Meriva Cat D salvage project....

[joff-turbo-nova]

I have a thread running on PNG site, but I thought that it may be more relevant over here as more may be running Meriva's over here ....

Well having trundled around in the wife's Meriva since February last year, I'm quite impressed with the comfort,
handling and load lugging capacity, so have decided that this year I will be replacing the Vectra with another Meriva.

I have already sourced a suitable vehicle and again it needs a little work to get it roadworthy.

This one's a CAT D write off , first registered Feb 2010 (on a 59 plate) and has done 2500 miles .....


The front part of the nearside chassis leg is a bit pushed in and it needs 2 wings, bonnet, front
bumper & bar plus a rad pack.

Well after a 400 mile round trip I now have my 2011 project sitting on the drive.

Having inspected the damage most of the problem bits are bolt on / off so its really just the chassis leg that needs sorting (the bodyshop attached to my diddy Vauxhall dealer in Mappleton have said they can pull it straight for a reasonable price!)


















Joff

[ledgejigsaw]

thats a pretty nice looking meriva to be fair, what are the plans other than to get it back on the road?

[humbucker]

look forward to seeing how this one progresses. are you just gonna return it to standard?

[joff-turbo-nova]

Mechanically the same, styling - an Irmscher XP pack and a Lester rear tailgate spoiler.

Next job was stripping the front end in preparation for it being put on a local jig and pulling straight.

Unbelievably the aircon system was still pressurised and there were no leaks on the aircon rad.
Once removed it was a bit twisted but its straightened up without problems.

The water rad is fubar'ed as the two top brackets have ripped holes in the endcaps on each side.

The offside headlamp seems to be fine and although the ABS unit is fine, the cradle that it
sits in is a bit bent - nothing that a trip in the vice won't fix!

Now that its stripped back it seems the impact on the chassic leg has rotated around the
point where it bolts to the engine bed, so going back to the bulkhead seems pretty straight
with none of the sealer cracked.

The fronts of both chassis legs need some work as the captive nuts in 3 places have ripped
out of the metal. I'll let the jig guys sort this when they are trial fitting the panels once the
leg is straight.

So it's gone from this ....




to this .....





With this pile of scrap awaiting a trip to the tip .....



Next jobs are removing the arch liners and wings, then the scuttle panel so I can attach the
new bonnet hinges (as the existing ones were twisted in the impact).

Cheers

Joff

[humbucker]

they dont leave you much room under the bonnet of a meriva do they hehe!

[mickygsi]

id have left the bumper bar on it incase it pushed the o/s chassis leg over a bit ,so when ur jig guys pull the n /s leg the other will follow ,if that makes sense ,was there alot of pressure released when u unbolted the bar ?

[joff-turbo-nova]

id have left the bumper bar on it incase it pushed the o/s chassis leg over a bit ,so when ur jig guys pull the n /s leg the other will follow ,if that makes sense ,was there alot of pressure released when u unbolted the bar ?

There was no release of pressure when the bumper bar was released but the o/s leg has been pushed as the drivers door was catching the wing, leading me to believe there are more problems on the o/s as well.

Update to follow shortly.

Joff

[mickygsi]

id refit it mate ,may seem daft as its wrecked but will allow u to pull both legs at same time

[joff-turbo-nova]

More updates..

Anyway, got busy with the spot weld drill and removed the headlamp surrounds
and got the wings off as well . Just in case anyone else is doing a wing change /
removal on a meriva there is a really tricky bolt behind the quarter light. That's
right the bolt is actually behind the fixed glass - great bit of design

Fortunately the nice people at Haynes had told me (even though it wasn;t in the
manual - I had to email them direct to get it) how to get the wings off - the last
bolt behind the glass is reached from underneath using a 13mm spanner - all you
need to do it back it off by half a turn and the wing tag pulls out !

So wings and headlamp surrounds sorted - I pulled some more loom out of the way
and removed the chassis leg end plate ready to weld in a new one.

You can now see by the pics where the n/s chassis leg has been smacked. It's
rotated around the engine bed bracket, however looking at the o/s chassis leg
and the angle of the front of the upper wing I suspect this side has also been
knocked out of alignment.

I think everything shound pull back straight - I may need to put a plate on the
inside of the n/s chassis leg just to put a bit of strength back into the panel,
but apart from that things are as I suspected....















Then went to see a nice bloke called Chris Peart to talk about jigging :-

Peart Auto Services - East Yorkshire Motor Body Repair Specialists

Based in the middle of nowhere he seems to know his stuff and has been recommended by a trusted friend who has had a couple of write offs pulled straight by him.

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

More of an update ...

The rally repair shop did a sterling job . I now have a straight meriva - yay ! The n/s leg needed a fair bit of fettling to get straight, however the offside leg was out by 12mm as well, which I suspected.

All the new panels have been welded and bolted back on and I collected it for transportation .....





So took it on a road trip down some rather narrow lanes from the middle of nowhere up to Bridlington to the spray shop I use and started to unload accordingly ...





You can see here the now straight leg - they had to take the outer panel off to get it heated up as the chassis leg is double skinned - just needs a bit of filler and seam sealer and jobs a good 'un !






Joff

[Kev_G]

that looked a cracking car before hand but top work i really like these and fair play for the work i wouldnt know where to start lmao will be watching this close

[humbucker]

wow, quick work there! look forward to seeing pics after it's had a lick of paint

[joff-turbo-nova]

Whilst the Meriva is being sprayed I have been prepping the new alloys for spraying .

The alloys are originally from a Zafira and were rather rough when I picked them up - I only paid £40 for them so I wasn't that bothered ! They are 16" x 6" in size on a 49mm offset.

I have some 195/45 16" Continental tyres to go on which have only done 200 miles so are like new.

I had them shot blasted which although has cleaned them up a treat has left the surface somewhat pitted (I will get the next wheels I do acid dipped) ....





But after a rub down with some 120 wet and dry and some liberal coats of primer filler, they have come up OK - 3 done one to go...



Will take these up to Bridlington when I pick up the Meriva, alloys being sprayed the
usual anthricite colour - same as the Nova, wifes corsa and my Vectra lmao

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

Next....

With the kind help of Spudly (from the PNG crowd) we went on a mini road trip today around the East Riding. First stop was Oustwick to collect the trailer, next stop Nafferton near Driffield to collect the keys to the sprayshop and then we landed in Brid to collect the fixed meriva ....



Got it loaded up on the trailer ....



And then 17 miles down the road to my house to drop off the meriva and push it up onto the drive .....





Seem to have done a great job on the chassis leg , however the paint has reacted on the wings so it will need to go back to get this sorted at some point. It needs an aircon regas so I will get it all sorted at the same time once its rebuilt and on the road .






Now awaiting all the bits to go back on, first job up is to get the hammerite on and then the waxoyl - I have 10l of Waxoyl and 5 litres of the black underseal coming . I already have two 1 litre tins of hammerite so have plenty of stuff to be getting on with !


Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

More work ....

I have given the engine bed and inner wings two coats of hammerite just to seal everything up that may have been disturbed when the shell was mashed and pulled straight ......








Also fitted the Irmscher grille I got off ebay in January.



Next job was to get the kettle out and heat up the waxoyl for a good coating in all the nooks and crannies and box section, then on with the arch liners. I got the waxoyl gun set up and off we went .....







I then cracked on with getting the ABS back in situ, the battery box and the wiring loom sorted - nearside headlamp was next then the rad pack, pipes and expansion tank.



The aircon rad is a little twisted so the mounts needed tweaking here and there to get it to attach to the new GM radiator.



Bumper bar was next, then the rest of the loom. The rear panel, scuttle panel and wipers were next and then the other headlamp.





Everything seems to be working fine (touching lots of wood !) - need to get some coolant so I can get the cooling system filled and run it up to temperatue to make sure the engine wasn't cooked and left running with no coolant. I have had the engine running before and it was nice and quite with no noises.

Finished off by building up the front bumper , it already has the irmscher lower spoiler fitted and is ready for fitting in the morning!



Next jobs are hammerite the floor pan and rear, waxoyl and underseal . I need to take the rear bumper off to waxoyl behind it and I need to fit the Irmscher rear valance as well.

Side skirts and Lester top spoiler are next up then waxoyling the doors and tailgate . A good valet inside and out and it will be ready for the road !


Joff

[bucky]

leh would go nice in there lol
nah nice work id love to have a go at something like this myself.

[Alex.r]

Nice project and quick progress! looking forward to more updates.

[joff-turbo-nova]

More work today inbetween gardening jobs and cutting down a 30ft tree (I like my chainsaw!) .....


Archliners and front bumper all fitted and wired up .......





Cleaned and painted the brake calipers as well whilst I was tidying things up !

Whilst I have the door cards off for waxoyling I thought it would be an opportune time to upgrade the speakers so I sourced some nice Focal Access 165's ....




One set for the front and the other for the rears (my son will love them )

Joff


Joff

[Kev_G]

how much and where are the speakers from? looks bloody nice i have to say

[joff-turbo-nova]

Speakers came from ebay - see below :-

Focal speakers ebay link

Joff

[Kev_G]

jesus there cheap thank you

[joff-turbo-nova]

I sourced some Vauxhall long life coolant this morning and filled up the cooling system.

Ran the engine up to temperature and the fan kicked in on a 3 stage fan, slow , medium and high speed fan speeds.

Sat for ten minutes at 95 degrees with the fan kicking in and out without any problems !

I then dropped the oil and changed the cartridge filter (strange affair if you ask me!) and refilled using Vauxhall's fully synthetic oil.

I then did a bit of loft insulation, had lunch, did a bit more in the loft, then started with the hammerite on the floor pan....



Finished that off and then got the Meriva reversed around under its own power Stripped the back bumper and rear arch liners......









Its amazing how little protection there is behind the liners and bumpers. Handly GM has given me little grommets to pull out so I can get my waxoyl nozzle in !!!

Also got the Irmscher rear apron attached to the rear bumper whilst it was off ....



A brace of Meriva's on the drive!



Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

Bit more work done ....

Cracked on with the Hammeriting on both wheel arches and the rear floor pan. Didn't quite get it all finished as I have now run out of Hammerite - I've used just over 2 1/4 litres so far and will need another half a litre to finish off !










Will finish off sometime soon and then get on with the waxoyling of the box sections at the back and around the petrol tank.

Also had a thought today - it may get a bit confusing in our house when we are talking about the meriva , now we have two. The colour of the new gold one is Lancelot, so that's its new name, my wife has decided to call her meriva Guinevere (oh women )

Joff

[joff-turbo-nova]

Bit more done today....

Gave the arches another coat of hammerite and finished off where I had run out and cleaned up the rear brakes and hubs .....





Also pick up today the zafira alloys which have been resprayed the usual colour . Also put some new shape Vauxhall logo's on the centre caps.....







Waxoyl and underseal shortlly . I trail fitted one of the focal speakers in the rear door , it will need an MDF spacer which I will sort soon.

Joff

[calibra-keith]

That has come on well, only down road from me as well.