So here's the start of my second dragon green thread after I gained some icey driving experience doing this to the 8v: RIP poor car
After writing old becks off for scrap and breaking for spares on ebay i was on the hunt for another 5dr dragon green 8v when I found a 3dr dragon 16v listed as spares/repairs on ebay not far from me... double checked the insurance and it was exactly the same for a 16v as an 8v!? So that was that, I decided she was to be mine! Here she was from the ebay ad:
The guy had listed as spares/repair but it was fine except for glovebox handle, front splitter fallen off, elecky window faults, lacquer peel on bonnet and his mate had sat on the roof and smashed the sunroof in so the sunroof was gaffa and bubblewrap.. think it was kept quite well in it's first stint but the last owner led it into disrepair
1997, 90k miles, cambelt at 75k, 4 owners, a month's tax and a year's mot (it had sailed through last one with no advisories). No rusty wings and the sills all seem fine too! yet to take the covers off but seems to be ok
500 sheets later she was mine! From then on she would be known as Virginia! (after golden V...)
got her to her new home
wouldn't mind getting it to look something like this, quite oem and clean looking. really like the bbs rims
Good thing about having the spares from the 8v was they were all the same colour
Straight away changed the bonnet to a less peely one, and swapped the tailgate for a better nick one. Swapped the bubblewrap roof for a glass one! Bit of a mission doing that!
craap everywhere
out with the old..
both windows would go down but not up so next thing I was screwing around with window regulators. had two spare but messed up both right cables so had to make a left cable fit the right side
some more pics of her
and with my twin bro's daily, he runs it on veg oil and gets 60mpg!
then some jom coilovers and febi top mounts. wasn't going to go crazy low on this car like the last one, can't be dealing with the bumps when it bottoms out! also it's quite nice being able to turn full lock without scraping on the arches
got halfway through
then we got the snow!!!
before the snow turned to slush and washed away I got on with a service. Took it round a mate's dad's garage he said i could use, but he gave me the hand i didn't need changing the oil... sump plug was mega tight so he got under to give me a hand and hammered a spanner and rounded it off! after the dipstick oil pump broke he then topped up the engine with diesel oil, i was a bit pished off to say the least! the guy had good intentions but didn't really pay off.
i think he may have put too much oil in because when changing the plugs on cylinders 3&4, there was oil on the threads of the old plugs!?! I'm hoping he put too much in and it had gotten into the cylinders and that I don't need new piston rings.. would have thought that we would have found oil in all cylinders if there was too much put in? gotta do a compression test asap.
anyway got the plug off with help from my mechanic mate, new sump plug, k+n oil filter, synth oil, new dizzy cap, and new rotor arm. cleaned the ignition leads with some switch cleaner and a toothbrush until i can afford some new ones.
with the airbox I'm going to smooth it, increase the opening and get a k+n panel but for the moment I've got a k+n cone and it sounds awesome! not as much bothered about the heat soak for the moment, i'm still getting used to having more power than the 8v!
love it
had a problem where the indicator kept blowing fuses and i couldn't work out why. took off the momo boss and the little tab for the horn had snapped off and was shorting the circuit! so fixed that but when refitting the boss i did this
about 4 ebay messages later a new one was in the post free of charge!
Joe'd the headlights. gotta work out what to do with the fogs/indicators.. not sure whether to go orange/white or black?
managed to find a corrado 16v badge at the scrappy for £1! didn't clip in as it's smaller but a bit of silicone on the back sorted that... black badges all round and de-wiper too!]
got the back coilovers on finally, the backbox fell off while i was doing this! decided to mod the cheepy aftermarket one from the 8v and fit that instead. the bore is very slightly smaller so it's a bit of a backwards step but it sounds and looks better I think. I'll keep it on there until I can afford a scorpion or a miltek full SS system. can't wait for that
and finally here's how she looks today! gave her a spin around the ring roads today and drives a lot nicer after the service. overtaking just ain't an issue anymore!
really need to give her a wash/valet but you get the idea..
excuse the packing tape (!) on this one, got a piece of paper filter on the end until i can get a proper mini cone filter
got a chip in the post from Joe too. bought one from him for the 8v but never got to fit it cos it was soldered in.. messaged him and he said he'd do me one for the abf half price! hoping this one is a push fit..
