And so we head into August, with a long list of jobs to do and pretty much all the spares to get them sorted. Sunday morning duly arrived and with it the opportunity to take a major step forward towards S525 passing a MoT test. A car loaded to the gunwhales with bits, wheels and kit to get cracking, boxes containing more presents to compliment the delivery already at the workshop, and a grim determination that today was going to see this car burst into life and get ready for the road.
S525, evidently enjoying its well-deserved rest, had other ideas.
Making a start; the wheels are finally replaced for OEM steelies
Bang on 10am we approached her in earnest and, shorn of it battery, stood behind it to push the pre-production 75 into the workshop. Except it wouldn’t budge, largely due to the flat rear tyre on the rear nearside. A more committed shove eventually had it creeping forward and down the gentle slope to meet the trolley jack and axle stands. Within five minutes the mix n’ match alloys were off and the original-spec steelies, wearing Continental tyres, were filling the arches. Just doing this was a significant item ticked off the list; for too long the car has had to put up with incorrect round bits, and while the bare black steel wheels may look a tad functional, just getting them out of storage and into action was a relief. But that was the simplest job of the day, with much more to come.
Pete and Lates get their heads around what to do next
(above right)Good timing: the covers are off and time to change the belts
Out with the old - coolant being drained
(above right) new belts ready to be installed following new tensioner, water pump and alternator
First big job of the day was to complete a major service interval, requiring new belts, fluids and plugs. This would be joined by installing a new alternator – the old one had suffered a huge crack in its casing and is scrap – along with plugging in a new IPK courtesy of XPart. Plugs straight in, timing cover off, sump plug undone, filter unscrewed and bottom hose unclipped, things were beginning to move apace. The new alternator demanded a small amount of fettling to the upper bracket, but that and the belts soon slotted into their new homes and Castol Magnatec flowing down the oilways with fresh OAT following suit - I’ve seen it used several times now but the vacumn tool still fascinates me. With the service completed the battery was hooked up and three seconds churning saw the engine cough, then purr into life, the cam followers rapidly taking up the hydraulic slack and the K series unit settling down into a quiet, rhythmic idle.
When you consider the life this car has had, and indeed the level of abuse thrown at it from being a factory hack, the engine is in excellent health. Actually, forget all that, the engine is in superb health anyway, with both Lates and Pete commenting that it sounds the smoothest one they can remember. A pity then that the bay in which it sits looks so awful, but that’s just a cosmetic thing and thirty minutes with a power washer will see the underbonnet in Arran white rather than the grey dust and muck it presently displays.
For a short interlude the passenger front door card was whipped off for the replacement to be slotted on. Not difficult job, but the leading edge clips decided to not locate and so it was flapping around – it will be coming off soon again in any case so for appearances we left it as it was. More important was the instrument pack, which you will recall was a later ZT item the rest of the car plainly didn’t want to know. Out of the brown box it came and the plugs duly connected before testbook was hooked up and the install began. And in just a minute decided it was still not happy and really didn’t want to play. The issue now lies with the Light Switch Module, which we now realised was also not original, and will have to be replaced by a new one. So the instrument pack was disconnected and put back in its box for the next session in a fortnight’s time.
Although we were evidently not going to progress quite as far as we hoped there was still time to do a couple more things, one of them being to give it a short test drive on the private lane available, and this pointed out two things to us. First, the car is very quiet and surprisingly nippy, partly due to the new rubber and the absence of heavy, power-sapping air conditioning and electrical toys such as the rear window motors. Okay, the car doesn’t exactly leap off the line in the thunderous manner of a ZT260, but it certainly moves away quite smartly – which immediately showed up a failed top engine mount from the rather dramatic bang as the engine rocked backwards under load. An easy fix thankfully, and will be done asap. But overall the new springs and correct wheel/tyre combination really do transform the car and it feels planted yet light, giving the driver a lot of confidence very quickly. The great thing to report is that S525 now starts, stops, steers and literally glides along, and that the mechanical issues are – bar the IPK and engine mount – now all resolved. It really does feel like the 100,000 miles it has so far put under its wheels were little more than a stroll round the block and there’s loads more life in it yet.
90 minutes of wiping down and a session with the mop got rid of the grime and old paint. Now it just needs a wash....
If only the same could be said of the bodywork. We knew it would need some quite detailed work before it could face a spraygun, such is the number of dents and scrapes it has accumulated. But we have so far not been completely sure just how much work was really needed, and to get a definitive list together meant a the car had to be given a wash and mop down. As there is little point in being fussy at this stage a nylon bristled brush went inside the chrome trim and all the shutlines to remove the algae and hardened dirt, followed by a slightly diluted spray of engine cleaner and a wipe down to get the grime and muck off the car. With the worst of the Longbridge film now removed, it was time to get the T-Cut and the mop out for a session. The intention was to get rid of the inevitable fade the colour was hiding under, as well as remove the adhesive from the security markings and give us a much better idea in spotting what might be rust, a dent or just some limpet-like tar hanging on for dear life. One bucket of soapy water to remove all the resulting muck later and we finally had a car we could go over properly. Under the rather off-putting grey-white exterior the paint was in quite good condition. The car had not, contrary to earlier belief, been sprayed before in another shade of white – it was purely the amount of fade in the top coat that made it look so much darker, and the mopping had brought it back to life, matching up with the coat exposed from the careless removal of the security decals. Those markings have in fact proved to be a real annoyance as their application and subsequent removal using razor blades has left the bodywork scarred with tramlines, effectively forcing the decision to go for a new coat of paint in the future.
So the list for chapter one of the refurb is finally drawing to a close. The outstanding tasks to have the car ready for the MoT are:
- New LSM & code IPK
- New top engine mount
- Fit new front indicator housings
- Refit rear high-level brake light
- Replace grille
- Replace steering wheel
- New pedal rubbers
- Refit rear plinth
So we’ll set a deadline for the car to have its ticket before the end of August – that allows for rectifying any other issues that crop up – and get ready for the next two stages; the interior and the bodywork. We know one thing for certain though – this car is putting up a good fight!
Looking better and better, S525 actually has a bit of a shine about it. Now it looks half-decent and runs sweetly, thanks to the magic of Lates.