Project Overtime

Hi guys,

Well as I mentioned in my first post here, the bug to own another ST162 bit, and after a little bit of searching, for the princely sum of $650 I've got a new toy

It's a very early model, December 1985 build, and has done a fair few laps of the block (365000-ish km) but it's an SX so has got the right motor, which somebody thoughtfully had rebuilt for me 60000km ago :hehe , so mechanically it's sound, and the body is in reasonable shape for it's age. I present for you, Project Overtime. I decided on the name because the only way I could get this past the Minister of Finance was to promise that I would only spend what I earned working overtime on the car (gonna be a LOT of extra hours put in over the next few years then :lachtot )









The to-do list (so far) - It needs a new drivers side mudguard because someone backed into it at some stage. It has rust in the lower section of the passenger side guard, might see if I can cut that out and weld some fresh steel in. It has a little bit of rust in the top of the tailgate along the top edge of the rear windscreen, and other than that just the regular collection of 25-years worth of carpark scratches and little knocks and scrapes, so a full re-spray will be in order at some point. Being such an early bird it didn't come with the rear spoiler as standard so I'll source one of them and a new sticker kit. Inside, the dash pad has cracked and bubbled a bit so I'll replace that, the seats are dirty but otherwise in good condition, I have plans for an awesone retro re-trim anyway. The carpet is pretty ratty but that's an easy fix. I'm sure there will be plenty more, but watch this space :auto

Matt

 

Cheers guys. I assure you, its the light flattering the paintwork in the pictures, its pretty sad in most places!

 

Changed the rocker cover gaskets today. I bought it unregistered because the previous owner had taken it for a roadworth and the mechanic failed it because it had a tiny oil leak from one of the rocker covers (WTF? I have never heard of a mechanic failing a car for something so minor). In the good old days you'd just clean it up then take the car to a different mechanic, but now it's all computerised and sent to the department of transport so you can't do that, so I had to fix it :aargh

Anyway, it gave me a chance to clean the covers up a bit. Hit them with some degreaser and the pressure hose, blew them dry with the compressor then re-installed them with new bolts. The original screws have been removed a few times and the slots for the screwdriver head were all rounded out, so I replaced them with stainless allen-heads. Cheap visual upgrade, no? Also gave the panel between the rocker covers a new coat of gloss black.

Here's the before shot:



....and after:



I took the heat shield off the exhaust because I thought the header was cracked, it doesn't sound quite right and you can smell exhaust with the engine running and the bonnet up. Couldn't see any cracks, but I'll take the header off at some point and clean it up with a wire wheel and have a good look. It could just be loose though, the gap between the header and the exhaust pipe seems unusually large. Or the gasket there might have blown through. Next time

 

Hi Aaron,

Sorry mate, I'm in Sydney.

I've never seen any other seat/headrest combo on an Aus-delivered 162, I guess they made different seats for different markets?

 

Oh dear, finally got around to taking the car for a rego inspection today..... :sad5

Basically it needs a full engine seal and gasket kit as it's leaking from various places (I've had it parked on grass so I couldn't tell), it needs a new power steering pump 'cause that's leaking too, the engine mounts are stuffed, the suspension arm bushings are stuffed, and the rust in the top of the rear windscreen and bottom of the front left guard needs to be repaired before they'll pass it (luckily he didn't seem to notice the rusty spare wheel well :hehe ) So the Mrs is going to kill me when she gets home tonight :ugh

SO - does anyone know if these guys will ship international? The shipping info on their website says they do in one paragraph, then that they don't in the very next! (yeah yeah, I'll email them, I'm just impatient :tongue: )

I can get a rebuilt p/s pump locally on eBay for $180, that doesn't seem too bad a price. I probably should do the water pump while I'm replacing things, found a place that sells new old stock pumps for $30 so that's not too bad...

Bushings will be easy to get, mounts shouldn't be too hard either (Hi, Stig :hehe , expect a PM)

Re. rust repairs - I pulled the windscreen trims off this afternoon, the rust at the top of the rear windscreen is actually not as bad as I thought, it's just surface bubbling, so I'll be able to grind it off and fill it and it'll be sweet. The front is fine other than just a couple of tiny specks starting to form, so I'll get on top of those before they can go any further. The lower section of the front mudguard that has rusted out doesn't look too difficult to clone, and a mate has offered to do the welding for me, so I'll pick up some sheet metal and give that a go.

So that'll get the car on the road... hopefully...

 

Cheers for the kind words boys. The Speaker Of The House was actually not too concerned when I told her, which was a pleasant surprise. Sean, I'll PM you about that pump :thumbsup:

 

Got stuck into the car today. I'm going to do the bodywork first while I'm wating for the mechanical bits to dribble in from various places. First thing was to remove the front and rear bumpers, the paint on them is all cracked and crazed so they need to be stripped back to bare plastic so they can be re-sprayed (I'm told the best thing for stripping paint from plastics is brake fluid, has anybody here tried it?). I'll also repair the front splitter and join the three pieces together to make one nice smooth piece which will also be painted body colour.

The front end looking a little naked:


Pulled the back bumper, the tail lights and the number plate surround (figured it'd be easier to take them out than to mask them up come paint time). Note also I've removed the boot lock - I'm going to fill the hole and paint over it, it'll make the rear look a bit smoother and add a little extra security. The boot will still be able to be opened via the lever by the drivers seat, to make it work all I need to do is join the cable that ran from the lever to the lock to the cable that ran from the lock to the latch.


It had a little rust in the spare wheel well. Note the plate that has been bolted in with the drain plug in it.....


I removed said plate and hit it a few times with a hammer, now there's a LOT of rust in the spare wheel well! :lol2


Since I'm not very handy with a welder, and I don't fancy welding with the interior and fuel tank in such close proximity anyway, I'm going to cut all of the rust out and fibreglass the floor with some steel mesh re-inforcement instead. Paint it and no-one will know the difference :thumbsup:

The rust in the top of the hatch isn't as bad as I first thought, I'll hit it with a flap wheel and should just be able to grind, fill and prime to get rid of it (I was worried it had gone through and I'd have to cut the metal out and weld a new piece in.


There are a few specks starting to appear in the leading edge of the roof over the front screen, I'll tidy them up when I do the hatch.


Haven't decided how to fix this yet, might have to cut a good bit out of a wrecking yard car and replace it.


So that was this mornings labour. Now off to work for the afternoon to pay for it :lol2

Matt