mrabody wrote:
You bought a P38 without possessing any mechanical skills? Something tells me this thread is going to be EPIC!
He will have by the time he's finished!
But he's got cleaning skills that even have Morat feeling jealous! I've never been one for cleaning cars I must admit, probably one reason why I don't like the Lightstone interior. I just know that after I'd owned it for a couple of weeks it would look like the before pictures....
It's good to have an ally :) The only problem now is that Marty's workshop is at the end of a filthy track so there's very little point cleaning anything there!
Anyway, the point of $seasoncamp is to fix the nasty oily bits :)
Well the interior is pretty much finished now - just a few finishing bits required so I thought I'd start on the outside today. I decided before starting that I'd do a panel at a time - the process is clean, apply a fallout remover, clay bar, first stage polish, second stage polish and then wax. Plus, by the time I've done all that quite a bit of time has passed and frankly, it gets boring!
I decided on quite an aggressive polish & pad combination, partly becasue the paint all over is pretty terrible and secondly because this isn't a show queen and I'm trying not to be too precious about it.
Fallout remover working
I then realised it was gone 12pm and the mini cask runs out this weekend so I passed some time
Starting point
Masked up and working areas set
50/50 after first pass
There were some deeper scratches showing
I hit them with a heavier scratch remover
Mid way
Door waxed and complete (poor 4pm light by this time)
Still lots to do, but happy with the start. It isn't perfect, still chips and scrapes but it is looking more presentable.
👍 Some great paint correction skills there!
Fancy doing a green one? :)
Well, this might be the end if the P38 dream. I'm currently sitting on the side of the M4 waiting for a recovery truck :-(
Ticking noise, then steam then power loss. Managed to get over to the hard shoulder. Looks like oil has exited between the block and the head. Head gasket? Anyway, getting it recovered home and then will make a plan.
Gutted.
Doesn't sound too good, but it's not always worst case scenario.
Once you've had it recovered to your repair venue of choice, walk away from it and investigate in the light of a new day.
It does sound like a head gasket, but they're almost service items!
Remember, these engines date from long before the time when engines effectively became sealed units designed to last for the warranty period.
I'd 2nd all the head gasket diagnosis's, not a hard job, more a pain in the a***, once done you know you've got lots more miles without that worry.
The one I'm doing at the moment is the worst yet, took out at least 12 litres of mixed oil and water, is this one destined to be saved ? Can't answer that yet !
Even if the engine is toast, you can pick up a decent second-hand one for 500 quid or so.