2.2s Targa rebuild

[johnM]

get that new local DDK'er to come & add a helping pair of hands

Good thinking - Simon, you're welcome for a cup of tea any time I'm around, I hear you're in our neck of the woods now?

R

Car is looking great and attention to detail something else!

I've been meaning to contact you for a while as yes, now working in Cambridge. I'm currently staying with friends during the week and returning North at the weekend but will be moving down properly the first week of March....and bringing your coco mats with me that I found again the other day under a bed

If you ever need someone to assist (even if it's just to make tea or for encouragement) before it goes to Alan's just shout as I'm only going to be along the A14.

Will try and pop over when John's there too as it'll be good to catch up with you both.

Continue the fantastic work as I'm looking forward to setting off to CLM with you driving your own car this time!

Sounds like a perfect time for a pint. I can also bring down the side window seals I have for you.

[murph2309]

OK -

So it's been a bit of a whirlwind of a last three weeks - time for an update I think.

It's all happened so quickly, it's really quite difficult to remember everything - and I certainly didn't take as many photos as I should have done.

So to summarise, I was looking to get the brakes, oil, fuel, engine and electrics in over a three week period. I had Mike B lined up and John M so that I would have some expertise and experience in play.

Was there ever a more welcome sight than this van outside your garage?



And fair play to Mike for bringing his workshop to me for a couple of days - a truly above and beyond service. Even brings his own pies and black pudding (and they are delicious) - I'm thinking that he suspects that south of Manchester you can't get a decent bit of real man food. He's probably right too.

Firstly he looked around the car and pointed out things I'd done wrong - including not putting the engine mount plates on properly, nor the gearbox mounts. I'd got the 'shoulder' nuts on the spring-plates upside down and I had the wrong nuts on my front suspension mounts. Still not anything that would radically alter the safety of the car.

Apart from steering. And engine. And gearbox.

[murph2309]

So firstly we tightened the rear hub nuts - they really needed some serious torque setting - I proudly said I'd got a torque wrench he could use for the job.

After he'd stopped laughing at my pathetic wrench - he brought out this one....a proper wrench. Never seen anything like it.



That did the job.

[murph2309]

Then it was onto the rear end and the brakes etc



In fact, Mike sent me out to buy stuff I didn't have and should have like split pins and the right types of nuts and I came back a couple of hours later and all the braking system was in and the hubs on

[murph2309]

Next thing I know - Mike is trundling the trolley jack around and before I could think, this happened....



And left a huge hole in the garage where the engine had sat for the last two years. It looks a bit dusty and needs a bit more cleaning (Mike took the p*ss a lot when I got the baby wipes out for the underside), but generally still looks absolutely brand spanking new - and as I've only done about 2k miles on it since re-build, it really is as good as new. It had also caused me damage to my leg that time I walked into the exhaust pipe. Still have the scar on my shin to prove it!

Point being that the car was really starting to come together now.

So after two really full-on days, I had brakes installed (including the handbrake), oil plumbed, suspension sorted, engine in, gearbox connected and a thorough check on everything that had been done to date and a list of jobs to do when Mike was gone....

I really can't thank him enough for this, truly generous of spirit and total professional. He fairly whizzed around the car. It's reassuring and intimidating in equal measures, realising how little you know and how the experts do it.

[squirdan]

nicely done ...looking great

the sun is shining and spring has sprung...perfect targa weather

[murph2309]

After Mike had gone, I went on to re-build the pedal-box. He pointed out a couple of things that needed some attention. It needed a new shaft (28) and so I thought I'd give it new bushes and rubber, grease, pins, washers, rubber-stops etc all around.

Starting with this



and these



And a load of photos, I managed to get it back together - all by myself



Very pleased with that one - just finding the numbers on PET to order the parts alone was a challenge - I needed to buy 12 different items to get this in place

[Mick Cliff]

Sarcasm, wit and mechanical genius as usual from Mr B....
Splendid job all round!
Is it really 2 years since I sat in that car around Spa?

[jb]

I love this thread.
A great result.

[jury]

Great work Rich !............and Mike and John

Wonder if Mike can get his workshop in a check-in case?.....I can get him a cheap flight from MCR - NBG

[Mike911scrs]

HI Richard

do not forget the bits in the bag not fitted to the top of the front struts and the engine nuts from the young lady, you swapped for a MARS bar (so you say, 2Hr picking bits up, just down the road, hum)



HI Chris

"Wonder if Mike can get his workshop in a check-in case?.....I can get him a cheap flight from MCR - NBG"

could be closer than you think soon

regards mike

[murph2309]

Thanks for reminding me Mike....there are more horror stories to come in the next installment - shall we say that putting the fluids in tested my ability to tighten jubilee clips and found that I was wanting in that department too....

Next up, John M comes to stay, drinks a lot of wine with his curry and has hangover from hell combined with brake-fluid leak caused by yours truly

[murph2309]

OK - So John kindly (I mean seriously, this was very cool of him) agreed to give up a weekend to help me get the car back together.

He came down Thursday night last week and our objective was to get electrics, fluids (fuel, oil, brakes) and possibly go for an engine start if it all worked out.

Actually, that was a really, really ambitious target for two people (well one who knew what he was doing and another one learning alongside) and only 3 days.

Step one - electrics:



And this meant we spent a lot of time looking at the wiring diagram and old photos of wiring for the ignition, headlights, hazard lights, fog light, cigarette lighter, rear de-mist, interior lights, switches, bonnet lights and instruments, wiper motor, fuel pump and CDI box.

We also had to get all of those PITA connectors through the body

It's an involved job. Which John managed brilliantly. Frankly I didn't go near it. Apart from grunt work on the connectors through the body and finding the battery charger and getting the batteries juiced up

So - moment of truth. Connect battery, switch on ignition........




The whole bloody lot worked straight off (apart from a few duff bulbs in instruments) Fuel pump whirred, CDI box whined, instruments sprang to life.....well chuffed. A good day's work. And Simon (73SJM) came to visit us so we decided to go out for a pint and get a curry in. Plus lots of wine. A really lovely celebration evening of a good day's work done.

Knackered, but feeling very good (and full) we looked forward to the next day's work....fluids: first up, brakes....

[murph2309]

So - not many photos in this installment....all a bit too stressful for photos....

Barry was due to come up and see the car in paint for the first time and said that he'd set off early and be at ours for about 8-8.30. Great. So he turns up and both John & I were yet to stir out of our scratchers.

I wandered down feeling distinctly blurry and Barry looked at me and said "thought you'd be in the garage by now..." Great, being told off on a Saturday morning, first thing and also feeling a bit rough.

Then John comes down, looking as blurry as me....both of us skip breakfast and wander to the garage to show Barry around.

Has to be said that mr perfection (and frankly looking as crisp and perfect as John and I were looking faded and jaded) took a good and critical look around the car and was really pleased with the work that Rich & Darren had done to the car - bit of a mutual love in between those three - Darren's always talking about how great the boys in his workshop think Barry's work is.

And the main reason I've been badgering Barry to come up and visit is that I wanted him to sign the car - he's been such a major contributor and had taken such care & attention to detail, he set the tone for the rest of us to follow - so only right that we added his name alongside that of Rich who had done all the paint.

I like this, it feels 'right'

[murph2309]

So Barry was off after a couple of hours, so John and I turned our attention to the brakes, specifically getting the brake fluid in and bled.

Put the washers in the front banjos (thanks for those Alan - they're NLA now) - check. Tighten the bleed nipples on the rear calipers - check. spanner test all fittings around the system - check. All ready for fluid then.

In it goes. Bit of an airlock. Put on Halfords bleed kit. Give it 30 PSI from the wheel. Sh11111t where's that coming from - under the petrol tank? Eh? There's loads - "Richard - did you tighten those jubilee clips from the reservoir into the plastic tubes going down to the master cylinder?"

"I think so....."

"You didn't push the effing tubes into the hoses from the reservoir - there's like 1 mm being covered"

"Sh!t. Is brake fluid bad then?"

"It's paint-stripper. Really nasty corrosive stuff. Really, really bad on a newly painted shell. We need to stop this, get that petrol tank out and get this cleaned up. Now. "

And that's what we did. It was bloody everywhere. Around the tank, around the pedal box, under the wiring loom. Gaaah. And with a hangover.

All of a sudden, my lovely weekend pottering around the car with a good mate, people visiting and getting it all ready, had turned into something a bit more stressful. And it made me realise that you really can't always mess around with this stuff and 'potter'. Thank god John was there.

So eventually it all got sorted. We had a medicinal cup of tea (which helped with the dehydration) and set to proper on the brakes.

Oh yes, another thing I learned is that the brake reservoir has two sections to it. I'd never noticed that. So when John was doing the initial bleed and told me to keep an eye on the level, I was, and it wasn't moving. Then all this air started coming out. "Have we still got fluid going in?" "Yep - plenty still in there, infact it hasn't moved".

Except that the angle I was at, I couldn't see that the back chamber had gone completely dry and we were pumping air into the system. Jeeez. I'd be pi554d off with me if I was John. And with a hangover too.

He didn't lose his cool for a moment. "OK, we'll start again. Again."

I know I'm going to cop some flak for this (rightly) the next time we're out an having beers. So thought it best bet to fess up now to everyone. I was starting to feel all accomplished. And then that creeping smugness bit me in the jubilees. Still, no lasting damage done and this is the sort of 'experience' that makes you stronger. Apparently.

Anyway, we got the brakes done. They'll need bleeding again in a week or so. I think I can just about manage that on my own....

Quite a day.

And fuel tomorrow. Although now I was starting to feel a bit nervous. I get that fuel is dangerous. And electricity and fuel. Jeeps.