Getting ready for the road again

[Anders Dinsen]

So, the old faithful Murena was taken off the road and garaged a couple of years ago. Lack of time maintaining her made it a good decision back then. And frankly, I've been too busy to miss her much, just happy to have her sitting comfortably in a dry, ventilated space.

But the time has come to change the status quo and get some of the work done which was beginning to be pressing when I put her in the garage, especially the paint work which has frankly been dodgy since I bought her. Some of the English Club members may remember my car as "TVP", which from 1986 until Roy took her over, lived her life outside, in London. She had some repaired parking damages, but never a complete respray, only panels done - and frankly, the jobs done left a bit to wish for. So I'm rather looking forward to bringing her back in the pretty shape she deserves

First, however, I need to work rusty bolts, annoyning rivets, and probably even some glue.

Here's the first photo showing the current state of progress.

[Anders Dinsen]

I have a slightly annoying problem with these brackets, which are attaching the rear bumper to the chassis. Each is fitted in the trunk with two bolts. I had to cut the bolts and now I'm left with the nuts in cages with what's remaining of the bolts stuck in them. Here's a couple of options:

• Fix the nut (which is sitting in a cage on the rear) in a vice and use a strong grip to turn the remains of the bolts out.
  
• Grind the edge of the cages so they can be opened enough to remove the nuts and bolts, fit new nuts and weld the cages back
• Buy new brackets

Any experience/good ideas?

[Jon Weywadt]

I have a slightly annoying problem with these brackets, which are attaching the rear bumper to the chassis. Each is fitted in the trunk with two bolts. I had to cut the bolts and now I'm left with the nuts in cages with what's remaining of the bolts stuck in them. Here's a couple of options:

• Fix the nut (which is sitting in a cage on the rear) in a vice and use a strong grip to turn the remains of the bolts out.
  
• Grind the edge of the cages so they can be opened enough to remove the nuts and bolts, fit new nuts and weld the cages back
• Buy new brackets

Any experience/good ideas?

Why would you need cages? Grind them off, unless there is no room to get a wrench on the nut while assembling.

Besides, what a beautiful Bosch tool. That is one I am missing in my collection of blue Bosch tools.  

[Anders Dinsen]

Why would you need cages? Grind them off, unless there is no room to get a wrench on the nut while assembling.

You have a point there, Jon! There should be enough space to do it. It won't be easy but since an assistant is needed anyway to hold and align the bumper while assembling, it should be doable

Besides, what a beautiful Bosch tool. That is one I am missing in my collection of blue Bosch tools.  

It's a lovely little machine! Not that strong and runs on small 100 mm discs, but very efficient and handy

/Anders

[Anders Dinsen]

Work is progressing well as I'm preparing her for the paint job she will eventually be receiving. In the process, I found the glue on the right rear fender being loose and I managed to scrape out the peice of resin shown in the last picture below. This resin doesn't look right to me as I would have expected something more flexible. This indicates to me there has been a repair. The glue on the other side is fine and still seems a bit flexible.

I checked the repair manual, which instructs "dictungsklebestreifen", i.e. sealant strips to be made to refit the fenders. There's a reference number given for a Dichtungskleberpatrone 00 328 173 00. What is the right sealant to use?

I'm not going to remove the fenders, so this will just be filled properly.

[Anders Dinsen]

More progress...

[JL]

Hi Anders
You are making good progress, Upol Tigerseal or any good polyurethane sealer/adhesive will work to attach the rear wing/fender.
Regards
John

[Anders Dinsen]

You are making good progress, Upol Tigerseal or any good polyurethane sealer/adhesive will work to attach the rear wing/fender.

Thanks, John! That shouldn't be too much of a problem fixing than.

If it wasn't for work, daily duties, and work on the other cars in the "stable", we'd be progressing much faster


/Anders

[Anders Dinsen]

Had good progress again today as we removed the right hand side sill. the headlights and the front bumper. Still some way to go, and I've also run into a few new issues, e.g. I realized the headlight lifting mechanism is stuck, two of the headlight bolts snapped, and the rear hatch cable boke off by the handle (hence the alternative "keeping hatch closed" feature in the lower picture), but these are just minor issues which are probably easy to fix. And I've been able to check a few boxes in my TODO-list

/Anders

[Anders Dinsen]

Deciding what to work on and sticking to that is important in order to keep a systematic approach to the work when it's done in spare time, but I changed my mind about working on the rear and has turned the car around in the garage to get started on the front.

There are multiple reasons for that: My garage barely allows me to work around the car, so the end that I'm active on needs to be by the door. Second, finishing something is always good, it doesn't help working on everything at the same time, and the front can be finished now. Third, there are so many rivets, wires, screws, rusty metal parts that actually finishing the front will involve a decent amount of work which will be good to have in status "done" once I take the engine out. Fourth, I can't get the rear done until I remove the exhaust, which I don't want to do until I'm ready to take the engine out.

So below are pictures of her current state. Next up is removing the battery well, shocks, wheels, steering rack and a few other parts to get access to the chassis so that it can be carefully cleaned and zinc sprayed in salty and corroded areas. It looks quite good, though.

I may need a new radiator, by the way.

BTW, the problem with the headlight mechanism was that the vacuum actuator has seized in the shaft. I don't think I can repair it so will need a new one. If someone has one lying around, I'll be willing to pay a good price

[TELBOY]

Hi there. I had the same problem with my rear bumper brackets! I ground them as flush as I could get them bent the cage where it is not welded and removed them. Then fitted new nuts bent them back into shape and added a spot of weld. That way the bolts could still move along the channel for adjustment. Took about half an hour. 

[Anders Dinsen]

Hi there. I had the same problem with my rear bumper brackets! I ground them as flush as I could get them bent the cage where it is not welded and removed them. Then fitted new nuts bent them back into shape and added a spot of weld. That way the bolts could still move along the channel for adjustment. Took about half an hour. 

That's the better solution! The cages are now gone on mine, so a little helper will be needed when we get to refitting the bumper.

[Anders Dinsen]

The vacuum actuator turned out to be fixable. I opened it using a pair of pliers. Once opened I could remove the tube in which the shaft should slide. It required a good amount to force to pull it out, but I got it out without visible damage to the shaft.

The problem seems to be the blue O-ring seal, which fits inside the tube and has broken. A part of it has probably found its way down by the shaft and caused it to stick.

It's not a standard round O-ring, but rectangular and slightly conical in cross section, not unlike the seals that fit around brake pistons, so I'll have to do some research to find it. Some kind of grease also need to be applied to the shaft before assembly, and the halves must be cleaned and painted, of course.

[Anders Dinsen]

So, I've learnt something new today, namely that pneumatic seals are lip seals. The old seal had completely lost its lip! The shaft is 10 mm, the outer diameter of the old seal is 18, and the height appears to be 4 mm.

[Moes]

Hi Anders

Nice to see and follow the work you are doing on your Murena, I am looking forward to see whats next, and the end result   

Have you decided to keep it in red, or are you (and your sons) considering any other colors?

I has been a long time, I would like to stop by some day, when your are working on her.

Best regards Frederik