##Copied from retrorides##

I've been looking for an estelle for sometime now and a random trip yesterday has ended this search...

It started off with me and my apprentice going to watch the specsavers at croft and by 1pm we were both freezing and a little bit bored so we hatched a plan to go to revolution in gateshead as the sign on the a1 reckoned it was "32 minutes" and luke needed some wheel bolts for his new wheels.

So we trekked to gateshead to where I remembered it being...it was closed FAIL! At this point I remembered an estelle belonging to jikovron on here that id been talking to him about on another forum. I had his address but no number as he'd given me it to work out diesel costs for fetching it. So that was it with little persuasion from luke I decided sod it we'll go have a butchers and see if he was in... Luckily he was...

A quick look round it showed it was in far better fare than ron had described being the gent he is. And I vowed that once adequately funded (i.e. id sold my fabia) id return for it but not after parting with some cash for some carbs! (see more of these later)...

I got home and as I'm stopping at my mums while we move she was asking what id been up to, I told her and she said why don't you go get it? So I explained obviously with me and the other half having our first in march and business being how it is. She offered the best finance in the world a "bank of mum loan"

So off to newcastle I went...I arrived to find ron beavering away removing the fabia engine from it.

At this point I HAVE to say how much of a true gent ron is! As he is so glad that its being restored he was more than helpful with parts donating absolutely loads to the cause! A BIG THANKS TO RON!

So come half 5 this was the scene at wetherby services

Shes now home safe and sound in the unit....

Well not much in the way of updates today picture wise but plentys gone on, ive rewelded parts of the sills that wanted sorting, welded a crack near the pedal box chopped out rot and prepped for a plate fest tomorrow..got to get as much welded before monday when I open again at work should be no probs...erm

also picked up a 136 engine in bits off kieran so thats going to get rebuilt hoping jorily is open tomorrow so I can get some bits, also dropped a 136 head ron gave me off at arnetts for a test and rebuild (thanks to the mrs for fundage)

and in final news I got a score at one of my suppliers today in the form of some NOS ferodo pads for a silly cheap price (you couldnt buy a big mac)....

well its been a nusy weekend ill start with what it was like to start with....

She needed....

The floor patching

General tidying of the sills where theyd been replaced

And the boot area was in need of some tlc

Also a bit of a tidy up around the wiring and get rid of the SU fuel pump (im not a fan)

got her up in the air and shes pretty solid otherwise also could do with putting something here

Welding day 1 Started off with my pants household clarke welder with token machine mart gas bottle and began to weld it was tricky as it has minimal setting adjustment and I'm not sure that works anyway (scroll down for redeeming welding) so got the bit near the pedal box done crack welded up and plated

from here I moved onto the floor wish id done it a different way now but I was impatient and wanted it done nevermind it can be ground back smooth and seam sealered and is very very solid

finished welding the sill

Welding day 2 borrowed my mates welder (he owns a bodyshop) and got cracking with muchos motivation decided I was going to make myself proud and do a very good job of the front of the boot area armed with a fully operational mig I attacked

Bye Bye **** steel! closer to an mot...did I mention parts allowing I want to get it on the road next week lol

In the meantime aqquired these.... bargain couple of quid nos ferodos and a facet pump "borrowed" from my old man cheers pops

and in the week id picked this lot up from kieran

Going to get rebuilt with some niceness of which I shall show you guys later but for now to get a feel for it I'm going to chuck in a felicia engine with the solexs in this pic attatched

but for now shes tucked up at work

Interesting read - keep up the good work

Looking good, keep up the good work

Nice to see the Estelle, you're doing a good job there :yes:

Cheers guys more updates over the weekend

Looking forward to them.

Been a bit of shopping this week, two nos doors from a local supplier, didnt think id even be able to source any!

Picked this up too...1.3spi lump going to mod the output to rwd and then fit all the bolt on parts this weekend

Better updates to come guys

right...updatage ive been slack lately mainly buying parts and not doing much work, but ron came down today with some much needed bits and gee'd me into cracking on, insert from spi engine was removed and 6202 bearing press fitted...

now the fly and clutch are mounted and engines half in, it should of been all the way in but my jack decided to pop its seals midway in right in the middle of the workshop and ive got a customer in at ten so ive gotta get a jack first thing and mount the lump and get her out the way for ten, no probs I guess then more progress after work

Right, so I had a bit of a problem with the felicia studs that go through the bellhousing, they didnt go far enough passenger side was easy cut the bit of pipe off with the grinder

but the stud on the drivers side refused to leave sthilsons(sp), mole grips, jaws the lot so I had to drill the beggar out, 3 bits later and she was out....(i was that fecked off I didnt take pics)

then tapped the block to allow the rwd mount to fit

Bolted the mounts on shoved her in and bolted up the rear bar...

chucked the carbs on for a mojo boost

More tomorrow been scratching my head on colour schemes and ignition management systems....

oooof...in one of the best evenings ever, i've had a result, whilst speaking to one of my dads mates, he was asking what I was up to. Looking for management I said. I've got one of those megasquirts your dad knocked me up at home. How much I enquired?

'ahhh you can have it young un if it helps you out'

WIN!

pretty crap progress on the estelle today as i took the day off as my backs shot..

went to kettering and picked these up for a morale boost

and took the bottom pulley off the rwd engine so i can get the trigger wheel machined to fit

Good stuff mate. I really admire your dedication. Keep posting!

Brilliant! Good luck with all the electronic wizardry. Have you got any special type of exhaust in mind?

cheers guys, for now i have a homebrew from the original owner but it will be replaced at some point by a homebrew 4-branch (more on that later). haha dont worry bout the wizardry all under control :wonder: honest!

Edited 18 January, 201115 yr by IMS

Todays fun....

Finished customer jobs at 3 so thought id crack on with mounting the seats, i'm using the original front bar with some angle iron welded across at the back, so that the passenger can be bolted in fixed position

for the drivers seat i butchered an rs turbo subframe and welded it to the same set up as passenger side to allow different drivers to be able to use it, the trade off has been it sits fractionally higher that the passenger may refab at some point as i like to sit low in my cars

et voila theyre in

rolled her out the workshop for a photo

Not done much in the last few days had a bit of a motivation crush when my lined trousers caught the leading edge of the wing snapping the indicator unit and pulling the wing out (it wasnt bolted on properly) so I decided to remove the indicator and attatch the wing properly....

when I got my fat head up in the arch id not checked the arch on this side fully up top ah jolly pain in the backside!! needs more mig love! checked her over top to bottom now and can confirm no other welding needed which is a bonus

problem is I cant source an indicator anywhere without a 3 week delay anyone help? i've also decided the drivers seat sits too high so thats coming back out for a re-think busy weekend if I get chance if not monday :(

slapped some ebay special wipers on to cheer myself up

PROGRESS....

Old man returned from his mates and it would appear theyve been playing on the lathe

Your crankshaft pulley and trigger wheel are engineering art

It would appear my progress has been stunted by too much :booz and too much of this

but fear not I have found motivation...honest

to get the ball rolling I decided to do some tart work

after which I decided I best do some proper work so removed the sump pick up pipe these will be replaced by rwd items and the oil pump housing/chain cover. As I'm running management I needed to mount my vr sensor and wheel so drill and tap...

and mounted

at which point I realised itd been set for honda style engines (i.e run the wrong way) so it had to be done again (no pics I was busy hitting things lol)

I then decided to make a dizzy blank

FAIL!! with no dizzy I have no oil pump drive so I asked peter (hawke racing) how his was set up parts were noted and raided from my yard

so next stop is gaskets from jorily and chuck the beggar to bits.......

also got the correct plugs for my ms and blagged my old man into modifying the board to run edis (i am crap at soldering pcbs)

til next time folks

Any more updates on this

ah yes sorry been mad busy with a house move and work....

Got back on with her today after a trip to jorily....

first job was to fit the mpi oil pump drive

and then get the back end of the lump together

next job was to strip the nose off and start looking at further rust when i was reminded of my lack of a pillar :vio

got a repair panel from jorily so thats getting done tomorrow and also this bugger on the other side

good metal pics tomorrow

also picked this up off a k-series for a fiver going to have a bugger about with this in the next week or so

Todays fun and games

Welded in a new p plate on the drivers side...

then sealed it up the rest of the inner arch is getting done after an attack with the wire wheel at the weekend

then cut out the chunk at the top of the passenger inner wing and slid in a section welded up and sealed although thinking now i may have to grind the top flatter

welded up the end of the drivers sill and finished off the welding that had been left before

then stitched a previously replaced p-plate

weld close up

then finished the repair to the bottom of passenger inner wing

a few more bits and were 100% done ive poked everywhere now! also got the alternator on once the sumps back on and ive picked up some more bits this week we should have her fired up at the weekend :bday1

More fun and games dooooon the yard after a trip to kent yesterday with the return journey via daverapid's place im back on track thoroughly pleasant fella too here comes more pics!

Finished off the leading edge of the passenger floor..

and seam sealered in case of pin holes to save wet feet

also finally tackled the other side of the boot

so after that lot im now fully welded :booz

fitted a rapid exhaust manifold woop! and trial fitted the carbs needed a bit of re-drilling and need to come back off for map sensor take offs

also decided its time to start being a tart so painted the rocker also done the dipstick and im going to do the intake manifold ive also since fitted the sump and baffle so we're not far off running (hopefully sat)

This will be taking residence inside soon

and these will be going on

DAY 37 in the skoparts house and ims is in the diary room.....

Started off undersealing the arches after grinding all the surface rust off (both sides)...

Then refitted the front end...starring grill courtesy of kieran and indicators courtesy of dave

used new screws on the lot and plated nuts and bolts for the wings

got a much better fit now as ive fitted all bolts and bent a few of the panels back to shape

Then ground back the sill that had been previously repaired but not threated and etched then white primered it along with after these pics seam sealering all seals on both sides after filling with cavity wax

Im not happy with how sill joins a-pillar but its been portapacked and is true ?

Went to trial fit cage but then realised its a headliner out job...doh! been a while since i put a cage in owt spent too much time tarting

Ill strip liner out monday (as ive set the day aside to work on the car no customers booked in at least)

Also mounted the coil but its getting redone with a new plate made from stainless to mount that and the facet pump, been tidying the wiring and making new water pipes as im not keen on the factory items

Back on it again today

Got the manifold and drilled and taped it on all runners to allow fitment of brake bleed nipples to act as take offs for the map sensor and fitted it up....

Old man came down and cracked on with wiring in the megasquirt for me (cheers dad) we neatened up the crank sensor wiring...

and after a lot of this......

this happened.....................

GREAT SUCCESS :hands

tomorrows job is to neaten the wiring and plumb her up and sort out the dipstick location

Nice flames there