During house arrest..

[X5Sport]

12.5V says the battery is only 70% working, so very likely to be heading to the recycling centre soon.

[Themoog2]

Yes, I had it on charge all day yesterday. Straight after it read 12.7v but after an hour or so it was 12.35v.
I'd take it back but the shop is closed because of media propaganda.

[Themoog2]

Backplate arrived. I put it all back together only to realise when I pulled the trolley jack out that I hadn't reconnected the brake pad wear sensor cable..
Not only that - it was trapped between the backplate and hub.. So everything had to come off again.
Next week I'll start doing the rear subframe I think.

[Leslie]

Looks a tidy old beast

[Themoog2]

I have to admit it is a pretty good one for 19yrs old. I've seen plenty over the last 3 years and mine has been the best still- even though others were a newer/less mileage and higher priced.
One of the wheels is a bit scabby so I think I may get them done in either original colour or a gun metal grey at some point.

[Themoog2]

Mean machine..

[henrym3]

That’s looking good, if you haven’t fixed the mirror yet I would suggest removing the door module and unplugging the mirror connection and spray with a contact cleaner then in and out the plug a few times.

[Themoog2]

Yes I'll check that. Talking of door mirror- the driver side alloy part that bolts to the door is a bit 'wrinkly' like it's got corrosion under the paint. I may whip it off and sort that too.
I'm half way through restoring the rear subframe at the moment.
So far I've cleaned everything and wire brushed and scraped as much loose rust as I can get to and treated it with rust remedy. Rear diff was filthy but is now spotless. I'll be painting today.
Even though I wore 3m goggles I still managed to get something in my eye. I've been up half the night washing it out and now I look like I've been in a fight..

[henrym3]

While your under there have a good look at the brake lines that go across and are between the subframe and bodywork. Mine were bad enough that I decided to change them. Was a bit of a PITA.

[Themoog2]

The brake lines were already renewed before I bought the car so they are ok.

[henrym3]

As for your alloy rust on the mirror, I have a small bit of that on one mirror under the paint. Problem is I would never be able to repaint to the standard it is now. What do you put on the alloy to stop it reappearing

[Themoog2]

Don't know. I suppose if it were all sanded smooth you could put rust remedy on it before primer. Whether it would work I don't know. As you can see mine is quite bad..

[X5Sport]

Is it not a white metal, or aluminium casting? Not sure rust remedy works on that unless it contains Phosphoric Acid. White metal/Aluminium corrosion isn’t rust. You need to get rid of every scrap of metal moth using a fine wire brush and sanding. If the metal is severely pitted below then it’s probably scrap.

Aluminium/White Metal alloys are b*ggers to work with as they need special fillers, primers and sometimes even top coat (depends upon the primer used). I had to replace a couple of aluminium panels a few years back and had to use a special etch-primer or the top colour coat just would not stick, nor would normal ‘metal‘ primer.

Chemical treatment is another option for getting the metal clean again.

[Themoog2]

Well I’ll be a son of a gun..
I thought I would recheck the ball joints at the back so I’ve deflated the suspension etc and low and behold the n/s has noticeable movement- the bottom one at least. O/S is not as bad but still I’m going to have to replace all of them.
I did the lot only 3 years ago. Buy cheap buy twice..

[Themoog2]

After more diagnosis I’ve found that the upper alloy n/s track arm (the one that has a cam bolt on it) is worn really bad. That’s where my tyre wear is coming from. The wheel wobbles side to side so it must be dragging down the road.
Driver side is not so bad. I wish I would have seen this 3 weeks ago as it would be done by now..