So my weekend backroad toy/girlfriends car is now complete.. A few niggles needed rectifying which i outlined in the last post. As expected, i battered through them fairly easily, with a clutch slave cylinder replacement thrown in for good measure! So after a few backroad shakedowns it seems to be in rude health! The rear wing is finished and has been given a crude blowover to blend it in. I will paint it properly when i get a suitable quiet time, as the rear bumper needs sorting too. Not urgent so not getting done for the moment:
Still looks ok all the same. I gave her a clean today to take a bit of pride in it, not to mention stand back and admire my handiwork....
So we are up to speed on the MR2 for now. I feel comfortable letting it go unleashed for a summer season. Might get it in for a respray this coming winter but we will see how the garage situation looks first. As there is now a space in the garage, i took the opportunity to do something about the Passats "problem". As the repairs would be about half the cost of the cars total value, the car being close to 200k miles, and the rest of the cars maintenance being woefully overlooked, i have decided to cut my losses and seek a new daily. Cue an eBay splurge and a replacement Mercedes! I did miss the last one (the C180 estate) but found it ugly as sin with its hunchback proportions. This new one being a saloon i have to say is a lot more gentle on the retinas:
i wont go banging on about this in too much detail as it is after all a daily, but i might as well cover something rather than let the blog go silent, and it will be getting a few interesting and relevant tweaks that may carry onto other projects... ;)
Its a C180 on an L plate, one of the first of the W202 range Mercs. Being a "Classic" its lucky to even have a steering wheel. Aircon and cruise control are absent, but thankfully so is the dire wood panelled interior options, and the less there is the less can go wrong! No alloys to speak of but i still have the stock 15" ones from my last elegance. Eagle eye readers will spot a dodgy influence of rattle can experiments, with the previous owner deciding to ignore the real paint issues and rusts spots and instead badly black out the grille and half of the rear lights. Not being urgent issues they have been put "down the list". I love my lists....
First things first, SERVICE!
...new plugs, oil, and filters. Good chance for me to root about and appraise the mechanicals. Engine seems ok, slight lump in the idle but pulls well enough. One thing i did notice was a pin holed radiator. As its in for work anyway i took no chances with rad-weld and instead plumped out a big note on a new radiator. Old one out:
...sensors swapped...
...and new one fitted. Funds have dried up a touch this month, so some bodywork prep was the cheapest way to occupy my time until payday. That grille was the initial subject of my wrath. Half a litre of white spirits and a couple of scotch pads saw the majority of the poorly applied paint removed:
...so that should save me 40 odd quid in a new grille. a bit of Autosol will get the shine back too.
The rest of the car has its fair share of rust. More than any Merc should have i should point out. God knows who was in charge of the quality control in that place in the mid 90s, but they should be taken out the back and shot. One front wing will undoubtedly need changed, and the other side is looking ropey too. As the grille was off i got in about with a screwdriver and tested the patches of rust to see how far gone it was. Pleased to report that the wings seem to be the worst affected areas. A sand back and some Kurust took us upto the end of my car funds this month. Coming up... what will become of the cars colour scheme?
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