Steve's '98 'F', Update 04/11/13

Well I got nout else to do :bust:

Softly~Softly wrote: Don't you believe him Steve, he is out there fiddling with his babe every chance he gets

I probably would too if the house/weather/job/life didn't get in the way. :lol:

Allan, I'll do a search tonight for your other thread. It looks like you're seeing just how far someone can take the humble 'F.

stevecrx wrote: Thanks Softly! The ideas will keep coming. I have some interesting stuff lined up once the normal things like wheels, etc is done.


Cheers Diesel. I like the colour too. Was reading your build thread - very in depth. I will be following it with interest.

Who or what is DD?

Diesel Destroyer

Abingdon Cup's aquired and trial fitted...




Cheers Paul.

stevecrx wrote: Abingdon Cup's aquired and trial fitted...




Cheers Paul.

Happy days and it was nice to meet you and your significant other today :broon:

p.s. i sorted out all my lights today lol

paulsmgf wrote:
Happy days and it was nice to meet you and your significant other today :broon:

p.s. i sorted out all my lights today lol

Nice one. I'm guessing you have the full compliment of brake lights and indicators now?

Quick update.

The car is back on it's wheels so I can roll it forward to fit the interior.

Brakes are fitted, new copper lines are at a brake specialist having the swaged terminals fitted so will go on next weekend.

Finally fired it up with the new exhaust fitted. Sounds great but the alternator has seized, destroying the belt in the process. Has anyone got an alternator going spare?

Also the lambda sensor is leaking slightly so I'll have to remove the manifold and check that.

I have to say that it does look good though sat out there on its new wheels.

ermm... have you put the 4 pot calipers on yet.. because as far as i was aware abingdons dont fit over them ? you need the 16"160 wheels or the multispoke with as spacer..

jac114 wrote: ermm... have you put the 4 pot calipers on yet.. because as far as i was aware abingdons dont fit over them ? you need the 16"160 wheels or the multispoke with as spacer..

Oh they fit mate Steve has what he needs to make that happen :broon:

Time for some more scribblings I think.

So, last time I was cleaning up the brake callipers, making new brake lines and buying a set of 4 pots.
The 4 pots are now stored away until I can do some adjustment to get them to fit, the freshly cleaned and painted callipers are back on the car and the new copper brake pipes are at my local brake specialist having the ends properly swaged (I decided against doing this bit myself – I just don’t have the space). I have also fitted a very nice set of braided stainless hoses that I acquired brand new for just over £40! I’m getting the lines back in the next couple of days so will fit them at the weekend.


Something I haven’t mentioned much is the body work.

When I went to look at the car I was pleased how rust free it was. There is a small bubble just bellow one of the rear lights and that is it.

Cosmetically it’s not too bad either. What I found was a couple of small car park dings, a big scrape on the base of the front bumper, a patch of missing paint on the rear bumper and tar all over the nearside. So I got to work on it.

First of all I decided to sort the underside out whilst the ‘F was up in the air and minus its exhaust and brake lines. I started by cleaning the underside and arches with an entire bottle of Aldi Caravan Wash (39p!) in hot water. This stuff is like acid but bloody effective at getting grime, muck and tar off.

This removed seventy thousand miles of dirt to leave me with this:-





And at the back where there was a bit of surface rust to treat:-



There wasn’t much of this but anything I found got treated with Hamerite krust rust converter and a generous coating of zinc primer.

Whilst I was at it I turned my attentions to the near side sill which had been jacked up badly and creased at some point. With some careful use of the hammer this was nice and straight.

At last it was ready for some rust proofing. I decided to use the age old trick of wax oiling the cavities and new underseal everywhere else.

There’s not many cavities on the ‘F’s body shell – only the sills really. So I removed the rubber bungs at each end and got spraying – or not. My waxoiling gun had called it a day and refused to spray. So, I mixed the waxoil with white spirit and poured it into the sills with a funnel which did the job. You can see it oozing out here:-




Next job was to mask off for undersealing:-







This stuff gets everywhere so I wasn’t taking any risks. I was also careful to leave the edges of the arches exposed so they got a good coating.

So what happens after all this careful masking? The bloody gun blocks and spits underseal through the breather hole and over the boot lid. Damn! Back out with the white spirit again then...

Anyway, after a good going over with 5 cans of Shultz finest it looked like this:-










More to follow...

At this point I was getting a bit board of lying underneath the 'F for the majority of its work so I decided to climb out from under it and tidy up a couple of bits.
I'm not a massive fan of chrome so I dug out some vinyl off cuts and set to on a couple of parts.

Firstly the filler cap which was looking a bit scabby:-



The rear trims (no idea what the technical name is):



And the front badge:-




A bit of a transformation:-





It was dead easy to do. Place the vinyl over the object. Stretch it over any tight or difficult areas, run the heat gun over it to seal and then trim the excess. Just takes a bit of practice.


It was about this time that I stumbled on an exhaust. I'd been looking ever since I bought the car as the original looked pretty ordinary and had ingested some of the cat matrix so couldn't be guaranteed not to rattle. Plus it seemed a shame to plonk the original 'box back on when I'd fitted a new cat and heat wrapped the manifold. Anyway, I kept my eye on eBay and stuff either didn't appeal or went for too much money.
Finally I saw the Miltek. I watched it and the auction finished with no bids. I was sorely tempted to put in a cheeky offer but didn't want to spend so much on one item, especially when other areas of the car needed more important attention (eg. the brakes).

I carry on watching the 'Bay and it appears again. So I think 'Sod this, people spend far more on a TT or a Daytona' and I drop the seller an email outlining my limited budget and asking if he would take any less. He will and the deal is done. I drive to Chesterfield to pick up my shiny new exhaust!

Now, I've bought second hand exhausts before, and spent 3 hours cleaning and polishing road grime and muck off them. No need in this case though, it, baring a couple of small dinks, is immaculate. And being Miltek, is really nicely made. Anyway, I couldn't wait to get it fitted so I braved heavy rain and a wet bum from sitting in a puddle, to get it bolted in place the very next day. And here are the results:-





Got to say that I love the way it looks and in the brief time I've run the car since fitting it (thanks very much knackered alternator), I love the sound too. I can't wait to get out on some B roads to appreciate it fully.