Proctas Rover Metro GTA 16v

[procta]

sadly steve, metro mirrors new, are getting harder to find! I wouldn't buy second hand ones anymore, as they are going to have the same problems as mine, the handles become brittle, and the workings starting to seize. Hence why I shoved Greece in the new ones to prevent that from happening in a few years to come. ( that's if the car sees that far)

[procta]

well I cannot do f*ck all with this car at the moment! as my dads got his car in the way, and the clutch slave has bit the dust! so this is trapped where it is now!
so I cannot fit me uprated parts at all!
also the fun and games have started with the new sunroof! I managed to buy about half of the fittings, but the rest are existent by the looks of it! so that's going to take more research to sort that out.

my heat shield has failed so I sorted out a second hand one,


even this hasn't got that long to go sadly!



even these are like the roof bits,
I may have to start to winding this 6 year old story down now, if bits are starting to get hard to sorce,

[lolsteve]

A bit of chemical metal and there and it'll be 'rite

[procta]

A bit of chemical metal and there and it'll be 'rite

I will look into that, I might shove some on the sill tbh, as my welder is f*cked and its needs tidying up.

I need to start this up tbh, as it hasn't ran for 2 weeks. my dads new car is in the way as that needs some things doing to it.

[procta]

well I have done a few things this month,
some things I have been well lucky with, others have been a bastard! and last bits have turned out really well!

the sunroof, I ended up buying another second hand one to rob bits off, to build my new one,
well the new one turned out to be a R100 one which has the later sun roof handle system!
so the gasket and my new bits from rimmer a bit from my old sunroof was used on the second hand one.



my old one, check the gasket out


all sorted



mind the one that I had on the car, I don't think was the proper one, for the age of the car, as I think it was off an older one, as this sunroof that is on it was from the same age car, and looked in miles better condition!
plus the glass texture is different too!

then the case with the front lights, my lens were shot to shit, ( 20 years old ) I did put new bulbs in last year, but it got to the point where I was might aswell drive the car with out the lights one, as they were that piss poor,
so new lights and indicators,
I bought HID kit for the car, mint!
but f*cking hell what a f*ck on that turned out to be,
with the new lights and HID kit,
sadly, I had to ditch the HIDs as they were discoing when the car was running! when you had the side lights on! I bought some relay thing to see if that would fix the problem, it did do f*ck all.
but I was given a pair of 100 watt bulbs from the lass I am dating, her dad said, I have a set of bulbs for that, so he passed them on.
so they went in instead and the HIDs are going to be binned!
I should have just fitted 100 watts in the 1st place! no photos, sadly,
also I managed to get hold of a bit of black interior trim to bling the car up a bit in side, as most of the later metros were grey,


then to top that off, the steering wheel I fitted from the donor mgf about 3 years ago,
was always a bug to me, for some reason, I never really liked it. the R25 air bag was a bodge fit, plus the wheel looked tatty!



plus it wasn't really a tidy fit really inside,
anyway I bought a better wheel off ebay from a R200/400 with airbag.

I found that the reason why I didn't like the mgf wheel, is the fact it was about a half an inch smaller! so it was more of a pain in the arse to steer the car etc, plus the grip from the wheel wasn't as good either, swopped it over to this one, and it was all plug in play! also it transformed the car! that's when I sussed out the mgf wheel!
so things come on better from the HID shite, plus I had to sort one of the lights, fit an adjuster in, from the old unit.

[Grant]

Despite all of the hard work and intensive, painstaking labour put into this, i can't help but feel you've done it all wrong...

[procta]

One thing really has bugged me a bout the car, since I put the car on the road, was vibration behind the dash,
now, I had changed subframe mounts at the back, to more stronger ones, that didn't sort the fault out.
but I noticed on lotus does a few tricky bits for the elise, so I toyed with the idea, last year, as they had an adjustable rear engine mount tie bar, my dad winged on about it, but he doesn't drive the car, I spoke to lotus about it and they said try it and give us feed back, after all you are using the same setup in away.
so I bought it with a better gearbox mount too with a reworked bolt sleeve.
ready to go on the car


the engine mount tie bar ( mgf )


now what I noticed before was the metro engine mount was close to the subframe
that's due to the mgf/pg1 setup



now when I fitted the adjustable tie bar, it tilted the engine away from the where you see in the pic, not much but enough to move it away from the subframe,

heres the tie bar in place


I took the car for a spin, exhaust is pissed off haha, and the noise from the dash, has gone!
so another great little upgrade for the car!

---

also during that month, I found out why the engine wasn't really pulling well and tapping after 5k!
the fucker has been weaping and burning the oil from the old rocker cover hadn't it!
so procta here nearly blew the fucker up!!! I had not long checked the oil!
so I decided to give the car a nice oil change, from lotus elise dealer approved oil and gave it a filter change,
no mayno in that but not much in the sump!

anyway gave the car a nice tick over session so it could warm up, after the oil change and it ran sweeter and sweeter and quieter, so I took it for a burn and it was better than it was when I 1st put the car on the road!
so its a lot more happier! plus it just say did the miles on the old oil!
my make shift oil funnel!



I discovered that the engine is an elise one, as the sump plugs are like this

rovers have the copper washer instead and I think the plug is different too,
its not weeping anything out of the rocker cover, so the new gasket as settled in. so the engine is up to 95% until I heard the bit of a miss fire on tick over,
so I bought the best leads from lotus I could by for the engine,

and dropped them on, the engine went about 110%+ happier!
my dad moved it and he said that's miles better than it ever was before!
the f*cked lead that was given the engine some problems

I had done this as a temp fix a bit a go, as I found out the hard way it had was failing there, but sadly it started to fail again, and when we checked the others, we found that the rest were not that in good of health,

whats next I hear you say??
well the insurance is due as well as the mot, so for 420 quid I get to run her for another year, but the mot is going to be a bit of a big one,
I still have the gearbox mount to sort out, that's going to be a days work and half I think, then I think I push for the exhaust and new spots on I think,
as the ones I have on are dead practically,
also to end up on another high, the lass I am dating really likes the metro and her dad was impressed with it,
she was that impressed with the car she bought me a little present as a thank you for taking her out twice in it!



she thinks its a right giggle and a cracking sleeper! also she like 306s as her dad had one too!

---

Despite all of the hard work and intensive, painstaking labour put into this, i can't help but feel you've done it all wrong...

oh grant, if only I had the money to build one of those! you lads may be looking at the 1st 1.9 Xud/ HDI 6R4 or a cosworth turbo jobbie!
id have Darren build the XUD engine for it haha

[procta]

right a bit of an update,
yesterday after I helped sort out a fault with my dads car, so we decided to crack on with the metros gearbox mount, which was going to be a job and a half, which it turned out to be,
we did not hang a round, as we know what to expect and how the metro is put together, after all me and my dad did build the front subframe up.
anyway, so we cracked on stripping the battery and box off.


so we could access the gear box side of the car






the new gearbox mount with the upgraded/re worked sleeve,


the old one on the car




after a bit of a **** on with subframe bolts, which needed up been grinded off, as they wouldn't budge one bit,
I got the mount off the gearbox,




my dad said you don't need to remove that bit, but I was right to do so, as the bolts were well on,

old beside new



new mount back in place,


and the car is now back together again,
so now its got an upgrade gearbox mount and sleeve, with an adjustable rear tie bar.
I tell you what lads, it has really changed the car! the car seems a lot more sturdy, like the 306! no nasty rattles or noises, bar the exhaust, which I think we may have a look at on Monday.
a major things the car has had this year, and all have been well positive!
cam cover and gasket, new oil,( performance stuff) new leads, a better steering wheel on the car, so it feels better for driving and steering, ( that's one of the best upgrade so far)
the adjustable tie bar, now that I wasn't sure on about it, but that has sorted a few faults straight away with rattles, ( second great upgrades)
then the gearbox mount, which really works better than the standard item ( the sleeve is re worked over the standard rover item) so the car is slowly going lotus elise, as the everything bar the steering wheel I have bought, have been for a lotus elise,
in away I am starting to treat the as an elise up front, as they have a few upgrades that I want to take advantage of, there are a few for the mgf, i have seen stronger rear droplinks but no one has really used them. so i may just see how we go with the current setup. ( i may fit the mgf ones back on) as i now have adjustable droop stops at the back of the car, which made a massive difference to the back of the car.
Mg metro cup lads just stick with the metro ones anyway so i may just do the same.
put the funds into something else, maybe the dampers or exhaust.
not much left now when you think about it!

things to do,
Get the shell sorted new archs/rear quarters or do i reshell??
Get the exhaust sorted, and make a down pipe up.
front dampers, mount plates and front upgrade droop stops fitted,
tidy and re work the gauge console,
new spots on the front.
Then the car is as good as completed after 6 years of work,
only thing with the bodywork side of things, are do i swop the full setup on a better shell that's costs the same as getting the current one sorted?
or do i spend the cash on this shell?

[procta]

did a few pre mot checks on the car today, moved the exhaust a bit, so its not vibrating so much. Adjusted the handbrake too, as it wasn't holding the car on two clicks,
then took it out for a run to see if my exhaust movement made any difference, gave it some beans as some one tried to be up the arse of it. took it for a quick drive a long the country road, comes back and my back up fan system had kicked in! the temp gauges were reading about 60 ish as it normally does, car was pulling hard so. something must have upset the ecu to switch the mpi fan system on, as the spi fan system kicks in before the mpi does.
got the car home, and did a few checks, it was ok. switched the car off and back on, The fan still came on, so it must not be reading the brown water sensor. so powered it off and back on and it went off. So either the car has got a touch of French electrics I don't know!
But it was nice to hear the back up system working for me! kept the temp down on the engine if case of anything went wrong.
Good idea I think having the back up system on!

[lolsteve]

Good to hear the car is reaching completed Hows the oil treating you? there was a thread .org the other day about using 15w, got deleted for some reason

[procta]

Good to hear the car is reaching completed Hows the oil treating you? there was a thread .org the other day about using 15w, got deleted for some reason

I tell you something you need to run yours on it!! its proper transformed the car!! it pulls a lot stronger than with the Castrol stuff! if you pm me you number I will send you a video, of it running!

[procta]

well worth investing in decent oil for these engines!

[procta]

well its failed its mot on two pages,
mainly ball joints at the front, ( easy fixes) but the shell has had it now, the mot tester failed it on the inner sill and outer sill, ( with 30cm of the rear subframe mount)
the rear brakes one side failed for some reason
the front hub is buckled.
only so far the mot tester could really pass this,
Also the mot tester said that the oil seals in the engine maybe failing, but told me to try some no smoke oil treatment in the engine, to see if that sorts it, but said the engine is strong and sounds ok.
looks like it could be game over sadly, After 6 years. At least I had 3 years of fun with it.

[procta]

well a couple of days a go, I decided to see what was what with the inner sill, and I decided to look at a few of the mot failures, a couple I have fixed, may need a rear slave cylinder on the driver side. as that wasn't really working, until we freed that up. ( I will keep a check on that) As it could have seized due to it not been ran for a few weeks. As the mot did expire, but had insurance problem so I didn't risk driving the car, before the mot test expired, due to what was going on with the insurance. f*cking post to blame for that one!
anyway, the sill looks bad, but after close inspection, some bits of the interior out, the MOT Tester thinks the side is a right off, and needs a full blown repair, but me and my dad have found its the bottom part that's only away.
So we have talked on what we are going to do with the sill, so that's going to be sorted once funds are up again!
I found that the sill was full of shite, so that explains the failure. I am going to run the hoover down the bastard! ( both sides this time)
I have priced my replacement bits too for the front end, and I may do a few upgrades while things are off too. ( things that I could have done back in the build, but budget at the time didn't play in my favour. ( 306 was to pay for and my hours were shite too)
So it looks like this story isn't over yet, and it may continue once again!
Also I found why the MPi system was kicking in, as it most have done it when it was in for the tick over emission test.
the mot tester said its burning oil, a little.
so when we had the car on tick over, the car did kick the mpi system after my dad give the throttle a blip, and it started run erratic idle, and it did chuck a bit of smoke out.
so I took it for a test run and see if the ecu would sort itself out, but it didn't.
come back powered the full works off, and did a few checks, ( checked the spi system) that was working in case the fan loom or something went down.
Then I unplugged the mpi system and pushed the connector back on, and all seems right with the world after that.
I took it around the industrial where I live, and give the engine a blow out, parked it up and revved the engine right up 7k a few times, the shell was jumping a bit! no shit coming out of the exhaust and after that it seems a lot happier!
I think when I changed the tie bar over I have upset the wiring on the sensor, so the ecu was getting an half arsed reading.
So its not dead yet, I think people give up on old cars too soon, specially metros.

[Kezzieboy]

Glad to see you're keeping at this, it's an awesome little project!

[Piggy]

Keep at it mate...
I dont wana see this little gta die!

[procta]

it will take a few days work to complete bodywork wise, only thing that's put the full works on hold is funds.
the last two months have been expensive, with the insurances.

[THE_Liam]

If it hasn't been run much the oil burning might just be oil seeping into the cylinders while its sat, it happens sometimes. Sounds like it might be the case seeing as a good blast has cleared it. Keep it up man, you've put too much work in to let this die!

[procta]

I suspected that to tbh, about the oil, I don't even gave the car any shit tbh fare, so I may have to give it a boot like I do with the HDI. every now and then. but it runs a think oil too, I will check the oil breather pipes too in case some shite is stuck in them.

[THE_Liam]

Needs a track day

[mr_fish]

Engines need a bit of foot fully to the floor (i dont care if it blows up)...action once in a while.

Good to see you keeping at it!

[procta]

today I was going to get the head light beam relined as one of the lights dropped to bits on the tester, shows how good the later parts are!
fixed it anyway.
anyway on route, I felt something wasn't right with the car, and sure enough I was right, the brakes didn't seem to work well as they normally do, :o
so turned the car around and came straight back, and sure enough, i was right, got out and saw a this. Under the rear of the car, so removed the road wheel and drum.






yep, its dusted the slave cylinder, not the side it failed on, on the mot!
So looks like the driver side one has stuck and pressure has killed the passenger side one.
So that's it, car is condemned off the road now! Here's me thinking i could have least got one part of the jobs list ticked off!
i can get two new ones off ebay, which i am going to have to buy. then its a case of stock pile parts for the front!

---

also I think the coil pack is acting up, its not idling as it should, its a bit missy still.
So that's going to be on the cards.

[procta]

game over as of today, had 6 years of fun!

[Kezzieboy]

Nooooo, what's happened?!

[procta]

Nooooo, what's happened?!

well kezzie, this happened



yep I have found a better shell that is a none sunroof!

[Sambarker]

Please leave it as is cosmetically! Even more of a sleeper!

[Kezzieboy]

Woohooo, scared me for a second there, ya bastid

[procta]

Woohooo, scared me for a second there, ya bastid

its good for ya!
this one came up for sale after the gta failed its mot, and I talked to me dad about it, he was sort of up for repairing the gta, then the new metro price dropped to about 300, so I offered the lad 275 and he said yours for that price andy,
So it came from Manchester, and it was a show car from a French car dealer!

[procta]

The end 26-04-2008 to 27-06-2014









we had some great times together and what a fine car it turned out to be!






shame it came to an end.

[Piggy]

Wow....thats a fair few years...

Its heart, nervous system and limbs live on though in a finer body!!