Red Rallye resto

[Ben_w]

So, bigger update to follow later.

Pretty good idea why my panel gaps are sh!te....

This lovely little sticker on the back of the (non Peugeot) slam panel....



And this on the other side...

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[Jonny81191]

Yeah, that could have something to do with it

I think peugeot still do them, part no. 7104 C4 is the one you need.

[Ben_w]

Indeed it is, was just looking it up on Servicebox....

£95 new. No thanks. I'll get one from a breaker. Getting pblasted and powder coated. Still be less than Peugeot.....

[Jonny81191]

Wow, that's a bit steep. I'll have a dig, might have one hanging about somewhere..

[C2K]

I've thrown them away in the past, they're worthless. Find someone breaking a car nearby.

[Ben_w]

That's the plan bud.

[Ben_w]

So, today was about stripping down the front end as much as possible.

Started by taking out the bumper and slam panel off. Not impressed with what I found (see previous post...) but not much I can do about that now. Explains the panel gaps. So, with that lot out of the way, I'm left with this.



Generally doesn't look too bad. One of the three tabs on the bottom of the bumper is broken, along with the grill section in the bumper. No issue there as ive a brand new grill in the packet in the garage. Bumper I'll probably end up replacing. There is one bolt out of the bumper through the slam panel that's just turning when I try and remove the nut. New slam panel and bumper onto the shopping list.

Rest of the frame behind the bumper doesn't look too bad. Not sure if this side has had some work, doesn't look like factory seam sealant...



This side looks OK



So, once cleaned up with some G101 and the radiator removed, it looked OK...



Fair bit of surface rust, looks to have been painted over on the passenger side of the engine bay. Still, no real issue.

Removed the battery, battery box, ECU, and as much in the way of other bits as I could.



There isn't anything now I can remove without the engine being removed. So, this week all being well before I go into hospital, the Rallye will be moved to my friends unit. Having had the engine in and out of his GTi-6 3 times in the last two weeks, we kind of know our way around them now! Engine will then be taken out, the engine bay stripped entirely and I'm now looking at removing the front wings too and having the whole lot blasted by a mobile blaster.

[Ben_w]

Ordered the beam repair kits from that Polish guy on eBay today. Bearings and shafts, £40 a side. Happy with that. UPS tried to deliver another of the new 195/55/15 P6000's...redelivered tomorrow. Hopefully the paint for the beam should be here in the next day or two. Just deciding on which colour is going to be nearest the original.

Might have sourced some more parts still in Peugeot packing that are a little hard to find. I'll keep a lid on that until its confirmed.

Won't be much more progress for a week or two now. Hospital looming Thursday and I've a couple of busy days tomorrow and Wednesday....probably be the odd pic or two of parts as they arrive, maybe a touch of paint on the beam.

[Ben_w]

Couple more bits collected today...

The tyre UPS tried to deliver yesterday came and then I collected the steel with almost new tyre I won in eBay as my colleague was down today...

Steel still has stickers explaining that the washers on the wheel nuts will be loose when using the spare! Will try and preserve these when blasting and powder coating..





Again, pretty much all the tread you'd find on new tyre..



All three together...



Date codes on two of them are 99 and 2000 so could well have been originally supplied tyres. The other is 2008. Getting them fully checked before I even think about mounting them on wheels.....

Nothing else turned up today so no painting etc. Going to get the steel rim blasted tomorrow....

[Ben_w]

Right, am home, and apparently fixed. No driving or heavy lifting for a week, 6 weeks of asprin.

Home an hour and I'm already bored. Had the wife set up my spray booth well, put two wheelie bins out for me and lift the beam on...) Have to take it easy....nothing strenuous about a little spray painting!

Had ordered some 2k aerosol paint from these guys...

http://www.riolettcustomaerosols.co.uk/

Went with the colour RAL1021 ra*e Yellow, in 2k, in a 90% gloss finish.....Went with 2k as it should be pretty hard wearing...

First coat on and I'm properly pleased with the result...

[Ben_w]

Really really impressed with this paint. Second d coat on not too lo g after the first and left to dry in the sun. Dry enough to handle and finished up looking like this..





Need to finish off the black ends which I'll do tomorrow then it's onto the torsion bars and the trailing arms. Not going to do the trailing arms until I've had the new shafts and pressed the old ones out and the new ones in. Would knacker any paint finish I out on whilst doing all the pressing....

[C2K]

Hm. Having run p6000s for about 150k of commuting they're average at best when brand new. Please tell me you're not going to drive on 15 year old versions.

[Ben_w]

Hell no. They are going on a set of wheels for show use only. Have no intention of driving anywhere on them!!!

[Ben_w]

Had a bit of a lie in in the end after another rubbish nights sleep thanks to the storms....

Anyways, got up, had a cup of tea and was bored. So I went and did some more painting. Stepson came round to see how i was so as I couldn't drive, I sent him to the local motor factors for a spray can of black gloss paint. Ends of the beam needed a little more...





Really, really happy with the finish on this tube considering what I started with. As good as any other I've seen. Definitely worth the time and effort filling and smoothing etc. Paint has gone on very well indeed too.

Had as couple of quotes on galvanising the two mount brackets....lot of money for just two bits so decided I would zinc prime and paint silver.

Parts in the custom spray booth.....



Both zinc primed and drying in the sun. Paint them silver tomorrow and probably lacquer the beam tube.



I'm now going to rest for the rest of the day. Fire up the BBQ, have several cold ciders and relax!!

[Ben_w]

Cider hangover from hell this morning so went out to the custom spray booth to do a bit more painting.... The beam mount brackets were zinc primered yesterday and were dry. Decided against the galvanizing but had a can of silver spray paint knocking about so they've been sprayed silver. Pretty close match to the original finish.



Pleased with those. Getting lacquered later. Then a DPD van pulled up.....at 10:30 on a Sunday morning....with the beam rebuild parts!!



Need to get my finger out and get the old shafts pressed out, finish cleaning up the arms and then get the new ones pressed in and get busy painting the arms! Will have to wait until next weekend though....

[highwayman306]

This is looking awesome dude, you're making some reet progress Good luck with the rest of the build and make sure YOU rest too

[Ben_w]

Cheers buddy.

Yes, am resting....waving a spray can about isn't too strenuous....the wife's keeping an eye on me too!!

[highwayman306]

I imagine that doing this restoration is quite therapeutic ...parts of it at least

It is looking great mate, can't wait to see it returned to its former glory... Or even better

[Ben_w]

Yes, it is.....I enjoy taking a part, doing what it needs and getting it back to how it should be. The beam tube was incredibly satisfying, as sad as that is!!

Yeah, I think it's going to look pretty good once finished. Going to take a while. It will take a good while to scar the money for the full respray...

[highwayman306]

Im in talks (and two minds) about doing my rear beam. Found a guy not far from me, on here, with a gti6 beam for £65 might rebuild that at swap it with my tired 15 year old one how much do the parts cost to rebuild, providing the majority of the beam and main tube is ok?
Is it the shafts, bearings and seals i need and away i go building?

[Ben_w]

I bought two of these...

http://m.ebay.co.uk/itm/121033830714?nav=SEARCH

He did have an 'or best offer' on that but looks like it's gone. I offered £40 each which was accepted. Total of £94 Inc postage. That's pretty much all the bits you'll need to replace.

Couple of decent beam rebuild guides out there will cover pretty much everything I think....and yes, once stripped is just a case of rebuild with the new bits.

The stripping down a seized up, crusty, rusty old beam part is fun.....

[highwayman306]

Im looking forward to the seized TBs i might have to soak it in a vat of penetrator for a week I have access to a shot blaster so the rebuild should be easier after the treating with that I'm just trying to get together the parts before my running beam screws up. Ive spoken to Stef about a new beam but its the distance i gotta travel and the total money for it that seems to be the obstacle but £159 to do a rebuild myself looks like a winner

Thanks for the link dude, il add it to my watch list

[Ben_w]

Got a little more done today. Was down at my mates unit to pick up the torsion bars and whilst I was there, attempt to press out the trailing arm shaft out of the arm I'd left there. Decided that it wasn't worth painting the arms until I'd pressed out the shafts as the press would likely screw up the paint.

So got the arm into the 12 tonne press, expecting a right old battle like I had with the torsion bars. Except for that fact that 3 pumps on the press and out it came! Quite pleased with that. Finished the blasting on it as it was far easier to move about etc inside the blasting cabinet without the shaft attached. A decent coating of zinc primer and that's now ready for the new shaft to be pressed back in.

Got the torsion bars to and got them primed. Some pitting is evident again on these. Debating what to do about that....

[Ben_w]

So armed with a cup of tea and a toxic rear end after a good curry and just a couple of Cobras last night (the wife made me go outside because of the smell....!!) I went and did some more painting.

Trailing arm got it first. Please with how this looks.





Then had a look at the torsion bars. I'd primered them last night. Flatted and high build primered. Interesting patterns appeared as I was sanding it.....assume it's to do with the way the bar twists etc...



Anyways, primered and now ready for red paint.



Tried cleaning up the heat shield that goes between the body and the tank. Kinda that fibre material covered in tin foil...





Not sure what I'm going to do with this. I might try a bit of paint on it but wonder if they are still available new.....will investigate.

So tomorrow I'm hopefully pressing the other shaft out of the trailing arm, pressing the new ones in, getting the bearings into the beam and ordering the paint for the torsion bars....just need to sort getting all the bits I need plating and get them off and I should be ready to start rebuilding the beam.....

[Ben_w]

Well, I got most of what I wanted to do done today.

First job was to press the shaft out of the second trailing arm, the one I'd not started painting. The shaft came out OK,took a bit more pressure than the other one but came out without too much hassle. Good.

Tailing arm back into the blasting cabinet as it was a little less wieldy and I could get access to bits I couldn't before. Came out looking like a blasted trailing arm (no pics of this but you've seen one, you've seen them all!).

Then moved on to pressing the new shafts in. The hardest part really was setting it all up in the press. The arms are not an easy shape to get to balance but I packed under them with a few different size slabs of iron and dropped the shaft into place. The trick then is to get the press onto the shaft. Kinda holds it all in place. A few pumps on the press and the shaft slipped into place. It helps that the end of the shaft that gets pressed in is chamfered slightly which helps it seat correctly to allow it to be pressed in. The shaft should be pressed in until it's 2mm inset from being flush with the other side. Don't think I did too bad considering you have to do it by touch as you can't see the underside of the arm as you press in the shaft!



Paint finish took a bit of a battering in places so I decided to press the new shaft into the other arm before I painted that. Again, this shaft went in fairly easily too.



Next bit was putting these collars on. They go on the shaft, tight up against the trailing arm. Tight fit on the shaft and was advised to find a tube that would fit over the shaft to drift the collar on. Only thing I could find that would fit was a roll of shrink wrap........three taps with the hammer and the collars slid into place perfectly!!!



Only other thing I did was get the second trailing arm primered. Certainly weigh a bit now with the shafts in.......!

[306gtiparts]

Looking good buddy, Your not gonna want to drive it when your finished lol :-)

[Ben_w]

Havent done much at all last few days. Been struggling with some odd palpitations after my op. Not quite sure what's causing them yet......??

Anyhow, called into the local motor factors who appear to be closing down as they've got all their spray paints at £3 a can. Bargain! Red paint and lacquer brought. Painted the torsion bars, happy with how they've come out. Should look good once the beam is all back together.

[Niall]

Getting there mate. This car is going to look mint underneath once you're finished with it!

[Ben_w]

Thanks Niall. It's gonna look mint full stop. Will be getting a full respray at some point once I've saved up a couple of grand!

[Ben_w]

Lacquered the trailing arms yesterday. Once dry, I made sure the torsion bars would still slide into the splines ok...





Going to dry assemble the beam tonight, just to make sure it all goes together ok.