1977 Colt Sigma from the UK

[Speedy88]

Evening all, apologies for the copy/paste but this was rather a long post I made on another forum. You get the idea:

Here starts the beginning of something awesome.























As you understand, I'm very very excited about this car and I'm afraid this post doesn't have many details as I won't see the thing until possibly the new year. Think of this like a teaser ;)

The story begins back in the summer - I've always had a hankering for old Japanese tatty cars but last summer, something changed. It might have been the sight of Kevfromwales's Bluey estate, or the amazing eye candy at RRG2012. All I know is suddenly, I HAD to get hold of something JDM and old. (And by JDM I mean it's real meaning, not the scene label. Although... JDM Y0!!!11).

Originally I was looking at Datsuns which led on to a general Japanese car search but nothing really caught my eye. I knew kinda what I was looking for, but nothing "clicked".

My search went cold for a couple of months. However, around a month ago I came in off a nightshift to find Pollitt (The Pollitt) had been [s]bullied[/s] encouraged to buy a Colt Sigma by his peers on Facebook. Errr, this Colt Sigma. Unfortunately, due to a certain workplace not paying him correctly, he had to pull out.

I talked to Pollitt and discussed with him what the score was. I really clicked with this car the moment I saw it and I knew right from the start that this was up my alley. The colour was right, it has the right engine and it just looked amazing! Not to mention that it was a runner.

I got the vibe that Pollitt was ok with me getting it, and I assured him he'd be top of the list if I ever came to sell it.

Messages were sent to the owner and talks began.

I won't tell you how much I landed this car for but I assure you that it was way way too little. I offered low, as I always do and expected a bit of negotiation. But the man seemed happy and he let me have it for my offer Top Bloke - at the end of the day it used to be his dad's and has stood dormant for 17 years. Last moved in 1995

I asked around to see if there were any friend of friends near London that could go take a look. Surprisingly and by a total stroke of luck - James, Bruce and Sam from Area52 were making their way up there in 2 days time to pick up some new cars of their own! Incredible luck! (Thanks again again again)

Reports were good and I immediately wired the man the amount, in full, with the promise he'd send off the logbook tomorrow.

I'm not familiar with these cars at all but from what I can see it is a Second gen however these were stopped being made in 1976. I think it's possible that this was one of the last ones built and subsequently ended up being transported/stored long enough that it wasn't registered new until the next year. This, or was registered at import incorrectly - I'm not sure yet.

The plans
For the first time in perhaps 5 years I'm going to pay someone else to work on my car. It makes sense to get someone in London to do some things to it to make it drivable so that I can get it back to Bristol under it's own steam safely.

It runs and drives but the brakes need a bit of freeing up, perhaps new lines and maybe rubber hoses for the fluids. I've employed our very own Dez for this task which he is doing for a very reasonable price. I've never used him before but his reputation spreads far and wide so I know that I can trust him

Next I'll be getting it through an MOT ready for mid Jan or Feb to take over duties as my daily.

360 then goes off the road for the engine change I've been planning.

Then, coilovers, rims and plenty of TLC to make this car into a shiner.

I've got loads of energy, mojo and I'm ready to go. YEAH! LET'S DO THIS. LEEEEROOOOOYY JEEEEENKINS.

[Speedy88]

Few more pics:
















And a video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPAYrtWq ... r_embedded

[geezer101]

Greets to you Speedy - welcome aboard! Your Sig is in pretty good shape considering it's age and how rough the UK climate and roads can be on cars in your end of the world. Man, that wiper motor mount has been eaten something fierce - lucky that it doesn't appear to have taken any other metal with it (that we can see anyway). Good luck with your new toy, and keep us posted!

[bruggz351]

Welcome. Nice siggy. Good luck with ya build man..

cheers

[geezer101]

Greets to you Speedy - welcome aboard! Your Sig is in pretty good shape considering it's age and how rough the UK climate and roads can be on cars in your end of the world. Man, that wiper motor mount has been eaten something fierce - lucky that it doesn't appear to have taken any other metal with it (that we can see anyway). Good luck with your new toy, and keep us posted!

[DriveBy]

I did wonder if this one would make an appearance. I was certainly surprised to see it on eBay only weeks after my GE, not least for it being the same colour, trim and only a year younger (they carried on selling the GE in the UK until '81)
Fantastic that you have managed to find it unmolested appart from the obligatory tinworm. Was tempted to snap her up myself but I'm quite a way north and my unit is looking a little full already.

Great purchase, looking forward to seeing progress.

[Speedy88]

Thanks for the welcome all, can't wait to get my hands on her. Currently she's resting in a friend's unit who's going to make it drivable, replace a few hoses and sort the brakes so I can drive it across the country and fix her up properly. On a pre-arranged MOT of course

[DriveBy]

Any new year progress Speedy?

[Speedy88]

Unfortunately nothing as of yet, it's still sitting in my mate's lockup in London. I think he's having a bit of a slow start to the year which is fair enough - he's not charging me much! I do really want my hands on it soon though.

In the meantime I've been sat on ebay and managed to pick up a NOS front caliper, rear shoes and and refurbished master cylinder. Awesome!

[DriveBy]

She rolling yet Speedy? Must be ready to start on the tinworm by now?

[Speedy88]

Funny you should say that... (I posted this on RR yesterday):

Today was a good day.


I'm sitting here now showered, fed and rested and finally able to upload these pics.

I rose at 6am today to pick up James (JVellrug) to meet Bruce (Mystery Machine) at his house. He'd agreed kindly to drive me to Essex and back along with James who'd kindly agreed to be the mechanic should anything go wrong. James really is a genius when it comes to mechanical and electrical things and it made me very relaxed on the day to know I had both of these guys with me.

We set off in Bruce's Mazda only for us to get caught in ALL the traffic. Finally arriving in Essex, 200 miles later at Dez Towers to have a cuppa, a chat and to look at THE BEAST:











Flicked the key over and she almost started. But not being used to auto chokes on a carb, I flooded it immediately. Leaving the car on charge for a while and to evaporate a bit, we went and had a cuppa. 20 mins later we had another go (although by this point it was stinking pretty strongly of very stale fuel. Hmm.)

She wouldn't fire. Eventually the easy start came out but she just wasn't drawing fuel from the tank. Not good. It was decided that a good dose of fresh fuel would do her good, so Dez kindly ran me up to the petrol station to fill up a jerry.

20 litres in and she still wasn't drawing. Ok, airline on the fuel line, everything seemed clear. Time to try again - initially it still wouldn't draw but after 3 or 4 tries we suddenly had fuel at the fuel filter and up into the carb. A little hand choking the carb and she burst into life!

Turns out she was just out of fuel...

First time seeing her in the flesh is great, and I can see the extent of the work I'll need to do. Here's the worst of the bodywork:

















But, other than that - she's solid underneath and that's all that matters really. For the kind of car she is, she is shockingly in good nick. There's a little hole in the sill I forgot to photograph but that'll be welded up next week hopefully. Boot seals need doing as well as you can see.

Last official service in...




The drive back was lovely, although it's seriously in need of the timing to be set. It's pretty bad and at times I thought it might cut out on the way out. But generally she cruised fine at 65 all the way back. A knocking from the rear seems that the prop UJ may be a little bolloxed. But honestly, there's nothing wrong with this car at all considering it's been laid up for a whopping 17 years.

Got back in finally after dropping James off etc and doing a small excursion for KFW, it was now 8pm. A long day but well worth it!

[A112H]

Awesome story mate, keep them and the pics coming. It really does look in surprisingly good condition all things considered

[DriveBy]

Fantastic update Speedy, great that you got to drive her home! That body seems to be thankful for the 17 years in hibernation too. I have far more tinworm to sort on mine sadly. I must say I'm envious yours is so complete it is dissapointing to me to not have the original engine in mine. Had things been different I wouldn't be putting anything else in.
Great that there are still some decent folks left on RR to help you out too. Really looking forward to seeing more and hopefully seeing her up close at a few shows

[Speedy88]

Well....


She failed her MOT on just these items. Not bad at all!

So unfortunately it appears my inebriation for most of the weekend may have hampered my photo taking abilities here. But essentially all repairs needed were undertaken.

Let me be straight up that I'm really not happy with any of these welds. They're strong with plenty of penetration but I really struggled to stop it splattering no matter how much I cleaned up my surfaces. Ah well.

Here we go then. First of all the interior was stripped out and cardboard/plastic boards put up everywhere to protect the car.


So I had some pretty bad rust on the top of both rear arches as well as the side of the other. Bear with the pictures here as some stages are missing:


Other side, with some rust cut out:








Templates were cut:


Metal cut and soaked with the weld-thru:


Lovely stuff:


Other side cut:


What it's like underneath that side:


Makin' the complicated bits:




Like I say, really not proud of these welds but they are at least very solid. I cleaned up all areas again and again so not too sure what was going on. Ah well:


Finally wipers were fitted and the exhaust filled up with weld to stop it blowing.

And today, she passed her retest! Now I just have to fix the prop UJs - they're really knocking at high speed. Taxing her start of next month and then she'll be into daily duties

[DriveBy]

You didn't waste any time there, well done Speedy. On a technical note I use Weld2 too but find it doesn't adhere very well so often any exposed metal, after using a flapper wheel on the angle grinder to tidy up any sharp areas of weld, I wire wheel it off then Acid8 prime it.

[Speedy88]

She's doing well as a daily driver

So I did a standard service on this before it hit the road fully. Mostly in good nick but replaced bits anyway:

Rotor arm wear is good


This piece of wire had fallen off, I think it's the earth which would explain some of my hesitation problems. Replaced:




Points only very slightly black in one spot. Not replaced as the lucas ones I got were completely corroded out of the box Points gapped and re-installed:


Dizzy pretty bad, replaced:


Now onto the thermostat. Noticed a free flow of water as soon as the engine has started. Helpfully a friend gave me a handful of various sized thermostats and one fit perfectly. Cheers mate!



I've never seen something quite like this. A thermostat with screw adjustment?


Replacement:


Also some parts arrived from the states. Prop UJ needs replacing pretty rapid. That'll be a job for this week sometime:

[Speedy88]

Nicked the other half's camera and went out the other day:

[DriveBy]

Awesome Speedy, loving the progress and pics. Being the same as mine bar the registration its a bit sureal looking at those pics out and about but very inspiring for me to get cracking here. Well done!

[Speedy88]

I've been busy. Expect a big update very soon.

[Speedy88]

I still haven't finished but I've got more than enough to post.

The differential was making a terrible knocking sound at higher speeds. I toyed with the idea of fitting a different axle as I knew these would be NLA. I tried anyway and made various appeals on a few forums. 2 months later I got a call off of a nice chap in Leicester. I slapped a deposit down and went to collect a Sapporro axle in the 360 a couple of weeks later.

Google maps said I was going to the right place, this was sitting outside on streetview:


Turns out that him and his dad were complete Mitsubishi nuts! I had a nice chat to them both. They brought out tea and a whole PLATE of biscuits. I've honestly never been made to feel so welcome picking up tat. Makes a change from the usual "I'll leave them behind the bin while I'm at work".

The dad was a little apprehensive about the size of the Volvo. The words "that'll never go in there" were said I think . Well:


Then after a little stop off in Birmingham:


Safe to say the 360 was skimming cats eyes with all this, tools and passenger in the front. I'm sure there were plenty of sparks though and the dependable 360 did 80 leptons all the way back down to Bristol. Shame that I've just sold the thing really!

[Speedy88]

Well, it would be rude not to try those slotmags on, wouldn't it? ;) But I'm holding out on pics for now for the "big reveal" next week. It'll be worth it I promise.

Next day I cracked on with dismantling the axle in the very first days of glorious sunshine, diff came straight out with not much bother:



Sigma got a new indoor spot out of the weather:


Bit of this:




The brake lines really got in the way of letting me take the halfshafts out fully which was really annoying. They didn't appear to be 9mm, 10mm or 3/8s. In the end I attacked them with mole grips and adjustable spanners and eventually 2 of 3 came free. The other one I've had to bend very slightly so hopefully when I nail it back together tomorrow it will not split. I don't own a brake line flaring tool so I'd rather not go through all that.

Bit of this:


And new diff is in and bolted up. I couldn't find any gasket paper annoyingly as nobody really buys it anymore. Even the "old skool" motorfactors didn't have any so I used a bit of unibond instead. Hopefully it'll hold.

And that's where we are currently. It's amazing how long it takes to do the simplest of jobs, huh?

New updates soon including suspension and wheels.

[Speedy88]

Today's progress was nailing it all back together. Prop back on, all diff bolts tightened and half shafts back in. I came across a problem whereby the offside rear felt REALLY rough on the bearings. I found that the bearings weren't only pressed onto the shaft but they appeared to have some kind of "stopper" pressed on as well! Major buggers!

I had a gander at the spare axle and although one of the bearings seemed good, it was a completely different arrangement with the disc brake setup. Or so I thought. After racking my brains a bit more I went back to the spare axle and thought "there must be the same equipment behind all that brake stuff". Sure enough, a bit of man hammer:



It all went back together without too much hassle





Some spare bits that I'm saving from the weather. It chucked it down!



Did a little test with it up on the stands. Was a little noisy over indicated 50mph but no knocks. Hopefully I've solved all the issues. Only thing left to do is bleed the rear brakes (master cylinder says only use DOT 3 but I expect it just predates DOT 4!). Hopefully I can bribe the girlfriend to push the pedals for me

[Speedy88]

Need I say anything? I think the pictures do the talking:

[A112H]

The wheels suit it perfectly, love it!

[Speedy88]

Cheers dude! It's been a few months work well worth it

[nikmag2]

well done, i hope mine looks as good when I get it back on the road!

[Speedy88]

I realise a whole chunk of photos ended up on facebook so I'm happy to re-post them here. A vast array of repair photos from doing the rear arches:





Crusty hole. Fnar.








After cutting and welding for 12 hours straight, there may have been a little alcohol consumed...

[Speedy88]

After the diff swap I put her back into daily duties. There were a couple of odd jobs to do (aren't there always?) but I was determined to drive her as much as possible.

In the midst of summer I stopped off at my friend Jon's (who also did all the lovely shots above and below) to drop off some tools. We thought we'd make a day of it and we decided to work on our cars. I welded up a small cassette sized hole at the back of the sill...





And what a lovely day it was! The start of what was to be a great summer. Aaaand then Jon cut his leg open with a slitting disc... There were ambulances and things involved. At the end of the day I ended up getting to bed at about 2am. Adventure!

[Speedy88]

Summer began with the beach party - essentially lots of very cool old cars on a beach in Somerset and lots of very friendly people. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures but I was papped making a trip up to the burger van. The Sigma's first proper outing after the MOT:



Next was a trip to one of my favourite places in the world - Area 52. For those who don't know it's a community project driven unit where very cool projects come alive. The mission for the weekend was to make the Sigma low and to fit the new wheels. Not too low - but just enough to get rid of the unnecessary arch gap.



Back on her feet:



The results were good, enough to make me pull some silly faces as it scraped on the ramp on the way out:



A little bit of a joke around making an undercover police car:





I was persuaded that a bit of autosol would bring the wheels up very nicely. I'm not much of a "show n shine" guy so I was reluctant but in the end, I'm glad I made the effort:





I sometimes let Jon know that I don't really like cameras:



So, what's next? An outing of course! On the Sunday of the weekend we went to the monthly Queens Square meet in Bristol to join the other classics. She drew a bit of a crowd and I'm happy that people liked her:







I DON'T POLISH MY WHEELS.



Finally, a trip down to Weston took us back to the 80s, a perfect weekend out enjoying the car:

[Speedy88]

The rest of the summer, the Sigma was my daily. I used her for work, doing the shopping and going to see friends. Never missed a beat, although it's shown a couple of weaknesses such as the fuel pump being a bit tired.

In late August I went to the frankly fantastic Great Dorset Steam Fair. Using my retro tea maker, I was able to enjoy a cup of tea on the go. Like a true gentleman.



Here's the other half pulling a stupid face:



Around the same time was my favourite event of the year - Retro Rides gathering. She was on top form for the show and I was very happy with the pictures that were taken.













And that's pretty much up to date, she's now locked up for the winter to get away from the salt. There was an "incident" that's since happened in storage but I won't update this again until I've got something worth posting. Safe to say I miss driving her already and I can't wait for spring

Oh yes. And there was also this breaker that I didn't get off my arse quick enough about. It has some bits I wanted but looks like someone is going to try and restore it now. I hope it'll rear it's head again: