The Safrane.Info Forum!

Hey gang..

Well as many of you know we have a safrane that has been off the road since 2010 being a right pain in the grass. We've tried to get rid of it many times, nobody wanted it. Tried getting it crushed (so i could watch it get punished) and nobody would do that, tried giving it away and nobody would take it...

So we ended up stuck with it! Anyway after having a bit of good luck for a change that has put me in a better position I've started to crack on with it again and thought I'd post a topic with my progress. One other thing to note, I am known for using the word grind or grinding instead of wire brushing. It's a habit i picked up from somewhere else with another project.

So, first of all I had to get to the bottom of a leak in the drivers footwell. I posted about this a long time ago:



Although you can't see it in the photo, the foot well had a good inch or two of water in there and the foam under the carpet was awful. Luckily I had a spare front carpet in the shed so that was no problem. The real problem turned out to be the wiring loom behind the drivers front wheel. It goes through a plastic pipe and is full of rubber which had perished and was letting in water that was running down the wiring loom from under the windscreen.

Long story short, a lot of faffing under the steering wheel (fusebox out, etc) and then a lot of gutter sealant later and this was the result behind the drivers front wheel arch:



Now with that done, I had a break and left the car out there for a good weather testing. There wasn't much else I could do with it until I'd got this part sorted as I have a habit of starting something, not getting it finished, leaving it laying around in bits and then dismantling something else. This had to go back together before touching anything else and it had to be resistant to rain so the only thing I could do was to test it over the next few weeks (which turned into months). At the same time I'd also got half the cabin dismantled to try and get to the bottom of a stereo problem where the CD changer was playing up. I knew if I didn't get it all back together ASAP I'd start forgetting things.. (and sure enough that happened anyway). Oh and incidentally the CD ERR or ERR CD message that had been troubling me turned out to be the +V supply to the pre-amp in the roof above the rear passenger seat. It had been grazing on a sharp edge of the roof panel and then made contact with it which somehow knocked out the CD changer.. fixed in seconds with a bit of electrical tape

Anyway this week I've been out there again and decided to start dealing with the build up of rust. I'm not great with before and after shots and normally end up with after shots only but you'll see what I've done!

I'll start with the sub frame / exhaust mount.

Raising the car is a must:



The exhaust mount was wire brushed with the grinder and drill and then hung from a tree with a bungee cord for priming:



The next day it was primed again and then the day after that it was undersealed:



Now on a side note, those bungee cords were found at Sainsburys in a rather nice plastic container that is perfect for paint brushes to fit into with white spirit - which has a handle on top just right for hanging out of the way:



Anyway moving on, I also started on the front subframe. I can't do the entire thing as I'd need to drop it down and it weighs a lot. I also snapped the bolts on another PH2 front subframe on one that I was breaking up so a repeat of that was not a welcome thought. For the time being I'm just doing the visible bits of the frame and will get a garage to loosen it up properly for me later so i can drop it down at home and finish it. Anyway this is it so far primed with two coats of red oxide:



Wishbone still looks sorry for itself:



Next up is this metal frame that holds the black canister that is part of the fuel vapour recirculation system (I think). It was very flaky and brittle looking so that met the wire brush for a couple of hours and then got the anti rust and paint treatments:







Even the metal hooks from the end of the rubber strap got the treatment:




Some quick surgery to the bumpers paintwork where a birdy turdy refused to be wiped off (the blue sheet was a bin bag cut open with a square hole cut into it):




Back to the canister bracket:









Today I decided that the shock absorbers need to be dealt with too. Everything under the exterior seems to be rust and if I'm going to get the car through an MOT this year it needs to look like it's not going to turn into a pile of rust on the highway... so this is the first shock to be dismantled and get the works:










I did get it back to nice shiny metal but then covered it in rust remover for the night so there are no photos of that yet.

Anyway I've now refitted the bracket and strap that hold the canister thingy:






Snapped bolt from removal (that'll teach me for not doing the back and forth thing). There are two others holding it in place so it's safe but just an annoyance:

More work done yesterday in the little spare time i had..

Battery clamp repainted:



Driver side spring primed and starting to be painted:



Finished painting:

Well these pics are from yesterday (or the day before lol):

Shoot me I'm a tight git.. scrimping on new shocks lol:








One day I will buy new shocks but until that time the little bits of rust I couldn't get will just have to continue on their quest




Primed.. not really sure why I masked the piston seeing as it's hidden in a plastic sleeve..




Oh that reminds me about the spring.. I found a very handy way to respray them using two bungee cords, some masking tape for anti-slip and a gentle spinning motion:




Just gently spin the thing round and then your hand can follow the coil up or down from top or bottom to the other end while spraying continuously. Job done! Be sure to use the masking tape though as it helps to avoid the hooks slipping then with tape removed finish those two patches seperately. Seeing as the inside of the spring is a second job I was going to try and hang the shock inside the spring and get a double whammy for my paint but I couldn't get it to hang straight so that was a no go.

Number two - the passenger side:




Not sure what this bit is actually called but it's rusty so thought it worth a photo:




I'll skip the gory rusty detail photos.. a couple were blurry, the others didn't show anything I've not already shown on the other shock.. so.. primed:



And thats as far as I've got!

On the list to do (apart from finishing the front shocks and subframe) are the rear shocks and sub frame, wishbones, rear tracking rods, front tracking rods, hubs, calipers (recommend me a paint please), jacking points and sills.. plus anything else I find along the way. After that it's back to the cabin then the engine bay comes last. I'll deal with the boot once it's back on the road along with the air con.

More pics to come..

Good to see progress. Wouldn't worry about the shocks, if they aren't leaking there really is no need to change them. The springs are also in excellent condition (mine were like new too). As with everything on older cars, it is often far better making the part like new rather than replacing for the sake of it. That can get very expensive and there is usually no need. Most things are fixable.

Keep up the good work.

Hey gang..

Sorry for the lack of updates, had some health problems and other things.. then got back into it and just forgot to post photos!

Anyhow.. i'm back

Righty, shock 1 reassembled, some damage to paint on the spring meant i had to touch it up so wrapped up the inner parts and sprayed the spring up again along with the shock itself on bits i missed etc:



Right.. sprayed the next spring up, went to compress it.. wrapped it in masking tape to protect the paint:



That didn't go well. All that happened was the compressor claws slipped as they would without the masking tape and damage the paint badly. This did piss me off a bit.

So.. i ended up doing this:



Once that primer dried i touched up the bits where the compressor claws had been and then sprayed it black, fitted it back to the shock and did the same as the above - wrapped the insides and touched it up:



Then moved on to the rest of the suspension. I can't really do a proper job here until i can get the subframe down. I can't do that until i've got a garage to loosen up the bolts (and drill out / replace if needed) and can't do that until it's got an MOT. Oh.. and once those are done i can't do it as we'll be moving.. so i need to bodge it through an MOT first just to move it to the new place where i shall end up dismantling it all over again

Anyway.. this is the result of some grinding and hammerite'ing...



I suspect the hammerite is wasted on the brake calipers but i wanted them to look reasonably smart. I'd have preferred a nice shiny silver / chrome paint but had nothing around so it will have to do. I've not been able to remove the wishbones to do a proper job and SAFRANEV6RXE recommended I leave them as-is so i simply ground off the rust and hammerited the hell out of them LOL.

Anyway, that passenger side shock is now fitted back in (photo to come) and i'm now working on the driver side. Also removed the rear wheels in anticipation of getting those shocks out too. The back end is very rusty.. need to do some serious work there along with replacing the exhaust - I have a new one in the shed with 0 miles on it.

Hey gang!

Late again lol but i finally got some more pics of the car last night..

Front Driver side:








And now the rather unhealthier looking back end..









As you can see from the last pic the backbox is going bad.. so i have a nice new one to be fitted in its place...

More to come (as i gradually get it done)

Hi gang

Well i finally got that subframe plate off that i was talking about in another thread. The handbrake is now hanging loose for a while until i can work out what to do with the rusty metal plate:




Both of these legs on it are rather frail and were bending a lot while unseizing the bolts:




Now onto my latest work.
Until i can get the metal plate on the handbrake / bottom of rear subframe sorted, i figured that i would be best off replacing my rather rusty exhaust. Of course that came out and i found the heat shields were caked with flaking rust. Well.. I couldn't be having that now could I

So.. most of them have come out:




Up close look at the chassis - not too bad, i'll grind off the rust and red oxide / anti rust prime it and then paint it up with hammerite and / or underseal:




One more heat shield i want to remove (and yes, the others were this bad):




I don't think i'll bother with these heat shields - at least not yet anyway and you can also see the exhaust pipe bagged up waiting its new exhaust that i've had in storage since 2009:




More chassis to anti-rust an exhaust mount that needs to be unbolted and anti-rust'd and to the lower left the head of one of my halfords 3T ratchet axle stands (which i can't praise enough):




The other exhaust mount - doesn't look too bad but it's going to get the works anyway. Point to note is the mysterious black patch. Looks like flaking black paint from under the car however moons ago i did have an oil spill in the back there and i wonder if this is the oil that may have seeped out through the metalwork or something?:




Back box heat shield - primed with anti rust primer and then sprayed with heat resistant paint:




Lurking in here somewhere is a tin worm (this has since been painted again with red oxide):




Another heat shield that fits .. somewhere.. i seriously can't remember :




The other side of the mysterious piece.. plus the shed where i keep my car paints and other odds n sods:




My finest piece of work today, a wire brushed and primed exhaust mount for the back box in the missus's unused plastic greenhouse thing which is excellent for drying painted parts and naturally weighed down by a spare chinnon alloy from one of the previous safranes:




Thats yer lot for today, tune in again soon...

Been a while since i've updated here...

Got the rear anti-roll bar ground down, red oxide'd and hammerite'd:



Rear passenger hub and tracking arm:



There are other parts too.. I just forgot to take photos of them

Rear shock absorber drop link type thing-a-me-bob:



Rear shock.. partially ground down to remove rust:



Rear subframe off today, I had done some work on this previously but after seeing one of the brake pipes and realising it was on borrowed time, I figured the top of the subframe probably wasn't much better either.

Previous work was grinding down the exhaust area and priming with red oxide.. anyway here we go:



Drivers side:



Front of the rear subframe - where the brake pipe is mounted for the passenger side:



Drivers side with yet another heat shield.. that has a seized and rusted nut



Arms etc:

Hi gang,

Got a few more pics for you though they're not brilliant quality as i have a habit of scratching phones when working on this car so it's actually inside a plastic bag!

Here we go... finished rear subframe. Completely ground down, with rear track rods and wishbones having been removed and refitted - you'll see an old rear subframe behind it - and it's how this one used to look:








New brake pipe can be seen here - not yet flared or with unions:



Shock getting the works.. decided to give the rust removed another go but i don't think it was working terribly well again:






Despite previously being ground down and coated with red oxide and then heat proof paint, this exhaust shield decided it was going to rust up from under the paint again - So much for red oxide inhibiting rust!!!




This top mount? has rust on the sides so i'm going to have to grind that down delicately and then hit it with rust removed and hope that works... and then cover it with silicon sealant which is the closest i can get to new rubber:




Finished hub, dust cover, two track rod ends and a compressed spring waiting for treatment:




New brake pipe and union fitted under the drivers door - note the rusty seals that will need doing too:



A pain in the grass bend - long stretch of pipe, trying to get it in, bent into place behind several other pipes and tubes.. it was a bit annoying but i got there..:




End termination - a bit long to allow for mistakes / flexibility but it's flared and got a union ready:



More to come..

Well I said more to come.. Sorry about the image quality.. I took these photos tonight in the dark with the floodlights blazing..

Rear passenger side shock primed up... though due to a bolt snapping that holds the ABS wire bracket, i will now use this as the rear driver side shock when it goes back in (i did drill the bolt out successfully.. but thinking i'd made the hole too small i went another drill size up and buggered it up):




Middle exhaust mounting plates painted up:




Note the other larger exhaust shield in the shed hanging over a bungee cord - that also needs regrinding and repainting as the rust is coming through again ...



And the other:




The drivers side rear shock, hub and metal pole / bone type thing.. rusted up but salvageable (good job i left the hand brake off for the last 5 years!):




I ran out of space yesterday with just a small workmate to use so used an old wooden panel from the top of a old wardrobe and hung that from the gazebo and rested the other end on the workmate. Life is now a lot easier! On the slats is the troublesome exhaust section pictured in the previous post being red-oxided in sections (after grinding). Oh and my hands were getting rather cold today so the old toaster came out of the shed:




With the nights now drawing in very rapidly, I'd be lost without light so credit to draper and their floodlights for allowing me to continue working into the evening. I have two sets of these (4 lights total) and the top section can be detached from the stand - ultra handy for working under the car while still being able to work under the gazebo - even when raining: