1973 Viva SL [NOV 226M]

[OllieParkes]

Hello all, it’s been a while but I thought it was about time I documented my (now not so) new project. I’ll try and update this thread as and when I get time.

So, this is the viva in question:

It’s a 1973 viva SL. An eagle-eyed few of you might remember it from eBay last year. It’s done 74k miles, and has a Chevette 1256 engine in it, which has done only 22k miles.

I bought it in June of last year for £600, and ferried it all the way down from Blackburn to a sleepy town in West Sussex as a ‘little’ renovation project.

The previous owner had I think fancied himself as a bit of a ‘boy racer’, removed all the badges and changed the seats to the most disgusting Ford Escort (I think) seats. He also changed the exhaust, which admittedly I quite like as it makes the plucky engine sound like it actually has some power to it . Here’s a picture of those disgusting seats:

The largest problem with this car however is the rust, which as you all very well know can get quite bad on a car like this. The rust on this car is particularly bad around the front wings, foot wells, and a little bit around the spare wheel well. Here’s a picture of the passenger foot well to show you what I mean:

Someone has obviously tried to bodge the rust problem previously, using the thinnest steel sheets possible. Not a good job! This obviously needs to be replaced (More on that later).

[OllieParkes]

So, first on the agenda was to remove the interior so I could get a look at the foot well. Admittedly this didn’t need doing immediately but I really didn’t like the look of those seats, and wanted any excuse to remove them.

As you can see from the first post, the foot wells were badly bodged (I forgot to take a picture of the driver’s foot well but it was in a similar state). That was a problem for a later date though.
The first issue that I wanted to fix was that the clutch was stuck from sitting for a few years. This means out comes the engine and gearbox:

I thought while the gearbox was out it was a good time to give it a paint, and is now a lovely colour of primer grey. I also got a bit carried away and did the cross-member while I was at it.

It’s always fascinating how small these gearboxes actually are, especially when you’re used to looking at modern gearboxes!

[1972nail]

Good to see another renovation project get underway. Keep the updates coming please.

[psl]

Looking forward to more updates

[OllieParkes]

Thanks guys.

Sorry, it’s been a while for this update since it’s been quite busy on my end. The next task that I wanted to achieve was welding the foot wells. To do this, I bent some metal.

Since this is a right hand drive car I didn’t try and continue the wiring channels, but the perfectionist in me at least had to make it look good

This metal was then welded in and a layer of primer was added. I’m really happy with how this turned out.

This process was repeated on the driver’s side, with the wiring channels actually made this time.

[Kraken]

Very nice work, looks good and solid.

[OllieParkes]

Thanks Kraken

Next task was to remove the wings, so a set of fibreglass ones could be fitted. This needed to be done as the originals had been eaten by rust. They also suffered from a myriad of bad repair work, using every method possible.

[OllieParkes]

The near side one was removed first, showing a pretty good inner panel.

This was then rust proofed and a layer of that lovely primer was added, ready for a layer of underseal

The off side panel was then removed, revealing a much worse inner panel, especially around the headlights and bonnet hinge. Clearly more welding was needed.

[chrismc]

Really good progress with this. Keep up the good work

[OllieParkes]

Thanks Chris

Continuing, here's a picture of the offending bonnet hinge.

I decided to cut a new panel was cut for this, then welded it into place, making sure not to move the hinge position.

I did the same for the headlight surround. I now have sealed inner wings