A month ago we happened upon this little soul on Ebay - looked very sorry for himself
The car is a 1984 Midas Silver Q127 PES, car was used for four years - but after doing some checks with the DVLA it appears the car has been off the road since 1988!!! .
Car looked very sorry for itself - sitting on 3 alloys and one metro standard steel rim - all with slashed tyres. The window seals on the back quarters had shrunk and water has got into the car via these and also through the back tailgate where the first owner has sealed up the drain hole - not a good idea. All the interior carpets were shot - even had moss growing on them.
After getting the car back home - had to be dragged onto our trailer! The first step was to take everything out the interior that we could - this meant everything, including the radio cassette which was basically a pile of rust! We then steam cleaned the car - and found that underneath all the grime was a very reasonable car. Yes, needed a lot of work, but structurally very sound.
My partner in crime bought a very nice set of 7 x 13 revolutions for our new little friend - as well as an 8.4 disc brake conversion to replace the front drum brakes!
The engine in the car, a 1275, was incomplete when we got it - the head was loose and partially removed - there was no carb or inlet manifold. There were plugs in the head but no plug leads. This has meant that we have spent the last four weeks shopping for bits and pieces to get a whole engine. The engine hasnt been started so it is unproven - it is possible it has issues - this we wont no till we go for start. What we have done is take the head off - partly to clean this and face of the block. The engine appeared seized on first inspection but we have manged to get it to move with a large socket on the crank bolt. Next step was to see if the engine will turn on the key. With the introduction of some electricity, we got the pistons moving with a turn of the key! Yippee!
We have reassembled the engine and got it to the stage of almost ready for start - hoping to do this tomorrow. Watch this space!
The weeks since we got the car have been spent on the bodywork - pics i will put up will show work done, but culminated in getting a base coat 2 days ago and lacquer today!!!! Very very pleased with result - car was black and we have painted it BMW carbon black metallic - it has a very small flake in it and changes colour in different lights - we had an E46 M3 this colour and our race car, a Nissan Skyline we painted in this colour. I hope you like the results!
Bought some new lights for him and hes getting a brand new windscreen with brand new rubber in a week and a half - the screen had delaminated badly round the edges and wouldnt pass a scrutineer (we may do some sprints with it).
Lots more to add that I've probably forgotton - will try to get pics up to let you see!