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

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by lincolndanny

Make sure you keep this one mate, good effort

Hopefully be my daily in a month or so!

[iSlayeR]

keep going mate! it's looking really good, if you want to be anal get all new nuts and bolts to finish off your engine when you put everything back together, it makes a massive difference and costs piss all

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by iSlayeR

keep going mate! it's looking really good, if you want to be anal get all new nuts and bolts to finish off your engine when you put everything back together, it makes a massive difference and costs piss all

Already in a box waiting to be put back together with

[willsy]

New old stock genuine backbox that might be of interest?

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

[Jigs2895]

Pulled the shell out today and got to work taking the front end off.



All done and more parts to paint/clean up.



Degreased and jet washed the bay.



Some surface rust to clean up and a few more bits of welding cropped up.







Most of it should be a simple case of grinding it down and treating it. But if it needs welding then its getting done.

Rolled the car into the garage and got to work stripping the last few engine bay bits and took the struts out ready for powder coating.





Ton of parts have all been delivered and the bottom end of the engine can start going back together tomorrow.



The struts, wishbones, ARB and a box load of other parts are going to the powdercoaters next week. The head and cam covers are going for a skim, then I can rebuild the head and give everything some paint.

Also going to be pressing new wheel bearings in and building the struts back up with these some new Bilstein B4's top mounts etc.. The wishbones will get the same treatment with new ball joints etc..

[lincolndanny]

Spot on mate, looking forward to seeing how it looks when done Don't rush it though

Mercury VTS Friend

[nuttysaxo]

I have those bilstein b4's on mine with eibach springs , it gives a decent ride quality

[stevie_m]

Those seats came up a treat, I take it your gonna seam weld the engine bay.

Keep my eyes on this as I fancy doing the same to mines

[Jigs2895]

More done today. Started with cleaning up the bottom of the block with some stanly blades and sandpaper ready to seal down the new sump.



Bought some of this after the last squeeze tube I bought exploded. £18 later!!



Nice bead around the new sump ready to go on.



All on with new stainless steel bolts, nipped them finger tight for now, will torque them up in the morning once the sealant is set.





I then moved on to the struts and getting them ready for powder coating. Beat the hubs out.



I cut the old drop links off, the spring compressor has gone walkies and I can't budge the circlips on the wheel bearings so I'll return to them tomorrow.



Next I turned my attention to the shell. I cut out the rot in the wing.



Mocked up a cardboard plate.



Started to grind down the contact area and found another hole to the top right of the original hole, right pain!! Back to that tomorrow!!



Started grinding down other area that will be getting welded tomorrow and generally round back a lot of surface rust around the bay, I want the shell to be as rot free as possible so I'm getting it all whilst the access is good.





And done for the day.



My aim is to have the welding done and the bay painted by this time next week. I'd like to have the engine back together soon as well, just need to get the head over to the skimmers and rebuild the head one evening.

[Jigs2895]

Managed to get the wing and o/s inspection hole and arch welded up today.

Ended up cutting more out on the wing, started grinding down the welds but had enough for the day so need to grind them down tomorrow.



I made the decision to weld up the inspection hole rather than cutting a new one into the repair panel, the way I look at it, it serves no purpose and is really another area for the car to start rotting when water and dirt gets stuck to the grommet. Again, just need to flush the welds to make it look nice tomorrow.



The next thing will be painting the engine bay, and I need to work out what I'm doing with the arches. I'd like to paint them OEM Mercury Grey, however I really feel black stonechip is a lot harder wearing.

Whats people opinions? Is it possible to stonechip the arches and then paint over the top with OEM colour? Or will it react or crack?

[stevo67]

Give the bare metal a coat of phospheric acid,followed by primer then top(ie mercury grey)

[lincolndanny]

Acid etch, seam seal, stone chip, mercury grey, waxoil

[willsy]

Bilt Hamber Electrox first. Especially under the arches, a couple of coats of that zinc rich stuff is perfect. Just make sure the metal is entirely rust free first.

If applicable then apply the seam sealant and top with stone chip (the stuff I use I think is called Graviguard which is a light primer grey colour) you can then primer, paint and lacquer quite happily over it.

I've never had any problem with that combination. The only issue I've ever had was with the stone chip cracking the first time I used it (before I'd got around to overcoating) which was just a case of too much, too quickly and too close. User error rather than product error

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by willsy

Bilt Hamber Electrox first. Especially under the arches, a couple of coats of that zinc rich stuff is perfect. Just make sure the metal is entirely rust free first.

If applicable then apply the seam sealant and top with stone chip (the stuff I use I think is called Graviguard which is a light primer grey colour) you can then primer, paint and lacquer quite happily over it.

I've never had any problem with that combination. The only issue I've ever had was with the stone chip cracking the first time I used it (before I'd got around to overcoating) which was just a case of too much, too quickly and too close. User error rather than product error

What colour stone chip are you using? I have the advantage of the compressor and air gun to fire the stone chip out of. I'd be more than happy with one coat on it as its thick stuff, I'll leave it to dry for a day or two and then paint with just normal primer, topcoat and lacquer I think.

Sound good? Obviously any bare metal areas will be treated with etech primer before the stonechip.

[Jigs2895]

Thanks for all the advice on the arch painting, after speaking to a few people I now know which way to turn.

I know the progress doesn't look very big but I have been putting in a good 2 hours a night into this, grinding and welding isn't all that fun!

Anyway... tonight I finished off grinding the wing welds down and seam sealed underneath the repair panel. Its going to need a skim of filler to make it as good as possible as the panel has distorted a small amount and I couldn't get every weld completely flush.



The other side wing has been ground down where ever small rust patches came up. Everything has been given a lick of Fertan rust converter just to be sure.



Finally on the home straight with the bay. Just needs a light sand down tomorrow then I can mask up once the filler on the wing has dried and get some primer down in the bay.



Inspection hole welds have been ground down but I didn't want to take them as low as I did on the wing, so I took them as flush as I could (didn't want to over heat the fresh metal) and then seam sealed the welds. Again, the lower leg has been ground back to fresh metal and given a coat of Fertan.



Hopefully I can get some Etching Primer in both arches tomorrow evening ready for a blast of stonechip friday evening. And I will be finishing with some OEM Mercury grey topcoat.

And finally I pressed out the old wheel bearings... they were really in there! I had to ramp the press up to 12 tones to get them out :O But the legs are stripped and ready to be dropped off at the powdercoaters tomorrow morning with a box of other bits at 6am!



Whilst everything is at the powdercoaters for the next week or so I hope to have the arches and bay painted and done and make a start on getting the bottom end of the engine back together.

Busy busy busy.

[CamFish]

Nice little project you've got going! Looking at buying a 16v engine myself to strip down and rebuild for my VTR

[Jigs2895]

Made some nice progress today, got the engine bay sanded down and masked up ready for some primer.



First thing was to hit it with some etching primer.



Then straight on with some standard primer.





Its taken ages but I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with this. I could have dropped the rebuilt engine straight in but the engine bay was very tired and only would have caused me hassle down the line.

Leaving the primer to dry overnight now and i'm going to key it in the morning and get the top coat down and lacquer on asap, then I can leave it under the heater for a few hours.

Made a start on rebuilding the head as I have got it back from the skimmers.



Realised our valve spring compressor from work isn't deep enough, so will need a trip to halforuds tomorrow to buy one, managed to get 2 valves out though.





So tomorrow I plan on having the engine bay painted and done, and hopefully the head rebuilt with the valves lapped in and stem seals changed.

Then the head can get some paint and bolted down onto the block.

[willsy]

You're flying through the engine bay work there, fair play :-) will be good to see the results tomorrow then when the grey and lacquer goes on

[lincolndanny]

Good work mate and looking forward to seeing some paint shots tomorrow but don't rush it for the sake of an extra day if needed mate.

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by willsy

You're flying through the engine bay work there, fair play :-) will be good to see the results tomorrow then when the grey and lacquer goes on

Doesn't feel like I'm flying through! It's taken a good 3 hours every evening for the last few days to get to this point!

Originally Posted by lincolndanny

Good work mate and looking forward to seeing some paint shots tomorrow but don't rush it for the sake of an extra day if needed mate.

Thanks mate, paint will be going on first thing tomorrow morning. I'll be rubbing it down and giving it another 30 minutes under the heater before topcoat.

It's not mint by any means, but it's better than it looked!