Phoebegoesvroom's 2003 P5 "Scruffers"

[phoebegoesvroom]

Thanks! The wiper stalk mod is one of the easiest things you can do on these cars and is a vast improvement over the stock stalk. Plus, if you shop around for one, you should be able to find one relatively cheaply.

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

Rust repair on the passenger-side doors is now finished, and the door panels are finally back on. The car is so quiet now...a little too quiet if you ask me. The car is getting dropped off tonight at the shop near me to have the wheel bearings and motor mounts checked. It should be fixed sometime tomorrow. Hopefully it will be ok for a while after this since there doesn't seem to be anything else mechanical that needs attention and the car runs and drives very well. After I get the car back, I'm going to continue with my rust repair and prevention. I think the outside of the rocker panels will be next.

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

Well, I picked up Scruffers from the shop after work yesterday. All they did was replace the front rotors. That stopped the high speed vibration I was getting while braking and/or turning to the right, so that's good. The car still vibrates a bit at higher speeds (above 75mph or so), but I'm going to let it go for now unless it gets worse. Although the mechanic claimed the motor and trans mounts were ok, the shifter moves around a LOT when going over bumps, or under hard acceleration or braking. It also vibrates a lot as well. I won't know for sure how the mounts are until I can get the car in my garage and check them myself. I replaced all the mounts in my Focus to poly ones because I kept tearing them, especially the passenger-side one. The car vibrated a lot more with the stiffer mounts, but I really liked how firmly it held the motor and trans in place. I may end up filling the stock mounts on this car, though. Anyway, I have a ways to go before I get to that.

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

In case anyone's curious, here's the process I used on the passenger-side doors. The rust on the driver's-side doors wasn't significant enough to warrant the extra work I did on the passenger-side.

This should be ok now for a long time *fingers crossed*.

 

[grcy_gttr]

Looking good!! What year MPV did you get the wiper mod off of?

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

Looking good!! What year MPV did you get the wiper mod off of?

99+ MPV, 2000+ Tribute, or 97-02 European 626 wagon/hatchback. From here: http://www.protegefaq.net/mods_int.html#wiperstalk

 

[ajkulish]

looking good!

and that shelby is sweet.

when they asked carol shelby what glh stood for he responded "goes like hell"

and then the released the glhs

and everyone questioned what the s stood for so he replied "goes like hell s'more."

hahaha. funny little bit of knowledge

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

Yeah, maybe one of these days I'll get myself a GLH or GLHS that's ready to go (or at least doesn't require quite so much work as this one).

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

Hey guys, it's been a while since I posted, but I haven't stopped working on Scruffers. First, something minor:

It's a Delrin shift knob, intended for a Miata. Although I really do like the stock shift knob, the metal plate on the top gets really hot if the car's been sitting out in the sun (and I'm sure it'll be really cold in the winter too). So, I decided to swap it out for this. I don't do leather, and I didn't want a metal shift knob, but I stumbled across these knobs on ebay. They are inexpensive, very strong, have a nice heft to them and are really comfortable plus they come in a few different shapes. This one is very close to the stock shape and size. Perfect! I don't know if it's a placebo effect or not, but the car seems to shift better with the new knob. Also, it comes in a bead blasted finish, but it's gradually self-polishing from use, which I like. The only thing is about this knob is that it's not an exact fit. Oh, it screws on just fine, but it leaves about an 1/8 gap or so between the bottom of the knob and the top of the shift boot. I solved this problem by inserting a black rubber grommet and a stainless steel washer between the shift knob and the shift boot and it fits perfectly. The grommet isn't noticeable at all and you can't see the washer either. I can post a pic of the parts if anyone is interested in doing this themselves.

Now the major news is that a couple of weeks ago, I set out to strip the upper rocker panel on the driver's side because it had surface rust that was very poorly repaired, as shown:

Well, upon stripping this area, I found that things were a lot worse than I could have possibly guessed. I really had no way of knowing beforehand, but there was literally pounds of body filler applied to the rocker panel. It seems that there was an impact to the rocker panel, and it must have caused water to become trapped in there and rust it out. The body filler was simply applied over the rust. (hand) Here's how it looked once I stripped it all:

Ugh. Not pretty at all. What I did was I cut out as much of the bad metal as possible, treated it all with Eastwood's Rust Converter and Rust Encapsulator, and fabbed up a patch panel welded to a reinforcement strip that sandwiches the bottom seam of the rocker panel for reinforcement. Here's the rocker panel partially treated with one coat of the Rust Converter:

And here's my patch panel and reinforcement.

I made this patch panel from a sheet of 20ga steel that I scavenged from a metal fabrication business' dumpster, and two 4 foot long piece of 1/16" thick flat steel stock that I bought. I welded the patch panel to the steel flat stock and that bolted on with stainless steel hardware to the bottom rocker panel seam. The seam is sandwiched between the two pieces of flat stock to reinforce it after being weakened by the rust. Obviously, the patch panel is blind-riveted on. I hope this will hold together for a while. After this, I painted over it all with Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator, then Eastwood's Rubberized Rust Encapsulator and black seam sealer. Yes, it's ugly, but my repair is not visible at all with the side skirt back on. Sorry, no pics of that right now.

Unfortunately, I got into trouble with my condo association for working on the car outside. Apparently one of my neighbors complained to the association (they never even approached me), and the association basically sent me a cease and desist order. I'm apparently not even supposed to work on my car in my own garage, even though I've been doing so for years now without any issues...until now, that is. I also got in trouble because my GLHS is not registered. As of yesterday it's now registered, so that will get them off of my back for a while. I'm starting to explore my options now since I can't work on my car at my own place anymore, that includes everything from renting a garage to finding a whole new place to live. It sucks, but that's life. I'll figure something out.

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

Just now I tried out a trick I learned about a couple of days ago. My passenger side headlight is yellow and very cloudy. The driver's side one must have been replaced because it's in great condition. Anyway, the trick is that if you apply brake fluid with a rag to the yellow, cloudy headlight, then wipe it off, it removes the oxidization. Well guess what? It actually works! I applied it twice, then after I removed it, I polished it by hand with some Autosol and a rag, and it turned out great! I mean, it doesn't look brand new, but it is clear and not foggy anymore. Not bad for a 2 minute fix If you try this yourself, keep in mind that brake fluid DOES remove paint very well too, so be careful! If you can, remove the headlight first. I wish I had a before picture to show you guys, because the change is pretty dramatic.

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

Here's the finished repair on the driver's side rocker panel:

The matte paint that you can see is the Rust Encapsulator, which is fine as a topcoat or a primer, so I can topcoat this later when I have the opportunity. Internal repairs to the side skirt were done "racing style" by drilling holes and using zip ties, since it didn't want to hold together using plastic welding (and someone else had tried to do it before me too and failed). Most of the little brackets that hold the side skirt on were cracked or badly damaged. I also bought all new plastic hardware to reattach the side skirt.

And here's the passenger side headlight. You'll have to take my word for it that it was really yellow and cloudy:

 

[phoebegoesvroom]

Oh yeah, I forgot to post these pictures too. After removing the side skirt, I noticed all this debris inside the front fender:

It may not look like much, but it ended up being several pounds of dirt, twigs, acorns and leaves:

I have yet to check the passenger-side front fender since I can't do anything on my car anymore, but I'm betting it's in there too. It wouldn't hurt to check your own car, since this stuff will retain moisture and rot out the fender and the front of the rocker panel given enough time. I still can't quite figure out how it all got in there, though. There must be a gap in the fender liner, maybe at the top?

 

[RicoP5]

damn that is a lot of dirt lol

 

[grcy_gttr]

Looks like someone had Alvin and the Chipmunks hiding out in his car

 

[NemosMP5]

Looks like imma check for dirt in mine

 

[newsboy86]

How did you fare in the hurricane? And hows the car?

Of course, you may not be getting on here anytime soon because of the storm.... Everyone on the east coast is in my prayers!