What did you do to your Marina today?

[mickthefitter]

Mine is up in the air again but no unplanned breakdown this. Much like I've been intending to redecorate my kitchen for ages, I've been meaning to sort out the ATF leak on my Borg Warner Type 65 ever since I discovered the leak, about two days after I got the car, but never got around to it. I bought the gaskets and five litres of mineral ATF about this time last year.

I'm off work all this week and as usual the planned job list has gone down half as quickly as it should, but one of my deterrents to tackling the ATF leak has been getting the car high enough, and where to do it. At one time all 'big' jobs would be done in the street in front of my house, but even if the spot is free now, and it seldom is, I'm not keen on working out there with an elderly neighbour who bashes into things and kids kicking balls and riding bikes. And wanting to help me. Also I didn't want the car stranded in the open in case something went wrong. Not saying it will, just if it did. And my garage is so tight, the preferred method of getting the car up (wheel ramps) leaves no room for error in my garage. So I've been working on the Mk6 Escort that's now my daily driver (I sold my 2014 Astra 'sports tourer' because it was horrible) and I've raised the Marina in the garage at the end of my day, lifting each side at the front a bit at a time, using a hefty trolley jack I've not had long, and a smaller one that is carried in the boot, and pushed the wheel ramps under the front wheels. This is no mean task since the drop on the Marina's suspension means its got to be got fairly high, which is a bit worrying, but it's up now, ready to drain the transmission and drop the sump off tomorrow. I've never had the car this high before and it looks as though the sump might have struck something, as the edges are curled over. Also it looks to be leaking from the dip stick tube union.

[Morris McKinnon]

So the gasket might be ok then? If it's just the union then that looks an easy job I had one of those Escorts about fifteen years back, a dark metallic green turbo diesel. Smashing car, it was like new to look at but the rear chassis legs had rotted so I sold the car for scrap as it would have cost a fortune to repair. Not that the repair would have been difficult, it's that the suspension legs and everything under in the way had to come out to repair it. I was gutted.

[mickthefitter]

I think it is leaking from the sump gasket and the union. I've got a new filter anyway (that's the pistol grip looking thing in the bag) so the sump is coming off and the procedure is to dress all the holes with a hammer on a flat metal surface, because the holes can dish, then the bolts feel tight but the gasket isn't compressed. Also only light force is needed to tighten the bolts - I've read only hold the rachet by the head, not the handle. Otherwise you dish the sump holes again. I've also got some Loctite hydraulic seal for the threads on the union. That was £9 for a small bottle...
For a long time I've said I need a modern car for work, and classics are just for playtime. I've also moaned about 90s and noughties cars being called classics. But I bought a petrol automatic Astra last October to replace my diesel Volvo C30 and could not bond with it. So many things I didn't like. Can't rule out getting another modern another day, but for now I was adamant I'm not wasting huge amounts of money on another mistake, so went looking at older cars and picked this Escort. It's got 54,000 miles on it but only two years ago it had only done 25,000 miles! It's far from perfect but has got better seats, better visibility and is more economical than the 'Ecotec' Astra. I'm now dead against cars with thick pillars, small windows and miles of dashboard in front of the driver.

[JubileeNut]

Looking very nice that Estate :-)
Have you got all the bits to complete?
Post plenty of pictures of the rebuild please?

[IVOR DENNEY]

YES I AGREE WITH PAUL LOOKS REALLY NICE LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING IT FINISHED

[PHUQ]

Is that the mk3 TC estate? Love that car!

Nope, this one is Mud, my ex Tundra one that was with Frank. I've copied all of Frank's photos from Facebook (Austin Morris Services' page if anyone want to look themselves) onto my Flickr, I need to update the thread in Frank's part of the forum when I get a break from wrestling with the really manky Triumph I've lumped myself with...

The Mk3 only has grille, wheels and engine (and most of the interior from memory) and is midnight blue. My one has got all the shiny bits a TC should have Although it is lacking in a few essentials e.g. engine currently.

I did nearly buy the Mk3 as well- the guy who had inherited it wanted £2500 with no MOT and having done nothing to really show it off- I suggested more like £1250 would be more realistic and although I wasn't being so rude to offer that that's what I would be prepared to pay- he then dropped the price to that on the advert and sold it to someone else- if he'd called me back instead I'd have had it!

[mickthefitter]

I think I overheard somebody in the workshop saying "It's not worth two grand..." while I was waiting for mine to be MoT'd last Wednesday. I paid more for it than that. Whether it was worth it was another matter, but I wanted it and so did someone else at Mathewsons two years ago and it cost me. Having the carburettors rebuilt was the only big money waste. The trouble is these days I value things based on what I think the classic car dealers will ask, which is always inflated. Therefore at auction I valued mine at x-thousand pounds rather than a few hundred. Upper estimate was £2450. Of course I had no idea what was wrong with it till later...

[Morris McKinnon]

Is that the mk3 TC estate? Love that car!

Nope, this one is Mud, my ex Tundra one that was with Frank.

The same one that's pictured on the rotisserie in Franks thread? Well flipping heck, I didn't recognize it! Only last week I was looking at pics of it for reference to see how the rear jacking point is placed. Frank really does work magic.

[mickthefitter]

I thought it might be Mud, but saw the TC badges and then thought "I don't know this one". But it was always at the back of my mind because it had come from Frank.

[First-Car as Marina]

Once again not quite a Marina, but have spent half the day welding the Peugeot along the scuttle panel for its MOT (just need to finish welding around the driver's side bits .

While my girlfriend has been clearing out PDA from the mass of stuff that's built up in it and cleaning up the back floor and boot areas to encourage me to fix it . (It's working ).

Alex

[PHUQ]

That's the one Gareth. Frank does indeed work magic- I'm over the moon with it.

Mick, I don't think you paid over the odds for yours, or at least you didn't if you look over the issues that you couldn't possibly have picked up at a pre auction inspection. It's a tidy example of a rare (and fairly desireable by Marina standards) variant. The Mk3 estate TC lookey likey is a bit of a "bitsa" (as is Mud of course really) and when I viewed it although the seller was very open and helpful it was in a fairly dark garage with a layer of dust and grime over it and no MOT, it was a runner but no opportunity to drive it or see it move. So my assessment on price was with a fair degree of caution due to the difficulty of assessing the condition of the body and particularly the paint. It did look like it had a lot of potential though and indeed it looks like it scrubbed up very well. I was probably a bit pessimistic and should have offered more perhaps.

[mickthefitter]

Yeah I'm okay about mine. Something is worth whatever anyone wants to pay for it, and my only auction buying experience was a calculated risk. In spite of my long standing defense of the Marina's reputation, through various forms of media, based on my own positive experience with the MK1 I had in the 80s, I allowed various Marinas for sale in good condition to pass by, in favour of other types of classic car I bought, because I couldn't quite see myself in a 1.3 or anything that had a lesser specification than the 1.8 SDL auto I owned back then. Then the HL popped up in Mathewson's auction ads, and I had to go and have a look. And while it didn't look as showroom fresh as the online photos had made it look, having done 120 miles to get there I took a punt at it and when the bidding started, there were hands everywhere at first. Then towards the end it was me and one other bloke over to my right somewhere. Someone who, the auctioneer told me on the phone the next day, when I was arranging delivery, was one of his regulars, who normally buys a different car every year and takes it back there to sell. I sometimes wonder how quickly NNN's issues would have been solved with that other bidder, and if it would have been moved on again by now.

[Morris McKinnon]

Went to the Gnoll country park today. Good day, weather was great but it was one of those days where not everything go's to plan! First TDT had to be left behind because her brake pads have worn down to nothing and I didn't have any spare, and our camera was corrupted but didn't know until we were leaving when we noticed there was a delay from the time the button was pressed to the time the picture was taken!
The only pictures that came out was of PTH's nose and her rear end!

[ScreamingLordStokes]

And a very nice rear end it is too!

[Morris McKinnon]

And a very nice rear end it is too!

It's a little saggy, but age gets us all