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[Diamond Black Geezer]

Well, knowing that there'll be (hopefully) a fair bit of progress on my baby over the next few weeks, I thought I might as well start a thread dedicated to the journey.

OK, so to start with she's a 1996 P Reg Omega CDX 2.5 V6 in Diamond Black. Been in the family for a decade, originally owned by my father. For 7 years she's been laid up, after the crank sensor failing and then DIS pack blowing, due to leaking gaskets. Since then it's always been my dream to get her up and running, under my ownership. A spell living away and being unemployed, then unpredictable work, plus living in a town you can walk across in half an hour make running a 1.6 ton V6 barge not massively feasible.

Exhibited at Billing every year she once got a 'commended' but as she was (I think) the only vehicle in daily use up for judging, and some doing less than 100 miles between MoTs, I don't think she did too bad . Due to a couple of mods she was once incorrectly named in an issue of the Straight Six News as an Elite(!)

So, a brief incomplete list of the mods/work done then...
-Elite eleccy rear blind
-Elite Leather door cards
-MFL rear griffin/boot handle
-Elite MFL alloys
-FL clear side lenses
-Blanked EGR
-Perfect front bumper (Transit rolled back at traffic lights and cracked the paint. Repainted by the same people that 'de-blemish' ALL brand new VAG/Toyota Group cars that enter the country via Immingham.)

After the DIS Pack blowing, my father had to get a replacement car double quick, which is when he bought the TD (Turbo Weasel) which I've now bought off him and driving (he now has one of them new fangled plastic Insignias  ) and so she was laid up. 

A year ago the Turbo Weasel died due to him pouring approx 4 litres of water into the air intake system. So we considered reviving the V6. Genuine VX gaskets were fitted, breathers cleaned. Brakes freed off and serviced. (all relevant parts were always coppergreased, and were no harder to work on than if we'd done them a week ago - not 6 years!) Nothing else was apparent that a short-term bodge wouldnt fix, and we were just about to refit the wipers when bad news the Garage had fixed the Turbo Weasel! NOO!!  So, she was 90% there for an MoT but again, laid up. 

So a few weeks ago, I bought the car at the only price of £170.

Which brings us to the present day. She is now sat, exhaustless, on axle stands, lathered in dust, one flat tyre, not a single matching wheel (the mint Elite wheels were sold some years ago, sadly  ) scuttle and wiper arms off but the following has now been done these last couple of weeks...

-Exhaust sourced, used 6 month old as job lot of...
      Exhaust
      SC804 (two of!) and Autochanger
      Bumper grilles (open type - off Diesel)
      MFL Elite Grille with mesh, but included original chroem 'V' and chip cutter (and the following which I don't need, but they may well save my bacon one day)
      Climate Centre console
      Radiator
      Full set of Tail Lamps
      Engine hoses
-Exhaust clips (Genuine VX)
-Manifold to Cat section nut (Genuine VX)
-Exhaust clamps
-Paint - silver and VHT Silver
-Set of stainless steel nuts n bolts for exhaust and heat shields
-Heat Shields ('reserved' simply awaiting reply off fellow OOFer  )

Excluding purchasing the car all the above has cost me a pint of Guinness over £100, so I think I'm doing pretty good so far.

No pics as yet, but will try and get some uploaded tonight. the first 'before' shots, so to speak 

[Varche]

Sounds good.
Look forward to the photos as you make progress.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Here she is! Poorly!  but after seeing a Carlton GSi 3000 recently restored on here, I was inspired!



Set of heat shields, some more worse for wear....


as you see here...


and now some improvement...


So for future reference to anyone reading this thread - the heat shields are held on with small (M6?) studs and nuts, which rot and tend to shear when you take them off. As I have a plan for their replacement, I deliberately started to shear them off the bodywork, though four or five did come off ok, as it happens.
The heat shields appear to be an alloy coated steel, which has shown excellent corrosion-resistance, when you consider the state of wishbones after 5 years, compared with these after 18. Where applicable I've left this coating on, only using angle-grinder +flap wheel on the rusty bits. They have now been given a good coat of VHT silver paint, which is actually nothing like the original finish, it looks more like grey flock(!) but you're not going to replicate the original finish, should look smart, and cost £6.50.

[Diamond Black Geezer]

And the exhaust that's going on is here, bought from an ex-member off here just up the road from me for the princely sum of £20!



To give you an idea of the state of the old exhaust... well, erm.... 

[omega3000]

You are at similar stage to me with the heat shields  I was just going to put them back on in the condition i took them off .. good idea to clean them up and spray in vht paint , so i will too  Carpets will come out for de burring , i could have easily pop riveted the shields back on but sods law they will need to come off again in future  Good project , keep going its looking good 

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Yes, been following progress with the 'sheared bolts' thread, strangely posted at almost the same time I posted my question. I understand you're going to try the rivnut method? I'm actually going for the stainless steel nut n bolt route. So hopefully some nice comparisons.

Extra note - these took three treatments in a fairly agressive oven cleaner to get all the grease off, and I'll freely admit I'm not sure I got all of it off. Felt a little guilty not giving them quite the same level of prepping as I would an exterior body panel, but then realised that who else bothers to actually de-rust and repaint their heat shields? So any amount of flap-wheeling and repainting is surely better than nothing?

Looking forward to the comparison between our shields and how we've fitted them. Read this morning another OOFer's Garage just glued his one back on after the studs sheared - something he only found out some time later, of course!

Extra-extra note - you'll need to remove some shields if at any point the handbrake needs adjusting replacing (if memory serves, which it frequently doesn't  ) so well worth the extra time rather than pop riveting. Going to try fitting some bolts tonight, so long as they arrive off ebay today!

[omega3000]

Yes, been following progress with the 'sheared bolts' thread, strangely posted at almost the same time I posted my question. I understand you're going to try the rivnut method? I'm actually going for the stainless steel nut n bolt route. So hopefully some nice comparisons.

Extra note - these took three treatments in a fairly agressive oven cleaner to get all the grease off, and I'll freely admit I'm not sure I got all of it off. Felt a little guilty not giving them quite the same level of prepping as I would an exterior body panel, but then realised that who else bothers to actually de-rust and repaint their heat shields? So any amount of flap-wheeling and repainting is surely better than nothing?

Looking forward to the comparison between our shields and how we've fitted them. Read this morning another OOFer's Garage just glued his one back on after the studs sheared - something he only found out some time later, of course!

Extra-extra note - you'll need to remove some shields if at any point the handbrake needs adjusting replacing (if memory serves, which it frequently doesn't  ) so well worth the extra time rather than pop riveting. Going to try fitting some bolts tonight, so long as they arrive off ebay today!

Stand to be corrected BUT , im sure the adjuster can be got at without taking the shields off    I was told that after i took them off  I can see how but it would be very fiddly 

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Hmmm, yeah. I mean like the rear parcel shelf, for the want of a couple more studs, it's best to just take it out, (get to amp/BOSE etc) but other items you can get away with just drifting aside. I agree, I'd imagine very fiddly.

[MarkC]

Nice little (or large) project you have here, I'll be following this thread myself with interest.

Keep up the good work and keep the photo's coming 

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Here's the heat shields, peoples 

[Keith ABS]

  As you are going with the stainless nut and bolt method of refixing the heat shields, are your bolts long enough to consider putting the bolt through from the inside, bolting uo tight then fitting the heat sheild and putting on another nut so as to not require removing the carpets i the future if you ever need to remove the sheilds again DBG?
Keith B

[omega3000]

  As you are going with the stainless nut and bolt method of refixing the heat shields, are your bolts long enough to consider putting the bolt through from the inside, bolting uo tight then fitting the heat sheild and putting on another nut so as to not require removing the carpets i the future if you ever need to remove the sheilds again DBG?
Keith B

Good idea that 

[Diamond Black Geezer]

  As you are going with the stainless nut and bolt method of refixing the heat shields, are your bolts long enough to consider putting the bolt through from the inside, bolting uo tight then fitting the heat sheild and putting on another nut so as to not require removing the carpets i the future if you ever need to remove the sheilds again DBG?
Keith B

Hi there. Oh, yes, that has been considered. Though (in theory) they only have about 1mm of bodyshell to go through, I have got 45mm bolts. They are stainless, as opposed to zinc, meaning I can cut them shorter for looks/practicality/potential fouling on exhaust, without worry of bare mild steel slowly rusting on me. Pics uploaded later, but the sequence goes...

Bolt - penny washer - floorpan - gripwasher - nyloc nut - heat shield - washer - flanged nut

So the heatshield will have the depth of the nyloc nut - let's say 5mm - of gap from the floorpan, so slightly more than original. The plan is to start drilling holes in my baby tonight!

[Diamond Black Geezer]

Yesterday's progress = Good!!

I've managed to fit four nuts and bolts... I know, doesn't sound much, but it's now at the point where I could probably write up a 'How To' including one or two very important pitfalls, where I nearly came a cropper.

The sequence of nuts and bolts, as described in the previous post..



Here's some images showing
- hole drilled in the same place as the original snapped thread,
- bolt inserted, lathered in seam sealer,
- locknut fixed,
- and finally (just for show) the washer and flanged nut, which will hold the heatshield in place. But I popped them on so I didn't lose them.



With some nice shiny stainless steel nuts, too, it should look pretty decent.


Apologies for the shoddy quality of the picture. This was at midnight, and winning a photography competition wasn't at the forefront of my mind! 

In other news I've
-acquired some MV6 springs (thank you Missy MV6),
-the replacement rear heat shields are on their way (thank you The Red Baron)
-and I found some patches of surface rust hidden by the heat shields, encroaching beneath the underseal. These are getting flap-wheeled to bare metal and lathered in seam sealer tonight as well as the other 50% of the the nuts and bolts fitted. Now I know what I'm doing this should go a little quicker. 

[omega3000]

Nice jobby  Did you use nyloc nuts to tighten to the body  I can see the last nut is nyloc