Good work!!!

Nice color your coop!

The rust shown in the boot area will have eaten through more than you think i would remove the wheel arch liners and have a good inspection before you undertake too much elce. I have a feeling you will have to cut a good few bits out and put some plates in. It rusts like buggery in that spot the metal is SO thin and the holes that the wheel arch liner clips into are a perfect starting place for the tin worm that eat this section.

Yeah I've taken a grinder to that area since that pic.
I doubt there will be many coupes that aren't going there.

The seam is covered with factory sealant which may look fairly well intact, but will almost certainly have let water attack it over the years and I'm willing to wager that rust will be eating away under the seams of the tidiest of coupes by now.

The plan is to take it off the road in July and spend a good nine months sorting the shell out.
A full bare shell rebuild along a similar tac to Dax's project.

In the mean time i'll need somewhere to "store" the Running gear.
I'm thinking a Marea weekend would be a good place to keep it till the shell is back to its former glory

I picked up my new "running gear storage container" today








97 R plate Marea 1.6
Only 48k miles. It drives like new!
The bodywork is not as good as the photos make it look and its awful inside but it's a good vessel to develop the coupe engine while coupe shell has a year long sabbatical for restoration.

Fun times.

It's got a lot of warning lights on, though!

I like your thinking!

I'm going to get a tow bar for it so I'll be able to take the coupe bodyshell to fro.
After a quick clean and hover out (can't get rid of fag smell) it hasn't come up too bad.

Tiny 14" steely's and 175 70 rubber don't help the handling but I can change all that (Dr evil laugh)

So far I've got an exhaust blow to fix, a sticky caliper slider and new discs and pads to fit. Then hopefully it should fly through a test in June.
I already have a complete engine loom ready to fit along with associated ecus.
So as soon as the engine comes out of the coupe I'll swap it into the marea.
Along with front and rear subframes brakes and suspension (more evil laughing)

I need 20 valves and forced induction in my life. And I think this is the prefect way to do it.
Id have preferred an estate version but this was the right price and literally up the road from me.

The coupe will be off the road for up to a year getting the shell fully sorted.
I needed a car in the interim
I needed somewhere to keep the running gear without it being in the way our losing important bits.
I needed something that will tow
a trailer.
I needed something that would get all our luggage into when we go away on holiday.

There, all the justification required lol.
It ticks all my boxes.

It seems you are doing a massive ground up refurbishment to keep and seem to be quite happy to spend money on the car so i would suggest getting a 6 speed gearbox if you can as its much nicer to use IMO even though it wont be total original to your model of coop.

It's something I've not looked into really. If it can handle the power and torque of over 300lbft I'll consider it.

Are you putting the gt28rs on the Marea Steve?

it will be when I've got the new engine built up. I'll just be putting the current stock engine in for now. But should still be entertaining in a boring looking saloon car.
The original turbo looks to be in good shape still. Zero play in the shaft.
But it is just starting to show the first glimmer that the seals are on the way out.
But its good going for the miles its done.

Good luck with the swap. You'll need just about everything from the coupe such as the wiring, brakes, etc. I started something very similar with a 1400 Bravo.

I've got a complete engine loom for a 20vt plus ecu's etc.
When you say started, did you get it done?

I've read conflicting reports about the wiring. Some saying there's loads of splicing and others saying it's plug and play.

It would have been ideal to start with a 5 pot marea but this one came up super cheap and five mins away.

The coupe has been off the Road the past two weeks due to manifold issues and a machine shop that cannot be arsed to do jobs for "the average guy" so I'm lucky to have the marea.
But it's so slow.

Still waiting. It's my brother's car and he slowly lost interest and bought a HGT. Nothing married up on the wiring. We got as far as sorting the engine bay wiring. But we literally took the loom from one and placed it into the other. If I recall also the master cylinders wouldn't fit, or the gear stick tray that bolts underneath.

Totally doable, but you'll end up rebodying the Coupè.

Looking at the marea underneath and the boot floor is mint!
And with the rear wheels off it looks like the reason is like t0m0
puts forward, there's no wheel arch liner on the marea.
So there's no holes for the clips. So rust doesn't start there.

I'd think that you could cut out repair sections from good mareas or bravos. I think bravos were made until 2001?

Hmm a push bike?

Lol, jk, nice work , sounds like it should be fun!

Well the swap is almost upon us. The marea needed a brake flexi to cure the binding brake.
I did the discs and pads and found they weren't very old. Sliders free, so assumed the caliper. Sure enough the piston refused to push back, but I could turn it.
undid the bleed nipple and it pushed back with ease.

Due to the warped disc, it had worn the lower arm front bush so I just replaced both arms.
Exhaust just needed a clean and a new clamp.

I still can't believe how absurdly mint this car is underneath.
It's almost a shame to pull the little 1.6 engine out.

But enough of that nostalgia rubbish I want to see over three hundred ponies pushing the nose wide!

Hopefully it should be an interesting sleeper bar the 20v alloys and five cylinder wail.
Not many people want to risk their egos against the coop, but this, this will be much more fun.

Looking for a witty remark to put on the rear window?

Recent pic wearing the coupes shoes. Albeit with boots too big.

I shall be fitting 205 / 40s on them and maybe refurb them dark anthracite so they don't catch the eye too much.

It will also be 35mm lowered on fccs springs and new coupe dampers.
I'm thinking of plastidipping it a dark red or black as in the metal it looks brown and the mrs and daughter keep saying its brown. I can't win.

So Steve, is this marea getting the 20v turbo treatment? And the coupe is still going?
I don't think I've seen a 20v turbo marea since 2007, it's been a while

The coupe is tucked up in the workshop now, waiting to be relieved of it's running gear. Then stripped to a bare naked shell to be breathed on and brought up to as best condition as can be.
Then it will be rebuilt and used only on sunny days.

The marea will be having most of the coupes running gear while it's off the road.
I'm going on holiday at the weekend, so when I get back the project(s) shall begin in earnest!
The marea will probably end up a stripped out track toy when The coupe is back on the road.

Iconic-looking sound-system you've got hanging up at the back there...

Civic type R

Seems like forever since I've been able to do anything. I've been slowly stripping the car, labelling things and bagging bits up then putting them jib a safe place that I'm sure to forget.
Most of the interior is out and I've started removing the wiring loom from the back working forwards.




The mrs started a new business venture in May which has taken all of our time and money.
After a few months on the breadline and me working my ass off we're finally seeing the benefits.
So next on the to do list is start buying all the bits to rebuild the engine.

Best of luck with your project Steve, I bet you are back on the road before I am.
How do you have the space for all the bits - my son can`t even get into his bedroom now as exhaust system blocking the doorway. Stuff on bed too right this minute!

I rent a lock up that the car lives in, I've been bringing all the bits I've taken off home, shrink wrapping then storing them about the house lol, our spare room has most of the interior in the bed.
The loft is also a temporary storage facility lol.

At the minute I'm working at the home garage, I've been stripping my spare head and cleaning it up.
Also stripped an inlet manifold and throttle body for cleaning.
My plans have changed a little now, I'm not going for a total bare shell acid dip rebuild. I miss it too much, so I'll just be attacking the chassis cutting out any nasties and welding in new metal.
So many new parts to get its unbelievable.
Just engine, brakes and suspension refresh parts come to well over a grand.

But it will be worth it.

But, what is `dream car`?
A GTR perhaps?
RWD Coupe with front-mounted F40 engine?

My dream car captivated me age 11.
Black wedge shape with a v12 howling out through four tailpipes.
The lamborghini countach is my total dream car. But one I'm never ever likely to own. Especially the crazy running costs!
But a replica is a possibility.......

Anyway I'm back in love with the coupe so I'm ditching the idea of converting the marea to 20vt.
Id rather put all my (very little) spare time into the coupe.

I need it back in my life sooner rather than later.

I'm going to give the house garage a thorough clean this weekend then paint the walls white, sort the wiring out with new conduit and get the floor painted.
Then I'll be getting a new engine stand from machine mart to begin the engine rebuild.

At the workshop I'll be pulling the engine and box out of the coupe, I've a massive list of things to get done.

Sort house garage out
Carry on stripping the coupe
buy engine stand, block and tackle, new welder etc etc

rebuild brembos with new seals and paint.
Rebuild inlet manifold, throttle body, strip and clean head, lap in20 valves, rebuild bottom end.

Strip and rebuild all suspension, buy new dampers and top mounts, replace rear arm bearings etc etc

Clean up under chassis, weld in new bumper suports front and rear, cut out rusty bits in boot, front off side chassis and weld in new sections, get screen replaced, rust Proof as much as I can, sort out dents and get it repainted properly

Refurbish the wheels and replace all four tyres.

Then it should be at a good enough standard.

Hi Steve, if you haven`t bought the parts already - don`t be tempted to buy the Original Birth rear arm rebuild kits.
I did, and I think I could make a better bearing, the bolts were different side to side also.
I didn`t know quite what to use for rustproofing so I have gone for FE123. (I suppose I should go and work on mine)