So here its is, my 1998 coupe which I plan to res-surect from the dead.
The car has 163k on the clock with history form the past 4 years only.

I brought the car for £400 and armed with this large list of things to sort hopefully this summer I will be able to drive this car on the road.

The car hasn’t really been looked after to well at all really as need of some very much needed TLC. The car ran and starts first time still boosting like a good-un albeit the Smokey turbo.
Firstly when I got the car back to Dudley was a compression test, which came out around 150psi across all cylinders.
Happy days


Here is the original advert

I LOVE this car. I don't really want to get rid of it at all but it’s painful to see it just sitting about looking swanky in the drive. I'm totally skint and love the car too much to have it going rusty under a dust sheet until I can afford to fix it. It deserves to be tearing up country lanes and posing in the sunshine.

It has no tax and no MOT. I am told by Country Cruising the repairs will be around £500. It failed on...

1. Nearside & offside anti roll bar rubber brush bonding deteriorated resulting in excessive movement.

2. Near and offside windscreen wipers not effective.

3. Centre rear (tailpipe) exhaust system has a pert missing

4. Exhaust emissions carbon monoxide content after 2nd fast idle excessive.

5. Exhaust emissions hydrocarbon content after 2nd fast idle excessive.

6. Exhaust emits clearly visible black smoke during acceleration.

7. Needs new rear break discs?

8. Parking brake efficiency below requirements

9. Front wheels brakes imbalanced.

10. Rear nearside, offside and parking brakes recording little or no effort.

I have the last 4 years service history (since my mate bought it) and the red key. My mate had a full AA inspection done on it 4 years and I have that too.

163k on the clock, cam belt and clutch last changed at 138k. There is a comment on one of the services that the smoking is probably due to cat, possibly a leaking turbo, and there is a crack in the manifold.

The bodywork is fab except for scuffs on rear bumper. Inside equally lovely. Tan interior.

So far the parts collected for fitting are-
Turbo
Manifold
Exhaust
Cat
Thermostat
Widget
Radiator


These are the first to be fitted to hopefully get the car back running and passing that cruddy emissions test.

The body work is also a little tired also so will need to be sorted after.


I’ m attempting this project to save one more coupe from the choppers hopefully and learn to be more mechanically minded. I plan to do majority of the work myself.



The end results id like are a mechanically and cosmetically sorted standard coupe.

Modifications worth considering eventually will be

Honeycombed grill
Le Kit
Plus wheels
Hids
And just maybe a flea map.

These are a long way away but achievable hopefully.

It’s going to be a long journey but I will get there I think on my own steam.


when i first saw her under a tree in cambridge

Ok long awaited update .....
Nothing completed....

Actually as some of you may have read i have started stripping the car apart and located spares as per the list above.

So far removed,fans,radiator,lamdba sensor,manifold,turbo,several hoses and pipes and pulled various engine parts to one side.

After achieving this i found that i had snapped on manifold stud clean into the head.Unfortunantly it was the stud that is behind the a/c bracket and difficult to get to.

Upon advice from a few of you i have also removed the water rail and started for more access.Over the new few days im hopefully looking to drill the stud fully possible with aid of local mechanic. But this has caused a huge halt to my project.Gutted.
heres where we lie at the moment

Ok managed to remove the offending stud!!!!Wooooooooooooo

Well got it drilled out,so project is back on!!!

In order to gain access to that stud the ac bracket was removed and water rail.This provided much improved access but still hindered by the space i had as the a/c compressor was right infront.

To aid this i removed the bracket that holds the ac pipework,this allows th a/c to move much further around in the engine.

So im all good to go now,picked up a manifold and studs today and had new flange nuts delivered which were much cheaper than from the stealers.

Just waiting on a few otehr small things to be delivered than onwards.

I checked out my oil cooler pipes and noticed they were quite rusty,i used some abrasive strips,we use for cleaning copper pipe to remove all surface rust and give them a good thick coat of hammerite.Unsure how long they will last but think these will be done in the near future.

done alittle more today ,in between the random rain showers.

So far all manifold studs are fitted woooo!!

Used alittle ptfe as per advised and some stud lock so waiting till tommorow for it to set.

Turbo and new manifold is now fitted together ready for installation

I need to get the lower orange hose that returns back to the sump and then i will be fitting it.

To add more work,ive inspected the auxillary velts and noticed they really are knackered.So soon as some of the manifold and turbo are fitted the belts will also be changed.massive learning curve for me but now enjoying it..

10mins on the coupe today,water rail fitted.

Pipework transfered from old radiator over to the new one.
Just a couple of bits and peice to collect then its time to install the manifold and turbo!!

give up,everything gone wrong and no time.New stud snapped!
Countrycruising collecting tommorow.

Leave it to someone who is more coupe saavy than i am

Got the car back today from countrycruising and very happy with the work he has completed.

Repair snapped stud area
Refit all removed items,manifold,turbo,radiator,lambda,fans,cat,exhaust
Also replace all auxilary belts,front discs and pads,rear discs and cables,repair door handle and mot.
Now in one peice



Just got to get her insured and can take her on the open road

Ok small update from above.

Th car is all up and running as above but unfortunantly cant find decent insurance.So the car is going to be parked up until further notice so i can get the other parts upto scratch.

recently i picked up some door handles and a fuel cap for £20 off ebay.


I have had the handles powder coated in gloss black.



here they are fitted.




needs a polish at the b pillars to match.

Also when countycruising did the repairs i asked him to fit my widget.
Here it is,all i had to sort was change the setting to work on the 20vt instead of the 16vt it came set to.
Great peice of kit.

Thanks for the help again barnacle.

Have a few thing id like to sort over the next two months

B pillars powder coated black aswell as wing mirror black sections
Center console painted piano gloss black
Spare set of wheels and fuel cap powder coated le coloured.



upon removing the cnter console there was a huge bundle of cables spliced into the loom,had to take half n hour cutting all this junk cabling out which looks like it had an changer fitting on. So now wiring all tided center console can be refurbed.

Ok not really anything done as really,insurance will be sorted very soon as i turn 25 in a few weeks.

Fixed wiring fault on my iso loom for the stereo.

Took forever to remove the rubber on the center console!Should be dropping it in to be sprayed next week.
Obtained a nice pioneer usb head unit,infinity front speaker with crossovers.

Have two slow punctures in both front tyres so have have to get them sorted before out on the road.

Will also need to collect some b pillars for powder coating.

Ok now im full insured,moted and taxed to go on the road wooo!

few things first tho,finally managed to drop center console into for spraying,hoping to recieve that back next week.

Started fitting my new speakers,infinity front speakers with cross over and tweeters,pioneer cd usb mp3 player.cheap upgrade of standard fit radio.

Picked up sparco strutbrace as on le and plus models from boysie.thankyou

Recieved my new honeycombe grill from blue20vt thankyou

Just ordered this moment new number plates and led sidelights.

All in all plenty to get on with.

Next month,down to country cruising for ecu temp sensor and coolant hose of death as precaution-b pillars-hid's.

Ok still not alot achieved ,still collecting parts.

The car is booked in to go to counrtycruising for coolant hose of death,thermostat and ecu temp sensor.That should help my hideous mpg and temp issues.

New center console bulbs fitted,still waiting for center console to come back as my mate is a perfectionist and slightist imprection isnt good enough. Cant wait piano black console.

Have to drop plus strut brace to powder coaters for fresh colour.

Hids ordered and waiting at dhl for me.


Ive held off fitting speaker equipment etc untl i pick up my black door cards.

So all this to get on with over the next month along with headlight refurb.

Small update,discovered small oil leak on the coupe.

Unsure of location but only happening when hot and then parked up? front but not really over driver are so dont think its the oil cooler pipes.

Sat to see countrycruising for my stat and ecu sensor.

Should hopefully be picking up my b pillars aswell.

Collected my centerconsole yesterday


Picture doesn't do it justice but fingermarks really show. Also sprayed but unpictured is the ash tray and surround. I wanted the piano black theme to follow all the way down.

Hids collected from dhl,bargin i think £29.99 delivered and received in 4 day from china. Quite impressed in the delivery speed.

Also delivered is my new parott ck3100 handsfree kit. Will be installing this with all my other stereo equipment when doorr cards etc seats go in.

Ok saturday came and its was off to joes for a new thermostat,ecu temp sensor,coolant hose of death and check its oil leak

Unfortunatly joe had a cold and only found this out when i got down to him but he insisted on continuing with the work on my car.

Thermostat and ecu temp sensor changed.Coolant hose of death inspected,will be changed when belts are done start of next year and found my oil leak to be from the oil dipstick tube.

All i can say the car felt so much different on the way home,alot more responsive and was a joy to drive back towards home.

While i was there i managed to pick up some b pillars prime for refurb,boost gauge and few covers for wipers and top of drivers strut.

Big thankyou to Countrycruising for his work.despite being ill and being very reasonable with me hanging around asking questions.

With repairs going well,i manged to fit my center console and ashtray etc and must say im very impressed with the outcome. Some may hate(marmite) but im very happy. Pics to follow soon.

Today-after helping fit my brothers thermostat to his bmw and getting that together i made a find in his junk room!

Full handbrake console with working rear ashtray from his old coupe. Told me to take it for nothing so thats next item due for refurb in satin black.

Very happy with the coupe progress this weekend!

So here they are - my new refurbed wheels and powder coated b pillars



wheel 1



wheel 2



wheel 3


wheels 4

Well as above here they are,collected today and look fantastic. The quality of work is great,they have repaired the scuffs and look great

I have also had my fuel cap done but to be honest had come out with blemishes which to fair isnt a prob as i will get it redone,but for the money i have paid the b pillars and wheels are fantastic.

Ok little update, my posh center console is not fitted and looks fantastic. All gotta come back out again tho for when i fit the bluetooth handsfree kit.

Will get the tyres fitted and balanced on the new rims.

Fuel cap is going to be resprayed again.

Le lips on order and contact my man about the paintwork.

Over the next few months,im looking to have the bodywork issues sorted.Light cups repaired,le kit fitted and other bodywork done hopefully.

I have removed all my interior to replace the door cards but snapped a seat mount bolt so back to joes with the coupe i think.

Picked up some new toys for the coupe today.here they are...




bad pics but i do have the rear bench also and door cards.

Also coupe is going into joes on sat for seat belt bolt repair.

The plus strut brace that i have i have decided it will be powder coating in the same gunmetal as my wheels and fuel cap.

loads to do still,going to get worse before it gets better still as i need to change the carpet from tan to black also,aswell as all door cards

Ok update,

took the coupe down to joes a few weeks ago as i snapped the seat belt mounting bolts. He repair the one i snapped,then when i asked joe to remove the other for me,thats snapped also.This may be something to be wary of when releasing these bolts.

Heres the pics of the repair





all in all very happy with the repair,get me back on track.

Picked up a few other goodies,black carpet,cloth driver seat to use the car as i have sold my tan leather.

Gotta get a small amount of stitching sorted on the recaro then for fitting,may just get joe to sort the brackets for them.

Did alittle today when the sun was shining





Fitted the wheels today,look much better in person and should look a whole lot better when fitted along with the le kit.

Also started removing all the center console,handbrake and switches ready to change the carpet.Go so far and need to carry on again tommorow.

Some more don today with pics to follow,removed the last bit of tan interior!

Black carpet now in place which wasnt to bad to fit actually.

Removing the existing tan was a knightmare tho!

collected driver seat which has had some red stitching repaired.

tommorow,soundproof passenger door and refit speaker

cambelt and boost issue sorted to jbt thankyou very much.

Few jobs sorted for spa.

Ordered new hel braided hoses for the coupe in red and in near future she will have new brakelines and fitting new wishbones.

Change of plan though,im not keeping my airbag plus interior i think.

Its going go up for sale,for the price of the car and the amount of time im in the car i dont think i will get the pleasure from them as much as someone else.

Standard leather for me now.

Ok collected a standard leather interior today,leather is all good just gotta get the bolster padding repaired.Not an issue.

The plus airbag recaro's will be up for sale v soon,paying for new brake lines,yellow stuff pads and some stuff at home.

Hopefully mid next month the le kit will be fitted along with me plus edition strut brace

Few things planned

Collected 30mm lowering springs from Carlisle
collected 17" wheels with toyo proxies from london

The wheels will probably just be used at spa then sold afterwards after use of the tyres

Huge scrape some idiot caused on teh car so more body work to be repaired.
Hoping to get this done within the next month

Ok just got back from a long day at joes,

Shes had a drive shaft seal replaced,non return valve,wishbones,droplinks and my new lowering springs fitted.

Shes gone from this


to this...


SThe car now feel much more planted,likely due to the fresh wishbones aswell.

ive just gotta fit my new wheels and down to a local garage to sort the tracking out.

Collected my bargin pads for spa today.

Pagid greys.Woooo.

Ok progress.

Hel hoses fitted
supersprint rear section fitted
door sagging sorted with replacement seal
Handbrake cables

Supersprint exhaust sounds ace,light rumble and great on full chat.

Car is now with a friend who is going to attempt to have a go at the body work.

He spotted alot more blemishes than i did. He's got it for two weeks and have full confidence,e may even experiment with the colour.Who knows how it will come back.

Saw the car today, small bits of prepping done.Now im back im hoping to help out the prep work. Should be learning something to..

Hopefully majority of prep work will be completed yesterday but its getting very close to spa.

Ok back from full respray to this...









She has some light blemishes but looks 100 times better than before she went in and im sure she is a slightly different shade. 180a,talking to a few people im positive its actually the same as the plus colour but its the colour on the bonnet.

Also fitted was a brand new le fuel cap.

Car really did me proud throughout spa and am finally beginning to be very happy with the coupe i own.

Yesterday after spa i managed to fit a short shift kit.

Ok havent updated this for a while.


New seats collected,Nigel's Hyundai coupe recaro's.Affordable and comfortable.Look forward to these being fitted.

Also turbo looks like its on its way out,what do i do...dilema

1.Fc performance one stage one hybrid and stage two map.

2.As above also with included charge cooler...


3.Or rebuild standard turbo with 360 staggered seals and flea stage one map.

Bottom one is cheapest and the car does 4000 miles a year max....hmmm

Ok to resurect an old project topic...

Since then the coupe has had...
the patch treatment on the paintwork,polish and protect.Thanks phil

Hyundai recaro's fitted and lovely to be in

Smoking problem i think was actually my fault...so no new turbo for now.

New toys to go on...
Powder coated rocket cover
Painted plenum
Coolant bottle
Boost gauge
20vt wheels and track tyres
Oil cooler with braided hoses
New horns

Will add some fresh pics from the weekend at SantaPod.

I plan to tidy the engine bay...
With the above...plus
fresh powdercoated slam panel
Cleaned coolant bottle
Cleaned throughout
New radiator
New silicone coolant hose of death.
Oil cooler and braided hoses
New horns

So...getting there..loads to do

Also need new tyres...likely 225/45/16's.

Few pics of installed equipment

Seats


Gloss back center console


rocker cover


rocker cover and new horns



More stuff to come...jsut got it started today so thought i show some pics

Ok let update this post from ages ago.

Start with coming back from a meet at Donnington suddenly I realise there is cold air coming from the vents..turn the heat up and yet no more heat.
I then think to look at the gauge and see the temp is way over the max.I attempt to pull in but car cuts out before i even stop.
Open the bonnet and steam everywhere. So gutted,assumed i ve seized it as it cut out on temp.

Seem i was victim to a coolant hose failure.

NOOOOOOO!

First recovery driver pulls up and cant get the car on the truck due to being low but thought as im waiting i might aswell ask the driver if he has any water.
The car takes gallons and i then go to fire up the car..First time starts..hurrah.. Oil pressure good..wow!

I drive the car slowly up to the junction and await a second truck who then gets me home safely.
Fantastic recovery through Footman James.

Next update,

Car home safe i would investigate further,following a compression test it seems i have done damage as i am now low on three cylinders at around 100 psi.

Gutted,car gets to Joe who investigates,

Checks out for head gasket failure and then appears that i have more than head gasket damage and new engine would be required.

All because of a hose. A hose i was booked in to get done the following week.

Next Joe looks after the coupe in usual Joe fashion as i have Joes le engine fitted.

I had lost faith in the car but Joe wouldnt let all this hard work go to waste.

Ok the 2011 SPA trip starts to reel in and big bro is passenger in the car.

Had some toys fitted before the trip.
Bilsteins shocks and eibach springs.
22mm Uprated arb
Silione turbo waterfeed hose
aircon removed(during engine install)
Cambelt kit and aux belts(during engine install)
Fresh clutch
Plus wheels and Toyo t1rs alround and car starts to feel great again

Spa is awesome as usual and car made it back.

Few niggles, oil leak and bad break wobble.

Just things to sort before the next big adventure.

Ok car back at Joes for my niggles to be sorted.

Oil leak seemed quite severe in the end so a special effort to repair. Seemed to be dripping out of the gearbox housing and the lump to get me to spa was a late engine without oil temp.

So on the ramp,little Dan had his first coupedummy car torture removing my gearbox and ancillaries and investigating the leak. Seemed to be a seal in there..Joe will confirm.

Next sump swap also for one with oil temp sensor to match my dials.

While havings its big dissection, the brake pads and discs were swapped to try and eradicate my wheel wobble.

A quick look underneath,brush and replace some underseal for maintenance. All good.

Long day and all good. Zero leak and give it a blast on the way home.

All good until around Junction 6 of the M5 where my coupe decides to try and catch fire.

just updates not recent as such.

Car driving well(perhaps too well) home until i get a funny smell. Cant identify it so continue...Just cruising along 65mph up the motorway.

Next thing within 20-30 sec smoke starts flooding through the drivers vent followed by a huge plume through the gear gaiter.
I pull over and switch the engine off but still smoke bellowing.

Maybe a bit daft and panicking(smoke engulfed then) lift the gaiter and attempt to remove the plugs from all switches. In the process couldn't see a thing..i end up blowing the service fuse with my middle finger on my right hand leaving a nice blood flow and a little chunk missing from it.

Luckily at that point the smoke started to clear as i blew more than one fuse.

I then tried to access the damage. The car started to my surprise,but i had lost all lights,dashboard(clocks,temps,revs etc) most of center console.Indicators gone,windows etc.

Things that did work hazards cigarette lighter and most important of all engine.

So pitch black without lights i limp the coupe with hazards on to Junc 5 and call for recovery.

First truck wouldnt pick me up as he wouldnt risk me driving the car 5 feet onto his wagon as he thought it was a fire risk. Second chap no problem at all.

Recovered and back home in less than 2 hours...great recovery through footman James.

Ok next morning to access the damage











If not clear is seems basically i had a fault somewhere. My fuse didnt blow as it should and my loom inside the console controlling my window switch started to catch fire. The console loom has basically melted and fused itself together.

Roll back two months ish... I hit a bump and fuse had blown.Took out windows stereo and few other items.
I had replaced the fuse with a fuse from a bulb kit i had.

Roll back again..from one pic you can see that the the plastic on the fuse simply melted and didn't blow.Everything just continued to heat up.

The problem two cables went on to the drivers door switch and burnt all the protective sleeving through console loom ,through the white connector and about 1ft up.

Quite scary at the time and have no idea how far it would have gone if i didn't manage to blow these fuses.

Upon checking the other fuses me and Joe found i have various incorrect fuses fitted inc cheap copy fuses it seems.

So guys don't underestimate the fuses your fitting or what's already fitted in the car already.


p.s thank you to Joe (CC) for helping me with a quick fix and replacement original Fiat fuses.

So far for the repair,a new console loom,repair to existing,new switches all around. Drove home perfectly but will be keeping a close eye and if anything become apparent the proper fuses should at least blow now. Likely it was a fault on the existing loom and shorted somewhere and the cheap fuse should of blown.
_________________________

Next update. Drove car home..No fire issues so car is ready for its interior rebuild.

Still have wheel wobble problem..looks like its going to be a process of elimination. Only happens after a while and on braking from 60+

Discs and pads swapped twice.swapped caliper. Gonna have a new hub i think.

Gonna have some tlc over the next few weeks ready for some meets and maybe sell this year.Who knows..its had everything done to it.

Ok decided to start striping the front end to replace the slam panel.

Within around an hour and a half it ended up like this.



My slam panel was particularly rusty with holes on the front panel so i got a used one powder coated ready for replacement.

old panel


some spots of surface rust found.


While i was doing all this i decided i should fit my refurbed battery tray.


As you can see my new slam panel fitted in place,plus rocker cover flaking in places and coil pack cables had seen better days.


A quick rub down of the cover unveiled this




I decided to tape up my coil pack cables and use my wire brush attachment of the rocker cover.


Where my surface rust spots were,i ground them out as best as. Treated and sprayed zinc rust primer over. Finishing with a protective coat of black spray.





Final engine bay pic


Bumper refitted


Missing eyes


Final things to do are refit new headlights. Fit honeycombe grill and replace a few screws for the sidelight securing screws.

Its coming together slowly. My new workshed has been a godsend to do all this work.

Long awaited update....

Brake wobble seems to be cured... The feedback which felt it was from the passenger side was infact the driver side. Swapped the brembo out on the drivers side and boom.Far better than ever. On inspection of the brembo the dust seals were blown and squashed.

Some future plans possibly with hopefully some track time.

A long awaiting update.

The car has been great over the years with very fond memories at spa,le mans, bruges,brooklands,castle combe and others.

She will be looking for a new owner shortly.

Hopefully someone with some time to give her the love she deserves.

Locked for now...