Eefy's White Scala

[eefy]

Well had a proper look and Edmundator your right, will have to get the car in with me mate at some point to do some welding to sort out thise rust patches.

Next job on the list was to remove the rear anti-roll bar due to one of the clamp straps rusting through so was going to refurb it etc. Unfortunatly I rounded one of the bolt heads :( I was going to struggle to get the other one loose anyway as the fuel tank was in the way (had the car on ramps so I was going to jack am i right in thinking that the beam would have rotated to allow access???) ended up just fitting the replacement strap, checked over the rubber bushes and althougn they were slightly perished there was no play around the bar :)

broken strap-



nearly there-



And done-





Since i had some time decided to look at the front steering its had a slight bit of play in it and the steering wheel isnt straignt, so had a look at the track rod ends, and all good but did notice that the wheel bearing noise as i though wa actually the wheel rubbing on the arch!!! so took it to the local Smiley garage to get the tracking done. Was shocked when he said the tracking wouldnt sort out the camber as they dont look at that!!!!!! he said it needed to go over to over to a specialist performance garage. So will be popping over to Awesome near me next weekend :)


Concerning the anti-roll bar looks like I'll be removing the rear beam next spring and doing a full refurb in it :)

[Funky Diver]

Good to see the correct tools of Maul Grips, Screwdriver and hacksaw to hand. But where's the hammer??? You'd have a full tool set there if that was in shot! :D

[eefy]

It its mate just behind my head 5lb lump hammer!!!!!! well if its worth doing

[eefy]

My otherhalf got me this little lot for my Birthday and today was time to fit em :)



Fingers were crossed that due to the front strut brace being for a MK1 Golf it would be a simple fit!!!!!! yeah right is anything on a 20 year old car that a Rocco isnt simple!!!! first problem was the braket the holds the idle speed boost (although according to Haynes this is only on cars with AC!!!!) with a little persuasion the bracket was opened up to allow it to sit round the brace-



also added a few washers to set it off a little more-



Next was the passenger side, all went well until I dropped the bonnet :o and it fouled on the top of the strut :( having a good look round the problem was the brace bracket fouling on the coolant expansion tank so the only option was some customizing!!!!!!







fitted everthing again as well as pushing the tank down as far as possible in the bracket and still it was fouling the bonnet :(

had another look and a little more trimming of the strut bracket



and the lip on the expansion tank that holds it on top of the tank bracket was filed off very carefully!!!!



everything seemed fine until I tensioned the bar up and it lifted the brackets to the passenger side and you guessed it, so loosened it up and used a block of wood and a 5lb persuasion tool to get it back dowm. Unfortunatly didnt notice it one time and added a healthy dint in the cross member under the bonnet-



The bar was then adjusted again to lift it to clear the accelerator cable-



Finally it was fitted the the bonnet shut all it required was a few hours, an angle grinder (oh grind aluminuim dont try and cut it, it shatters!!!!!!) and a lump hammer!!!!!



It was then the turn of the rear one with apprehension I started and 10 mins later my boot went from looking like this-



to this-



oh also fitted the K&N airfilter :) all I need now is a test drive

[eefy]

Well with the otherhalf working till late for the next few weeks it means I have a few evening to myself so started doing some cleaning up in the engine bay, the first thing tackled that rusty master brake cylinder-

Before-



During rust treatment-


After a liberal coating of Hammerite-



Much better :)

Jobs for tonight strip out the radiator cowl and get it painted as well, got some satin black in the shed, that’ll do nicely :)

[eefy]

Next job tackled was the radiator cowl, thought this would just need a quick rub down some primer and a covering of satin black, fo got for a moment it will be coming out of a 19 year old car!!!!

As you will see there was hidden rust along the bottom and inside-







So hit it with a stiff wire brush and then some files to clear off the rust and give the visible parts a smoother finish, fortunately it was only surface rust, then it had a damn good clean-





During a liberal rust treatment-





Then it was cleaned again and degreased with some meths and had a coat of primer (I was planning to get 2 coats on but I ran out!!!!!)



So next day, finally got that second coat of primer on it-



Then it was the satin black 3 coats,-



And just to let you see the pitted surface where the worst of the rust was-



I also gave the fan and motor a quick clean-





Already for going back in, almost looks new :)





And back in



Much better:)

Next jobs are sorting out the 2 rust stops around the rear number plate, fingers crossed for the weather this week

[lewp91]

looking good mate, wheels really suit it,
ill be an owner of a white scala 89 1.8 kjet like yours,
only difference is that my interior is white and black,
good rolling resto :)

[Risocco]

I feel your pain dude, recently did my cowling and motor, looks like non of them survived without rusting!

Good job tho

Alex

[eefy]

Well decided it was time with the good weather to get a few jobs done in the rocco :)

First was a service, its not had one for about 18months although the oils been changed, was going to do the fuel filter but I couldn’t get the it undone and didn’t was to force it and crack the fuel line. This will be a job for another day.

I’m also off to a mate on Monday night to get the camber on the passenger side front wheel sorted, its been rubbing lightly for awhile, but it will be sorted for the national meet.

With some time left this afternoon decided to tackle the rocker cover, never removed one of these so it was all new, with a trip to GSF bagging a rocker cover gasket kit for £3.50 I started stripping it out







All out it had a good external clean with meths, as did the braces and nuts







Then it was painting time, so what colour, silver, satin black, no I decided to go for WHITE, yes in know white in an area that guaranteed to get oil in it, still its looking good-



And after 3 coats-



It will get one more coat tomorrow morning then fitted tomorrow night, more pics tomorrow :)

Oh also decided to do a job I’ve been meaning to do since last year-

[lewp91]

cant wait to see this.. i was planning on doing a complete white engine

[DT1]

Looking good.

Your engine bay is a lot cleaner than mine.

[G Beats]

Very nice looking good car our first mk 2 scala dx engine car scalaer was white like yours got rear ended at 40 mph was a right off only done 70,000 from new, seen the way you fitted the upper front strut brace some thing we will have to look into doing some time.

[eefy]

Well fitted the white rocker cover yesterday, only problem was I used high temperature paint that needs to cure at temperature ie when the engine running or in an oven. The otherhalf wouldn’t have liked the idea of using ours, so when fitting it the paint got some damage and when I wiped it clean, lost some!!!!! Still a little touch up later and it was looking good.





I also discovered that I’d made a school boy error and over filled it with oil when I serviced it so had to let some out, I’m hoping that this is the reason why oil is coming out of the filler cap and getting my new white cover dirty!!!!! If not then I’ve discovered why I’m going through oil!!!!!! Think ordering a new one just in case is on the cards :)

[eefy]

well after nearly 4 hours split over 2 nights the outside of the car is ready for the national meet, think my neighbours though think I'm mad, lastnight over 2 hours I rinsed, finished t-cutting, washed, dryed, polished, washed!!!!!!

so heres how it looks-











just some touching up of the paint to do and a quick go over the interior :)

[eefy]

small update :)