The start of a big overhaul today...
For the past few weeks there has been a horrible smell of coolant from the front of the car and I've had to top the coolant up once or twice. When I did the a/c condensers last year I noticed that the nearside rad looked like it was on its way out but I didn't have any rads to replace it with so just thought I'd leave it for a while.
Well its lasted about 12 months before starting to disintegrate.
I had noticed some of the rust coming back on the nearside wing which I treated and painted last year, so I bought a replacement wing and have decided to just perform a transplant and get rid of the disease rather than trying the 'chemo' approach again.
Its also 3800 miles since it last had an oil change and since I regularly drive it hard and as intended I thought it wise to do a little service whilst I'm at it.
So the plan is to do an oil service, replace the drive belt, front rads, remove nearside wing, good look around the car for any signs of corrosion, remove and treat as appropriate, underseal the chassis areas in need, replace wing, rear disc, pads, handbrake springs, tidy up bodywork, re-spray, sand, polish. Depending on how good the progress is I may also fit new suspension all round but will have to see how I get on.
bumper and liners off
Looks like my suspicions were well placed..
Very leaky
Original centre rad still in perfectly useable condition
Offside rad not in bad nick at all but being replaced nonetheless
For Sale: 1 lightly used 9*6 rad... Any takers??
New offside rad on and back together
Then I whipped the front wing off after removing the whole rad assembly and the washer bottle (in the exact same place on the other side as the carbon cannister)
3x10mm bolts holding it in place behind washer bottle
Everything out of the way
Old wing whipped off....
And this is why:
Then a good clean and a wire wheel to any/every area of surface rust
Meanwhile quick oil change and inspect the old filter:
Considering this engine is on >100k miles and spends most of its time at the redline 3 tiny silver specks in the entire of the filter is very pleasing!
And thats about it for today. I'm waiting for some Bilt Hamber rust treatment products before I put the new wing on etc. I plan on getting it all back together and painted etc over the next 2 weeks... More to follow!