Lewis's Banana Boat

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Hey all, project is in full swing, Ive kicked things off with stripping the bay down as much as is conveniently possible ready for prep work and paint!

Started with an air con degas:

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Stripped bit by bit over the past few weeks:

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Now she's naked!

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Next step includes a full degrease, scuff up and masking of all the usual bits as well as some attention to the underside of the chassis legs (surface rust).

I've decided that I will be painting it at home as it's more cost effective, involving and exciting that way. I have some good friends who are willing to come by and help with it all so it should be fun!

Subframe will be tended to on the side, after it's taken apart I'll get it powdercoated along with the ARB and hubs and get to work on the suspension rebuild! I don't want the build to get confusing so I'll try focus on one thing at a time.
 
Picked up some ARB Bushes, retainers and the bolts go go with them as well as the steering rack nuts and bolts 😊 Steering rack bushes are on order!

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:cool: Hope all the work goes well, top effort.

Are you doing the body respray at home? Do you think the finish will come out well?
 
red said:
:cool: Hope all the work goes well, top effort.

Are you doing the body respray at home? Do you think the finish will come out well?

Hey Red,

No chance, I wouldn't go near it myself, it'll be done professionally. Engine bay however will be done by me and a few friends, prep and all. It should come out really nice with the correct amount of prep!
 
Lots done this week! Prep work comes to a end after scorching and cleaning..
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All masked up!
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All ready for painting today 😉

On the side.. I took the subframe apart, looks rank!
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So I dropped the subframe, anti roll bar and dogbone bracket off to my powdercoater and he teased me with these two pics:

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Off to pick those bits up tomorrow. Painting tonight. Let's do this!
 
Paint is on now, and I couldn't be happier!
I started off with a dust coat:
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Then kept building the paint up, starting from where I started on each coat until we got here:
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The paint was touch dry half an hour after, and I'm extremely happy with the results. My masking wasn't amazing and overspray on some parts is evident by the pictures, but for a complete amateur I'd say I didn't do too bad.

Going to give it at least a week to fully harden and then maybe give it some wet and dry before lacquer. We will see! Picking up subframe and ARB today 😁
 
Subframe and anti roll bar back from powdercoating! Fantastic finish which I'm very happy with :grin: I have assembled the anti roll bar, still awaiting on the remanufactured steering rack I've ordered.
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The suspension setup will comprise of: New Wheel Bearings, cleaned up Hubs, Powdercoated Knuckles, new drop links, Bilstein OEM Shocks, Apex 35mm springs, new top mounts, new steering ends. Brakes will be ST150 Calipers, EBC pads and Genuine Discs. As you can imagine, it's going to cost a bit of money so in the meantime I've got to work on Some other bits 😊

I used 80 grit and worked up to 800 grit on the brake bar, then went with a zinc primer and finally gold enamel paint from halfords for the brake bar:

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For the brake servo I started with a 40 grit aluminium oxide paper to get rid of the nasty bubbles and rust until I got down to the bare metal:

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Then worked my way to a 400 grit before cleaning and priming with the rust inhibiting primer. I haven't finished with it yet and going to go over it with a couple of coats of high build before sanding and painting gloss black, but here we are now with both bits!

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We will focus on getting the gear linkages getting nice once it comes to taking them off, I think I'll probably do them in the same "gold" paint as it looks mint!
 
That is one hell of a job you are doing there my friend and the more you do the more I hate you :grin: :grin: :grin:

Keep it up, the finished job will be amazing I am sure :thumbs: :thumbs:
 
Getting somewhere fast now with the bay! Brake servo painted and lacquered, few bits back in. I've decided to change out all the fasteners I can with yellow zinc ones which I'll be ordering next month. I think yellow zinc looks beautiful and will really add a nice touch to the bay.
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On top of that I've decided to mix things up a little bit. I've always been a fan of mix and match colours so I've decided to mix and match everything under the car suspension and mechanic wise up front. I done the steering rack in a green, plan to do the droplinks in a yellow and the brake calipers red. I also done the linkages pink and purple respectively. It might enrage some people but I like having my own little twist on things, furthermore the bay will still stay colour neutral.

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I plan on fitting the subframe today with fresh bolts as well as painting up the droplinks and cleaning up the brake lines a bit, maybe even paint the brake lines up :grin:

I almost forgot to mention, I scuffed up the shifter rod and repainted gloss black and lacquered for shine.

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Been a little while since I updated you guys! Since the last update subframe and All the goodies are back together:
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I also painted up the power steering pipes with a dust coat of black. After doing so I fitted the aircon back in, which scratched the bay in a couple of spots and f***Ed me right off...
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Upon deciding to put aircon back in the car, I will have to replace the condenser as there is a pretty big gouge in the fins which as we all know isn't safe when it comes to aircon.. Ill need a special spring release tool which I'll grab off ebay..

For now that's as much as I want to do, I'm turning my focus over to the engine which has been completely off plan. I originally wanted to do the 1.7, changed my mind and wanted to go with a built 1.6 but due to money constraints decided on the 1.7 again. Spec wise it'll be standard with only a couple of breather mods including a 4-2-1 Decat manifold and LMS180 intake manifold.

After receiving the engine on a pallette I stripped the heavier ancillaries off and fought with the engine to get it onto my engine stand. The engine is a 1.7 @ 60k miles and looks like its very recently had a timing belt change. The sump and cams are very clean and the only signs of wear are from rocker cover gasket seepage. For these reasons I wont be taking the engine apart but instead replacing the upper gaskets, water pump, nuts and bolts only.
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After a degrease with gunk and a paintbrush and a little more disassembly I dried the engine up and started going over it with a brass wire wheel drill attachment. I still have plenty more cleaning and wire wheeling to do before I can degrease and paint the block but here's where I got in a hour or so;
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Because I got the engine from a breaker, there were a couple of bits that concerned me. The threaded coolant pipe on the back of the head has been cut so ill need to source one elsewhere and the crankshaft pulley is visibly damaged so will also need replacing. Apart from that everything else is pretty straight. I have a few bits I'm going to drop off at the powdercoaters so I'll be doing that after the new year. I'll see you guys shortly with more updates!
 
If the crankshaft pulley is visibly damaged, I would check the crankshaft and the bearings. Since the engine is at stand already, it is very easy to do now...
I would check the endplay.
 
What happened to the original engine to warrant replacing it with something of presumably unknown origins and history if it's from a breakers yard?

Paul Z
 
PaulZ said:
What happened to the original engine to warrant replacing it with something of presumably unknown origins and history if it's from a breakers yard?

Paul Z

I gave it to my friend Ed as he helped me a lot with getting the car apart etc, I was originally planning to go with a 1.6 hence why I got rid of the 1.7 but changed my mind. It was the lowest mileage engine I could find for a good price :)
 
Engine is coming along well, she's all painted up now (Simoniz matte black) and I decided to polish the rocker cover which looks a lot better. As good as it looks I have had the idea to do it in a wrinkle red instead though, because wrinkle looks sweet so we will see.
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As well as cleaning those bits up I dismantled the fuel rail which was pretty fiddly, it took a lot of patience to prize the injectors out without damaging them but plenty of WD-40 and back-and-forth levering with a small screwdriver helped a treat. I cleaned the fuel rail thoroughly and painted it in Hammerite "hammered" effect silver before reassembly.
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In terms of bits I have left to Replace/Refresh:

Genuine Plastic Water Manifold - Done
Genuine Rocker Cover Gasket - Done
Thermostat - Done
Thermostat housing seals - Done
Rear Head Coolant Metal Pipe
Starter Motor
Water Pump - Done
Crank Pulley (Current one chipped)
Drive Belt
Spark Plugs
Oil Filter - Done
Sump Plug

Powdercoated Parts:
Sump - Satin Grey - Done
Water Pump Pulley - Gloss Black - Done
Gearbox Mount - Satin Grey - Done
Driveshaft Bracket - Gloss Black - Done
 
Some pretty new yellow zinc bolts arrived so started putting bits back together.

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Awaiting water manifold, MSD coil pack and leads and for my powdercoated bits to get back to me. Also need to swap out that damaged Crank pulley!
 

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