vauxhallviva.com

I picked up this little beauty on saturday, after winning it on ebay, I believe it was 'Kraken' who posted up the link on here so a big thank you for bringing my attention to it.
I was actually surprised it didn't go for more as its a pretty solid old thing, with, as far as I can see, not much welding to do. The interior is really good, and complete by the looks of things, without the usual wear and tear and cracks etc.
I got a bit of information on it's history over the past few years from the seller. Apparently, sometime around 1986 it was laid up, for whatever reason he didn't know, In a domestic garage and pretty much forgotten about. It was brought to the sellers attention via a contact he knew (he has a restoration business, and a HB he is rebuilding) so he went to have a look. When they opened the garage, there it was, suspended on two scissor jacks. Yes two, one under the center of the diff and one in the middle of the front crossmember, how it didn't fall over I don't know. But the reason for this was to keep the wheels off the floor, which i guess saved them because I towed it home on an A frame on those same wheels without issue. The rockers were also taken off, presumably to close the valves and protect the cylinders. valve seats, etc from corrosion, I will find out if that worked later today . And that's about it, It shows up on the DVLA database, so all is good there.
There is rust, it does need welding, and from initial inspection, a complete brake and suspension overhaul, but that is to be expected, but from what i can see it's £520 well spent .
OK here are a few (?) pics
*note: not as many as before as photobucket wrecked everything but you get the idea*









So there you go, now you know as much about it as I do

I'm going to check out the engine today, and poke around a bit more with the underside and try to make a list of jobs for myself, If possible, I'm gonna try to get it to 'not billing' , fingers crossed.

Well done, Lord13. That looks like a very original car with a very nice SL interior.

Hopefully the bodywork restoration will be reasonably straightforward, without too many hidden horrors!

Colin wrote:
Hopefully the bodywork restoration will be reasonably straightforward, without too many hidden horrors!

hopefully it will yes

Had a good old dig around yesterday, didn't get the chance to get it up on axle stands so my poking was only on what i could reach but here's what i can see so far...

Front valence - small repair to edges where it meets the wings and the awkward bit around the indicators.

Wings- fairly solid, apart from the tops where the wing mirrors were fitted, the leading edge and trailing edge of the passenger side need some work too, they are 'high-tops' too, which is nice. I may have to remove them to repair them properly.

Inner wings - hinge panels and a bit on the drivers side top edge.

sills- drivers side surprisingly solid once i'd scraped off the underseal, rusty but solid, the rear end needs doing, and the rivet holes for the trim. passenger side has had a 'gash-job' repair, so i'll need a sill or repair panel for that side.

inner sills - solid, except both rear ends need a small repair.

rear arches - pretty shot as expected, needs a pair of those, plus inner arch repair so that looks to be the most expensive part of the job, (the wife will have to wait for her new hairdressers chair, have you seen the price of those things????)

Spare wheel well - obviously needs doing as always.

so, on initial inspection no real surprises on the body work so i'm happy. Oh and the engine is seized, not un-expected either, i removed the head and number 3 and 4 combustion chambers are rusty, due to condensation I guess, and the tops of both pistons are covered in rusty flakes and such like. not terminal, but needing a strip down. I have another engine to go in it's place for now, and i'll rebuild it's original one on the bench at my leisure

So that was day one, lets see what day 2 holds....if it stops raining that is

I have some wheel arches cut from a pair of front wings. They have a bit of surface rust and the rear bit missing but may be useful to repair the front 3/4 of the rear arches.

PM'd you matey

If interested, I have a pair of new genuine high top wings available. Asking £250 each, sorry cannot do cheaper, my last pair.
Adrian

That would be very nice Adrian, but alas the cupboard is bare

On a more positive note, the inner wing repair panel from Fred arrived yesterday, and after 3 hours of solid cutting, shaping and welding my o/s inner wing has been repaired

Pics to follow

3 hours!? Would have been quicker with a splodge of filler

Why do I have a hankering for an estate now?

In my defence I did have to cut the repair panel down to just the hinge area, and make the return edge along the top of the inner wing myself...I thought 3 hours weren't bad what can i say, i'm slow

Today's job is to finish the outer wing, and pop the engine and subframe out, I was supposed to have all week on the old girl, but the kids are off school and i'm their taxi

More work done today. . .
Engine out, so will be giving the bay and the subframe a good clean.
*edit * useless pic links removed*
although this little bugger wouldn't come out, the bolt just spun in the bush, so i'll have to get my nut splitter or grinder out to remove it. I have a replacement one so all is well