MkI PI in Valencia

[Richard B]

Gradually starting to put it back together. This was in 2017 before we moved house. My appologies for the photos not being sequential.

This has been a real weldathon.

[Richard B]

This has been a real weldathon. With a house move causing a project hiatus. July-Sept 2020

Counter-intuitively I welded on the inner wheelarch on, then fitted the outer wheelarch repair section. Then I took the wing off to repair the hidden horror stories.

 

[Richard B]

[Richard B]

December 2021 Christmas present!

[Richard B]

[Richard B]

November 2022 and off to Andy Dann to have some paint, as well as finishing the bits I hadn't.

My eternal thanks to Scrapman and Radders for helping move the car.

[Richard B]

Old and new rear spring seats

[iani]

Great work Richard, when you finish and boredom sets in, you are more than welcome to pop over and do similar on my Mk1 Estate 🙂

[65redspit]

Looks fabulous - love it 😍

my dad had a mk2 in that colour NWF300M, we drove down to Calpe in Spain and back twice a year for 3 years back when it was new - what a car !!! 

[PeteStupps]

11 hours ago, Richard B said:

December 2021 Christmas present!

I wondered what this was, then lo and behold the same thing appeared in a Youtube vid while I was wasting my evening ... Grand Thrift Auto - YouTube

English wheel! 

[thescrapman]

Now you need to keep in a garage so it stays looking good... 🙂

[Richard B]

Well Colin, the Pi is in the nice warm garage, next to the Stag for reassembly, hopefully it can stay there.

Yes PeteStupps you are correct. It was reduced price as it had been dropped or fallen over, fortunately Pete from East Sussex came over and helped me correct the alignment. Partly done with a Porta-Pack and some cutting and re-welding. Ideally I should get some Metz blue paint to finish it off. I was looking at reinforcing the frame as it is made of Chinesium. However there is supposed to be some flex (I believe), looking to get some 70mm square tube at sometime. There are loads of YouTube videos of people upgrading them, especially in the States.

 

[Dion]

Thank you for a reminder how rusty a Mk1 can be! Good to see proper welding repairs. 

Still hope mine is not that far gone - but  have bought new inner and outer rear wings because I know the arches are gone inside & out. Just hope the rear floor and sills do not need too much metal.

[Richard B]

Here is Hilary helping wash the car after it was returned and Alison helping fit the door seals.

The seals come as a straight length from Chris Witor. This cutter helps to do a 45 degree cut and then some superglue to join the ends.

Bradley having fun with the polishing mop!

[Richard B]

Learning to play with the shrinker stretcher, making Inner Front Wing repair panels.

Middle photo shows failed first attempt at the top. The red primered one is from a supplier, the plain metal one is my copy.

[Richard B]

Went to fit the boonet moulding and promptly stripped the thread of two of the studs! I had a recoil kit 10-32 UNF, but I needed a bottom tap. £30 on line, ouch, but managed to find one on the bay of evil for lot less. Result.

However loads of fun trying to drill and tap it parallel to the remaining stud.

[Richard B]

On 14/03/2023 at 18:00, Dion said:

Thank you for a reminder how rusty a Mk1 can be! Good to see proper welding repairs. 

Still hope mine is not that far gone - but  have bought new inner and outer rear wings because I know the arches are gone inside & out. Just hope the rear floor and sills do not need too much metal.

Hi Dion, Does that look like excess toe-in or is it just the camera angle?

You may find rust in the boot area by the inner  rear wing and the floor under the rear seat by the sub-frame mount. Good luck.

 

[Dion]

Must be the camera angle. Never noticed toe-in wear at that tyre.
Hope not to find too much rust when I about to tackle the rear wing! That's about the time I will get started practising my stretcher/shrinker too - bought at a discount some years ago. 

[Martins Stag]

Richard look really good. Looks like you will have two club cars on the road at the same time? I can blag a ride in it once it is on the road as I have never been in a P!? 

[Richard B]

Hi Martin, of course. The target is this years RBRR.

[Richard B]

So, Throttle pedal, Headlining and Brake/Clutch Pedal Box.

Had to take the washer off the shaft, so that I could get the bracket off, weld up the worn pivot hole in the bracket and the wear in the shaft. I also welded a couple of washers to the bracket to spread the load. I did think about fitting a bush but considered that to be over engineering the problem. Throttle pedal has a lot less slop than previously.

[Richard B]

On to the headlining, had loads of fun persuading the rods to go through the loops. On the original HL the loops are fabric whereas the new HL has vinyl loops. I wonder were they originally sewn into the loops?

Managed to do it with the aid of vaseline. Don't forget the rods are different (and colour coded). Had to cut about 2" back at each end, on each loop, to fit the rod.

[Richard B]

The knackered, dirty, torn, old headlining.

[Richard B]

Pedal box stripped, cleaned, painted. New bushes pressed in. Don't you love that 'ping' sound as a bush decides not to go into the hole but instead launches itself across the garage? Necessitating a search of the floor to find the bloody thing...

On a MkI PI (with a remote servo), you have the additional plate in the engine bay for the pedal box.

 

[Richard B]

Bumpers, bought some of the Stainless Steel brackets and overrider bolts from Chris Witor. As they get a lot of abuse from the English weather!

I hate trying to unbolt seized, rusty components. Before and after with the Autosol. The bumpers are not perfect, but this is to be a presentable road car.