.

Paint the mild steel sections of the exhaust.

Full four wheel alignment from scratch. Can't finish this myself but can get it close, got it somewhere near already.

Glue the fake leather back to the door cards and fit them. Made a good start on this annoying fiddly job.

Finish wiring up the Zetronix unit. Over halfway through this job, just a case of routing wire's and connecting them up.

Fit the lower dash shelf's, glove box and interior sill trims etc.

Replace the bulb in the outside temp gauge and fit the clocks for the final time.

Fit the rear arch liners and back bumper. Sounds straight forward but there's some nasty corrosion along the seam that joins the floor pan to the lower back panel. Not sure how I'm going to tackle this yet, it needs a new lower rear panel by rights and I will be doing that at some point as well as replacing the NS sill as there's some poorly repaired accident damage hiding down there which is almost certainly related to the rust in the **** end. I think I'm going to remove all the rust I can, re spot weld the seam then cover the lot in POR 15 and seam sealer for now. At some point I need to pick up a doner Coupe with good sill's and rear panel and spend an age unpicking the sections I need, you know all about this mate

I've also got the Alcon brake set up to finish off, ie paint the calipers and splash out on new rotors and pads but these aren't essential so will probably hang till around Christmas and I'll make hints about how nice it would be to get a contribution towards them.

And finally it's going to need a remap, would like PRJ to do it if possible, once the cars on the road and I'm sure everything's right I'm going to get in touch with him and see if he can do me some safe software for the time being. I have RS2 injectors and a 7A FPR ready to fit.

Enough to keep me busy for a while yet.

Oh, I also need to free the clutch off, pretty sure the friction disc has stuck to the flywheel with rust from getting wet whilst pressure washing the engine bay and be be left stood. Should just be a case of starting it in gear and stabbing the brake with the clutch peddle depressed, I hope.

[K Simmonds]

Well I'm pleased to say the old girl works, hit's one bar of boost, no leaks or funny noises, the exhaust sounds great and doesn't knock on anything, so no unexpected problems. The screamer pipe is LOUD but I was kinda expecting that, will have to see what it's like once the cars on the road properly before I make my mind up about it.

I wasn't really expecting to drive the car today to be honest, however I snapped a bolt off whilst changing my Corrado's thermostat on the drive outside and can't really get at it properly to do anything about it whilst lying on my back, especially soaking wet. So I thought sod it the S2 is close enough to drop down on its wheels and move out of the workshop why not do that and get the G60 in there to sort out in the dry with a pit.

So I still have a few thing to sort out yet but technically it would MOT at the moment however I'd rather fit the door cards and the underside finished before I take it to get tested. The tracking's not great either at the moment but I know I can get it a lot closer than it is with equipment I can borrow now the wheels are back on the ground.

Anyway's here's some rubbish photo's, it was dark by the time I'd got the car moving, I'll get it out in the day light tomorrow and take some better ones.

[andy10v]

That is some good motivation for the home straight!

[K Simmonds]

Yes mate, I had to stand for five mins in the garage after I got out of it before it sunk in that actually everything seems to be working perfectly and there's not all that much to do.

[Christophski]

Well done bud. Now get it finished and get another one back on the road hahaha

[sidrick]

Yes mate, I had to stand for five mins in the garage after I got out of it before it sunk in that actually everything seems to be working perfectly and there's not all that much to do.

Great to hear, and nice update

[Error404]

Awesome! Engine looks great, bet you are chuffed its all going back together
I feel your pain about the corrosion, I resigned myself to getting the car dipped one day and replacing both the sills the passenger side quarter panel

[K Simmonds]

Cheers guys, I'm really chuffed with how it's all coming together now

Got another day off work today because of the weather, I'm going to have to sort the Corrado out first but I'll have some more time to spend get things ticked off the list. First thing now I know it's working properly is to flush the coolant and and top it up with a nice fresh mix, the stuff in there now is quite weak and I added a flushing agent a couple of weeks ago to try and deal with the rust that built up in the block whilst it was stood dry.

Then if I get time I'm going to get the camber angles set up, I've borrowed a digital camber gauge of one of my mates in the trade, I can also borrow his old skool Dunlop optical tracking gauges that if one goes to the trouble of setting up properly work very well on FWD cars. OK their no good for proper four wheel alignment but I can at least get the toe on each axel right so it's not fighting itself to go in a straight line.

That dam gasket arrived yesterday Alex, Royal mail are rubbish as you sent it last week by first class, anyway thanks very much even though I didn't use it. And yes the corrosion is a PITA, mine isn't as bad as your CQ was when you started but it still requires a lot of work to put it 100% right. I'd like to replace both sill as monkeys have cause no end of damage with jacks and the back end of the NS one has about 1/2 an inch of filer on it. Fortunately it's only the outer sill that's been bodged and it's a only a small area about a foot long that's actually rusty, I've had a good look down inside the rear quarters. The rear panel is worse but I had a better look at it yesterday and it's not as bad as I thought so for now I'm going to whack the bumper back on and ignore it.