Finally Started My Uk TME Underbody Restoration.

Things are ticking along nicely ... The car and engine should be reunited next weekend !

Dave Cee has been particularly busy refurbishing various parts for me , some needing a bit more Tlc than others ! Too much stuff to show it all but the following gives some ideas what he's been up to !

Nice quick freshen up/re plating of the rear ashtray components





Bit of a bigger challenge was refurbing the Ralliart pedals that had seen better days , I suspect being on the car since new. The plastic inserts on the accelerator and brake pedals were quite badly worn, and generally all looking sad.



So Dave managed to machine new plastic inserts, produce identical ralliart decals and make them look like new again ! To say Im mega happy with the results is an understatement!



So it's fair to say I do have a ralliart fetish , but this stuff is pretty hard to find these days. Took a gamble on a exhaust I spotted for sale ... it wasn't pretty and I was assuming it may be scrap. Had it inspected with a bore scope to make sure the baffles were ok before restoring and all was good. So I decided to have a go and restore it myself.

Few photos on the day of arrival ..







Stainless steel cleaning products and polishing chemicals sorted ...



Many hours of polishing later ...









After polishing the ralliart plate the centre section was taken back to bare metal and sprayed with xht paint...





And stored safely away until needed ...



That's all for now , the next update should show the engine back in the bay .... hopefully!

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So , last weekend we loaded the car up ready for the short journey to refit the engine and gear box ... don't worry the photo is before we strapped it down !



Unfortunately I'd ordered the wrong clutch kit it was 10mm too wide so that kinda scuppered the plans.

Thankfully we managed to get a new clutch kit delivered Monday so with workshop space and time tight we had a twilight shift Tuesday night to get it fitted.

Heavy old lump when it's all together.


So with leaving the front sub frame on and some very careful lowering and lifting we managed to get it in nicely.







We refitted the refurbished north/south bar , and front driveshafts , but didn't get a decent photo of those .. will do next time it's in the air !

My friend who's doing all the mechanical work has sold his business , and unfortunately the car can't stay there too be finished , and this weekend was the deadline to bring it back home. So some late evenings at home getting the garage cleaned and a fresh coat of paint after 5 years of neglect was high priority on my list. Skirtings off ready for tiling at some point .

Emptied out


Gloss paint on the logo I did years ago hadn't bonded to the wall that well. So luckily it was easy to remove ... ready for the new improved version (coming soon)



Had it spray painted by another friend ... nice and fresh now. But resizing the photos makes the new white walls look wavy like the sea !

So , with the sun shinning today it was a great day to move the car back home. Loaded up , at last it's sitting how I remember with that lump back in !



Short 10 min journey home , and back in the garage ready for the final push .. rear diff , brakes and prop shaft.



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Ok Chris asked me to post up about his Brembo's I restored for him.

1st off I can't take any credit for the actual finish as I didn't paint them.

I sourced them from Estonia, they came off a 43k mile Evo 7. They don't put as much crap on the roads over there in the winter as we do over here, so they were in very good condition. Even with the postage they were cheaper than anything that gets sold over here.

Chris supplied me with a full set of new seals, bolts and washers.

I bought the proper paint from BCS, and the high temp decals. No need for much detailed explanation it's all in the pics.

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Untitled by Dave Cee, on Flickr

IMG_0549 by Dave Cee, on Flickr

IMG_0550 by Dave Cee, on Flickr

IMG_0551 by Dave Cee, on Flickr

Really pleased with the Brembos that Dave organised for me, I'd been looking for a while and was struggling to find a set in decent condition for sensible money.... I think the reason for wanting a better set is obvious from the following photos.... ok you wouldn't see most of it ... but not for me !





So with the Evo back home and a bit of free time available it was time to get all the engine wiring and plumbing sorted.

Having never worked on anything more technical than lawnmowers and rotorvators I apologise now to all the people I've asked plenty of stupid questions to over the past month ! One thing I have learnt is the photos I took during the strip down clearly weren't enough. But with plenty of advice things started to fall into place.

Wiring loom removed from its sack and laid out for cleaning up...



Cleaned up and all attaching brackets plated , starting to plug everything in ...



A few other jobs were completed at this stage , gearbox selector linkages fitted , clutch lines installed , missing gearbox metal plug fitted and so on.

The power steering and aircon pipe work was finished off nicely ...



Then intercooler, air box and radiator pipe work sorted.. with the help of modified pliers !





Coming along nicely ... the end is in sight ! New oil cooler and pipe work going on today.

Also managed to get the upgraded wall logo ready. Plan is to get the car running and then tuck it away for a few months so I can tile the garage floor and other garage improvements !







I know the font isn't 100% right ... but good enough for me !

Stay safe everyone.