When you put the scuttle panel back be very careful. The tabs that secure it under the windscreen can very easily slip under the glass. Happened to me and I was banging it down into place and broke the windscreen.

Yeah I already encountered that, hadn't used any force luckily - you really have to make an effort to hook them under fully.

I bought some very basic dent tools - going to see what I can do about getting some of it out myself. Have noticed a lot of paint cracking around the edges of the headlights where the 'roll' in the metal is - nothing I can really do about that aside from chip it away, sand it down and do a very localised spray repair. Bonnet still needs a LOT of work filling all the bubble flake in the clearcoat. I think it's probably best to do what I can to seal it the way it is, and keep an eye out for a better one.

system11 said:

Yeah I already encountered that, hadn't used any force luckily - you really have to make an effort to hook them under fully.

I bought some very basic dent tools - going to see what I can do about getting some of it out myself. Have noticed a lot of paint cracking around the edges of the headlights where the 'roll' in the metal is - nothing I can really do about that aside from chip it away, sand it down and do a very localised spray repair. Bonnet still needs a LOT of work filling all the bubble flake in the clearcoat. I think it's probably best to do what I can to seal it the way it is, and keep an eye out for a better one.

Click to expand...

It’s Sod’s law that I’ve seen more bumpers and bonnets for sale since you bought those.

Annoyingly, yesterday I threw out all the unusable parts including what was left of the old bumper, which had a rubber strip stapled into it. Today I find the strip on the new bumper is damaged - damn!

I spent a LOT of time making the driver wing better, worse, better, etc - it's now in a shape where I'm "more or less" happy with the way it is - just want to take a tiny bit out of a shape right near the front. It's not perfect, I think at this point a dent repair specialist would struggle to make it much better due to the damage and my amateur tinkering, but it's much better than it was and lines up with the bonnet similarly to the passenger side now. Not perfect, but when the paint damage is rectified I think the bonnet could be VERY gently encouraged to line up a bit more with the wings tips which are adjusted in as far as they'll go.

Slam panel height is a work in progress, I think it's probably about right so I'm good to put the intercooler & radiator on, then the lower crash bar. Unfortunately adjusting the subframe support arms isn't going to happen - the bolts are completely stuck and the two I tried started showing slight signs of wanting to just round off so I've left that alone. Perhaps when I take it in for light alignment the guys at the garage will be able to shift them. Since the slam panels are pretty thin and the gap is only about 2mm I'm going to just torque them down as-is.

Currently the wing bolts are all tight but the bonnet hinge & bonnet are just tight enough to allow encouraged movement and the bumper was just tacked on with 2 of the top bolts, same with the lights. Paint match isn't that good but I think overall this isn't a bad result. Was going to start on the panel & rads but I've been rained out for the day.

Looks pretty damn good. Bit of an uneven gap bonnet/wing passenger side which will hopefully fix itself when that bolt goes in.

As for the bottom chassis rails, are you trying to undo them on top or bottom? I spent a long time trying to undo the top which is welded on then realised they unbolt from underneath.

Tried both, good to know I'd be wasting my time with welded on nuts! I've sprayed some penetrating oil onto the top and will leave it for a while then have a go at one of the bottom bolts again.

I've totally run out of adjustment on the passenger wing - it's in as far as it's going to go. Which bit are you noticing, is it the width of the gap at any particular end? Got loads of adjustment there in terms of height at hinge and at front end with the bonnet stop.

Rain relented for a bit - was able to undo those lower arms after all, but they didn't seem to budge even a mm. Bolted everything down tightly for now, pretty sure I'll have put the bumper/bonnet alignment out on one side though as I moved the panel up a bit to make the holes line up (on average) better.

So the next steps when I get some time will be to start refitting the radiator pack. I bought some high quality hose clamps but they're wider than the ones which were on there so I'm now also wondering if I should replace the hoses or get cheaper clamps instead. It's easy to tell if a radiator hose is leaking - is there a good test for intercooler hoses? I was wondering if caking some kind of removeable paste around the hose end then seeing if any holes develop might work.

I think this is the strip I need for the bumper - I'll try a hardware store for heavy duty staples.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/141665398621

The wing looks too far forward or the bumper too far back and sticks out a bit at the bottom. Is The wing bracket intact?

I wouldn’t worry about the hoses, there’s plenty of metal/plastic under it to accommodate a wider clip.

Looking good though. I bet you can’t wait to fire it up.

I’ve just bought this one, no front on it. Saves taking it off.

Oh, ok yeah I get what you mean. When I held the bumper up in line with the wing it looked fine, it's just hanging there in the photos - the riveted clip strip isn't fitted or the rear bolt, or any of the lower bumper bolts, it was just 2 at the top, whole thing hanging off them with no crash bars or anything.

Want to borrow my professional grade flange straightener? It's definitely not just a bent crash bar with a bolt in the end.

system11 said:

Oh, ok yeah I get what you mean. When I held the bumper up in line with the wing it looked fine, it's just hanging there in the photos - the riveted clip strip isn't fitted or the rear bolt, or any of the lower bumper bolts, it was just 2 at the top, whole thing hanging off them with no crash bars or anything.

Want to borrow my professional grade flange straightener? It's definitely not just a bent crash bar with a bolt in the end.

Click to expand...

Ha ha, oh I have my own ???

Do you have a recommended paint supplier, and what type of primer do I need?

Also found an interesting little problem to be worked around - the old slam panel had the aircon tube holder fitted to the lower of two mounting holes in the side. On this slam panel which is from a slightly older car, that lower hole has no thread or welded nut behind it so I'll have to look through the spares pile. Was sifting through the parts and found that the original fan which I'd hoped to sell is probably duff - it doesn't spin anywhere near as freely as the one from the replacement panel setup, and on the old radiator i could see an indent pattern of the motor assembly - probably squashed something.

Expecting to have the intercooler & radiator on today so I can fill up the coolant and try firing it up again. Still concerned about the jubilee clips for the radiator - the hose fittings are quite short and the hose clips barely clear the lip.

Hm - bad news, potentially multiple.

1) Windscreen was fine yesterday, today 2 giant cracks through it - I must have screwed up with those scuttle clips and it just took a while for anything to move.... That wasn't budgeted for, or insured against. Not really much I can do except chalk that down to stupidity. £335 at Autoglass. Do they have to remove the scuttle to do it?


2) Intercooler and radiator are back on the car now - it can be started and runs better than it did before I took it apart, the hose between the air cleaner and turbo was only half on. However, it's spitting out black water from the pipe so there may be something leaking oil in there. Could just be lots of soot from not being used, the results of overfuelling or something, the engine oil level is pretty good and there was no blue puff when it started. I suppose all I can really do is get it driveable and take it for a couple of long drives and then see how it behaves afterwards.

Started raining again, if it stops anytime soon I'll go out and attach the lower crash bar, horn, condenser. Still not sure if I prefer the twin or single horns I've ended up with. Amazingly it doesn't seem to be leaking coolant - I've left a big bit of cardboard out there, wasn't expecting to get the hoses to seal properly first time. Also need to find a new bit of foam for the intercooler as the one on there tore when I was struggling with the radiator hose. Serves me right for thinking the intercooler should go on first, it doesn't.

Edit: crash bar, single horn, aircon clips all done. Finding the part number for that foam is going to be fun. i dont imagine it's particularly important just to stop road dirt getting part the radiator pack. I could probably get some plastic gauze, cover it with glue and press it onto the foam.

Oh dear, I wish I had mentioned the scuttle panel before.

I pay £140 cash supply and fit. £335 is extortion. Shop around.they do take the scuttle off to do it. Same happened to me. It took a couple of days. I was parked sitting in it and I watched the crack creep upwards. I thought I was seeing things.

I buy paint from eBay. You get a large can of colour and clear coat for about £24.

You did mention the panel before I thought I'd done it properly but obviously not, looked very closely as it was coming off and sure enough 1 clip was under the glass. Is £140 an OEM quality part? I've worked out the screen has been replaced in this car before, there's a small mark on the windscreen pillar interior trim right by the glass, and it would explain the sealant someone used to gloss over the edge clips being broken.

Got any tricks for making sure those clips REALLY do go where you expected?

Really starting to look like a car again now - if I get some time after work tomorrow I think I need to finalise the bonnet/hinge adjustment vs the wings because I don't want to risk that scuttle error again.

It’s the same windscreen they all use. I doubt it’s OEM. It’s a windscreen that meets CE certification, that’s good enough for me.

I try and avoid taking them off if they are going back on now. The fitter sometimes has trouble but he realises straight away. I think if you havecto bang it down, it’s wrong and it’s the banging down that causes the edge to crack.

Went to connect the condenser and... Rubber seal is there on the top tube where it fits into the condenser, but not on the lower one. Must have fallen off or stuck to the old condenser which is by now in a recycling machine.

I looked at the online eper but it looks completely different to my setup when I feed it the VIN. I can see me ending up calling Fiat parts tomorrow.

https://www.autoairconparts.co.uk/condenser-o-ring-kit.html

The one I still have looks like the larger of the pair there.

Can you get a picture of the bit you need, I may have one.

Any a.c. specialist will have the correct seals replace both o rings

I’ve just realised which bit you’re talking about. I may have one.

Not in a position to do photos right now unfortunately - but I've found out they're called 'dowty washers' or bonded washers. This ebay item might actually be the right sizes:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VAUXHALL...G-WASHER-O-RING-PAIR-GENUINE-NEW/162268559880

I only have the larger one but it matches their measurements of the large size exactly, and the condenser documentation I was able to find says the other pipe is 8mm which would match the smaller one. The smaller one is the one I'm missing.