Red Rallye resto

[Ben_w]

So, before I get into the guts of an update, I feel the need to apologise for the lack of updates (nagging wife + bathroom, / not much spare time or £££ = zero Rallye progress) and then explain that normally, I'm a non violent, rational, calm, big soft human being. The reason for that point will become painfully clear very soon!

So finally, after being in my new job for 6 months, I've managed to wangle a long weekend off and in an effort to try and switch off, I decided to play Rallye. As per the latest PG Tips advert with Vegas and the monkey, everything starts with tea. I can't and won't argue that point and today did!

I rolled the Rallye forward on the drive into the sunlight and began to contemplate how to approach the inner front arches. If you've read the whole thread, you'll know what I'm faced with. If you haven't, every single inch and half the components are covered in this god awful, tar based underseal ****e, and, in reference to my point above about being a normally sane, non violent human, is just about where I loose it big time. Think Michael Douglas in Falling Down.

I would quite happily shoot those who either make this bloody stupid or worse still, use it and slap it all over a Rallye! However, unlike removing this bloody stuff, shooting someone would be a bit too quick and easy. I would quite happily force feed this horrible shit to those people, whilst delivering a near but not quite lethal electric shock to various body parts. They should then be experiencing just about what I'm going through...then repeat a number of times over to ensure the lesson is learnt.....

Anyways, back out of Jekyll and Hyde mode to normal hooman being. Now when I did the underside, it was much easier as it's a large flat expanse. Inner arches are a different ball game. Too many tight angles etc. I'd been told several times a decent tar remover would do the job. Given I've 2/3rds of a gallon tin of Tardis is the garage, I figured game on.

I started with the outer edge of the inner arch. Apologies but I didn't take any before photos on this bit. A spray or two of tardis and then a wipe with the cloth. Bugger me, it does work….(yes, I know,those rusty brackets….they are doing my head in too!!!)





So, happy with that and a proven result, I attacked the arches. Except the stuff here felt like inches thick…..far thicker than the bits I'd done. The tardis was clearly softening it but when attempting to wipe off with the cloth, it wasn't doing much.



Out came the paint scraper….results improved….you can see from this pic just how much there is under there…



Several hours work later and we are at this point, just on one arch!



The more I think about it, the more I think sand blasting wont work. The media will just stick to the underseal stuff. I'm going to contact a couple of places as I wonder if vapour blasting might shift it…..

Update shortly on a load of NOS parts I've got coming

[DeeTurbo]

Did that black gunk actually stop any rust from starting?

I need to strip back some rust and coat in something, I don't want to make the same mistake and accidentally still that stuff on. If only you know what it was.

Could the black gunk be black Waxoyl?

[Ben_w]

Hard to say if it prevented any rust as it had been applied over the top of some of it.........

I guess it probably would prevent rust. Its one of the waxoyl/shuts/Hammerite family of underseals. Either way it's bloody evil. Far, far better ways to protect your underside!

[Ben_w]

Cracked on again this morning.

First job was get a big bag of cloths from my mates garage. £10. Job done.



Next was that suspension leg out of the way. Tried yesterday but couldn't find my hammer to remove the pinch bolt from the hub and to give the hub a bash to free the leg. Found it this morning, all sorted….



Then back to business. Liberal application of Tardis and scraper, followed by more Tardis and rubbing down with a cloth. The justification for doing all this soon became clear. As I've found in other places in the car, and as Willsy's has found in his 309, the factory underseal might look ok, but water is getting in behind and causing this…





Right on the seams too….

Anyways, more scrubbing, rubbing, scraping and swearing about the heat and I'm at this point…







It's nearly there. Gonna see if I can borrow my neighbours pressure washer, apply the Tardis again and give it a blast…..the bit around the lash down point on the chassis leg is proving a pain in the arse to clean and get at. Chassis leg clearly going to benefit from soda blasting too….

[C2K]

I find that IPA (normally diluted to use as panel wipe) is much more effective at removing stuff like that than Tardis - i tried most things cleaning my garage floor tiles and the IPA was very effective but evaporates uber quick so you can't use loads in one sitting.

Dedicated though. Happy to help sometime if i can.

[Ben_w]

More than welcome....many hands etc!

[Ben_w]

If I ever, ever come across a car with this underseal crap on it again, I'm walking away. Don't care how rare, how cheap, how much i might want, it just ain't happening. Ever.

Rant out of the way and off my soapbox, I'll continue! Today's update goes a bit like this:

Borrowed the neighbor's pressure washer first thing to finish off the passenger arch I did yesterday. Took a bit more of the crap off and I'm happy with how it finished up.



Onto the driver's side. Exactly as before, absolutely caked in the stuff so jacked up, wheel off, strut and hub removed. Lots of room. Attacked with Tardis, white spirit and the scraper, it made relative short work of the accessible bits, getting to this stage quite quickly.



Again, failure of the underseal and rust in exactly the same place. I suspect it's down to the holes for the brake pipe brackets.



Continued to clean, found this odd shaped indentation on the chassis leg….



The bracket that holds the charcoal canister continues to annoys me. It needs replacing but it means buying two inner wing strengthening panels to cut them from and at £100, thats not happening….



Not particularly nice around the top mount area on the driver's side….



Removed both front brake pipes and both showing signs of corrosion on corners so will be replacing those..





Thats the worst of the jobs done now. Time to save some £££ to get it blasted.

[DeeTurbo]

Haha, I thought you were going to be selling up with the way you started your post.

Good progress, hopefully it'll be easier from here on in.

[Ben_w]

A bit of a result......

Put something on the 306 forum Facebook page about those rusty inner wing brackets. A guy from New Zealand is breaking a 306 and they don't get rust issues. One pair of lovely sexy rust free brackets on their way to me...



Gotta love the internet! Huge thanks to Brent!

[DeeTurbo]

Wow, great result!

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk

[Matt-Rallye]

Awesome stuff glad to see it hasnt been forgotten about and that your thorough standards are still so high! Really cant wait to see the finished result

[Ben_w]

Yeah, it got put in the back burner for a while as I've been busy getting the bathroom done.

Getting those brackets sorted was incredibly lucky too. Brent won't take anything for them either. Top guy. Just goes to show the power of the internet sometimes. I was really concerned about them as I'd no idea how to sort them out. The one pictured especially as its so weak it contorted awfully when i was unbolting the charcoal canister. It's definitely shot. Suspect they are spot welded so I'm going to find the spot welds and drill out. Will look at having these galvanised before welding them on so I don't end up having the same issue. Still can't understand whyothey weren't done from the factory....

Been talking to a local restoration place in Leicester via Facebook (Faircharm restoration's) They clearly know their stuff. Have suggested it needs blasting with aluminium oxide or garnets. Vapour or soda blasting are too fine to remove what need removing. Have asked them to quote for the blasting work and to paint in two pack etch primer as they've suggested.

[C2K]

Aluminium oxide is what we use at work for blasting the rotors before NDT. It's nice and abrasive but for areas where we are concerned about surface finish (ie blades) we revert to glass bead blasting. Because you're removing something sticky, as well as rust, AlOx should be spot on but you may need to change primer depending on the final surface finish after blasting.

[Ben_w]

Thanks Si.

I think having spoken with them ill be taking the car down for them to have a look at first.

[Ben_w]

New parts arrived today…..

Pair of as new headlight protectors



Pair of brand new still in the unopened bag boot arch carpet trims



And, 10 of the rare clips that hold the skirts to the bottom of the rear arch…



There is a brand new door sill seal on its way too. That's coming direct from a dealer on the continent….

[Ben_w]

Thanks bud. Figured that's what they were.

Another NOS part arrived today. Passenger side door sill seal.....





Looks like my parts man has turned up a driver's side one too.....

[RetroPug]

My comment got deleted somehow

Loving the attention to detail and huge stock of new parts.

[Ben_w]

Cheers bud. Have got a very good parts man helping me out!

[Ben_w]

So these turned up in the post this morning!!!!!



Thats New Zealand to delivered here in 4 days.

[Ben_w]

Did a couple more bits yesterday….

Took the door B pillar trims off the doors. The original ones had been changed for some carbon effect ones. Probably the same time as the centre console was done. Either way, non original, so off they came. Quite possibly original bright red paint underneath!





Original ones are still available from Peugeot at £35. Repro ones are available for about half that. Will probs go original if I can find them.

Had a root around inside the car. Noticed this behind the foot well vents.



Now when I took the engine out and disconnected the heater matrix pipes, they looked like this…




Something not good here. If I didn't know better, I say either the matrix was, at some point, shot and got replaced, or, is knackered. However, it wasn't loosing any coolant at all when I drove it. I'm just bothered as I know the matrix’s on these aren't great and a large number have had them replaced. If I'm going to do it, it might as well be before the rebuild whilst most of the stuff is out of the car anyway. They are just a swine of a job.

Still, one to ponder….

Discovered that the new boot carpet I picked up off eBay isn't in fact the right one, despite it having the right part number. Looks like the original sticker has been moved stickers and as a result, this vinyl stuff is wrong as it should be carpet…



Will attempt to remonstrate with the eBay seller but it's been a long while now…

Last thing was I found these stickers that a guy I know got me. Two original stickers for the front door windows with the words 'Radio Code’ on them. Nothing major but deffo original and service box lists them against my vin!

[C2K]

To have stains like that in the footwell blowers means the matrix died big time at some point. You would've been losing coolant for sure if it was now. Matrix pipes just look like old coolant to me.

I did my matrix recently, genuine Valeo on eBay for not too much cheddar, about 45 or so. Look through the history though and see what's what with regards to changes? Alternatively send a USB inspection camera up there and check it out!

[procta]

ben this is a work of art so far, and I think maybe the start of things to come on here, the last time I saw a build like this was on metro power 10 years ago, which I based mine on. The lad and his dad poured hours and hours into it, it was one of the best SI metros out there. Had some extras wired into it too!
keep at it and it will be worth a fare few quid too!

[Ben_w]

Thanks Procta!

Won't be any extras in this one. Absolutely standard. The only things I'm considering are perhaps a pair of cams when I rebuild the engine and a ph1 Xsara rack but only considerations at the mo....everything else, just as Peugeot intended.

Will take me a fair while but I'll get there. Aiming for her to be one of the very best there is.

[procta]

Thanks Procta!

Won't be any extras in this one. Absolutely standard. The only things I'm considering are perhaps a pair of cams when I rebuild the engine and a ph1 Xsara rack but only considerations at the mo....everything else, just as Peugeot intended.

Will take me a fair while but I'll get there. Aiming for her to be one of the very best there is.

That's the thing ben, shame there are not many people like you doing this sort of thing yet on here. With a phase 1.
what will happen, in a few years time. Standard cars will be very, very well sort after, you just have to look at the metro side now. Standard cars are more sort after and go for more than modified ones.
Keep at it ben

[RetroPug]

Thanks Procta!

Won't be any extras in this one. Absolutely standard. The only things I'm considering are perhaps a pair of cams when I rebuild the engine and a ph1 Xsara rack but only considerations at the mo....everything else, just as Peugeot intended.

Will take me a fair while but I'll get there. Aiming for her to be one of the very best there is.

That's the thing ben, shame there are not many people like you doing this sort of thing yet on here. With a phase 1.
what will happen, in a few years time. Standard cars will be very, very well sort after, you just have to look at the metro side now. Standard cars are more sort after and go for more than modified ones.
Keep at it ben

I have a low miles ph.1, but it is modified, and the lacquer is all peeling off.

[Piggy]

...everything else, just as Peugeot intended.

Then better put the rust back where it was

[Ben_w]

So,

Back from a week on the South Coast and with not much else to do, I thought I'd do a bit more on the Rallye.

Not much more I can do on the front end now until I've same as some pennies for the blasting work it needs. However, I had noticed that the front hubs were in a bit of a state so I decided to resurrect the electrolytic rust removal set up and dunk one into that to see how well they came up in comparison with doing the same in Deox C. To be honest, I'm expecting similar results, just perhaps a bit quicker this way.

Unfortunately I didn't take any before photos…..I did take it out after about 4 hours to clean off any loosened rust as this seems to help with the overall process.



Yes, that's an old scrap handbrake for a VW Beetle…..was the only spare steel I had lying about that would fit the bucket. The old set up I did in a large black plastic Dustin and I hung an old brake disc in it, which worked fine but didn't need such a big set up this time and the brake disc wouldn't fit!

After a few hours…starting to clean up nicely.



I'd also discovered this earlier. One of the threaded holes in the hub for the disc mounting screws. Looks like there has been an issue at some point as I'm willing to bet my backside that's a snapped tap in there…..not sure my OEM OCD will put up with that. If its a tap, it will be hardened so no drilling it out...what's worst is the grinding marks from where it's been ground flat!



Anyways, I then got the car onto axle stands again as I'm planning on having the subframe off later. Took the opportunity to inspect the bits I'd done underneath. Pretty happy considering it's been 18 months since I did this lot….









Just needs a wipe clean and should be as good as the day I did it.

[Ben_w]

Anyone like soup?

Cooked up a proper batch of Rallye hub soup overnight….!

So the hub I'd started on cleaning in the electrolysis tank yesterday got left cooking in the tank all night….. didn't get a picture but it wasn't pretty!

Anyway, dragged out the hub, gave it a good old scrub in the sink (which pleased the wife no end) and it ended up looking like this…



Quite pleased with that. I then attacked some of the bits in the corners with a wire brush in a drill and it looks even better but I've not got a pic of that.

Here's the other non cleaned up with the cleaned one. You get an idea of how good this method is.



Managed to break both the abs sensor covers earlier on when I was cleaning that crap out from the front arches. They are an odd kind of material. Not sure if it's plastic or a ceramic but it's brittle and breaks easily. Not really an issue though, should be easy enough to replace as they are still available it seems.



Then had a look at the cable brackets. These bolt to the hub's and hold the abs sensor cables. I think they hold the flexi hoses for the brakes too. Started out like this..



2-3 hours each in the tank and they look a bit more reasonable.



Still trying to figure standard finish but a replacement, genuine Peugeot part looks like this…



The originals are pitted and need some more work before I can even think about zinc plating. New, genuine ones are £8 each. Think that's probably decision made….

Back to the quest for originality. Can't be sure the hub's didn't come as a bare metal finish. Parts of them looked like they had been painted black and I noticed this once the one had been cleaned up.



Certainly evidence of paint. The one thing I don't know is when that was applied. So something else to try and find out. Other hub is cooking overnight. Clean that up tomorrow and then think about taking the subframe off.

[procta]

looking great ben!! are you going to be using stone chip?

[Ben_w]

On the hub's? No. Will be painting these. Need to investigate methods. Thinking etch prime and paint