405 mi16 rebuild

[IRISH_MI16 2]

My 405 mi16 as it could be seen at the start of 2020 around February I think.

For a better understanding it had went through it NCT in October 2019, following that life got in the way yet again.

 

December 2019 I jumped ship from a s*itty relationship and met my partner now (turns out a unsporting drain on your life and finances is not good for project progression)

 

Roll around to March and the world goes into lockdown.

 

So I bring the mi16 to my best mates shed to pull the engine and fit a 4 branch pug racing manifold...

Well that was the intention 

 

[IRISH_MI16 2]

Down to my mates shed, we had the engine out in 1 hour 20 minutes, 

It took alot longer to make room for the 405 in there to be honest. 

 

Word of warning this will be a fairly picture heavy forum 

[IRISH_MI16 2]

Then we discovered the horror of what was waiting for us.

 

I'd given the car to a mechanic in 2016 to get it test ready and repair some rust in the bulkhead/firewall. 

 

Turns out all he had done was stuff it full of filler and paint over it. This discovery changed the whole trajectory of what I had planned on doing.

 

Que what essentially was a full strip down bar the roof lining and back axle.

 

[IRISH_MI16 2]

Thankfully Bryan is talented with a welder and took on the un-enviable task of welding my car back together and making it safe to drive. 

 

But firstly I had to get the interior out of it and sandblast the engine bay.

 

Then Bryan got to work welding 

 

[IRISH_MI16 2]

Can't give him enough credit for putting it back together. He wasn't overly happy with the welds but they are strong so I'm happy. 

 

 

 

Once welded I set about doing some rust prevention measures as the engine bay had sat as raw unpainted metal for about two weeks.

 

After some searching around locally I found Granville rust cure. 

Worked pretty well.

 

Then a few coats of primer, and 6 coats of gloss black then a few coats of clear 

[petert 586]

Great work. My Mi16x4 has almost identical issues and is about to meet the welding man.

[IRISH_MI16 2]

After paint I got refitted the front subframe. Since there was no powder coaters open at the time I used  traffic orange rust paint, looks good and will keep it protected for the timing being.

 

Then onto the wishbones, Cleaned painted and fitted with powerflex 306 polybushes.

 

[IRISH_MI16 2]

Temporarily fitted the front coilovers, budget TA Technix from a 306 to get it rolling.

 

Also had new wheel bearing fitted  and new brake lines made.

 

In between all that I get the floor of the interior cleaned up and painted and a new (20k mile) interior loom fitted too

[IRISH_MI16 2]

Next up was fitting the 4 branch exhaust manifold dropping back in the engine

 

The manifold is a great fit as to be expected from Miles. 

[IRISH_MI16 2]

In-between all that work I got the interior floor painted, subframe painted, wiring loom back in, and lots of other little jobs. 

Also got the engine fairly well plumbed up 

[IRISH_MI16 2]

To my shed it went and the end of 2020 before I went to Deutschland to visit the missus.

 

Before it got there though, I had to clean up the place. 

Thankfully there was a skip conveniently in the yard and a powerwasher in my shed.