Tim's 1992 'K' 1.8 GLS auto...

[tim130879]

We both couldn’t find any sign of repairs/replacement sill at all.
Colon remarked how tidy it was underneath getting for nearly 30 years old.
Lucy did the mech inspection and what will be doing in next three weeks;.
Cam belt and water pump
Discs and pads front
Fuel filter
Air filter
Spark plugs
New distributor cap and rotor arm
All new, right through, exhaust.

[Mazza]

I’d agree, definitely new sills - can see the welding

It’s surprisingly clean and well maintained car, and the colour ... almost timeless. Cracking example.

It’s probably worthwhile checking the seals and the normal prone errors.. but guess that’s already done.

Just need a good clean underneath.. And area behind the bumpers.

The fan blades / stripes do give the enhanced look

[tim130879]

Been looking at replacing the rear badges, but nearly £35 each... thought I'd see how a £6 each refurb would look.
Really impressed how it worked out if I'm honest; just a shame the company doesn't do one for the 1.8i, so may have to go (it'll look like a 1.6 but meh)…

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

[Cavalier342]

Interesting, good work. Not seen that done before.

[tim130879]

A tad fiddly but definitely worth the patient's.... just another detail job that adds up to the bigger look

[Mazza]

Nice,... stick on decals.
Makes a big difference.

What’s next, boot panel... I see a few cracks?

[Robsey]

What’s next, boot panel... I see a few cracks?

A bit of a thankless task that one.

No sooner you replace the boot panel, than the cracks start to form for no apparent reason.
I have had two on my car. - the last one was fitted 18 months ago, and it is already cracking.

Nice decals -
I did fancy fitting the early SRi type stickers instead of the plastic badges, but without the SRi or 2.0 parts.

As usual, I haven't justified the cost yet...

[Mazza]

Boot panel - I know exactly what you mean. Although it’s never been a problem for the German-land guys... I know good few, and they still have the original parts on their cars and no cracks.

I personally never hand any issues in the past with any my previous cars - i guess the boot rubbers helped and pressure applied on closing the boot lid. Most cases the rubber behind the panel was missing or aged.

Anyways it’s plastic it’s bound happen at some point.

[tim130879]

Yeah just the stick on variety - but they look good for the moment. Be interesting to see how long they stay stuck on lol. Hopefully a while. I cleaned it all back as best I could, got rid of the old silver, and stuck on with the help of the trusty garage hair dryer. But for £12 cant complain at all.
Not really...…. looking to replace rear panel. Yeah a few cracks but only see them if your standing closer than 5 feet; so a job way down the list.

Cleaned out all the mould around the front lights (drivers side atm) GOD!! How the f**k do you get the rubber to stay in place whilst you refit?? Nearly gave myself another heart attack getting so annoyed with it

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

And found a nice rusty socket set piece whilst rooting around - god knows where that came from....

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

What are the two plugs seen in the picture? Anyone know? Connectors for fogs??

[Cavalier342]

Good stuff, it's amazing how filthy it gets behind there, as nobody ever cleans that area. The headlight rubber seals are fiddly, it's trial and error, have to fit them onto the metal panel, lower the headlights into place, and while pushing the headlight unit in, pry the seal out bit by bit as you go along. Using something long and ideally not sharp so you don't tear the seal.
Those plugs are for the fogs indeed, should be one on each side. The one with the blue end, if I remember right. The other one, not sure, could be headlight wipers or some other purpose, there is usually a lot of spare plugs around the engine bay on these.

My next job on there would be to remove the condensation inside the headlights, either remove them and remove the back cap (round plastic cap) and let them dry out inside or split the lenses and clean around inside and re-fit them.

[tim130879]

I looked opening up the lights and removing the glass but didn’t want to go that far if possible.
But there was a lead in the top left hand corner (sorry didn’t take a picture of it) that I couldn’t see how detaches) and letting them dry indoors
Planning to do other side tomorrow, depending on weather

[Mazza]

Coming on nicely...

I’d also suggest check the battery tray and inside the long plastic trim covering the wiper motors... good spot for leafs and water.

[tim130879]

I had a good look behind the scuttle - admittedly not a 'panel off' job when I cleared the 'elephants trunk' and seemed all ok. Been shite weather, every where, so not had much to do last week.

Still..... corner of a bed rooms turning into a parts dept lol. Exhaust was too big to keep indoors and front discs and pads I couldn't be bother to heave upstairs.

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Just waiting for oil and dizzy cap and were all set for the workshop on about 10 days.

[Robsey]

Indoor storage...
The start of a slippery slope.

I started like this 12 years ago.
Now I cannot move indoors for car parts and books.

Amazing the places you can find to store car bits. - just in case.

[Cavalier342]

Oh yes, I'm also familiar with indoor storage, nice collection of parts you got there, looks like you bought out half of an auto parts store.

[tim130879]

Haha..... another 2 parcels arrived today

Now here's a thing. I went to have a look at the window switch this morning. I knew the front windows were working intermittently, so thought I'd clean the switch up, or replace as they're not expensive. I can get the switch out of its housing, just, but there's no 'play' in the wiring what's so ever. So cant get underneath to disconnect it. Make sense?
I'm almost ceratin that years ago when I had my GL, and literally had every button and switch out to clean, I never had this problem.
Any idea's guys? I'm asking before I try pulling anything to hard and I'm sure it probably something really obvious I'm doing/not doing right.....

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

[Robsey]

The usual method is to completely remove the whole centre console.
There are four self tapping screws in all.
Should be a Philips No2 screwdriver that undoes these.

Prize up the dished trim panel in front of the hand brake.

There is a screw that joins the centre console to the piece that sits under the dash - screw pointing forward.
There is also a screw holding the handbrake gaiter onto the centre console.

Then at the back -
If you have a cassette tape holder, you need to unclip this and you will find two screws deeply recessed into the back of the centre console.
If you do not have a cassette holder, then you will have a little rubber mat.
Again - lift the rubber mat to expose the two screws buried deep within.

Then as you lift the console,
You will see a wide white / cream connector strip with a stainless steel strip across the top of it.
Lift and pull the strip rearwards - this will detach the two halves of the cream coloured connector strips,
and allow you to access the two window switch connectors.

Unclip these from the plastic strip connector... (Although you probably will not need to, unless you have other connectors in the cream coloured strip. - Fuel Computer etc).
The window lifter switch assembly should now lift completely away from the centre console.

Refitting as they say is...

Just ensure that the ribs in the centre console line up with the slots in the cream connector strip.

It all makes sense when you get in there...

[tim130879]

Haha That sounds a lot more complicated than it looks tbh. I checked the Haynes manual as well you sent. It does ring a bell now... cheers for that

[Robsey]

It's a lot harder to describe, than it is to do.

But you know me - I always include every detail.
Just in case.

It takes just a couple of minutes to get the switch unit out.

The faffy bit is getting the hand brake gaiter through the slot in the console.
Remembering to slide the gaiter support forward a little before wriggling and lifting it out of it's locations.

[tim130879]

Problem... gone to order rear anti roll bar bushes today. Nobody seems to be able to supply with out knowing the fitting mm. I’ve stupidly assumed there would be only one.
Supplier asking me if 14mm is correct? Any helpers?

[Robsey]

There are two options for the anti-roll bar bush.

The only way to know is to unbolt the M8 bolts that hold the bush clamps to the crossmember.
Slip the bushes off the bar.
and look for a number moulded onto them.

Ident "2" = 90 236 352

Ident "3" = 90 345 064

And
The rectangular bush at the ends is:-
90 236 353 (2 required).

[tim130879]

Haha Robsey are you a machine?? What Knowledge!

Looking at pictures and re-reading your last post these are not right are they?? From Euro parts who assured me they were the only 2 available for that reg.....

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Untitled by CaptainTimbo, on Flickr

Those pictures do beg the question.... how the f**k were the old ones not at least an advisory on last May's MOT??

[Robsey]

The ones that euro car parts have suppled, are the rounded "inner" bushes.

The ones in the photos are the outer bushes (or bearings as Vauxhall call them).

The new euro car parts item is one of the two codes that I put up-
Ident "2" = 90 236 352
Ident "3" = 90 345 064
So they were not wrong.
(These are my front ones, but they look very similar)


The badly cracked parts in your photos are the rectangular bush at the ends:-
90 236 353.



So really you would want two rounded bushes.
And two rectangular bushes.

I recommend getting the rear beam and anti-roll / torsion bar stripped and powder coated.

[tim130879]

Oh tits... I knew you'd say that haha.
Never mind will give VX a call tomorrow and get the rectangular one ordered then. Me being a tight wad.

Budget wont stretch that far but it is all surface rust, looks worse in the pics than actually is, but will be cleaned back and resprayed.

[Robsey]

Have a ring round.
Stripping and powder coating can be quite inexpensive.

My local coatings company did quite a lot of parts including my front sub-frame, suspension legs, rear beam, anti-roll bars and various clamps for a princely sum of £60 in 2016.

And the difference is awesome.

From this -


To this -