[fizz]

What an eventful week i have had.
Got the outer walls finished up on garage and cleaned up,got my metal workbench back in and when that insignia subframe eventually sells im left with loads more room than I thought. Just gotta organise a bit more.

The next thing was a little bit more work on the inner arches,I now have enough room to ide my hand behind wheel on full lock at full compression even though pics don't look like it,gonna weld on this first plate and then a secondary one above to cover the rest,seems to be working out fine,just gotta clean and rust proof all my cut edges before welding plates up for final time. Since this pic it now has tabs all the way around folded to weld with.

The very last thing is the biggie.....after a wee bit of looking every day for a 3.2 engine or a cheap enough car.
Thanks to that banned member zoe who spams car sales,to be honest I seen some cracking cars for sale Thanks to them. A 3.2 gsi came up in Leeds so I looked as I always do and the car was on bid and reached a couple grand but in his description he stated if car reaches intended value he has wheels,engine and whole host of other parts to go with it.
I messaged him to ask about selling the engine separate and he sent pics and agreed to split it for me, its done 90000 miles so I hope all is well.
Got it for £280 delivered or I could have got the whole thing for an extra £100 and a bit more postage but didn't need it also didn't even have the money for block but as we know they are kinda rare so i went for it so yeah it comes Monday.
Fingers crossed its all straight. He said it was a working well maintained engine.
I will update more when it comes

 

[fizz]

 

[nova16sv]

the apocalypse shelters looking like an actual building now mate.
youve done a good job of that.

big boy 3.2 en-route too... oof

 

[fizz]

yes boi,thank you very much,a few more slabs,some ply sheeting on the inside and couple more shelves will all be great.
I just need to try and get my funds somehow.
Shame this site wasn't still active really as i would try and sell stuff here but i think there's a slim chance of anyone taking notice.

 

[fizz]

Its been a lil bit but I actually eventually ended up getting someone to do my welding nice and solid thank **** as I am sick of thinking/sleeping/breathing about it.

I now have the panels on the arches as far back as possible so now hope to **** they don't rub...

the hole at the turret filled,just need to clean it up and a new tab for engine mount to move it over 6 inches to make the actual bracket between engine and mount half the width.

I have cleaned all up with wire wheel and did 3 coats of zinc primer, on both inside and out...any advice what to apply next? I was thinking about black hammerite but will that be enough?
Of course I don't want rust to form ever ever...I still need to remove all the thick as heck underseal from whoever was hiding previous sins but for now I need the car to sit outside until I get engine sorted so could be a while out there.

Also is heat gun scraper and wire knotted wheel still the best for removing thick underseal?
I really don't like the smell it makes me weird.

Advice would be greatly appreciated.
Hopefully I can crack on now,interior back in and actually get stuff done

 

[fizz]

I have been hard at work this past 2 weeks trying to smooth my engine bay up. Takes a while with my shitty welder but with a bit of metallic body filler (stuff is solid btw,sealed a hole in the underside of a fuel tank once and never leaked for over a year before scrap,yes a bit sketchy,i was young and broke)
The seamsealer was mental wide thick and messy in this bay.

I cut at least 40 to 50 small discs on scrap metal with with the spot welds cutter then filed down further by hand...it takes forever and gives cramp holding it to file...what made it worse is after doing this I dropped several down the gaps in my slabs and even more down into the chassis legs when testing the size fml. Spent more time trying to fish them out then make them!
The best way I found was using a larger drill bit to countersink the hole and the disc kinda sat in it but didn't work for them all. Magnets were a bit big and awkward for most also.

In the end I got driver side zinc primed and ready for proper filler,primer Then neat bead of seamsealer.
The passenger side is almost there. I gonna cut out a large area where the washer bottle was and some weird lumps in that area. Gonna give it a smooth flat plate then make a smaller hole for bottle as its silly large.
I left a hole under each headlight and down the rear of chassis legs for waxoyl etc.

Gonna try get the other side finished this week then paint all and the firewall.

 

[fizz]

Alot of work has gone on this past couple weeks in the bay.first to go was the washer bottles huge hole for the filler neck and will be relocated elsewhere.

The next was the strangely shaped mount on the suspension turret that I can't remember what it used to hold.

The bootwell now has a 2mm thick floor stitch on and I left a wee cut for access to the original seat bolt hole just incase I wanna ground something or bolt something there

this is the bay currently after endless filling holes,fibreglass,sanding,filler,sanding,zinc primer,filler primer and more sanding.
Alot more of this to do bit getting there.

unfortunately I found a wee hole in the rear floor where it would meet the rear bench area next to the drain plugs that are blocked over by factory sound deadening...fucking backwards or what,couldn't even be drained even if i wanted to! Now it's a big hole,I made a plate just gotta wait to be welded.

Whilst the back axel and fuel tank are down I had a look about for hidden shit and found another hole the size of a pea which ended up a good bit larger.its very close to the mounting bolt for axel and was soft around the hole so I cut more then needed and will square up before getting a plate welded there also

This is as far as I have gotten for now,im a little deflated but it is what it is. Back to it in a couple days when I feel more motivated.

 

[nova16sv]

this is the bay currently after endless filling holes,fibreglass,sanding,filler,sanding,zinc primer,filler primer and more sanding.
Alot more of this to do bit getting there.

fizzy boi's been busy.
looking tidy that, especially the side where the coolant tank, and washer bottle used to be.

 

[fizz]

Thanks nova just gotta relocate now.

I got more done today and hopefully that's the last of it (apart from rear valance)
When my backs better I will clean up underside fully and paint and seamseal

2 spring seats and I made 2 damper brackets to replace the old one made from thicker stuff.
The hole in chassis leg patched and hole in floor all done ready to buff back a bit and get interior back in alas

 

[fizz]

A lil bit of wirewheeling and first coat of paint and it's looking much better already

 

[fizz]

It sure has been a while since any sort of update here but you know how it goes. Plus this site seems awful quiet these days my hearse is going to car heaven and in process of buying another car. However I have got a fair bit of work done. The backend is almost all painted and just need to finish the brake lines. The engine bay is mostly done. Brake lines ran. Just need to try get a hold of the middle side member mounts for the subframe. I seen one pair that are way too expensive. Currently shaping up a firewall vanity plate and then tuck and hide waterbottle etc. I am trying to get more done but it's alot of work. I will try to keep updating regular as I can

 

[nova16sv]

painting a rear beam yellow, should earn you a medal of bravery from the queen or something. takes alpha-level brass balls, to do that, haha.

looking fresher, front and back
what you making that cover plate out of, aluminium ? not seen one of those, on an astra before.

my astra G hasnt moved in about 3 months. sat on the driveway, rotting away.
such a lazy bastard, i need to get my arse into gear, and investigate why its pissing oil out. it trickled 2 full litres out, driving 60 junctions up the M1. long trail of bread crumbs, all the way from london. lucky it didnt run dry and blow up.

i think yours will be on the road before mine

 

[fizz]

lol aye but just look at it, at least i can see when its actually dirty and due a clean
Yeah I'm sorting out as i go bit by bit...will get new swingarms n shit later as i have spent enough money and time and just want it on the road now.

Yesit is an old bit of aluminium i had laying around for years. I wanted to hide the ugliness that is all the pipes/wires etc so making this panel but i will need to add an access box bit over powersteering as it sits too far forward as you can see. I have almost finished both the plates on the inside of the wings. You can see one there that is unpainted but cut all good.

It's hardly been the weather to do cars inside yet alone on a driveway so i feel your pain but yeah get cracking and show me it complete before mine
I have just bought a black cab as the coupes are hard to get hold of but needs a few things doing to it. Not sure about the investment so far

 

[fizz]

Right not a big update at the moment but plan to get more done the coming weeks as I'm almost fighting fit again.

Whilst the first head was off I decided to replace all the stem seals,not that they caused any problems but rather do it now than worry later as cars sat so long I imagine they may be slightly perished.
Don't fancy yanking heads off again.
I cleaned any old sealer residue and made sure springs were all sound. Gave everything a smear of fresh oil before putting back into head
I got done with it in reasonable time then it dawned on me that I have got the other head to do also lol fml good thing I have nothing but time.
All the other seals will be getting done during reassembly I just really worry about these steel headgaskets being any good? The seller claimed I can't get fibre for these 3.2s and I can't see any. Is this correct?

Next is to clean the outside of the head And start the other one.

Each hour passed is an hour less on my list I suppose.

I need a some sort of blaster for parts that won't damage. Any home made ideas for me?