"Carry" - A Rouge Wagon

[kiermcc]

Prologue

Air, fuel, spark and exhaust. My mechanic used to tell me stories about the old days, a time of peace where cars lived in harmony without complicated electronics. But that all changed when the ECUs attacked. Only the classics, protected by masters of care, could stop the death of automitive joy. Thirty years passed and I procured this beast from a stout fellow up in the Lakes. She was spritely and eager, but rode like a sinking boat - the shocks had had it. And yes, maybe the exhaust fell off. So on order: suspension, brakes, paint and more. Some people believe that she won't make it. But I believe, Carry can save the world.

 

  

exhaust.mp3

[tooSavvy]

'brake ,eh?

Getter Up... Moar piccies >>>>> Cmon, Goodbuddie 😉

 

2sav

[kiermcc]

A Bump In the Road

It was just another unsuspecting right-hander, but this time 20L of water was careering it's way across the boot liner and SMASH. That was it, the plastic boot trim had met it's match. This was a job for an interior specialist. So I'll leave it to him to describe the process.

Quote

"There was two plastic sh*tty things: the seatbelt doo-daa had to be removed at great peril. Many screws were grappled with. Unlike the modern plastic doo-goodies, in the Carina, there are bolts holding the interior firmly in place." - Nick Harris

Once he had torn the interior apart, he was quick to MacGyver some plastic bracing from our waste Halfords packaging, held down with a fair dollop of Gorrilla Glue (on the hidden side of the trim) and some clamps. Perhaps this would do the trick?

 

  

[tooSavvy]

..... sounding like the opening scenes of a Raymond Chandler detective story.....

About time something interesting happened about the place 😉

 

Ch. 2  ????  "C'mon, c'mon.... Mr Derek" as Basil Brush would say.

 

2sav

[kiermcc]

But the interior specialist turned out to be a different kind of special, and the crack fell apart faster than my parent's marriage. So under said specialist's supervision, I scraped off of the sediment and scavenged some stock that suited the situation, settling on sanding down the surface and setting super glue under a stronger, custom-shaped brace - it is now solid.

[kiermcc]

Windows on the World

It's a left, so on goes the indicator. But if, like me, you haven't gotten used to the fact that the indicators are still on the right like the Japanese models: you've hit the wrong stalk and it's a jolly wave from the wipers. The slosh rides up the windshield to block directly the driver's eyeline. Great. That reminds me, those rusty arms really do need a lick of paint, complete with posh new blades.

  

Unbeknowgnst, our neighboor approaches.

Quote

"What's with all the masking? Who's painting your wipers? Stevie Wonder?" - Ant

[kiermcc]

Calm Before the Storm

This all started when Carry's former keeper banged her backwards right on his doctor's doorstep, leaving a gash in her backside. So, one thing led to another and the engine I'm now considering for a swap is the VQ35DE. Anyway, off came the bumper. Once we stopped trying to remove the bodywork from it's bracing, we found that the 4 bolts securing the bumper's brace to the car came off quite easily. Excessive preperations not only stripped the paint from the plastic, but also the skin from my back. 80, bondo, 80, 180, 400 and finally 800.

 

  

 

After a couple of days the bumper was quarantined inside our makeshift paint-shop, directly below our flatmate's bedroom. The house trusty Henry ready and waiting, with his eager tube slipped down the basement vent. Any moment now the ridiculously expensive 'TOYOTA MAPLE RED' paint would arrive, and it would be the correct colour.

 

  

[tooSavvy]

Yes..... I have 'Stevie Wonder' poondland matt black painted my wiper arms, too 😉

Local free paper served for masking (tore a slit as req) but it wasn't blowy so no overspray issues....

Nice Wagon.... Not so many about, eh?

 

2sav

[PaulinhoT]

All looking good, and an interesting read, thanks.

[kiermcc]

@TooSavvy: I hope you did a better job than we did. Yes I haven't noticed many. The wagon is very practical - I can sleep comfortably in the back.
@PaulinhoT: It might look good so far. The quality of my writing may detioriate as I direct more of my energy onto the car.

My eyes are peeled.

[kiermcc]

One spirited drive later and the interior crack has opened once more, pesky thing. This is something we will leave until we need to strip the interior to get to the rear struts.

[kiermcc]

Gas Gas Gas

One flicked switch and our little Henry starts his long hard draw on our basement bong. Only one coat down and I too started to get light headed. The INFOWARS face-mask might stop chemtrails, but it didn't stop primer. On the bright side, the paint was looking good. Coat number two, by this point I'm laughing whether I like it or not (I do). The house shreeks, it's windows flapped up as if to say: 'I surrender.' - yet there was ammo still to burn. Fearing for my life, I opportunistically donned my gas-mask. This deeply concerned my housemates, whose floorboards have gaps in them. One of them, fleeing his chamber, launched a domestic on me:

Quote

"Oh God. Spray paint fanatics compounded the pollen and made the end of the degree more strangling than Coronavirus." - Oliver

 

  

Good-Lord forbid that our landlord find this thread or our omissions may become unravelled. One-wipe-800 grit the next morning left the parts looking smooth. But the same could not be said for our internal organs. So the next day we moved the operation outside, into the blistering English summer. Unlike the primer, the base coat left the can rather like a curry leaves you - initially satisfied, but later devastated (when a part-spent can begins to spurt). Even so, splatterings upon splatterings - interlaced with a light pass of 800 every third coat - left us with an acceptable finish.
 

  

 

Another day blessed with good weather. Big heat means shiny lacquer. So shiny it was that on the very last coat, captivated by my own reflection, I blasted a spot. Blast! Thankfully, the grille, mirrors and my free-time was spared by an ancient bottle of T-Cut which was generously donated by Nick's father. Bolting the car back together did not go uninterrupted by the twitching of curtains and twisting of necks. Heck, even the busdriver stopped to have a look. All in all, besides a spot of rust and a few chips, our Carry is looking stellar.

 

  

[PaulinhoT]

A lovely looking car.

[kiermcc]

A Spring In Our Step

Driving along the lines of something went BANG - so our suspension needs replacing. We began with my tiny socket set. It didn't take us long to run into a bolt we couldn't knock off. Opting to invest in some tools, we got the springs off easy, but dismantling the blown shocks called for a 50mm spanner. This, we didn't have...

 

  

[tooSavvy]

Fronts = cartridge/insert. Rears = full leg.

Got all mine from MicksGarage, Ireland.

Quick and direct from stock....

I did do some 'eBay digging', originally, but some odd dampers would be listed in Croatia or Belarus with vague charcoal sketch imagery 😞

Mick was the way to go 😉

Springs are original and clean.

The red is very fetching, m8

 

2sav

[kiermcc]

I only think the front needs doing, we'll see. Is Mick's a specialist for these cars?

[kiermcc]

Imagine My Shock

So, as usual, we looked to the kindness of our local community to navigate the highly pressurised pistons out of the struts. Too often our savior, Ant was the man for the job. The guy tentatively clamped the first strut into a vice, aiming it upwards at 45 degrees. He slowly began to twist on the knuckle with his Jurassic pipe-wrench.

Quote

"If this thing goes off, it's going straight through those &^%$£@@ floorboards and Jan's sitting right there." - Ant

He gestures to the living room above. I cover my ears. SSPEWSHHHHHHH. The fluid spurts all over the floor. I let out sigh of relief. The new shocks are self-contained and slipped in aided by the old fluid. Thankfully these came with a new cap that replaces the need for a 50mm spanner with that of one for a big hammer and a screwdriver that you don’t care for.

 

  

[tooSavvy]

33 minutes ago, kiermcc said:

I only think the front needs doing, we'll see. Is Mick's a specialist for these cars?

MicksGarage lists a lot of obscure stuff....

The web front page/search is really good and will say if they are 'on the shelf' = ETA to you.

Have you put brandnew/different rate springs on there?

 

2sav

[kiermcc]

Will check them out.

1" lower and soft then firm variable spring rate. German Vogtlands.

[kiermcc]

[kiermcc]

Breaking Bad

The last thing to do was to bleed the brakes. I'd never done this before... My repair manual told me something along the lines of 'spin the bleed nipple firmly half a turn': I immediately sheered the threads in the wheel cylinder. The quest for a new one would last all of two days. In the meantime, a local hot-rod mechanic gave us some sage advice:

• Eggs in the radiator.
• Fairy Liquid as brake fluid.
• Pour water in your Battery.
• Listen to your heart.

 

[kiermcc]

Rims Real Big

I had these Borbets lying around from my old 306 XRDT. I only had it about a month before a bus wrote it off. Insurance wouldn't pay for the wheels, and I could barely give them away let alone get decent returns on them.

 

  

After they sat for a month, we sidled up those deep dishes against Carry's steel wheels and had a vision - one that would not be realised without toil. This all had to be done before we move out. The offset looked about right, and the diameter was perfect. I knew the 185/50 r16s would give a good balance between comfort and responsiveness, whilst the heavy alloy would facilitate smooth wheel rebound after bumps. Thankfully, their centre-bore is oversized so no issues there. Our first problem was that the Peugeot's PCD is 4x108 (unlike the Toyota's 4x100) - some Lithuanian eBay adapters would solve that. But the hubs are studded, so how to fit a socket around a nut within the adapter? Internal drive tuner nuts are too long and would contact the wheel. Best to order first and think about later, I concluded. So yes it turned out that we needed 19mm (rather than 21mm) nuts. The only available candidates were Ford, and cost £44 pounds from HK Automotive. But some lazy measurements would see us in the woods yet still. A few hours of shaping the wheel's back face later and they were ready to go on the car.

 

  

 

Let me tell you how it is. Like that? Buy that. 16s ride that. Ladies, Gentlemen, gangstas, pimps, b&*^3s, stunnas, shiners. The fitment is excellent, however the fenders do need to be rolled perhaps 2cm or so. I'm very happy with the look. After all was said and done, we found some 19mm M12 nuts that would have fit inside the adapter perfectly (and so not require any shaping of the wheels) in my mate's possession. Here's what he had to say about it:

Quote

"Sorry." - Nick Harris

  

[PaulinhoT]

Oh I like the roof box 😄

[tooSavvy]

The wheel nots I use for my OZ Polaris are 'stock' sleeved taper FORD.... You can see them on virtually any FoMoCo priduct on any street.

From a local breakers... 16 for a Fiver! 😉

Nice rimzz

 

2sav

[kiermcc]

Dad Dad Dad

Due to the coronavirus (and my parents kicking me out of the house to enforce social distancing) I have been forced to move into the back of the Carina. Pictured here I enjoy one ASDA mac and cheese: