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126 Well, it was inevitable! Here is my 126!

Introduction

Where do I start...
I've always thought there little things were cute, until I drove gadge 's 126 at Mitcar 2014 and LOVED IT! From that moment I knew it wouldn't be long until I had one myself!

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^^ Me in Gadge's 126.

So after scouring eBay for one to call my own, I found one, only thing was, I had to fetch it from Essex!!

So, Tuesday morning saw me up bright and early, borrowing mum's car, and a friend's trailer (huge thanks to Barbara!!!!), to make the mammoth 360 mile round trip:
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Few Pics loaded up and ready to set off home:
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Pic at South Mimms services, after realising the tail light fuse had blew on the car, and the trailer! we turned on the 126 lights and prayed the battery would light our rear as we took the 3 hour journey home! (It did. :D )
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Few pics as it sits in the garage waiting for me to check it over to drive soon (fingers crossed!)
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The Car's History
WOW! In a word.
The car was registered in 1988 at Woodleigh dealers in Chesterfield (Thankyou to the random 126 lover I met at South Mimms services for pointing that out!) and sold to a lady who kept the car until 2007, and wrote every penny she spent on the car in the service book, right down to "tail light bulb £0.45".
2007 her neighbor bought the car knowing how much the lady had cherished and cared for it, didn't use it much until:
July 2014 the car was bought by the person I bought the car from yesterday, who hadn't passed his test yet.
18/11/14 - I bought it. :D

Dom
Slight change on plan...

On the way to Sheffield yesterday the wipers stopped working, front and rear at the same time. :(

Anyways, now Sorned. Mainly due to me rushing to get it on the road, and not realising that it isn't a winter car!

The restoration & strip and rebuild will begin a lot sooner than imagined, stay tuned... (y) :slayer: :D
Dom
 
are you sure that's running right or is it just the mic on your camera? Sounds like someones left a spanner in the sump? :D

I know what you mean about "winter car" there bad enough in the rain and I'ld be nervous in the snow! :eek: mines off the road untill March at least. Best thing about laying them up over winter is that you can sort all the problems ready for show season (y)
 
are you sure that's running right or is it just the mic on your camera? Sounds like someones left a spanner in the sump? :D

I know what you mean about "winter car" there bad enough in the rain and I'ld be nervous in the snow! :eek: mines off the road untill March at least. Best thing about laying them up over winter is that you can sort all the problems ready for show season (y)

Could be mic on the camera. :p I think it needs a Gadge to have nosy at it. ;)

Oh yes, it'll be sorted. (y)

Dom
 
Apologies for no update in a while.........

But anyway, after countless hours continuity checking wiring here there and everywhere, the electrical issue is fixed! One loose connection from the positive feed to the ignition..

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So once that was sorted I've started to strip the car down.

Most parts are in the garage loft...

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A few random pics...

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... To be continued
 
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Righty ho........

The next stage was to remove the windscreen and rear window. (Joy!)

Now I'd rear most threads on here about the best method of removing the windows, asked Gadge for advice etc. So I set an evening to get it out, and stuck to it. I pushed and shoved and it didn't come out easily. I repair laptops so have about 50 blank credit cards I use, I found that pushing these inbetween the rubber and the body inside the car would loosen up the rubber nicely. So I put these all the way along the top and sides. No pics sadly

But, I do have a video for you all to laugh at:
(skip to 11:30 to just see it pop out)




And out it pops in one piece! In hindsight, I should've asked my dad to stand infront of it just in case.

Here's the rust on the bottom of the windscreen:
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Similarly I used the same card method with the rear window (and got my dad to stand and catch it!)
Although to get my feet on the rear window, I had my lower back on the back seat, head in the passenger footwell, feet on the glass, and hands on the dashboard. Interesting position for a car! :eek: :D

And here's the rust on the rear window:

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So, I continued stripping down...

Got some of this recommended by Gadge:

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And after peeling back the carpets/seats/etc I found this...

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Hmm, bit of plastic stuck on (still sticky), after pulling it off it revealed this:

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Not too bad though, just wants to Kurust on it, and a little plate to tidy it up. Then I'll fill the sill with cavity seal or something similar.
 
And today saw a friendly face in the form of gadge coming up to give me a hand with engine removal. I seriously can't thank him enough, there's no way I'd have managed on my own!

We started cracking on with the rusty windows with a file and Kurust (no pics though).

Then got cracking on the engine...

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We got the trolley jack under the engine, and put a rope around the gearbox and over the steel for me to hold as gadge took off the last of the gearbox mounting bolts off (pretty sure this is what the previous owners used it for too..).

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A quick peek inside the gearbox looks good. :)

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Out on the floor:

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Engine bay:

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When the engine is out, make sure the fuel pipes are up, not left dangling or fuel will pour out if you jack up the front... Guess how I found that out? :rolleyes:

After a dash to find an empty bottle, I caught the rest and mopped up the spilt fluid.

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Waste coolant that drained out:

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As I left it for the night, looking like a 126 4x4:

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Gearbox mounts are buggered, and my "to buy" list is now 3 times as long as yesterday!! :)

Dom
 
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