August. Not perhaps one of the most memorable months to have occurred, mainly down to the miserable weather, but at least we can now say that S525 is ready for taking through the MoT. Oh yes, it’s now got the all-important bits installed and working. Joy, and even, of joys!
Another Sunday morning, grey and a bit windy, and over to Lates to hopefully overcome some critical hurdles. You may remember from the last instalment that we were unable to get the instrument pack installed as the light switch module was shaking it’s head at, well, everything. It meant sourcing a new one – and due to the spec of the car, the basic version as well – but as ever Liz at XPart came up trumps and had one waiting for us. At the same time we got a new top engine steady as we knew the original was shot, and fingers crossed that would cure the rather loud bang every time the car moved off.
Changing the upper engine steady mounting is a doddle really; just three bolts hold it to the inner wing and two secure it to the rest of the assembly. A fifth bolt, hidden roud the corner, is for locating the mounting so it just needs to be slackened off. With the old out the way – and looking even worse than we thought – the new one went in and the engine felt immediately far more rigidly secured to the car. Well, I thought so.
A test drive confirmed that the loud bang was now a rather quieter, but nonetheless still very audible thump, which pointed to the bottom mounting being the most likely culprit. Thankfully Lates had a spare old one on the shelf in excellent condition, and with the car on stands it was quickly installed. The original one was absolutely wrecked, with the centre pin detached from the voidal rubber casing, and it must be down to the low speed driving the car endured round the factory, having to constantly accelerate and then brake while doing the rounds. It’s great to report though that there appears to be no knock-on damage visible, and now the car drives extremely well. We’ll come back to that later.
That was the first easy job, now for the second and third and fourth. The centre rear brake light was hanging by its cable in the rear window, which was a common fault with the early models, but some two-pack clear adhesive soon fixed that problem. The MG gearshift was removed and the correct 75 version put in place. And finally, the number plates were taped into position. At long last, it was actually starting to look like a road legal car again.
While the easy stuff was being sorted (which is about my level), Lates and Pete got on with the big issue of the day. The new instrument pack was once again connected along with the new LSM and testbook fired up. Some anxious seconds passed as it started to cycle through before, and with a big sigh of relief, getting everything to shake hands. The diagnostics ran merrily along, checking lights and switches before confirming that it was pretty much all fine and dandy. Apart from minor items such as the exterior temperature sensor the electronics appear to be happy bunnies. We have got an idea to try something a little later one, which closer to the time we’ll let you know about, but for now the car starts, stops, steers, and generally works fine. A small run up and down a private track showed the car felt positive and sprightly, as well as very smooth. There’s a lot to be said for having a low-spec car as they tend to be very good to dive, sometimes better than bigger engined siblings as the lower weight and simpler set-up can make for a nicer experience. Having said that, I couldn’t live without heated seats these days. Or air-conditioning. Or heated power mirrors. Or driving lamps. Or a lot of other toys too.
Leaving the car to tick over for a while it was immediately apparent that S525 is also eerily quiet, with it difficult to tell if the car is ticking over from as little as five yards. Put that down in part due to the lack of so many bits whirring away and needing to be kept cool; the fan cut in eventually but the gauge never veered from a rock-steady horizontal position. So we can add having what seems to be a very healthy K-Series under the bonnet to the new parts gracing S525.
And it’s here that we can begin to look forward to the next stage of the refurbishment of S525. Mechanically it may be bang on the button, but cosmetically it’s not nice at all and needs a concerted effort to bring it back to as it left the production line twelve years ago. We’re fortunate that the issues are all relatively superficial but that also means we do need to start to plan out the bodywork, and that means we need a team to get cracking. On that basis we’ll be making an announcement on the formation of a group focused on bringing – and keeping – S525 to its former glory. But for now, I hope you enjoyed the little mini-series thus far. Not that this is the end of course, no sirree. Not even the end of the beginning, or the beginning of the end, or even the end of the beginning of the end, or the beginning of the end of the beginning, or even..... blimey, you know what I mean!