[burtonm]

So, on Wednesday, through a rather protracted collection caper I became the custodian of a 1990 416GSi, wich involved me driving homefrom Basingstoke to Manchester via Merthyr Tydfil.

IMG_0917 by max_burton, on Flickr

IMG_0929 by max_burton, on Flickr

This was my prize, a solid, low miles (64k), running, MOT'd early 416, with a fresh MOT and two new tyres, for £375. I got it off bramz, who I think is on here and Autos***e, he's had a couple of R8s - this one, and iirc a dark blue 216GSi manual with blue leather.

It's pretty much spot on mechanically, it just needs oil/filter, ATF, and a few sundries as a matter of course - precisely what it needs, I'm checking tomorrow, then doing. Only issue is a slight misfire/running rich, and the thermostat seems to be stuck open as the gauge usually reads C, sometimes climbing to 1/3, so either a dicky 'stat or the temperature sender is duff.
Everything electrical works too.

The reason I went home via Merthyr Tydfil (aside from the fact it's way more fun to , is because a bloke on the R8 enthiusasts' FB page (and seems to be on AROnline, not sure about here) was selling some White Diamond doors:

IMG_0920 by max_burton, on Flickr

the rear passenger door is badly stoved in, with broken paint. I knew I needed the one door, and as I was there, decided to get both rear doors - the driver's rear door has a minor dent in it, and a patch of rust at the top, which I'll happily swap for a bit of lacquer peel. I had the two doors and a passenger mirror off him, asked what he wanted and he said £30 not gonna argue with that.

From there it was just a leisurely drive home through Wales.

I've already got a replacement front indicator lens for the n/s as repros are a tenner on eBay, stick that on tomorrow too. Got two correct GSi trims coming too, as the car came with two GSi trims, and four facelift SLi trims - not arsed about those though.
Oh and it needs a valet/can of Neutradol as it's all musty inside!

Watch this space...

[StubbornPatriot]

Lovely car and is clearly going to be well looked after. Must be one of the oldest still around. It'll be interesting to see updates on progress.

[burtonm]

Been cracking on today, went out and bought £85 worth of service items for the 400.
-spark plugs
-leads
-oil and filter; and a sump plug
-ATF (and PAS)
-brake fluid
-wiper blades
'-PAS and alternator belt
-air horn as the horn is pants.

I opened the air filter housing to find that some nice person has recently given it an filter, so didn't get one of those.
Also, the thermostat has freed itself up now the car has stretched its legs, so one of those can wait, as can the fuel filter as I can't get one off the shelf, and I'm going on holiday in a few days.
Did I mention I'm going in the Rover?! I'll have a backup vehicle driving with me, in the form of a Renault Laguna II full of vacuum cleaners, so I should hopefully be OK.

I went to change the first spark plug, and it brought a thread out with it.
Well damn, tapping that tomorrow.

Decided to crack on with other stuff, instead.

This lens has been an advisory on the last four MoTs:

IMG_20180601_164152662 by max_burton, on Flickr

A tenner later:

IMG_20180601_164448979 by max_burton, on Flickr

Next, let's take the tape player out and put in my CD player with aux in.

IMG_20180601_165311717 by max_burton, on Flickr

Oh, never mind. Some bugger's chopped the ISO plugs off to fit the Kenwood tape player, so it'll have to stay for now.
Driver's door speaker is dead, too.

The sunroof aperture was sealed with mastic: done to stop a previous elderly owner opening the sunroof and forgetting to close it. It hadn't even worked, or had failed at some point as the sunroof opened the first time I tried it! I stripped off the mastic with some thinners:


IMG_20180601_183516971 by max_burton, on Flickr


It started raining as I was finishing up. I also cleaned off a square of adhesive next to the bonnet badge.

IMG_20180601_203108065 by max_burton, on Flickr

Much better.

The rain made the bumpers briefly appear in their original colour - I'll have to treat them to some trim product or a heat gun.

IMG_20180601_200749757 by max_burton, on Flickr

I think this car's going to clean up really well.

IMG_20180601_213529265 by max_burton, on Flickr

[StubbornPatriot]

Please DON'T do the heat gun!

[crepello]

Are the tails of the front bumper both correctly hooked on their support buttons (which screw into the wings)?

[GTiJohn]

The hard work is paying off!

Autonomy bumper gel seems to be about the best product to use in our general experience. Keep the pics coming

[RoverRevival]

make sure you check for water after doing the sun roof, the mastic might have been there for other purposes.

[burtonm]

Are the tails of the front bumper both correctly hooked on their support buttons (which screw into the wings)?

That was my first thought too, but it's very solidly in the place it's in, I think some sort of bracket is bent.

Dist - after the rain yesterday evening I'm pretty sure it's not leaking!

[GTiJohn]

Loving all these posts and updates! Fantastic work. If only I was able to easily post photos of my progress......

F!ickr is relatively easy to use and free

[burtonm]

IMG_20180603_165635491_HDR by max_burton, on Flickr

IMG_20180603_165643845 by max_burton, on Flickr

Well that's a big difference made.

Speaking of which I cleaned out the threaded spark plug bore (well, had my dad do it because I'm a bit cack handed sometimes), and the PCV. New plugs in, and the car now starts first crank every time. In fact it might be the best running D or F Series I've seen, and my dad and I have had several between us.

The reason the horn was so pants is because this early car has 2 separate high and low tone horns, one at each end of the bumper (the later cars only have a horn on the n/s). The low tone horn on the n/s was somehow full of water, so I pulled it off and put the high tone one from the o/s in its place, as the o/s has more clearance for the air horns. They went in without a hitch, the standard wiring on the R8 means the biggest challenge is finding something suitable to attach the mounts to the car!
I've also started to clean the tar/tree sap off, but really the car needs T-Cutting and/or clay barring.
Tomorrow I'm going to rent a RugDoctor.