WITW - Barn-find Final Edition

[MikkiJayne]

A long day today with lots done. First job was to recover the other AC hose connector. The first one I did in the bench vice but this one is still attached to the car so needs something of a contrivance to hold it still. The stump of the condenser is clamped to a large axle stand which is tucked in to the chassis leg. There's a wet lump of paper towel wrapped round it so I can heat the nut up with the mapp gas without melting the hose



it takes some heaving to crack the nut loose even after it's heated up



The nut is some super-hard grade anodised aluminium and takes the threads from the condenser with it as it comes off. It takes so much force to break it loose that even the hard aluminium is distorted a bit



Properly mush in here with the galled up thread from the condenser still stuck in the threads of the nut



I made a die set from a couple of steel thread couplers with slots cut in with the grinder. These are progressively wound further and further in to the nuts a little bit at a time and clean up the threads as they go



I keep going until I can thread the coupler in completely by hand



Internal threads cleaned up



On to the arches. Left side first



Better





Left engine bay also cleaned





Driver's side arch







The fuel pipe clamp was rusted to dust



Apply all purpose cleaner and agitate, then rinse off with water



Amazing tar contamination. I've never seen one this bad before



the left side had a lot of tar, but nothing like as much as this



Cleaned up with Gtechniq tar remover



and the other side of the bay also done. I'll treat all this with sealant tomorrow

[S81]

Great work as always,your commitment is second to none ,as a matter of interest what did you paint the manifold with as I assume there would be an awful amount of heat in there

[MikkiJayne]

Standard acrylic spray paint. The manifold doesn't get particularly hot since its mostly full of incoming cold air, and the only heat sources are conduction through the mounting flange and general heat of the engine bay. It doesn't get any hotter that the bodywork in direct sunlight - 60-70c probably.

[David's8]

Nice work as always MJ. The car is starting to look really good. I just love a clean engine bay

[strummagnet]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

I

Will there be a sticker on the dash warning the car must be driven in dry weather only? A clean motor and bay is always a good pre-requisite

Also, what is the blue thingie top right of the picture, top rear nearside arch? To do with AC?

[MikkiJayne]

It'd stay that clean for about ten minutes round here!

The blue pod is a vacuum reservoir for the inlet manifold. There's usually one on the other side as well but it was removed to make access for dent removal a little while back. I wonder what the term is for storing a vacuum, since you can't really store an absence of something? Anyway, they store an absence of air for if the ecu wants to activate the manifold after or during high throttle openings when the engine isn't naturally making much vacuum

[Ronin]

What about the underbody sealer in 9th pic, is this fresh paint or just super cleaned?

[MikkiJayne]

Just cleaned

[tonupkid]

Originally Posted by MikkiJayne

It'd stay that clean for about ten minutes round here!

The blue pod is a vacuum reservoir for the inlet manifold. There's usually one on the other side as well but it was removed to make access for dent removal a little while back. I wonder what the term is for storing a vacuum, since you can't really store an absence of something? Anyway, they store an absence of air for if the ecu wants to activate the manifold after or during high throttle openings when the engine isn't naturally making much vacuum

Negative pressure vessel
Loving this thread

[MikkiJayne]

Rivnut time. Two studs on the heat shields are missing - one corroded away, and one broken off when the gearbox was refurbished, as they always seem to be.



Grind a divot in the stump



Pilot drill then drill to size for an M6 rivnut





Rivnuts inserted





Temporarily bolted in place while I wait for the new fasteners to arrive



Another one above the steering rack. This is normally a stud, but with the tie rods attached it is impossible to remove the rack with it in place so I convert it to a rivnut



and another one in the usual spot to hold the starter cables



This disgraceful mess was also done when the gearbox was removed



it should look like this



better



cleaned up





The brake pipes on the left are quite crusty. This looks bad, but its just salt from the galvansing underneath the plastic. The steel pipes are still perfectly sound



Scrape off all the salt and loose plastic coating



the clean up with scotchbrite on the rotary tool



and paint with rustoleum using a cotton bud as a tiny paint roller



Good as new



The fuel pipe clips will sit overnight in Evaporust

Originally Posted by strummagnet

Will there be a sticker on the dash warning the car must be driven in dry weather only?

There is now You had to poke the OCD tiger



Yeah, I cleaned the floorpan



Engine bay all done and treated with sealant