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[russhowe]

Hi folks, some of you may recall my thread in the new members section "greetings from West wales"

Well I've sourced the car I'm after and I'm chasing it. There's some hurdles to get over seeing as the last legal owner sadly passed away last year.

Does anyone recognise the number plate?

The car was imported in 2005 and lived in the north of England, it was then sold to the last legal owner, Andy Chatfield, who as I say passed away last year.
The keys have a clubVr4 keyring on them so i was wondering if anyone recognised the car or if a previous owner was still registered and active

The car is a trigger mauve estate. Cream / tan leather interior, with the wood trimmed nardi torino steering wheel.

She's been sat for the best part of 2 years but as soon as I can get some paperwork in my name, I'll start the recommissioning process. (New tyres, brakes, bushes, fluids, full service etc)

I dont seem to be able to upload pictures at the moment, sorry.

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[galantnight]

Think you need to be a member to upload pictures only £10 a year and will save you a lot more money than that :)

[Amonlym]

Not a car i know, but the MOT history mentions corrosion a fair bit, be sure to check carefully.

[russhowe]

Not a car i know, but the MOT history mentions corrosion a fair bit, be sure to check carefully.I'm expecting a certain amount of welding and rust treatment. The top of the strut tower, front side edge has heavy surface corrosion.

**edit. Yeah I'm well aware if rust issues. Corrosion to the inner OS and NS sills worries me a bit I must say. Top of the strut tower on the driver side has a good chunk of rust too. The plan is to treat and replace as much as possible and seal it afterwards.

I'm trying to find somewhere local to me that's accessible and I'm able to do some work on it in my free time (which is a precious comoditiy these days)

I'm told she was given the once over by Mitsubishi in Swansea back in either 2014 or 2015. Full service, spark plugs, all fluids etc.

But to be honest at the earliest I dont think I'll have her on the road much before the end of the "summer" of this year. All depends on cash flow, sourcing parts and time to get the work done.

I'll do my best to save her, unless she's an absolute basket :(

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[russhowe]

Think you need to be a member to upload pictures only £10 a year and will save you a lot more money than that :)Yeah once I finish work tonight and can get back to my PC I'll get on it.
I want access to things like the how to guides primarily so I don't mess anything up.
And a tenner is pittance to me towards the upkeep of the club, I'd still join if it was £20.

Even now as a free member the hospitality and friendliness from all the other members has been great.
This will be money well spent I'd say.

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[Nick Mann]

Thats a commendable attitude! /yes

[russhowe]

Thats a commendable attitude! /yesThanks Nick, I try my best :)

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[russhowe]

I've been given the go ahead to obtain documents for the Legnum. Her resurrection will soon commence!

When I got the message I was so happy and excited I genuinely squealed! Not very manly I know but hey. Got a good laugh from my best friend too ha ha.

Docs
Insurance
Then MOT. The guy that's doing it is a friend of mine and knows his Jap cars inside out, upside down and back to front. Told him to throw the book at her!

I'm expecting a decent sized fail sheet, mostly on suspension and rust to be honest. The top front edge of the strut towers are corroded but the underlying metal seems pretty solid still. Finger crossed.

I'm also making peace with the idea of ploughing about £1000 into her to get her up to a good standard mechanically, and that's before I start on body work etc.

So you all heard it here first, another Leggy is destined for tarmac once again!

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[TAR]

Now you're official, we need pictures!
/Camera2

:happy:

[russhowe]

Now you're official, we need pictures!
/Camera2

:happy:Ask and ye shall receive

This is where she currently resides, in a small rural village outside Carmarthen

The engine bay picture was taken quite some time ago, the green growth over the headlights and bumper has since been cleaned off as you can see from the other front end picture

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[TAR]

Good luck and keep us posted with your progress. :happy:

[russhowe]

Well things have happened over the last few months

Both front calipers have been stripped and totally rebuilt with all new seals and pistons

From disks are being re-used. I dipped them in an electrolysis bath and they came up beautifully. Virtually no lip on them at all.

I've received the front brake pads, shims etc

Next on the agenda is front suspension.
OSF coil spring is broken in *2 Places!*
Unfortunately the shock absorber fork to lower arm bolt through the Bush is frozen solid.
Going to have to burn the bush out and replace the arms. Which is just as well as the nuts holding the ball joints into the knuckle are heavily corroded.

Found arms from a combo of Ebay and viamoto, as well as springs for just over £300 all in.

Progress is slower than I'd like due to me working 50odd hours a week. I could smash my credit card and get tons of parts but that's financial suicide.

Realistic on the road prediction will probably be Summer 2020

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[TAR]

Some great progress there. Keep going :happy:

[ianturbo]

keep going , don't let it die ,,

[russhowe]

Things are moving along slowly but surely.

New alternator went on today, unfortunately I need a new belt which I hope to get tomorrow (thursday) and then I'll know if it's a success or not.
But the battery light now comes on with the ignition so that's a step in the right direction.

The front brakes and suspension still aren't finished.
I'm having trouble releasing the driveshafts from the hubs/knuckles.
Also I need to obtain shock-absorbers, springs and lower arms for the front, then the brakes can go back on

Taking off the OSF spring, the one that broke on me while driving it home... was in *THREE* bits!!! I've never seen a spring break like that before

The back end is up in the air, so now the whole car is on axle stands.
The rear brake and suspension bolts are being treated regularly to a good soaking in wd40 before a strip down and rebuild of those systems.

Threaded items (nuts, bolts etc) seem to either come apart relatively easily... or fight me every step of the way and possibly break in the process. Some good drill bits are a must ha ha

I finally got myself a decent grinder today, so that coupled with a knot wheel and I'll make swift progress on any rust and sniffing out what's good metal and what's toast. Hopefully I'll have something that still resembles a car left afterwards ha ha

Attached are a few images of what's been going on recently

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[elnevio]

Wow! That *is* a strange broken spring! :o

[Sagnhev]

Green headlights look wicked. Think I might get me some!! 😜

[russhowe]

All it takes for a new mod fashion is for one person to do it right ;)

Plus this is eco friendly, costs nothing.
Bit of a no brainer really ha ha ha ;)

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[elnevio]

"Legnum VR-4 - the eco warrior's choice"

:D:D:D

[russhowe]

Ladies and gentlemen I need your wisdom.

She's been sat on the driveway undergoing periodic surgery since the end of February and today I turned my attention properly to the back end to clean it up ready for new parts...

I jet washed the rear arches (as well as the rest of the car) and I've discovered a hole (1st picture)
Compared to the passenger side (2nd picture)

The back and is very crusty and bits were flaking and flying off under the water pressure

I'm thinking she's more or less toast, considering the strut tower tops need welding on the leading edge, common.

Bodywide underside corrosion and now this hole....814038140481405

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[russhowe]

I think my Legnum might be on its way to car heaven.

Got underneath it the other day to replace a suspension arm and noticed a bit of rusty metal on the floor.

I started poking and prodding with my fingers, using the same pressure as you'd use to enter your pin number and a large chunk fell off the underside.

I then started knocking the front bumper (like you would on someone's front door) and the crumbling sounds were heartbreaking.

The strut towers have daylight showing through them in the normal areas (leading edge)

And I'm starting to think a chunk of the floor pan is soft as cheddar cheese.
Not taken the side skirts off yet as I'm afraid as to what I'll find [emoji25][emoji25]

I'm at a bit of a loss now as to what to do, I don't think my pockets are deep enough to have her welded, but the odometer is showing 95.5k (don't know if this is kms, miles, or both)830058300683007

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[Nick Mann]

Maybe a reshell? Have a look in the parts for sale area.

[russhowe]

I live in the middle of a town with only one driveway space. That would be very difficult for me [emoji17][emoji17][emoji17]

I've got the tooling to do it, but not the space

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[ianturbo]

I live in the middle of a town with only one driveway space. That would be very difficult for me [emoji17][emoji17][emoji17]

I've got the tooling to do it, but not the space

Sent from my SM-G981B using TapatalkIts a rare car ,how many do you see on the road ? i though about giving up but a few afternoons work , save it if you can [emoji106][emoji106]830088300983010

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[TAR]

ianturbo how did you ensure the new strut tops were in the exact same place and orientation as the originals? :happy:

[ianturbo]

They are spot welded in , drill the spot welds out and spot weld them back in , i seam welded them lower down behind the lower strutt ,