NWL – Project Concours Carmine Sprint

[James467]

Cool, thats the one I have and it's currently sitting below the bulkhead bush.

I was just curious about the plastic washer referred to in the workshop manual.

[shaunroche]

Hi James, I had my M3 steering wheel retrimmed by Jacek (Jack) at....http://royalsteeringwheels.com/

It was probably the best mod I ever did on that car, the quality was way better than OEM....he's a real craftsman! It's the way to go if you're happy enough with the finish of the spokes.....

[Chrispowell0813]

Just been following through your story. It's been one hell of a journey. It's going to be a beautiful one when its finished.

[James467]

Thanks Shaun, I'll have a chat with them. What I have found is the cost of refurbishing the standard wheel is the same as a new. I like the look of the standard wheel so if I can get it refurbished with a nice leather rim I'm happy. I think for shows, I'll have to clean up the old one and go with that.

Thanks Chris, I think i can see a speck of light at the end of the tunnel! But thats when the fun begins as I'd like to show the car before I start using it properly on the road.

[MIG Wielder]

Cool, thats the one I have and it's currently sitting below the bulkhead bush.

I was just curious about the plastic washer referred to in the workshop manual.

I've not seen a plastic washer on either of mine; and there is nothing listed in either the early 1850 or Sprint parts books. There may have been an intention to fit it , but it was then deleted.
The steel washer inside the bonnet is there though.
Tony.

[James467]

I think you're right, I'll just take off the bulkhead bush, degrease it and put it back in and see if that helps.

This is what I'm aspiring to, this is the stand I'd like to get on to at the NEC one year, to be honest it would be great for both the marque and the club.

http://www.necclassicmotorshow.com/show ... b-showcase

EDIT: Once I've done that then I'd like to the 'Dream Rides' bit there as well, just so other people can experience the car and the money goes to a good cause as well.

[James467]

The issue with the bush has been resolved. It looked like the column wasnt in quite far enough. Now once the internediate UJ is on with the washer it no longer rotates with the column.

You might remember that I wasn't happy with the condition of the track rods, they were quite pitted and were no where near my standards so I redid them.



They look much better now.... until someone uses a pipe wrench to adjust the tracking, which won't be happening I assure you!!



I did some more finishing on the rack body as well to remove as much of the visible pitting as I could.



I dont think I showed any detail of the new rack bush that I fitted.



So, onwards. Using the new polybush cups I rebuilt the tie rod ball joints setting them up to be about the same tension as a track rod end. I'm actually very happy with the way they are now, the new cups have made a huge difference. The nuts are torqued up to 80 lbf-ft with a big socket and a vice, then I bent the lock tabs over.





I then mounted the right hand one on the shaft with the spring and locking nut. This time when I pot the tie rod assembly on I was able to wind it into the shaft properly and lock it off as per the manual which leads me to believe that the old cups may have simply had it. Again, everything been torqued up to 80 lbf-ft using a big crows foot spanner.



I then thoroughly greased up the bush and shaft and slid it in the body, and using a vice to support the opposite end I did the same and installed the left hand tie rod assembly. This time you'll need to use a spanner to prevent twisting the shaft and damaging it.







I haven't received my replacement pinion for Jigsaw, it's going to be a few weeks so I have put the original one back in for the time being.

The new bearing has been packed with grease and slid onto the pinion, to do this I put the pinion in the freezer with the peas for a few hours. Everything is held together with a circlip. I also replaced the seal in the pinion end plug.





I then put a new grease nipple on the base of the housing and made sure that there was plenty of grease in the lower bush before installing the pinion in the rack, then I used the pinion eng plug to press the ball race down into its seat.



I then greased up the rack damper and installed it with the spring and tightened it down just enough to remove and play for the rack. As I will be replacing the pinion I won't bother shimming it up as this will change with the size of the new pinion.



Before installing the nylon plug on the left hand side of the rack body I used the grease gun to get a bit more grease down that end of the rack, the plug was then just held in place with a length of insulation tape.



Just need to finish cleaning and fit the gaiters and it can be fitted back into the car.

[James467]

Something else that I hadn't had a chance to do was to surgically remove the two seized front subframe bolts from the shell.

I wasn't really looking forward to it but as we lost to Wales in the rugby I thought I'd channel my frustration and take it out on these!!

So I drilled out both bolt heads with a cobalt drill. The engine stabaliser bar assembly then came off easily ready to be replaced and refurbished.

Then with the subframe off and out of the way I used a torch to heat up the aluminum spacers then with a big pair of mole grips clamped to the spacer I shook the hell out of it and slowly but surely they freed off.

They now look like this!



Unfortunatley the shaking didnt do the rust situation on the right hand side much good! At least we can clearly see the extent of the rot to be cut out and dealt with.





Passenger side is no problem at all!

[Toledo Man]

Mine was in a similar state. I wonder if it is battery acid that's eaten through the metal and allowed the rust to take hold. I now have a battery tray (taken from one of my Acclaims) which should prevent any future acid spills. Also my nearside subframe mounts were fine. You've made the right decision to strip the bodyshell right down. It looked fine but it is amazing what you find once you dig a bit deeper.

[James467]

I completely agree I think it's a leaky battery that has stripped the paint and allowed the panel to start to rust.

Thanks, I'm now seriously considering the SPL route. I know a couple of people have done it on here, Mark (SprintMWU773V) didn't you have this done? I'm going to have a chat with them and a couple of others at the NEC this year.

I have put the rack back in the car. Not happy with the gaitors, theyre a little cracked in places so I have zip-tied them on for now just to prevent any dust from getting into the internals and ordered some replacements.

I know I said that I'd fit it with the solid rack mounts but I was worried that they would scratch the paint so I'm afraid I have just gone standard for now.





I'm very happy with the way it looks.

An interesting mod for the future could be to replace the rack damper blanking nut with a right angled grease nipple. This can then be accessed through the wheelarch, at the moment it's not pointing in the right direction, all it needs is to be twisted round.







I'll pick this up again once the new pinion arrives, the next job is to tackle the braking system.

[James467]

Weather's good so I have been cracking on with some painting!

I've now moved onto the braking system. The rear wheel cylinders, front callipers and all lines have been replaced already. The servo and master cylinder have been sitting in storage awaiting refurbishment. I had bought a servo seal kit but looking at it the only thing that needed replacing was the foam filter on the pedal end. Given the relative rarity of Sprint servos I didn’t want to go breaking it down to find that I may have to get a new one. So all I will do is paint it and replace the non-return valve for a new one, purely for cosmetic reasons!

This is what we started with, as it came off the car.



With a wire brush on an angle grinder I stripped all of the old paint and rust off.



Gave it a couple of coats of acid etch primer



Followed by a coat of Upol High#5, I don’t have a photo of this for some reason! That was flatted off with 600 wet and dry then I applied 10 coats of gloss black.



For some reason I got quite a bit of orange peel from this can so once the paint was dry I wet flatted it back with 1500 grit wet and dry.



Then went through a flatting and polishing process until all of the orange peel had been removed and I was happy with the finish.





I then did a final polish using a machine polisher and ended up with a nice shiny servo!!

[James467]

Back to the bodywork quickly, this engine bay decal/sticker in my kit is incorrect. Probably for an earlier car, so with some gentle heating of the panel through the wheel arch I was able to peel it off and stick it to some sticker paper.



Yes, I know it's upside down, thats the way it was stuck on!



I can now scan this and run it through photoshop to clean it up and have some replacements printed.

[SprintMWU773V]

Yes my shell went to SPL for stripping and e-coating, not cheap but does the job. It's what 99% of new car shells have done to them. Been a while since I spoke to them but assume they are still offering the e-coating. Other processes are available, though only SPL use an immersion process.

[James467]

Yes, as far as I can see they still do the e-coating. I'll have a chat with them at the NEC, you never know, they may do a special offer!!

I stripped down the master cylinder and it was full of gunk. Unfortunately looking at the inner bore it's quite corroded in there. Looks like theres been some water in the brake fluid as well. So at the very least I think it's going to need a sleeve in it.









I'm looking forward to some nice simple non-complicated jobs soon!

[Carledo]

Club sleeved recon dual circuit m/cyls available from Alun, very pretty!

Steve