Most annoying job on the rebuild so far!

[PhilW]

I am currently well into the dismantling stage of my Williams prior to a full refurbish and rebuild.
Yesterday's jobs included removing the doors and rear hatch, I knew that the drivers door was going to be tricky since the door pin was very worn. Its was an absolute B'stard since the threads had worn off the pin and it had snapped in the hinge.
Anyway with perserverance, all the bolts cameout and the doors and hatch are now off.

However, after all the rusted bolts, siezed nuts, stripped threads, impossible to get at areas, bloodied hands and more recently frozen hands and feet, the job that has pissed me off more than any other was "removing the rear qtr windows"
This is one of those 5 minute, "what can possibly go wrong jobs".
Went to remove these windows just before finishing yesterday only to find that one of the the hinge screws on the drivers side window just span and wouldnt undo, which resulted in me having to drill out the pop rivets from the B post so that I could drill the (hardened) screw out, off the car.

Anyway, after this I thought that I would quickly remove the passenjer side glass, since so far everything on the passenjer side has come off fine, its been the drivers side that had been the challenge!
Only to find that "both" hinge bolts are doing the same, aaaaarrrrrrggggghhhh.
In the cold light of day, its funny that in the scheme of things so far, this has pissed me off more than anything else, maybe it was the cold, or maybe that it was such a straightforward job that "couldnt possibly go wrong "

I have taken images of everything so far, but cannot upload from the ipad or DropBox, so will get round to adding images from the PC at some stage.
Rant over.....I feel better now....thanks for listening 😉

[Vandella]

Haha, good Job Phil!! credit to you for going at it in this weather!! good luck with the rest and we look forward to the pics of your progress and finds!

[Danno]

If you'd have known then (before you got car!) what you know now, would you still have got involved Phil??

[PhilW]

If you'd have known then (before you got car!) what you know now, would you still have got involved Phil??

Hi Danno, to be honest I have had moments when I have thought "What am I doing" especially when things have been going wrong.
I have also thought that maybe I should have bought a car that was in A1 condition (at low points in the stip down) but the more that I dismantle the car, the more convinved I am that no matter how good cars are out there are, there will always be hidden corrosion that you will only find when you take it apart.
I'm pretty much down to a shell now so I can see exactly what needs to be done. Going further, I am going to strip off all the pvc underseal from the underide of the car and rust protect it properly.
I'm stunned now that I can see inside box sections that there is no anti corrosion that has been applied by Renault in the first place, its not surprising that these cars rust the way they do, but when I'm finished my car will have a totally corrosion free shell - if it kills me 😉.

But to answer your question, I'm having a Love/Hate relationship with this project, sometimes at the same time!
I do however like fixing things and making them work better, so this project is ideally suited to me.
Just want to get it finished so that I can see what its like to drive - I only drove it for 300 miles after buying it before I started taking it apart.

BTW I hate wiring and trim, both of which I am involved with at the moment! 😉

[Danno]

You have hit the bullseye there imo, its deffo a love affair, one that you only qualify for if your a true Williams fan. Your everyday run of the mill type car driver just don't understand and get what its about, neither do most of the 'modern' hot hatch crew.
I'm fortunate to own 2 and 1 has a rusty nearside arch has a dent in the bonnet and is in below average condition body wise, but I would rather own and drive it than most things on the road today. Its a special car and I love it.

[katbloke]

I had one side seized and the other came out off, i ended up drilling the 2 rivets out and must work on it before the car comes back

[PhilW]

I had one side seized and the other came out off, i ended up drilling the 2 rivets out and must work on it before the car comes back

Not the sort of thing that you are ever going to take off again eh :grin:
I'm sure that you will encounter something else like this before you are finished - you must be on the home straight now?

[katbloke]

Haha I wish cars not finished in the resto shop yet on a plus note a friend with a garage unit has offered to do my metal brake lines and at the same time I might get his mate to do camel and water pump etc

[Justin..]

Get the Photobucket app to upload pictures.

[Justin..]

I may have some spare window bolts of you need them

[katbloke]

I'm trying to find a bog standard original 94 3rd clio as a lot of the seals and plastics were standard across the range and some I've seen are in great condition and would therefore make a great donor for these parts

[PhilW]

I may have some spare window bolts of you need them

Hi Justin, thanks for the offer, how many do you have as I need at least 3 ? But Ii will probably be a wise move for me to replace all 4.
I will check out the PhotoBucket app, I have all my images on Drop Box but this does not seem to work with the forum

[PhilW]

I'm trying to find a bog standard original 94 3rd clio as a lot of the seals and plastics were standard across the range and some I've seen are in great condition and would therefore make a great donor for these parts

That sounds like a wise move.
I'm assuming that you have priced up new replacements and they are silly money / not available?

[katbloke]

All I could buy was quarter light seals at 120 a pair rest not available. looking forward to your photos Phil

[PhilW]

All I could buy was quarter light seals at 120 a pair rest not available. looking forward to your photos Phil

I will get the photobucket app sorted and get some images up over the weekend - pressures on me now ;-)

[PhilW]

All I could buy was quarter light seals at 120 a pair rest not available. looking forward to your photos Phil

Do you know what versions and date ranges of Clios door & window seals are the same as the Clio Williams?
Clearly the Mk1 versions will suit, but what about the other series?

[katbloke]

I'm guessing for a 1 a mk 1 phase 1 for mirrors doors tailgate for a 2 I'd want a mk 1 ph 2 but for seals and minor plastics such as scuttle any mk 1 ph, 2 or 3 2 door would b e ok

[Justin..]

I've got 4 of the window bolts. Some could do with the outside part having a coat of paint though. I will grab a picture next time I'm go to the workshop !

[northy]

looking forward to seeing you progress pictures.

You can just post up the photobucket album link for us then u can just update that as you go.