It all started with a drip...

Decided some weeks back to change the coolant and flush the system which lead to a small drip somewhere near the oil filter - now traced and fixed to one of the hoses that feed the heater matrix.

While searching for the drip I noticed that two of the drive shaft gaiters were split - so had to remove them, and fit new UJs using Birdman's excellent tutorial.

While removing the drive shafts I noticed a hole in the exhaust box - so another is on order from my new friend Richard at Nouvalari.

While everything was removed it seemed sensible to strip, clean and repaint the chassis, and rebush the anti-roll bar.

Cleaned up the top heat shield and noticed that the lower shield was missing so ordered a new one from another new friend Claudio at Eurospares.

Also cleaned up the exhaust hangers and handbrake mechanism so that everything looks almost as good as new.

Still need to repaint all the underside metal surfaces and apply a new coating of undershield.

So next time you have a minor drip take care as you never know where it might lead. A few photos follow as it is always nice to see this stuff and the handbrake mechanism, clean and on the bench, is a thing of beauty.

 

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Just received the new exhaust from Richard at Nouvalari Engineering, black powder coat with stainless pipes. Hope it will sound as good as it looks. Should have it fitted in a week or so once I have sprayed all the relevant underbody areas will Dinitrol wax.

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Well that is the $1M question - or in my case the £1100 question. I wanted a black box and read all I could find on either scratching up the surface and spraying with high temperature paint or going down the bluing route. I wasn't sure I could achieve a good or permanent finish using these approaches. Richard at Nouvalari recommended powder coating. I will report back experiences - either way - good or bad - although it might take a few months to draw and meaningful conclusions.

 

Euro, RhD.

 

There we go. Nouvalari exhaust fitted into place perfectly and looks and sounds amazing. Will report back in a few months on how well the powder coat has held up. This is the final piece of the backend refurb that all started with a drip!

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