Project 1990 country squire resto/modification by andyfanshawe

5 minute(s) of a 418 minute read

Okay, mechanical side first:
Inspection of the car reveals the following:
1. Front right door, and tailgate won’t central lock and pass rear slow.
2. No parking brake operation and red light lit on dash.
3. Temp gauge stuck on normal.
4. Coolant dark brown and level down to bottom of rad.
5. Themostat housing leaking.
6. Airbag light flashing.
7. Exhaust pipe exiting out the side rather than the back .
8. Cracked and dry leather seats at the front. Drivers split.
9. Wet carpet at front right.
10. Sticker remains on various windows.
11. Chipped paint inside at the rear where the folding seats are.
12. Flaking rust on separate chassis member at the back.
13. Large number plates fitted when smaller ones would fit better.
14. Seized AC compressor and broken clutch.
15. Leaking radiator in both bottom corners.
16. Alt/ps belt in poor condition.
17. Rear tailgate window won't open from dash.
18. Rear tailgate window struggles to open from key.
19. Stress crack around top front passenger door hinge on A post (and consequent rusting).
20. Heavy corrosion in one confined spot under passenger front door.
21. AIR pump noisy.
22.  Battery tray rusted.
23. Drivers door mirror casting fractured and repaired by pop rivets.
24. Tailgate check strap corroded and broken in half.
I think I may stop there for the time being and actually repair something!
More photos to come.

Thanks for all the comments guys!

Here we go on the long list of jobs:

central locking solenoids stripped out of the front right door, back right door and tailgate. most looked like this

Someones been in before and made a bodged repair. Even the waterproofing shield that should cover them were missing.

Anyway, rebuilt 2 out of three and that now leaves the front right door to get a new solenoid for.

The rear tailgate had its other problems. the rear window wont close with the key from the back as its supposed to. It will open but wont close. So all the lock mechanism came out

Once i figured out how it worked, all it needed was an adjustment of the many rods! Then, good news, the switch on the dashboard that was supposed to operate the rear tailgate window started working! Thats another job crossed off then.

Right, whats next.......

Rusty coolant time!

The colour of the coolant in the rad had to be seen to be believed! So, removed viscous fan, fan shroud, and pulled bottom water hose off. This was the result:

Then removed the radiator that is in poor shape at the bottom corners

Then removed the thermostat and reinstalled without it so i can flush.

Flushed out the heater matrix 

then flushed the block through the top hose and out through the bottom. Took 30 minutes for it to clear.

The flushed out the rad since i want to use it to run the engine up while i wait for the new rad to come.

Lovely stuff coming out!

Then reinstalled the rad, filled it all up and ran the engine up. Then removed the rad again, flushed it all out and put it all back again. Then repeated it again!

Now I should be in a position where the new rad won't instantly block up when it is fitted.

While the engine was running earlier on I had a look at the stuck temp gauge and decided to heartily smack the dash to shock it loose! And it worked!

Which brings me round to a question.

What are these large white lights for under the front bumper on the side of the fender?