1998 MK1 VTS OEM Restoration
 

Time for a new project then folks!

I've been keeping an eye out for a MK1 VTS to restore back to standard for a little while now. They seem to be rather rare these days. Recently a rare Mercury Grey one appeared in the classifieds on here being sold by Dan Subtle. The issue for me was the fact that he is over 200 mile away! So I put the car out of my mind for a while but comments by Dan about it being turned into bean cans soon started playing with my heart!

To cut a long story short, today involved getting up at 5:30am and dragging a car trailer on a 400+ mile round trip to pick the dam thing up! I am absolutely shattered but all that matters is that the car is now safe and sound in my garage!





I've restored quite a few cars over the years but I've never built a 100% OEM concourse car. I've always wanted to know if I have got it in me to be able to do it so here goes! Painted underside, Zinc plated bolts, original tyres, THE LOT!!:boxing:

Progress will be slow at first as I need to get my MK1 Escort finished over winter but in the meantime I can start to track down all the Genuine Citroen bits that I will need!

Sorry for the quality of the pictures but was getting quite late tonight after I had got home!

Interior is a stripped out mess!









Body needs a lot of work. Body panels, full kit, respray etc. I need to track down all new decals, window rubbers, lights etc as well.













Engine bay is an absolute state! Lots of rust and missing bits!









So there we go, a knackered, 11 owner VTS to restore. A few good points though... I've checked the MOT history and the 92k seems genuine, it has a full matching lock set with 2 keys and a 2 minute scrubbing session revealed..



....that it's got it's original engine still. A matching numbers car:y:

More soon when I recover!:drink:

Glad it's gone to a good home, looking forward to seeing what you do with it.

Good luck with,got more bottle than me.Is the mk1 Escort the mexico Avo?

Always wondered what the yellow numbers referred to(grey is paint code)



Just found this website...

http://www.citroen-ds-id.com/gen/Gen_Organr.html#codes

And apparently the yellow numbers mean that my car was built at the Aulnay sois Bois factory in France on the 16th February 1998:y:

Another one to follow progress of :-)

If you need any help getting hold of new genuine parts Danny then let me know. I can point you In the direction of Craig, my parts guru

Can't wait to see you turn this around.

You've certainly got your work cut out!

Managed to kick things off by obtaining one of the parts that I thought would be really elusive! An original Citroen radio/cassette with it's user manual. Its in great condition with no wear evident. Correct part for my model and year:y:







Weirdly it will probably be one of the last bits that I fit as well!

Just a mini update for now as I've got plenty of bits on their way but couldn't resist posting up about that little find. More parts buying updates soon.

Awesome, looks like quite a task. Good luck :)

A little chain of events over the last few days has resulted in a slight change of direction with the car and this progress thread. Rest assured the car is still going to be going concours but it's going to take me years to track down all the bits i'll need.

I've been stripping down the donor car each night after work as I really feel like there is one too many cars at home at the moment. The issue with stripping a complete car down is where to put bits!

So I started to put bits straight onto the VTS loosely so they were out of the way but then it hit me. Why not just clean the VTS up and build it up as I take stuff off the donor? Get it in to a tidy condition for now and enjoy it a little. Then once I've got a good stock of the bits I need in a few years, crack on with the concours build!

So the thread will now concentrate on my progress of getting the car back up to scratch as a good condition car and i'll also update it each time I get decent juicy bits for the concours build!

Sound ok?....Good!

So where to start? Well decided to start at the nearside rear.


Dull & coarse paint plus a nice long scratch!
So I stripped out the rear window, light and rubbers. Washed, clayed, G3 to get rid of the scratch(yup, disapeared!)3 coats of SRP and then a coat of sealant.




Then cleaned and refitted the rubbers, light and window.


Very happy with the colour, I really don't know why more people didn't order it when new??!!!??

Next up for attention was a bit of boot love. Typical filth in the hinge area.




Cracked on with cleaning it up, got a good couple of layers of polish on.






The car has previously been used as a track car so the rear wiper had been removed completely along with the 3rd brake light. Not very carefully either....



So replaced that section of loom with the one from the donor car.

Robbed it of the wiper motor and wiper etc as well. Gave the wiper arm a coat of paint and a fresh blade.

More soon :)

beautiful colour.

you've got the right idea though. get it all cushty and straight then concentrate on making it a minter.

it's hard on mine as its a daily driver :(

nice work here, lovely colour this too. The saxo had loads of colours to choose from yet 90% of them are in silver or posi blue, no idea why they were the most chosen ones

Where's todays update? ;-)

I wish! Next update will likely be at the weekend now.

Area I want to clean up is the nearside door. Plenty to be on with!

Original electric mirror is scabby and missing it's colour coded cap.



Tasteful(:wacko:) carbon stickers need removing off the door handle and pillar.



Inside of the door needs cleaning out and the foam damp protector is missing.



There's also a bit of cleaning to be done. The car has no arch liners at the front and looks like it's been through a muddy field multiple times.:wall:





I've popped the door off to make access nice and easy.







More soon:y:

Good luck with it mate.

That'll keep you busy for a few hours :-) whilst the doors off do you want/need some new hinge bolts? I think I've got a new set in the garage that you can have

Also found this on eBay
New old stock genuine backbox that might be of interest?

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item...obalID=EBAY-GB

Thanks Matt, funnily enough I've already got some. Doh! Along with a new door check strap, new door vinyls etc. Hence that backbox can wait for this month....

Looking nice mate.

Looking good. I think I have a standard mk2 VTS airbox if you need it

Is there a difference between mk1 and mk2 airboxes Craig?

If not and its got no scuffs then yes I'd be interested!

Not too much to report this week but thought it best to keep things up to speed.

Managed to get the door shut cleaned, de tarred, clayed, polished and sealed.. Rubbers got a good clean and treatment.











Moved on to the door itself..





All cleaned up/polished etc then put back with new door hinge pins. Left my new check strap at work like a prat!





Then moved onto the outside of the door.

Popped the VT kit off and then onto the carbon sticker rubbish. Will there be a scratch underneath.....:wacko:



NOPE! :)



Then gave the door the usual compound, polish etc





Hope to finish the door off soon but one final picture. Wonder how long ago it was since it last wore this badge with pride ;)

This colour really responds well to a good polish, nice work mate!

Good work there, amazing how much time can be spent on one part of the car isn't it. Very rewarding though when you look back at the 'before' pics

Great work with this Danny, looks slot different already to when it was collected.

Any more updates?

Ps I still have the mirror caps from this, they are wrapped in carbon fibre, want me to peel it back and see if it's Mercury grey underneath?

Hi mate, no new updates at this moment as I'm finishing off stripping the donor car to get it out the way. Should be back on it this week.

If you could check the mirror caps out mate that would be awesome:y::y::y:

Finally got the donor car stripped and disposed of. Can't believe how long its taken but I had to save every clip, grommet, fitting etc as I needed it all!

A general idea of how bare it ended up!(that sound deadening was the very last bit removed!)



Complete wiring loom removed without a single cut to any wire-I will need a lot of this as the previous track day warrior owner was snip happy with the loom!



I swear to god this must be the very first bit fitted when the cars were built new. Literally everything has to be removed the get this out the car in one piece!



Anyway, that then left me with far too many bits piled up in my garage so I needed to make a start on moving this little VTS forward. Had loads of holes in the floor to weld up where batteries etc had been bolted down.





Spent a whole morning splicing in new loom sections. Chopped wires everywhere!!! :(



All that was left of the stereo wiring!



Wiring for roof console re-attached and thread back through.(aerial as well)



Then after stripping what felt like everything from the dam thing, I got the bulkhead insulation back in along with the airbag ecu and wiring...



All floor sound deadening in..



I also seem to be at the stage now with these 106's/Saxo's where I seem to have quite a few of the same part! Picked the best carpet...



And to finish off for now, heater, blower and ducting all in along with the loom all clipped in to place.





Dash next, once my back, knees, neck etc recovers....

Any updates with this?

Still making progress Dan and trying to get the old girl on the road for the new year.

Funnily enough I posted an update elsewhere today(bit quiet here really now )

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Common issue on these little buggers. Nothing for it but to chop it out and repair it properly. If only Peugeot/Citroen had seam sealed them properly in the first place eh?

Choppy choppy.

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Then a bit of snip, trim, snip, trim, prime, weld, grind etc

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Then onto another layer, gets rather boring but hey it's got to be done. At least I got to use a hammer for this one...

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And to rap it up for now I ground the welds back and gave them a coat of etch.

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There's a frilly bit left on this side but I'll worry about that next year when the suns out...

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Best check the other side out now and see what that's like!

If you want to see what I've been upto recently on it...

http://autoshite.com/topic/22466-fre...t-hatch-shite/

Fantastic job of that welding Danny! Very nice to see the attention to detail adding the ribbing back in as it should be and not just slapping an 'it'll do/MOT passable' patch on like many do. It'll be the perfect repair when you get around to doing the last little bit that the arch liner fixes to.

Fancy doing some welding on my 309? ;-)

Some very nice welding there, looking good mate!

Managed to gain a couple of hours in the garage this afternoon so thought I had best take a look at the inner arch on the nearside.



Removing the arch liner revealed further crustiness.



It's always worth cleaning everything back before you start cutting to see just how far the rust has crept. It's amazing what lurks under seam sealer and stone chip.:wall:





Plenty to be on with on this side as you can see. Fortunately it's not rotted the whole way along so I think breaking it down in to 3 separate sections is going to be the best way forward.

I've decided to start with the forward most rot first as it looks the worst and is a combination of 3 separate layers.



So cut out the first layer back to good metal to reveal the crusty second layer underneath.



Second layer cut out again to sound metal. Fortunately, the last layer is made of nice thick metal(it's a strengthener) so although slightly pitted from surface rust, it's cleaned up well.



Finished off tonight with a good coat of Bilt Hamber rust converter to remove any last traces of rust on the last layer.



Finish work on Tuesday for Christmas until the 4th January, so hoping to have both rear arches completely welded up by then.:y:

You got cracking with that quickly since the pic earlier. Doesn't look too bad overall then. :-)

It looks bad but it should be plain sailing on this side as fortunately it's not spread to any of the strengthening ribs. Just nice flat patches on this side:y:

I've also given all the fixings on the beam, heatshields and the brake lines a good blast with the penetrating fluid. Going to try and remember to repeat that exercise each time I go in there so that when it comes to stripping the beam, it might pull apart a bit easier...:boxing:

great project coming up really clean

Very nice work on this I'm amazed how good you have made the patches look all other welding on the rear arches ive seen on saxos always looks a right bodge.

If I can weld a quarter as good as you one day I'll be amazed! Cracking work.

id be also looking under the front arches and under where ecu sits and also where fuse box is to make sure the metal is not rotted or gone soft very common problem just had mine both welded up. No harm in checking while you out n about with cutting n welding :)

Thanks for the comments guys:y: Really appreciate it.

I managed to get the o/s finished over Chtristmas. First off was the front section.















Then moved on to the rear and centre section of rot.





And finally with the majority of the welds knocked back. I'll finish them off when it's ready for stone chip and paint. Primer just protects it for now:y:

Awesome job on the welding and good luck with this. I've subscribed :y:

Would love to weld like this need to learn. Great job looking good.