Right, time to get another of my WIP threads up to date. This may be a long one!
Time of start, 10:41pm...
So picking up where I left off, it's November 2017 and, Rembrandt, as the car is now called, has just ticked over 49,000 miles.
My Dad is using the car probably only about once a week just to keep it ticking over.
He pops to the shop in the village high street and parks outside.
When he comes back, this is what he finds:
According to an eye witness, the driver of a ford pickup truck reversed into Rembrandt, pushing their tow-bar through the font bumper.
They then pulled away at speed, tearing the bumper off. It was lying on the ground when my dad found it.
These photos were taken a few days later, after it had been cable tied back on.
The driver was known in the Village and we were able to get their details. When we contacted the person, they denied all knowledge of the event.
Thankfully, our insurance was able to cover the cost of repairs and parts were sourced over the next few weeks:
New GM wheel arch liner:
New GM front bumper, in original packaging:
New GM fog lamps:
From memory, these were all sourced from genuine parts search.
Luckily, no structural damage was caused and the car was looking like new in no time.
To be honest, that was about the only thing that happened to this car until now.
It only gets occasional use and is well looked after by my Dad so it simply hasn't needed anything.
That and moving away from home in May 2018 meant that I wasn't around to spot any jobs that needed doing.
When the diplomat was taken off the road (a story for another WIP) in March 2020, I started using the car more and inevitably spotted a few things.
First of all, I think the car has only been polished once in my Dad's ownership, and has never seen any wax.
This colour really hides dirt and scratches incredibly well. It just seems to look clean no matter what.
That being said, it definably made a difference when I finally got going and give it the full clay bar and polish treatment in September 2020:
A minor service was then conducted on 3rd October 2020. One of the few socially distanced outdoor activities I could do with my Dad that year:
Next job was the cam cover gasket which was is in a dire shape:
It hadn't been fitted properly at the back and was weeping oil quite badly:
I find that the hammer and block of wood method is the most effective at removing the cam cover:
It's really important to get both surfaces perfectly clean when fitting a new gasket.
I thoroughly recommend this stuff for removing traces of old gasket:
I use this occasionally at work and it's great for removing light surface corrosion too.
Make sure it's the 0000 grade stuff, anything coarser will cause scratches.
And put some tissue paper in the head to prevent any detritus getting into the engine!
Then, to remove any traces of oil, isopropanol:
Once that was all cleaned up, my attention turned to these crud covered things:
Bolts and HT lead clips cleaned, a new GM gasket was fitted:
Minor job next.
Noticed this clip was broken:
New part found on eBay:
After all too short a time, I had to return the car to it's rightful owner.
It wasn't until in the run up to VBOA this year that I had a chance to do some more work.
I took the week before VBOA off work and had been intending to spend the time cleaning, waxing and polishing.
Also, plaguing my mind, was the thought that that car had now spent 8 years in our ownership sitting outside in the rain.
The previous owner, who owned the car since new, kept it garaged, never drove in the rain and gave the car a wipe down if it ever got wet.
I actually bought some underseal when we got the car but never got round to putting it on.
I was feeling ambitious and decided that it was finally time I did something, so it was up on the ramps for Rembrandt:
I was greeted with not the most pleasant sight:
The tin worm has indeed has some fun under there. It certainly doesn't look as clean as it did back on page 2 of this thread.
thankfully it's still solid so I gave it a dam good going over with the wire brush and gave it some of this:
While I was waiting for that to dry, I thought I'd tackle these:
I just so happen to have these left over from the Diplomat's suspension overhaul a few years ago:
This was one of those jobs that looked really simple but was a total pain in the backside.
These bolts were stuck fast and resisted every turn right to the end of the thread.
With patience and persistence, and some WD40, I eventually got them free.
Old and new:
Fitted:
Yep, they weren't doing very much:
After doing these, I have found out that mineral grease of any kind is potentially damaging to rubber.
So if you're thinking of doing this yourself, don't smear them with copper ease as I stupidly have.
That took about an hour and a half and in that time the rust converter had done it's job.
Time to finally put this Dynax s-50 to work:
Not the perfect job, but at least it's got some protection now.
That pretty much brings things up to date. Well done if you've made it this far!
I have a few jobs planned for sometime soon.
I'd like to get under the car again and finish the undersealing and the the slider for adjusting air flow to the feet is stuck in place so that needs investigating.
I'll leave you with this image taken just before VBOA, after I'd just given it a well deserved wax:
Time of end, 00:58am