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Stormer Alloys

Nasty scrape down drivers door

Tatty interior

Had him running for a couple of hours and no overheating or water loss at all. Checked engine oil (bit low and black) also checked Auto Gearbox fluid (low) so that may account for the naff gear changes.

The rear drivers side wing has been bodged at some point with filler - good paint job, but you can tell if you know what the body line should be like.

Managed to get the wipers working, was the connector to the motor - they're a bit jittery but they work.

All in all he's a bit of a shed, with a good engine. The interior is shot, including the dash (vents sticking out and it's all bent - think badly fitted after the heater matrix was replaced).

All looks eminently fixable- seat leather is an easy refurb, and door could be blown over on just that panel (can't see if it's just a scrape or dented though).
The wheels- if you swap them make sure you swap the spigot rings as well, and make sure you stock up on Fixadent. They may look pretty but they won't ride as well as the standard wheel/ tyre combination. Chris might have a view on that as I think he has 22" Kahn's or something on his.

The scrape might just be lacquer? Wet it. If it disappears when wet then you'll get away with just clearcoating it.

As OB says, the seat leather is an easy fix. I followed in his footsteps and bought dye from scuffmaster to re-do my beige steering wheel. Looks brand new.

Orangebean wrote:

All looks eminently fixable- seat leather is an easy refurb, and door could be blown over on just that panel (can't see if it's just a scrape or dented though).
The wheels- if you swap them make sure you swap the spigot rings as well, and make sure you stock up on Fixadent. They may look pretty but they won't ride as well as the standard wheel/ tyre combination. Chris might have a view on that as I think he has 22" Kahn's or something on his.

Definitely a nasty dented in lower door..... so needs replacing i think. I also noticed the passenger door is not easy to open - so not sure whats going on there. The rear wing bodge is more of a worry on the overall quality of the shell in all honesty..... it's bubbling through the filler.

I did think the same about those wheels - I changed my original 16's for a set of RR Sport 19's and it's OK but noticeably less 'soft' shall we say. Was a bit worried that I'd make it harsh.

It's now sunk on the passenger lower side this evening so another issue - could be nothing more than an O-ring i guess.

blueplasticsoulman wrote:

The scrape might just be lacquer? Wet it. If it disappears when wet then you'll get away with just clearcoating it.

As OB says, the seat leather is an easy fix. I followed in his footsteps and bought dye from scuffmaster to re-do my beige steering wheel. Looks brand new.

The drivers leather is much worse than it looks - very very badly cracked and very crispy to the touch.

I’ve got 20” khans, I must admit the ride is harder, but the handling is superb, I throw it around like it’s a car..

no10chris wrote:

I’ve got 20” khans, I must admit the ride is harder, but the handling is superb, I throw it around like it’s a car..

Blimey - now I'm thinking about keeping them!

Hmmm... this car is alive I think! Started to dismantle all the bits from the other car ready to take the knackered engine out... and ......

Alarm starts going off on this one! Unlocked and it stopped - locked, all seems OK. Half hour later alarm again. Battery fine as car started perfectly. I've ended up having to disconnect it! Sigh. What is it with these bloody cars!? Hopefully this weekend the other car will be free of engine and this time I am goign to clean up the engine compartment, and also check steering box etc while there's lots of space.

Well my nephew came over last week to help me get the engine out of Michael, and to start the removal of the 'new' engine.

The day started well and we got the old one to the point of needing a lift off the mounts and a quick drop to undo the bellhousing bolts. We stopped for lunch and then thought we'd start the new one and get it running nicely up to temperature so we could check it over fully.

IT WON'T START!!

We added £5 of fuel as the yellow light was on. It pumps fuel to the rail ok as far as I can tell.... It has a spark (although looks a tad weak to me)... and we had a fully charged battery PLUS my nephews Fiesta hooked up with jump leads running.

It sometimes tries to fire but the starter grinds and then looses drive to the flywheel just before it starts properly. It just won't actually start. I tried to swap the coils form Michael as I renewed then last year, but no change.

I wonder if I swap the starter it will help it start up by spinning better? What else could it be? After goign at it for several hours we gave up as it got cold again! Sigh

HAPPY NEW YEAR by the way!

If the starter is losing drive then it has to be a problem with either the starter or the ring gear. It's a pre-engaged starter so should stay engaged all the time you keep the key turned not lose drive like the old bendix type.

I had one that was running nice, stopped and it wouldn’t start, like you the fuel light was on, took 3 cans before it would start, give it a shot of easy start, should fire up !

Gilbertd wrote:

If the starter is losing drive then it has to be a problem with either the starter or the ring gear. It's a pre-engaged starter so should stay engaged all the time you keep the key turned not lose drive like the old bendix type.

Thanks - I thought as much..... so I'll swap it out and fingers crossed.

no10chris wrote:

I had one that was running nice, stopped and it wouldn’t start, like you the fuel light was on, took 3 cans before it would start, give it a shot of easy start, should fire up !

I thought I was being naughty thinking about easystart - but I'll bung some more petrol in and try some too....

Like Chris says- from empty it can take 15 litres to pull though enough to run- especially if it's on a slope

Orangebean wrote:

Like Chris says- from empty it can take 15 litres to pull though enough to run- especially if it's on a slope

I've been ill so not tried but would it still fill the fuel rail if this was the case?

Mine was starting for a few seconds, so fuel must of been present to a degree, but once it fired the pressure wasn’t good enough, if your pulling it out, I wouldn’t bother to much as you know it was running ok before, I bet once transplanted it starts straight away

no10chris wrote:

Mine was starting for a few seconds, so fuel must of been present to a degree, but once it fired the pressure wasn’t good enough, if your pulling it out, I wouldn’t bother to much as you know it was running ok before, I bet once transplanted it starts straight away

Good point - just wanted to be 100% sure..... I'll chuck some more fuel in and swap the starter as it's a pretty quick job hopefully

Small update - damn the snow! I started to strip the car down - just before (and during) I tried to start him and he almost ran - few chugs then died and the exhaust warmed up a bit so he is firing .... so that's good enough for me - no more bothering to start till the lump is swapped over.

So dash is removed and the blend motors are out (useful as I need a set - assuming they're OK!)
Various bits off - and plenty of spare screws and bolts now! LOL

I'll start to pop stuff up on the Bay of E I guess to see any interest - and then go from there - hopefully recover some of the cost.

I will swap over the Stormers as not only are they nice looking but the tyres are a bit better than on my RR Sport wheels. I'll need to find some really cheap and crappy wheels for it so the scrap man can take it away when I am finished with it - any ideas for the cheapest option?

Hopefully if the weather improves I can have Michael up and running in a month or two....

You most probably could find some steels, otherwise look for a cheap set of classic wheels.. if I see anything I’ll let you know

Classic wheels won't fit, PCD is much larger. Classic, Defender and Disco 1 use one size, P38, Disco 2 and later stuff use a different size.