Mercury Grey MK1 VTS Restoration - Updated 103/07/16

[Jigs2895]

Standard VTR wheels are getting shot blasted this weekend also ready for some paint next week.

[lincolndanny]

Originally Posted by Jigs2895

Standard VTR wheels are getting shot blasted this weekend also ready for some paint next week.

Wonder when the last time someone had some standard 14" VT wheels refurbed in standard silver was??? How times have changed!

[VeiRoN]

Shouldn't the coolant be blue though not pink?

[Mickswan]

Originally Posted by VeiRoN

Shouldn't the coolant be blue though not pink?

Jigs likes pink

[Jigs2895]

Started on the brakes today, whipped the front wheels off and was welcomed with this.



Since then, I've done new discs and pads, cleaned and greased all the slider pins up and given everything a lick of paint.. much better.



Same story the other side.

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Again, all cleaned up.



The rears gave me a little hassle but nothing major. Had to drill out the disc securing screws as someone had rounded them. Safe to say the rears definitely needed changing...







Both rear calliper slider bolts where seized, probably why the rears where in such a shocking state. only a case of whipping the bolts out, cleaning them up and sticking some grease on them and they move freely again.



New anti rattle clips, and pad securing plate also.



Whilst I was working at the back I had to change the back box, its been driving me mad.



Someone previously put on power flex exhaust rubbers, can't say i'm a massive fan, but it will do for now.



And finally its looking a lot nicer at the rear.



I've got some standard badges and a rear wiper motor and arm on its way to me sometime next week, fingers crossed i'll get the welding done next week also.

All that is left on the brakes is to do a fluid change which hopefully I'll get done tomorrow.

[lincolndanny]

Been bloody hot today mate so don't envy you doing brakes! Rear box makes a massive difference mate-had to do it on the westcoast as well!

[willsy]

Nice day for some tinkering on the VTS that's for sure. Progress looks very good

[VeiRoN]

Originally Posted by Mickswan

Jigs likes pink

From what I know blue is for cast iron (VTS) and red for aluminum but if you like pink that's okay then.

[Jigs2895]

Another nice day for tinkering on the VTS.

Todays task was to sort the surface rust on the offside chassis.



Got the angle grinder and soft pad on it and ground it down to fresh metal.



Had to settle for a good wire brush at the top as the grinder couldn't reach it. I then applied some rust treatment.



20 minutes or so later it had all turned.



So it hit it with some etching primer. Would have preferred to use red oxide but halfords didn't have any and none of the motor factors were open being a Sunday so settled for etching primer.



Then after a few coats I finished it off with some black stonechip. Doesn't look as pretty as it could but the important thing is its sorted. There are some flakey bits of old under-seal which I didn't quite get but the metal is all solid, so i'll address it at a later date.



Also got my standard VTR wheels sandblasted and they came back looking completely different!

Before.



Now.





Next thing was to blow them out with the airline to remove all the beads left over from blasting and get some etching primer straight onto them.



After a hour or so I got some high build primer filler onto them, the blasting has pitted some of the alloy in places so I needed something to fill it up, i've given them a couple of coats and leaving them now for a day or two. In my experience its taken a long time for this stuff to set.





They are not going to be perfect by any means but its cost me a fraction of the price compared to getting them professionally done and I should get a fairly decent finish.

Once they are done and painted in silver i'll order 4 new tyres and get them put on and balanced.

[lincolndanny]

What might be worth doing mate before you top coat and laquer them is... Get your four tyres and have them popped onto the rims but not inflated to seat them on the bead. Then paint and laquer them before taking them back to the tyre place to have them inflated onto the bead and balanced. Aerosol paint isn't that hard wearing unfortunately so you will likely find even with a good tyre place it will scuff the paint on the edge. Having the tyres popped over the rim first gets round this

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by lincolndanny

What might be worth doing mate before you top coat and laquer them is... Get your four tyres and have them popped onto the rims but not inflated to seat them on the bead. Then paint and laquer them before taking them back to the tyre place to have them inflated onto the bead and balanced. Aerosol paint isn't that hard wearing unfortunately so you will likely find even with a good tyre place it will scuff the paint on the edge. Having the tyres popped over the rim first gets round this

Thats a fair idea mate. I'm in no hurry to get them done so i'll see how things pan out.

[Jigs2895]

Finally hunted down a manifold cover! Cant decide on what colour to paint it, either black or silver... suggestions? (no idea what colour they came OEM)



Also managed to get the rest of the airbox pipe I'm missing, needs tidying up but its all there.



Went to go for a quick spin down the road last night (haven't actually driven it yet) and quickly discovered the power steering wasn't working. Checked all my wiring I had pulled apart on the wings, checked the fuses and the relay and they were all good, rear de-mister and blowers were working so had to be the pump its self.

Had one in stock from a VTS I broke a while back luckily enough. Quickly fitted that, chucked some fresh fluid in and bled it up, and it worked perfectly.

Old pump.



New pump on and fresh fluid.



The car is pretty much there now, just a few niggles left to do and the welding then I can get a MOT on it.

Wheels should be seeing some paint tomorrow also.

[lincolndanny]

I think the covers were black originally mate

Where the hell did you get the standard resonator from?!?,?

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by lincolndanny

I think the covers were black originally mate

Where the hell did you get the standard resonator from?!?,?

Taken ages to find it but ended up getting it from a guy that lives 20 minutes away from me. Very happy as now the bay will be pretty much standard except the JP4 covers!

[lincolndanny]

Lucky lucky lucky bar steward! I have all the pipe work but not the resonator itself

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by lincolndanny

Lucky lucky lucky bar steward! I have all the pipe work but not the resonator itself

Goodluck finding one!!

[willsy]

Any more progress yet mate?

[Mickswan]

Originally Posted by Jigs2895

Taken ages to find it but ended up getting it from a guy that lives 20 minutes away from me. Very happy as now the bay will be pretty much standard except the JP4 covers!

If I knew you wanted a resonator I've got three in the shed!

[Mickswan]

Originally Posted by willsy

Any more progress yet mate?

HG failure, I think he's topped himself

[lincolndanny]

Originally Posted by willsy

Any more progress yet mate?

Picking another engine up apparently