Post by grumpynorthener on Aug 23, 2021 20:25:41 GMT
So this has been sat outside my place for a short period awaiting some attention
It needs a repair to the end of the nearside sill which is holed
Whilst its in the workshop I'm also going to straighten up the nearside rear wing which is damage from a previous owner
Sill panel supplied with the car but it would be a waste of the panel as I only need a short length - hence I made my own section up - the sill panel can no doubt be resold
Old sill section removed and the repair section trial fitted
Then welded in & dressed back
Skimmed with filler to correct the profiles & now ready for primer
Onto repairing the impact damage on the rear wing
Access is limited and some of the panel is double skinned adjacent to the rear lamp
With use of a couple of panel spoons I managed to get some of the damage out
The rest is undertaken from the face of the panel
With a invertor panel puller which welds the tip of the puller to the panel - the machine is then used in the identical manner as a slide hammer
Care is required to ensure that you don't draw the panel too far out and create a convex profile - much better to retain a slightly concave profile that you can then correct by skimming with a lightweight filler
Now skimmed up - I'll complete the profiles in the morning
Nice to see this getting done, certainly been a variation of traffic through the workshop lately!
That's before it returns to 'Jowett' central shortly but its going to call on a mix of disciplines to undertake the works on the various models that are due in and there's a few non Jowett's to squeeze in too
Post by grumpynorthener on Aug 24, 2021 19:22:17 GMT
There's a factory anti stone chip finish on the underside & face of the sills
Whilst they are many anti stone chip coatings on the market its very difficult to match if you are only undertaking a small section / small repair - most of the anti stone chip products apply in quite a course texture
Incoming top tip then - apply it and let it fully cure - then flat it back with wet 600's / 800's to gain a matching texture to that of the original - once this is lightly primed then painted it shouldn't be far from a factory original match
Nearside rear wing now profiled after a few more skims
Then primed with fast curing polyester primer filler - white guide coat applied over the primer once it had cured
There was a little rust making inroads in the same location on the offside sill that I cleaned back whilst waiting for the primer on the rear wing to cure
I'm trailing a new heavy duty 'Graphene' primer and it appears to be the business for jobs like this
Nearside rear wing & sill area flatted back - now ready for paint
Basecoat colour applied followed by a clearcoat lacquer
The replicated anti stone chipping coating once its painted
And the offside sill seam also received a quick coat of paint whilst it was in the spraygun
A little flat & polish along with some minor fitting up in the morning and it's another one done and off the list
Great bit of work Chris, really looking nice, thank you.
With the sills & rear damage repaired hopefully that will keep any terminal rust at bay for the moment. I think the old girl can give a few more years of relatively respectable service yet.
Beautiful work, unfortunately it's so pristine it's going to show the rest of the car up.
The Frontera did not have a good reputation and depreciated at an alarming rate. They looked OK, were capable off-road, frugal enough for a 4x4 but electrical problems, corrosion and issues with some of the engines sealed that poor reputation. On the positive side that means the rate of attrition is high so, some day, they'll be rare. The 4JB1-T lump in yours wasn't one of the problematic engines, in fact some reviewers refer to it in glowing terms.
Your model; Online data suggests that only 296 were released onto British roads, a quarter of a century later less than 14% survive with only 6 examples on the road.
Looks like it'd make a good caravan tractor, I reckon in 10 years time it'll be attracting a lot of attention and reminiscences at car shows.
Beautiful work, unfortunately it's so pristine it's going to show the rest of the car up.
The Frontera did not have a good reputation and depreciated at an alarming rate. They looked OK, were capable off-road, frugal enough for a 4x4 but electrical problems, corrosion and issues with some of the engines sealed that poor reputation. On the positive side that means the rate of attrition is high so, some day, they'll be rare. The 4JB1-T lump in yours wasn't one of the problematic engines, in fact some reviewers refer to it in glowing terms.
Your model; Online data suggests that only 296 were released onto British roads, a quarter of a century later less than 14% survive with only 6 examples on the road.
Looks like it'd make a good caravan tractor, I reckon in 10 years time it'll be attracting a lot of attention and reminiscences at car shows.
Yeah I would agree with this. It’s a hard one though, do you leave the damage & that’s what shows the car up or fix the damage & the good repair shows the rest of it up :-)
As full body respray isn’t on the cards my thinking was if I only fix the sill & don’t fix the rear quarter then rust could take hold there & it would be more difficult / less appealing to fix the rest of the car later. Fixing that rust now basically gives it time without sinking too much money into it. I can focus on higher priority preservation jobs, like some rust prevention underneath and some of the other things that need attending to, and then if me or someone else wants to do a full on respray later it should be viable vehicle to do it on.
I think the commonly held view is the best part about these Vauxhalls is the Isuzu engine :-) . Based on feedback I see on the Facebook owner forums the first question anyone asks a new owner is “is it a 2.8?” The answer normally is “sadly not”. I think the Land Rover boys like to use these engine in their old defenders & Trooper owners replace their 3.0 with these engines also so that hit the survival rate. They are a tough old engine but very tractor like, it really wants to be doing some kind of work somewhere.
Funnily enough I did pick up a genuine GM Frontera detachable tow bar for it not long ago. I thought it might make it more appealing to someone with a caravan or horse box if I did ever sell it, plus someone was selling a couple of decent Good Year tyres I wanted nearby so it made sense to grab both at the same time. I’m not planning to tow anything, it will just be handy for putting my bike on the back.
Beautiful work, unfortunately it's so pristine it's going to show the rest of the car up.
The Frontera did not have a good reputation and depreciated at an alarming rate. They looked OK, were capable off-road, frugal enough for a 4x4 but electrical problems, corrosion and issues with some of the engines sealed that poor reputation. On the positive side that means the rate of attrition is high so, some day, they'll be rare. The 4JB1-T lump in yours wasn't one of the problematic engines, in fact some reviewers refer to it in glowing terms.
Your model; Online data suggests that only 296 were released onto British roads, a quarter of a century later less than 14% survive with only 6 examples on the road.
Looks like it'd make a good caravan tractor, I reckon in 10 years time it'll be attracting a lot of attention and reminiscences at car shows.
Yeah I would agree with this. It’s a hard one though, do you leave the damage & that’s what shows the car up or fix the damage & the good repair shows the rest of it up :-)
As full body respray isn’t on the cards my thinking was if I only fix the sill & don’t fix the rear quarter then rust could take hold there & it would be more difficult / less appealing to fix the rest of the car later. Fixing that rust now basically gives it time without sinking too much money into it. I can focus on higher priority preservation jobs, like some rust prevention underneath and some of the other things that need attending to, and then if me or someone else wants to do a full on respray later it should be viable vehicle to do it on.
I think the commonly held view is the best part about these Vauxhalls is the Isuzu engine :-) . Based on feedback I see on the Facebook owner forums the first question anyone asks a new owner is “is it a 2.8?” The answer normally is “sadly not”. I think the Land Rover boys like to use these engine in their old defenders & Trooper owners replace their 3.0 with these engines also so that hit the survival rate. They are a tough old engine but very tractor like, it really wants to be doing some kind of work somewhere.
Funnily enough I did pick up a genuine GM Frontera detachable tow bar for it not long ago. I thought it might make it more appealing to someone with a caravan or horse box if I did ever sell it, plus someone was selling a couple of decent Good Year tires I wanted nearby so it made sense to grab both at the same time. I’m not planning to tow anything, it will just be handy for putting my bike on the back.
It's screaming out for a bull-bar to make it 'of the era' . . . and a winch perhaps?
Post by grumpynorthener on Aug 26, 2021 19:30:41 GMT
I delivered this back over to Richard's place today and actually despite what it is - it drives really well - There's more than enough torque / power to pull the side of house down with it and it would make for a very useful tow vehicle
[/quote]It's screaming out for a bull-bar to make it 'of the era' . . . and a winch perhaps?[/quote]
Im tempted but I dont think I will.....maybe if a decent one came up locally and the price was right.
I can remember asking John (previous owner) back when it was new why he didnt spec the bull bars, like you said that was the thing to do back then. At the time there was a big campaign to get them banned and when he asked about fitting it ( its 25 years ago so my memory isnt that clear) they either said no or advised him he would have to take them off later as the law was likely to change.
I see the later Frontera got a plastic nudge bar, I guess as a nod to pedestrian safety.
It's screaming out for a bull-bar to make it 'of the era' . . . and a winch perhaps?[/quote]
Im tempted but I dont think I will.....maybe if a decent one came up locally and the price was right.
I can remember asking John (previous owner) back when it was new why he didnt spec the bull bars, like you said that was the thing to do back then. At the time there was a big campaign to get them banned and when he asked about fitting it ( its 25 years ago so my memory isnt that clear) they either said no or advised him he would have to take them off later as the law was likely to change.
I see the later Frontera got a plastic nudge bar, I guess as a nod to pedestrian safety.[/quote]
I don't think pedestrian safety ever comes into mind out here in Aus with the amount of vehicles with huge roo bars on them. They do look bloody good though.
The old Frontera isn't a bad looking vehicle and this one looks even better after Chris has waved his magic wand over t.
So after getting the car back last Thursday I booked the MOT for today.
That gave me a bit of time to put some minor bits of interior trim back and put the side steps back on.
I managed to pick up a chrome spare wheel ring for 5 quid on marketplace awhile back so I've put the diamond graphic plastic spare wheel thing back on instead of the vinyl cover. With the stainless side steps I think it looks alright.
I thought it only fitting to park it beside this when I got to the test station....
Moment of truth.....
And she passed, one advisory regarding an oil leak which was a carry over from last year. I was expecting one on the brake lines at the rear but he was happy enough with them. I will attend to them anyhow as I have purchased copper lines anyhow.
So that's it for now, she will go for a holiday to my parents place & I'll just do small bits and pieces when I visit them.
Well I guess the old Frontera is due an update. I haven’t posted anything up in a while as nothing all that significant has happened or gone wrong with it, I put it back on the road in December & have just been bouncing around in it all winter without major issue. But now it the time to swap it for the BMW so it seems like a good time to update this thread.
I managed to score an original boot cover for 15 quid which is handy for keeping the boot carpet clean…….for those extra concours points….it a bit weathered but so is the rest of the car.
She had her annual oil change, the oil I put in it last year only did about 1K but I thought it would be a good idea to do a couple of short oil change internal as there have been some previous longer oil change interval ( in years, not mileage) in this vehicle life.
When I gave it a service I give it a shot of this stuff too. I’m unsure if it made any difference.
The gas strut were replaced as the tail gate keep dropping on my head.
My rev counter fix didn’t last long so I got a good second-hand set of clocks to replace them. To keep the mileage correct I remove the speedo clock from mine and put it in the new to me second-hand unit so the mileage remained correct, it was like 4 screws to change them over, very easy. Glad to say this has resolved that issue with the rev counter.
I removed the EGR as I figured they must me clogged after 25 year, especially with all the town driving this old jeep did most of life. Surprisingly the EGRs were fine!
I cleaned out the scuttle & behind the splash guards at the bottom of each wheel arches, they were full of dead tree detritus. Removal should help slow down any rust formation as the water can now drain away as intended.
The jeep was pulling a little to the left side under initial heavy braking. I took a chance an ordered a new front flexi because I knew the break calliper were moving freely from when I did the brake discs and pads. When I went to replace it I was greeted with a very angry looking hard line. I ordered up a new one from ebay and fitted it. It was only after I finished fitting it I noticed the fitting was different on the old one & the flare was different too. Not knowing this jeep is actually an Isuzu underneath the chap who made the line for me had made a mistake & sent me a line with Vauxhall/Opel fittings/flares, not the correct Japanese fitting & flare. I got that replaced and refitted so all good now.
The rear tyre were passed their best. I got another bargain on marketplace, 2 decent rear tyres for £5 total, 255/65/16 . Date stamped 2018 (I think). Some guy had them on a Land Rover but he fitted some big wheels with off-road tyres, he had them up for more originally but he just wanted shot of them so dropped the price to £5. I think I paid a fitting cost of 15 each, so £35 in total.
Pics of the old ones only, well passed their best.
When I was having the tyres fitted I noticed that one of my rear bump stops were looking a bit worse for wear, it was literally hanging off so I ordered 2 new ones and fitted them. I think this jeep needs new shock all-round but I won’t do them until I put it back on the road in Dec 2022.
The rear break pipes were done, I made these ones up myself with a draper tool, very easy to use & would recommend this tool for this job. I would say be careful ordering the cheaper version of this tool on ebay, what you might not notice is the tool you get is not the one shown on the first pics, but a cheaper version of the same tool in pic 3 or 4. Very sneaky.
You can see below why this needed doing. I dropped the tank again to make life easier.
Incidentally anyone who might read this in years to come, the load proportioning value on these Frontera is the same as the Isuzu Trooper…..
When I was changing the brake pipes I found this hole in the exhaust so Ill need to replace that before the next MOT. Ive done a temporary patch up job for now.
I managed to finds one decent weather strip to replace the split one on the front passenger side. Good ones are unobtainium now. I am still looking for a decent rear passenger one but most are like the one on my car, rusted and split or crushed with the rest of the car already.
I also fitted a basic roof rack for additional sports utility & to ensure she conformed to “full dad spec”.
The headlining still needs to be done…..I keep putting it off, plus I want to hold some money back to spend on BMW this year as I didnt do anything with that car last year.
I also lost the bolts to fit the genuine tow bar I bought last year so thats not fitted yet…….most likely they will turn up when I am looking for something else 10 years from now.
Post by grumpynorthener on May 18, 2022 7:01:24 GMT
Great to see this still doing the business alongside being improved - it must be heading into 'Unicorn' status within the near future in the UK although these are still very popular in several far flung countries - The diesel injector / fuel additives do work - I use them on my Range Rover diesel but they need to be the more expensive / branded ones rather than the cheaper no names / unknown of brands - You'll be fine with the Moly brand that you have used
Great to see this still doing the business alongside being improved - it must be heading into 'Unicorn' status within the near future in the UK although these are still very popular in several far flung countries - The diesel injector / fuel additives do work - I use them on my Range Rover diesel but they need to be the more expensive / branded ones rather than the cheaper no names / unknown of brands - You'll be fine with the Moly brand that you have used
Ive not seen another A series out in the wild in the two years Ive owned it.....might be a good one for car park at "festival of the unexceptional"
"I haven’t posted anything up in a while as nothing all that significant has happened or gone wrong with it"
^^^ this from your 1st sentence says it all, there was so much tosh bandied about at the time slagging these off or comparing them to something 3 times the price, Nice to see this still being used and cared for
