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

[nuttysaxo]

Good progress there mate

[Jigs2895]

First job this morning was to flat down the primer and wipe down the bay.

Then I was straight on with the first coat.





On with the heater.







Last few coats done and lacquer on. This colour is impossible to get a clear photo of at the moment as the garage is pretty dark, ill get some better ones once the shell is rolling and out the garage, for the moment here is the best ones I could get.













As you can see its impossible to get a decent photo, but the colour match is spot on and i'm happy enough for a garage job.

Got cracking with the head at home once I finished painting.



Valves out.



Stem seals out.



Bare head.



Just need to clean and lap the valves and get it all back together during the week.

Im mainly waiting on bits back from the powdercaoters now before I can move any further forward. My aim by the and of next week is to have the head, block and gearbox married together and finished and painted and the arches painted and front end back on the car.

[nuttysaxo]

From those pictures that paint finish looks pretty good mate , just out of curiosity what top coat make / brand did you use ? , as my last attempt at spraying did not give me an even match with the original Poseidon blue
cheers

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by nuttysaxo

From those pictures that paint finish looks pretty good mate , just out of curiosity what top coat make / brand did you use ? , as my last attempt at spraying did not give me an even match with the original Poseidon blue
cheers

For me personally I won't go anywhere near Halfords paint like most do on here. There colour match is awful.

I use Holts Colour Matched paint, can be had for £5 a can and the colour match has always been really good for me.

[willsy]

Citroen (from the factory) really do do a crap half arsed job of painting bits in the engine bay, underside and interior. It's certainly why it's never phased me to have a go at doing those bits myself.
Those pics look great, and you can be guaranteed to have improved on the factory finish regardless.

[griff_106]

This (and Willsy's) thread are bad for me - they keep making me want to take on a project to make shiny! I saw a slightly chavved up black GTi this morning for sale and it got me thinking OCD thoughts... haha.

Do love the amount of effort going into this though... I love the Mercury Grey colour personally, it's just a shame it's so rare! Anyone know if it was pulled from the selection or just a Mk1 colour? I've only ever seen a handful (if that) on here tbh...

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by willsy

Citroen (from the factory) really do do a crap half arsed job of painting bits in the engine bay, underside and interior. It's certainly why it's never phased me to have a go at doing those bits myself.
Those pics look great, and you can be guaranteed to have improved on the factory finish regardless.

Cheers Matt, I have to agree, the lack of paint and proper underseal is staggering, its not a wonder they rot so badly.

Originally Posted by griff_106

This (and Willsy's) thread are bad for me - they keep making me want to take on a project to make shiny! I saw a slightly chavved up black GTi this morning for sale and it got me thinking OCD thoughts... haha.

Do love the amount of effort going into this though... I love the Mercury Grey colour personally, it's just a shame it's so rare! Anyone know if it was pulled from the selection or just a Mk1 colour? I've only ever seen a handful (if that) on here tbh...

I do enjoy tinkering, its cheap enough to do and keeps me busy at the weekends! I've been waiting on a Mercury Grey for ages, this one popped up 40 minutes down the road so I travelled down straight away. I got there and regretted it instantly, complete shed! But after having some thoughts on the way home I gave in and took the plunge.. and now I'm this far in!

[lincolndanny]

Bravo!

Cracking work mate especially for a young lad like yourself.

Have a cyber beer on me mate

[nuttysaxo]

Originally Posted by Jigs2895

For me personally I won't go anywhere near Halfords paint like most do on here. There colour match is awful.

I use Holts Colour Matched paint, can be had for £5 a can and the colour match has always been really good for me.

Thanks for the advice mate , planning on respraying a spare rear bumper I Have for the saxo , I have already got the plastic primer , how many coats of lacquer did you put on to get that nice finish ?
cheers

[Jigs2895]

Picked up a big box load of nice freshly powder coated parts this morning!

Airbox bracket:



Rear wiper arm:



Flywheel cover.



Power steering reservoir bracket.



ARB bush brackets.



Battery tray.



Engine mount holder.



Dipstick tube.



Alternator bracket, gearbox mount bracket and top mount holders.



Driveshaft mount.



Struts.



ARB.



Also been busy stocking up on new parts to replace all the wear and tear components and bits that I wanted new.

Driveshafts.



Droplinks.



Bilstien B4 shocks.



Top mounts.



Wheel bearings.



Alternator.



Box full of good used parts that I needed. (steering wheel, mirror, airbag squib, rear wiper motor etc etc..)



Head set.



New clutch cable (putting off changing it)



Pressed the bearings into the struts.



Finished stone chipping and painting the arches OEM Mercury Grey (Bad pictures I know)



(welding caught the light.. doesn't actually look that visible in person ha.)



Plan was to get the shell back to rolling this weekend but that isn't going to happen now as I managed to press the hub in wrong and ruin one of the new wheel bearings which is a lesson learnt.

Need to crack on the sorting the head, I had to order a new set of exhaust valves as mine were to pitted for my liking. Hopefully ill find some motivation and clean the seat, lap the valves and get the head back together and painted tomorrow.

[Jimmy-Boy]

Good work mate! cracking project

[lincolndanny]

Cracking work mate, this threads about to kick off big style

[willsy]

Powder coating looks great! You're making such good progress with this

[chinkostu]

Did you press the hub in without supporting the bearing so it split? It's easily done and a faff

[Jigs2895]

Originally Posted by chinkostu

Did you press the hub in without supporting the bearing so it split? It's easily done and a faff

That's exactly what I did! Lesson learnt though.

[Jigs2895]

So, round 2 and the bearings and hubs are pressed into the struts properly.

I've loosely mounted the struts back into the car (nothing tight and no ARB or drop links) just so I could get the shell rolling and out the garage to do some more welding.

Hole in the boot floor chassis.



Cut out and ground back.





Had to get the gearbox jack under the towing eye to bend it back into its original place, looks like the strain of towing on the hook in the past has caused this crack and rot.

Plate welded in. (ignore the little hole, that got welded too.)





Didn't bother grinding down the welds here, it was beginning to rain and it needed seam sealer and will be stone chipped and painted with the rest of the boot floor anyway.

Seam sealed.



Welding sort of ruined my fresh paintwork on the inside of the boot. Very upsetting.



Last bit of welding was this tiny hole on the nearside front chassis leg.



Done.



Just need to clean up any surface rust and stonechip the floor pan.

I want to drop the axle to paint the boot floor and grind back any rust but i'm in two minds weather to actually do that yet and weather or not to replace the axle for a refurbished one.

Now the welding is all done I want to focus on getting the engine back in the hole for this weekend, which meant pulling my finger out and sorting the head.

The exhaust valves were burnt out and I couldn't save the pitting on them so they had to be replaced.



New lapped valve VS old.



The valve seats and combustion chamber also needed a lot of love, unfortunately running on unmapped cams for 2 years has left me with a big mess to clean up.



Either way, 6 hours later this evening all the valves and lapped, seats are clean and lapped and combustion zone is nice and clean again.



So tomorrow I need to sand the head down, then clean it all down with some break cleaner and make sure there is no grinding paste left in the head, then I can get all the valves back in and mask up the head and get it in paint. I need to have the engine built up as much as possible by Friday evening.

Its getting there now. Having the engine back in will be a massive step, and mean I could probably get it MOt'd in the first week of October.

[Jigs2895]

I've been super busy the last few evenings.

Spent a few hours getting the head back together. (Getting those keepers in is soul destroying!) it's all coming together and looking rather nice.



Tonight I finished sanding, masking and painting the head and ladders.











Yesterday I got the clutch lined up and bolted on.



New nose cone.



On with a new release bearing.



New driveshaft oil seals.



And mounted the box back on.





Starting mounting on a few of the powdercoated bits.





The plan tomorrow is to get the head on and bolted down with the cambelt back on and together with the inlet manifold on then to mount the engine back into the car and continue bolting on the ancillaries in the car (engine is getting in the way at work).

I'm waiting to find a few parts such as a oil cooler, rear water hosing and a few other bits, but once the engines back in the car I'll continue to build it up and finish with putting the front end back on and under sealing the floor of the car. Then it can go for MOT.

Really making some progress now, long nights though!

[Mickswan]

Sick!!!!

[lincolndanny]

Spot on mate! One little thing I reckon would make a world of difference, paint the clutch arm and gear linkage arms on the box either black or plastikote gold.

I'm excited to see the lot go into the bay

[Jigs2895]

Had an absolute nightmare with this today.

Got the bottom end all bolted back together and went to set the bottom end at TDC and the engine was siezed solid.

I found it strange considering before I put the gearbox on 2 days ago it was fine, which left me with my first option to unbolt the starter. No difference, took the box back off, still no difference, removed the clutch, again no difference. Removed the flywheel and the engine freed up.

Upon further investigation the sump I put on was to wide and was causing the theeth on the flywheel to lock against it, stopping the engine turn over.

So, sump off and my boss kindly ground the sump edge down until it was flush with the block like it should be, my fault for buying a cheap sump! So that was 2 hours extra worth of work that I didn't need.

Anyhow still managed to get the engine back together but didn't get time to get it in due to the set back.

Pictures follow.



Camshaft oil seals in.



Cams in and ladders torqued down, used a heavy amount of sealant, previously had problems with these leaking after rebuilds.



Belt on and everything timed up.



Pretty much together now, I managed to snap 2 rear water housings as they were so brittle.

Tonight I picked up a oil cooler, engine mount, rear water housing and powdercoated wiper arms.



So plan tomorrow is to finish off the engine. And hopefully get it in the car, then I have all weekend to potter around on it and slowly put it back together, there is no rush.

Only thing that isn't new on the engine in terms of ancillaries and general wear and tear parts is the starter motor. The rest is nice and fresh.