Gregor's Diamond Underdogs

Home The Scimitar SS1 Refit Mail me!	SS1 Strip Down When one day I jacked up my SS1 and found the jack going up but not the car, I knew something was wrong. Closer inspection revealed crumbling sills too, but that was only part of the story. I'm a welding virgin, so a friend of a friend was enlisted to do the repairs, but first I had to strip the car. I am totally indebted to the author of the article "Meltdown- A Guide To Strip Your SS1" which appeared in the RSSOC Slice Magazine no. 149 and also to the good people on the Yahoo! Scimitar mailing group. The article goes into much more detail than I will here, but hopefully I can offer a few pointers to anyone else contemplating this job. The one tool I suggest you invest in (apart from a decent Torx drive) is a "hobby tool" (Dremel type thing) to grind off any ruined bolt heads. There weren't many on mine, but those that I did find could not have been accessed by a conventional grinder, at least not without ruining the car!	Surface rust at the rear of the chassis, but no real nasties. Before repainting with anti-rust primer (2 coats) and Smoothrite, old, flaking paint was scraped off and wax removed using umpteen applications of white spirit. Not a nice job!
	To strip the back of the car, I did the following: Removed rear panel (some screws are behind the number plate), disconnected rear lights. Removed boot lid Removed boot liner (the striker plate must come off), note that there are two bolts on the boot floor that attach the liner to the rear inner wings. Removed screws holding hood to rear deck. Drilled out pop rivets holding rear deck to tub. Removed aerial top. Detached filler tube from tank and lifted off rear deck complete with filler cap. Warning! seal up tank pipe to avoid dangerous fumes, especially if welding!!! Removed striker plates. This was a ****** on one side. Removed wheels, supporting car securely. Removed rear wings, noting that they are bolted / riveted at one point behind the B-post. Do not drill out the wheel arch rivets holding the inner and outer wings together- this is a waste of time!	Mad Max lives! The SS1 divested of its front and rear wings, boot, rear deck and doors. Non-fatal rust was treated at this point. The car is seen here in anti-rust primer, later to be coated in black Smoothrite. It is still drivable!
	This was a low point, when it became clear that things were worse than at first believed. This is the bottom of the B-post, just below the reinforcing point for the seat belt mount. Now you know why Reliant galvanised the chassis of later models! Putting things in perspective, it's only a car, and not one I even use for the daily grind.	Aaaaaaaargh!
	Getting the front off was fairly straightforward. This is what I did: Removed door trims to get access to hinge mountings. Removed doors. Removed nose cone. I couldn't have done this without the Slice guide because, although most of it is obvious (driving lamps have to come off), finding the five bolts (should be wing nuts) holding the nose cone to the headlamp panel would not have been easy otherwise. Remove the grill first and snake your arm upwards to where the two panels meet. Removed wings. If the inners and outers have to come off in a "oner" the fuse box etc has to be removed. I wanted the car to remain driveable so I drilled out the rivets along the wheel arch that hold the two together and removed only the outer wings. They are special rivets which are kinder to the composite materials used on the SS1, something to bear in mind for the refit.	A ferret, genetically modified to have opposable thumbs, would have been very useful for undoing the nuts holding the headlamp panel to the nose cone.

SS1 Strip Down

When one day I jacked up my SS1 and found the jack going up but not the car, I knew something was wrong. Closer inspection revealed crumbling sills too, but that was only part of the story. I'm a welding virgin, so a friend of a friend was enlisted to do the repairs, but first I had to strip the car. I am totally indebted to the author of the article "Meltdown- A Guide To Strip Your SS1" which appeared in the RSSOC Slice Magazine no. 149 and also to the good people on the Yahoo! Scimitar mailing group. The article goes into much more detail than I will here, but hopefully I can offer a few pointers to anyone else contemplating this job. The one tool I suggest you invest in (apart from a decent Torx drive) is a "hobby tool" (Dremel type thing) to grind off any ruined bolt heads. There weren't many on mine, but those that I did find could not have been accessed by a conventional grinder, at least not without ruining the car!

Surface rust at the rear of the chassis, but no real nasties. Before repainting with anti-rust primer (2 coats) and Smoothrite, old, flaking paint was scraped off and wax removed using umpteen applications of white spirit. Not a nice job!

To strip the back of the car, I did the following:

Removed rear panel (some screws are behind the number plate), disconnected rear lights.

Removed boot lid

Removed boot liner (the striker plate must come off), note that there are two bolts on the boot floor that attach the liner to the rear inner wings.

Removed screws holding hood to rear deck.

Drilled out pop rivets holding rear deck to tub.

Removed aerial top. Detached filler tube from tank and lifted off rear deck complete with filler cap. Warning! seal up tank pipe to avoid dangerous fumes, especially if welding!!!

Removed striker plates. This was a ****** on one side.

Removed wheels, supporting car securely. Removed rear wings, noting that they are bolted / riveted at one point behind the B-post. Do not drill out the wheel arch rivets holding the inner and outer wings together- this is a waste of time!

Mad Max lives! The SS1 divested of its front and rear wings, boot, rear deck and doors. Non-fatal rust was treated at this point. The car is seen here in anti-rust primer, later to be coated in black Smoothrite. It is still drivable!

This was a low point, when it became clear that things were worse than at first believed. This is the bottom of the B-post, just below the reinforcing point for the seat belt mount.

Now you know why Reliant galvanised the chassis of later models!

Putting things in perspective, it's only a car, and not one I even use for the daily grind.

Aaaaaaaargh!

Getting the front off was fairly straightforward. This is what I did:

Removed door trims to get access to hinge mountings. Removed doors.

Removed nose cone. I couldn't have done this without the Slice guide because, although most of it is obvious (driving lamps have to come off), finding the five bolts (should be wing nuts) holding the nose cone to the headlamp panel would not have been easy otherwise. Remove the grill first and snake your arm upwards to where the two panels meet.

Removed wings. If the inners and outers have to come off in a "oner" the fuse box etc has to be removed. I wanted the car to remain driveable so I drilled out the rivets along the wheel arch that hold the two together and removed only the outer wings. They are special rivets which are kinder to the composite materials used on the SS1, something to bear in mind for the refit.

A ferret, genetically modified to have opposable thumbs, would have been very useful for undoing the nuts holding the headlamp panel to the nose cone.

Refit.....